Jim Putnam - Thinking Through My Fingers

Good Out of Evil

Time is precious just now.  Our house guests are out with Marrianna, which gives me some time to sit at the keyboard and Think Through My Fingers.  Real Live Preacher has provided two excellent blog posts that have been on my mind, this one and this one.  Actually, there are three, because here he comments on the first of those.  I don't have time to get into more than one, so choose to write about the second, "Story, Redemption, and Time".

A brief, and likely inadequate, synopsis:  In 1908 a 16 year old girl is raped.  The resulting pregnancy is a boy who marries and has children.  The grandson is the story-teller, and he has 12 grandchildren and five great-grand-children.  RLP's story tries to grasp the good that had come from that evil rape.

The old man has a line that resonates with me.  “The past is dead and gone and all that pain with it. A pile of manure might be lucky enough to have a flower grow out of it, but that doesn’t change its basic nature.”

What is, is.  It's impossible to say all those lives after the rape aren't good, but for me, they are each single instances of good.  Though good occurs afterward, the rape remains evil.  The flower doesn't change the nature of the manure heap.  But, an important but, the manure heap doesn't change the nature of the flower.

Another element of the story that intrigues me is that it has been been carried through at least three generations, sort of gnawing of the core of each.  It doesn't seem to have been hidden, nor is it indiscriminately told to all.  RLP seems to be the final resting place for the story, though he uses it to write about good and evil.

I'm very tempted to say that evil doesn't exist, that though it seems so terribly wrong from a perspective of the immediate participants, and it surely is, in the larger scheme it's just something that happened, and life takes what it can from it and moves on.  But that implies that there is no such thing as good either.  Once more, what is, is.  I have problems understanding how one exists and the other not, either way it's viewed.

Does evil change with enormity, with distance in time, or closeness of relationship?  Don't think about that question, because it raises so many issues of war and how it is waged.  Don't think about what our country is doing to prisoners in the name of "the greater good."  Oops, I almost got off subject there.

What seems most likely to me is that there is good and evil within everything.  Sometimes good snuffs out evil, sometimes evil overpowers good.   Both exist in a symbiotic relationship, neither being able to exist without the other.

I like the story RLP has given us.  In closing, he writes:

... And now the story is severed from the family and lives in me. It lives only in these words between you and me with no power to hurt but only to bear witness as a testimony to how things sometimes happen.

For this is the power of evil and the power of goodness and the power of stories and the power of redemption and the power of time.

I believe that is as good an ending as any I could write.

Apologies

We have house guests right now.  That's the primary reason I haven't posted.  The parents are in our guest room, and their son is using the futon in the study, where the computer is also.  The combination of those makes it difficult to find time and privacy to write.

In a sort of preview of coming attractions (who am I kidding?), I have been made some notes for use in future posts.  One of those will be about good that comes from evil.  I recommend this post by RLP as preparative reading material.  I've also made notes listing qualities I think every person should possess.  As of this moment it sounds very pompous, and I'm not sure I would like the person who has all the qualities I've listed.  It's going to be interesting, at least in my own mind, how I fill out the notes into a blog post.

That's about it for this evening.  Posting may be sporadic over the next few days, at least until next Tuesday.  Thanks for being patient.

Easter Sunday Musing

It's Easter, and we went to church this morning.  So did a lot of other people.  The sanctuary was arrayed with lilies, and the people tried their best to compete with them.  The music was exquisite.  As the organ Introductory Voluntary ended, I leaned over to Marrianna and said "We can go home now."  Of course we didn't, but the rest of the service did seem slightly less grand.

I learned in today's service that today is the earliest Easter has been in the calendar year than for 95 years, and that it will be over 200 more before it's this early again.  Easter, as decreed after some controversy, was decreed by Pope St. Sylvester I, who resolved the controversy at the first ecumenical council at Nicaea, Asia Minor, in 325. The general council decreed that Easter be celebrated on the first Sunday following the Paschal full moon after the spring equinox.

