the train dilemma (2018)

Imagine you’re standing by train tracks when you realize there is an out-of-control locomotive heading toward a broken bridge. Everyone on the train will die if something isn’t done. The train is filled with illegal immigrants, trying to find their way into America. There are also some men on board, who have been convicted of crimes, though they were, arguably, never given much of a fair trial.

You notice a lever. The lever operates a switch that will move the train to another track and save all the passengers.

However, on that track is an American flag.

What do you do?

And freedom to live in America for everyone on board.

What do you do?

Important facts people should know.

There are so many but here’s one for today:

“Trump Trade Taxes Will Exceed Obamacare Taxes Next Year”

You can read it here on the conservative, National Taxpayers Union site.

Hmm…

the good thing about high school.

High School has the amazing ability to teach us about transitions really well.

High School lasts for four years. Sometimes those four years are the greatest four years of someone’s life. And then we leave that great thing and move on to something better. How could we ever leave? Well, we’re supposed to. It’s what life is about.

If we get stuck in High School, it means we have trouble getting on with those next things, whatever they are. (Uncle Rico)

No one asks…. are you going back to High School? Of course, we aren’t. Not because it wasn’t great, but because life… moves on. It was amazing for its time. And now we aren’t there anymore. It’s accepted and healthy.

Every Senior Class thinks they are going to do things that High School has never seen before. Little do they know they’ve been done just about every year since the High School started. That doesn’t mean the “new” things aren’t great, it doesn’t mean they don’t affect the students who’ve never seen them before. People grow, evolve, learn, and leave so new people can grow, evolve, learn, and… eventually leave.

Every Freshman class is nervous with anticipation. Every Senior class can’t wait to get out. Somewhere in-between there is excitement, dread, creativity, elation, and adventure. What happens in between? Healthy transition, learning, and movement.

Naiveté is a beautiful thing. It’s rampant in High School. In fact, it’s encouraged. Seniors may look on Freshmen as naive but rarely as stupid. They’ll learn. Like we did.

There are always teachers, mentors, and guides who help us transition. I wish there were more of them in the rest of life…. elders who realize that the point of life is not to get stuck in the routine but to use the routine to circle around a few times and then leave the orbit to find another planet.

And yet… with all these cycles, it is different every year. Those four years matter. Every freshman class, for all its similarities to the one before it, is subtly different than the one that came before it. It’s how the slow train of change works, little by little amongst the routine… leading that old woman to say… “You know when I was in High School, we just didn’t do it that way…”

So, here’s to more High School in whatever phase of life you’re in. Keep transitioning!

which 30?

One of the most profound things I've heard in regards to the Nike/Kaepernick drama goes something like this: 

Nike is more worried about their customers for the next 30 years than their customers from the last 30 years. And the customers for the next 30 understand the difference between police brutality and systemic racism... and patriotism and/or support for the military.

It does seem, generally speaking, the generations to come understand nuance and subtlety much better than the ones before them. They also seem to understand shades of gray and complexity a bit better. 

Maybe the important question is which one are you? This isn't always age related. And the other important question, if you're in business, which one are you selling to? 

a new drug.

Not sure if you've heard of it but there is a new drug coming on to the market for parents. It's based off of an (up to now) fairly hidden bacteria found in southern Africa.

When ingested the patient will become sick for about a week with severe body aches and pains - no fever or risk of infecting others - and nausea and weakened vision. 

It disappears after about a week. 

It's being marketed to parents because they can give the drug to their children a) as punishment for doing something wrong b) as a way to teach their children something and c) to simply encourage their children to be more needy and, thus, "cuddly", loving, etc... 

It seems to work great.

I only write all of this because I recently heard, again, from someone who was suffering form an illness, that they had complete faith that god had given them the illness for a reason and they would learn what they needed to learn from it. 

When a god does something we would find atrocious for a parent to do, there's probably something off with that view of god.  

a most important chart.

If you find the chart below rather disgusting... well pass it along to friends and family and think about voting in Nov. 

the problem comparing.

Two people running. One is at the 5 mile mark and one is at the 3 mile mark. Obviously, the one at the 5 mile marker is stronger, faster, running better, right? 

That's generally how we live. 

But, the one at the 3 mile marker got off to a slow start. They're actually running faster than the one at the 5 mile marker who got off to a quick start and slowed down. It's still going to take a while to catch up. 

(Like life.) 

The one at the 3 mile marker is running a marathon and the one at the 5 mile marker is running 5 miles. Their goals are completely different. 

(Like life.) 

The one at the 3 mile marker has a prosthetic leg. The one at the 5 mile marker is full healthy. 

(Like life.)

The one at the 5 mile marker has been running for 12 years, the one at the 3 mile marker is in their first month of trying to get healthy. 

(Like life.)

The one at the 5 mile marker is in her 20's. The one at the 3 mile marker is in his 70's. 

(Like life.) 

It always takes a bit of time and conversation and investigation to find out more... so we default to 5 miles must be better than 3.

And that's why we so often measure wrong. 

just love.

One doesn't become a Christian by believing that "God is" but by believing that God is love.

--Tomáš Halík, from I Want You to Be

via Experimental  Theology. 

Amazing how so few words can summarize perfectly and provoke in all the right ways. Yes, I just ordered the book. 

structures vs. systems.

I've been thinking a lot about structures and systems. Yeah, not something I usually think about either but after reading Fantasyland (every American should read it) and watching Believer (every human should watch it) I'm still trying to reconcile, in my own head, the good and bad of systems and structures. 