Easter is for me more a celebration of spring than of the resurrection of a man.  I wonder why I continue to enjoy attending church, talking with the people, listening to music and sermons, and not believe in the core tenets.  The answer, I am beginning to understand, is that the symbols are meaningful.  The teachings of the church are important, even if there is no God that inspires them.

One sentence from the sermon this morning struck me as being very important.  It is applicable without believing in the resurrection.  Easter's meaning is:  "The power of love is loosed in the world."  Its power hasn't yet been understood or applied, but individually, and by extension, societally, it is the power that can change how we live in the world.

Another Question

Once again two groups of persons view the same incident and have two widely divergent opinions.  The immediate subject is reactions to Obama's speech on race, but actually it is wider and more difficult than this single incident.  It seems to me critics of the speech are searching for something to decry in the speech    They are essentially using tactics that examine minutia and neglects the broader ideas and meaning..

When I go through an art gallery, I see some art I appreciate very much, and some that does absolutely nothing for me, that I intensely dislike.  Similarly, I read some wonderful books and some that are not good in my opinion.   I don't look at art or books that I don't like and say that anyone who likes them is deranged.  They simply have different tastes than I.

When it comes to politics, however, I'm not nearly as composed.  I find myself wondering how anyone, much less millions, can view the way this President and his administration have completely screwed up the war, economy, and justice system of the nation, and be sensible persons.  They must be either ignorant or evil.  How else can they not see what is happening?

They don't have to be, and probably are not, either.  I don't want to think of them that way, but I do.  Rather than recognize that most of them have simply come to differing conclusions than I have, I assign all sorts of negative connotations, and ignorant or evil are the least onerous.

Allowing myself to think in such terms is erosive.  Political opponents become more than adversaries; they are soon assigned other negatives.  They deliberately foil and restrict any of the fine ideas and policies of my brand of politics.  They line their pocket and those of their friends.  The list could continue, but there's no point.

I wonder if the question should be how my brand of politics can change them to be with us.  But, that doesn't seem very likely.  They already see the same speech as I do, and come away with very different conclusions.  And I'm back where I began.

A Question

There was an item on the local news this evening that I think illustrates something or another, though I'm not sure what.

The legal drinking age in North Carolina is 21.  There is currently an effort underway to lower it to 18.  The reasoning behind the effort is that many college kids are binge drinking.  They are drinking large quantities deliberately to get drunk before they go out in the evening.  They can't purchase alcohol in the bars, so they get loaded before they go.  Binge drinking is dangerous in several ways.  For one, these kids get drunk and then drive to get to the bars or parties.  There have been several deadly accidents recently of students drinking and driving.  And there is the danger of alcohol poisoning if large amounts of alcohol .are consumed too quickly.  There has been at least one such death here.

Some people think the solution is to allow them to purchase alcohol in the bars.  This would, they say, preclude binge drinking, and would promote more sensible drinking.  Others think the solution is better enforcement of the laws, stopping these kids from purchasing the stuff for consumption anytime.

In this division, I thought at first that I am in favor of more strict enforcement.  But, when I thought more about it, it seems to me that both would be the more sensible answer, lowering the age and more enforcement.

Young people, many away from their homes for the first time, are not as responsible as they should be.  As I remember my youth, I certainly was not.  But I had the structure of the military enforcement to help keep me straight.  These young college kids do not.  At the same time, they are considered adults in every other measure.  They vote, and their juvenile status is no longer allowed in court.

I don't particularly like the idea of lowering the drinking age to control how they drink.  That doesn't seem logical to me, but that is the reason given on the news today.  The idea is that the bars will be able to
control how much they drink.  That's likely correct, but if drinking below the age of 21 is considered wrong, isn't it also wrong to lower the age in order to hopefully control how much the person consumes?

Similarly, I don't like the idea that law enforcement would be expected to more closely monitor drinking habits of those under 21.  It seems to me it verges on a system of control far beyond bounds, and could actually stultify the academic experience.

I'm not sure either is a good way to change drinking behavior of young college students.  Actually, I'm almost positive it isn't.  It does, however, point to the different ways local adults would go about solving the problem.  One would lower the standards, the other would use more strict enforcement.   Neither, I think, would work very well.

Overall, I think the better solution, from these two options, is to lower the drinking age.  That isn't saying that these options are all that are available, but they are what is on the table.  Lowering the age would provide a more adult environment.  It would probably eliminate some student's perceived need to get drunk quickly before going out.

The Obama Speech On Race

This morning I was occupied, so wasn't able to watch his speech live.  Later, thanks to Atrios and the link he provided, I watched the speech.  Actually, I didn't watch.  I read the text along word for word as I listened, and  recommend that method.  I thought it was a very good speech.  This afternoon I've been reading several blog reactions and saw NBC Nightly News report on it.  Without quoting the speech, I want to add my comments

This is, in my opinion, the kind of speech that every political candidate should give.  It is an open, honest effort to tell truths to both, or perhaps all, sides of the racial mix of this country.  It doesn't excuse the fiery remarks of Reverend Wright; nor does it reject the friendship of a man he has known 20 years.  There is something good about loyalty, without accepting or agreeing with every angry denunciation of the Reverend.

When I said that this is the kind of speech every political candidate should give, I extended the speech to subjects beyond race.  A political campaign is usually not known for open, even sided, thoughtful speeches, as I believe this one was.  Promises are made that are one-sided, idealistic statements of the intent of the candidate.  Reality is not normally a part until after elected.  Then we discover that things aren't nearly as clearly demarcated as the candidate led us to believe.  They never are.

Speeches such as this one can educate us to understand that there are two or more perspectives for every important issue.  Normally those persons who have differing perspectives aren't evil, though I have to admit that GWB and Cheney come close.  Normally they deserve respect.  Race and class differences aren't rigid, steel-bar enforced walls.  The candidates who understand needs and problems of  more than one side are those who honor both, and speak to both.  I believe Senator Barack Obama did exactly that this morning.

Obviously, I was impressed.  Several friends were not so much.  For me, Obama struck a chord of understanding the problems and needs of both sides of the racial discussion.  I think we need more of that.

Music

Sunday morning Marrianna and I arrived at the church early.  I enjoy sitting in the narthex listening to the choir's last minute practices, and watching the folk come in.  We have an excellent choir and our organist, Tom Brown, is an award winning organist.  It is lovely listening to them sing without actually seeing them.

As I listened, a thought came to mind.  When a non-believer hears majestic music - not necessarily religious, but including other forms - how do they react.  For me, I have a feeling of being in the presence of a life form that I don't understand but enjoy.  Religious or secular, the majesty and beauty of some music sets an atmosphere of quiet wonder.

Much organ music is religious, or at least has the imprint of religion.  Personally, I believe that some classical music written as religious music was only that by title.  The composer wrote and then interpreted it in religious terms because in many cases the Roman Church was paying for it.  If some music written today had been note for note written in the sixteenth or seventeenth century, and paid for by the church, it would be religious music.  Today, it is simply classical.

I suspect that even a non-believer can be moved by music that has majesty and beauty, painting a picture with sound.  Even if it is religious.  I know that I can be moved in just that way when I hear beautiful secular music.  I would not want to have beauty discarded because it is deemed religious, or because it is not.

Ten Theses

A friend emailed a link to this article today, "German Buys 3 Pages of NY Times to Explain War to Americans."  I read the article and followed the link to the website where there is this:

Jürgen Todenhöfer has summed up what he has learned through his reading and on his travels in 10 theses. These are not scientific theses, but a completely personal view of the situation. He has attempted to appreciate the events of the last 200 years in the Middle East from the viewpoint of a Muslim for once, and not from the perspective of a Westerner.

I have been reading these theses much of the evening.  The theses are summarized at this link, with a breakout of each.

There is a distinctly foul odor in my nostrils just considering that in order to get this information before the US public, he has to purchase ad space in one of our national newspapers. Jürgen Todenhöfer is the kind of person whose message should be a part of balanced reporting.  Here's his short bio.

Dr. Jürgen Todenhöfer (67) has been an executive at a major European media group for over 20 years. Before that he was a member of the German parliament for 18 years and spokesman for the CDU/CSU on development and arms control. He has written two bestseller about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. With the proceeds. he established a children‘s home in Afghanistan and is building a children‘s clinic in Congo. With the royalties from Why Do You Kill, Zaid? Todenhöfer will finance medical aid for heavily injured Iraqi refugee children (IOM) and an Israeli-Palestinian reconciliationproject in the Middle East (MEET)

I don't need to add my weak words to the eloquence of Dr. Jürgen Todenhöfer's theses.

1.  The West is much more violent than the Muslim world.  Millions of Arab civvilians have been killed since colonialism began.

2.  Faced with the warmongering of the West, it is really not surprising that support for Muslim extremists continues to grow.

3.  Terrorists in Islamic disguise are murderers.  The same holds true for the ringleaders disguised as Christians who wage wars of aggression in contravention of international law.

 

4.  Muslims were and are at least as tolerant as Jews and Christians.

5.  Love of God and love of one's neighbors are the central commandments not only in the Bible but also in the Qur'anj,

6.  Western policies towards the Muslim world suffer from a shocking ignorance of even the simplest facts.

7.  The West must rreat the Muslim world just as fairly as it treats Israel.  Muslims are worth as much as Jews and Christians.

8.  The Muslims must champion a progressive and tolerant Islam, as did their prophet Muhammad.  They must strip terrorism of its religious mask.

9.  Nothing fosters terrorism more than the West's "war on terror."  Muslim countries must resolve their problems with radical Islamism themselves.

10. What is needed now is the art of statesmanship, not the art of war - in the Iran conflict, the Iraq conflict, and the Palestine conflict.

I believe these to be a fair set of theses.  Reading the expansion of each one, available at the link, provides depth and understanding.  I recommend them all.

More Bad News

For two days I haven't wanted to write.  I've been trying to stay away from politics, and since my last post was politically related and there weren't any light subjects on my mind, I decided to skip a daily post.  This evening, I'm going to step back into politics, with an update of some of Tuesday's post.

A friend emailed me a column that adds to the discussion about the Fed's action and relates it to the Eliot Spitzer mess.    Quoting from the article:

Who are they kidding? Spitzer’s lynching and the bankers’ enriching are intimately tied.

How?  Follow the money.

<snip>

Since the Bush regime came to power, a new species of loan became the norm, the ‘sub-prime’ mortgage and its variants including loans with teeny “introductory” interest rates. From out of nowhere, a company called ‘Countrywide’ became America’s top mortgage lender, accounting for one in five home loans, a large chunk of these ‘sub-prime.’

Read the entire article.  It's worth your time.  Really.  It's especially interesting when the links between Spitzer's investigation of the banks and the timing of the discovery and publication of his "mess" are outlined.

After reading that, I read an article from the Wall Street Journal that says the nation may already be in a recession, one that could be severe. (When I say from, I hope it is clear that I didn't read it on the WSJ site.  The article linked below was, however, on their site.)  Coupled with today's news about another financial bank, Bear Stearns, that's having severe problems and looking for the Fed for bailout.  It's beginning to look grim for the average household, but the banks will be saved with money from these same households.

And finally, I read about our FBI improperly using Security Letters to obtain information about US citizens.  This was the crowning blow.  Not only has our government allowed banks to operate without consideration of law and provided taxpayer dollars to bail them out, our government has lied to us and spied on us.

It is, I hope, understandable why I don't write about politics very much any more.  It is too damned depressing.  Today I was a couch potato watching ACC Tournament basketball.  That's much more interesting.

Opinions on Today's News

Today was certainly a "Big News" day.  There's the Eliot Spitzer mess, Admiral Fallon's resignation, the Fed pouring money into the economy causing the stock market to zoom, and though I haven't seen or heard, there is probably something about Britney, or some other starlet making news.  And that only includes US news.

I've never been very accurate in my guesses about what an event means, or will mean over an extended period of time.  My previous inaccuracy may very well be the best thing about them, because I've made some very dire predictions over the past few years.  I think, however, that years from now when historians try to chronicle our decline, they will point to March 11, 2008, as a very important, watershed point.

The Spitzer affair will fade from the media glare in a few days, but its effect on the stability of confidence in our governing bodies will continue.  Congress is already distrusted bu a majority of people.  Politicians are more than distrusted, they're detested by large numbers of people.  One of the strengths of Senator Obama's campaign is how many people have embraced his message of change.  And just when there is hope, a politician who has been regarded as one of the straight, honest politicians, Governor of one of our largest states, is revealed to be as duplicitous and lying as all the others we have seen.

As an aside, I cannot understand how Spitzer's wife can stand next to him facing cameras and reporters.  I fully agree with Blue Girl, who writes:

But just once in my life,  I want to see a wronged wife get properly pissed and make a god-damned scene. I want to see one of these randy jackasses forced to stand in front of a gaggle of reporters with a cut above a black eye, a broken, bleeding nose and more than a couple of gaps where teeth used to be. And I want that bastard to stand there alone. I want to see the wife on the other side of a split screen, holding her own damned press conference, pointing to his clothing on the street and his Harman Kardon in the driveway in pieces, because she has run over it a few times. I want to see one of these wives hold up a copy of the divorce papers and restraining order that were filed less than an hour before. I want to see the furniture from his den and all of his memorabilia reduced to ashes and smoldering on the lawn.

Back to my own point; in order for our government tot work, there must be a certain level of confidence that our representatives are honest.  When a highly regarded person shows that his words are shams, used to get elected and make money, it reveals more than feet of clay.  It picks away at the legitimacy of government.

There is potontial for great good from  Admiral Fallon's retirement.  He can speak out, loudly and clearly, as a retired admiral, something that active duty hampered.  But my fear is that its opposite, great harm, will be the actual result.  I believe that it has done two important harms.  First, it removes an obstacle standing between George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to attack Iran.  The fact that he has been an outspoken opponent of war with Iran is well known.  His interview with published last week in Esquire magazine described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.

Second, it sets a precedent for other flag officers.  Their career is in jeopardy when they disagree with the administration.  It creates an atmosphere of "Yes, Sir" rather than defending the Constitution, as they swore to do.

I have believed that Bush will create a reason to extend the Iraq was to Iran for a long time.  I have written that I fear that Bush will have some reason to declare martial law and postpone elections.  I realize it's irrational, but it is what I believe.  For me, it's clear that Bush is establishing the groundwork, removing obstacles and dissenters, and Adm.Fallon was both.

The stock market responded wildly to the Fed move today to pour money into the economy.  While this seems to be very good news, I have my doubts.  I believe our economy is already shredded, and props such as this only extend the day of reckoning for over exuberance.  There doesn't seem to have been any tools developed to restrain greed, and we will undoubtedly go through cycles such as this again.  When the combination of politicians like Spitzer, elected on as crusaders, and amount of money being absorbed and created, the middle class person is going to be screwed, and the poor devastated.  We will become more and more a divided nation, the very rich, and increasing very poor.

There you have it.  A three front, perfect storm.  There is no faith in politicians, dissenters are removed,, and the economy operates without concern for who is harmed.  Today was not a good day, in any respect.