Specifically, as it pertains to religion. My question is, can we have structure without a system? (At least how I define them.) 

Because... 

Systems seem, generally speaking, more self-serving, more afraid of change, and more attractive to those who want power and/or control over others. 

But they also provide structure. And without structure we're all just free floating larvae desperately seeking something to attach to, so we can turn into a beautiful, colorful, reef, that helps to feed the ecosystem. 

How do we not throw out the baby with the bathwater?

Some random observations/thoughts... that I just need to write down for now: 

1. An evolving individual will move from system to structure. A stagnant person will stay in a system their entire life. (Systems are more easily digestible and provide more protection, etc... like milk.)  

2. Systems feel threat much more than structures, especially to people who critique the system. Individuals who express fear and threat are generally defending a system more than a structure.   

3. Systems are not inherently destructive all the time. Structures are not inherently beneficial all of the time. 

4. Systems strongly resist giving up the spotlight. Structures are end up hidden by whatever it is they are supporting. 

5. Pharisees perfectly represent the system. Jesus perfectly represents the structure.

6. Religion is a system. It's why Jesus talked so negatively about it (and Jesus really didn't talk bad about too many things.) 

7. Church, at it's worst, is part of the system. When it's at its best, it's simply providing structure.  That expression of church is more prevalent than we might think, although also much less obvious, because structures always are. 

I want to be more wary of systems less apt to reject structures. 

Maybe more later...

then and now...

The following was prepared during World War II by the United States Office of Strategic Services, in regards to Hitler's psychological profile. 

No, I'm not saying Trump is Hitler because that's just more fear-mongering when we already have plenty. 

Yes, I'm saying when you understand how someone operates, it's much more easy to swallow the consistent stream of thoughts from that person, and to better see through it. 

"His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."

marshmallows.

In the very well known experiment kids are given two options: you can have one marshmallow now or you can two marshmallows if you wait 15 minutes. The theory was, after tracking those students, that those that were able to delay gratification were more successful. 

As with most studies, the marshmallow experiment has recently come under fire, not because the premise is necessarily false but because there are all kinds of other factors that play into success and whether or not a kid even has the capacity to delay gratification - like poverty, etc.. Sometimes a kid in poverty needs that marshmallow - they don't know if there will be a tomorrow.

For my purpose, I'll say the study holds up. 

We currently have one political party that can only see the 1 marshmallow right now. In fact, the President - a member of that party - often tweets about how great the marshmallow is.

And there are all kinds of factors that play into why some people like that party and philosophy and many of them are beyond their control and some are within their control. 

There is another perspective (and I would say party at its most ideal) that looks down the road at the 2 or 3 or, even 5, marshmallows. This party always has a tough sell to people who want 1 marshmallow now because they are, essentially, asking people to wait with nothing to get something better later. 

Ironically, the party that now insists on marshmallows now, really only insists on giving those marshmallows to people who already have quite a few and ignoring those who don't have any (who actually do need a marshmallow right now) but this, of course, is ruining any chances of thousands of marshmallows down the road for those who have them and those who don't because, once again, it only cares about the marshmallow, right now, even if that marshmallow isn't even an actual marshmallow but just words about one. 

Yeah probably too simplistic.   

Yeah, all I see every day are all the marshmallows we're losing 5, 10, 20 years from now.

Instead of arguing about climate change, Korea, taxes, universal health care, tariffs, equality, budgets, start seeing if you can talk to people about marshmallows: now vs later. Delayed gratification.

See if it's a better conversation. 

you don't know what you got...

You don't know what you got 'til it's gone is a common refrain. 

True. 

The statement usually implies that we are undervaluing whatever we "got" and thus, we need to value whatever we have more. 

Also true. 

Equally valid though, is that we are overvaluing whatever we "got" and thus, we need to value whatever we have less. In other words, sometimes we don't realize the cell we are living in, until the walls are gone. Or sometimes, we say things like, I didn't think life could ever be like this, only after it's gone. 

Either way, "it's gone" is the important part. So, get away from it.

Gain a new perspective, a new view, a new angle, and you'll probably a) live a more grateful life with what you have and b) a more free life by breaking down some walls that need to be smashed.   

stanford prison fraud.

It was one of my favorite experiments: The Stanford Prison Experiment. Put people into a different context and they act differently. After only a few days, otherwise normal college students acted like prison guards and prisoners - even though none of it was real. It was illustrative of so much of life. 

And today I read that it was, for lack of a better word, a fraud. The results were manipulated as were the participants. 

What? Are you serious? 

And yet, there is something beautiful about it. Yeah, we know it's been in text books, yeah we know people have taught it, learned from it, used it, been transformed by it. But, we can admit it wasn't as real as we thought. 

Maybe the most important thing to learn from the Stanford Prison Experiment is that it's okay to admit things are false, manipulated, and not what we thought, even when we have a lot of people, time, and education invested in them. 

I guess it's still one of my favorite experiments - just for different reasons now. 

damned.

Someone recently told me that they would never be a police officer these days because "you are damned if you do and damned if you don't". 

True. 

But, the thing is, it's not these days. And it's not police officers. It's every single human who makes any kind of decision with any merit and power behind it. Someone or some group will not like it. 

We're all damned, all the time, if we're doing anything worthwhile.  

So, the more important quest is not finding the thing that isn't damning, it's making sure we're okay with who is doing the damning and finding ways to mute them while still learning what we can from them. 

the prophets.

The ancestors must be laughing: How could we have forgotten so easily that prophets like Lamar and Tupac arise in every generation?

When Richard Rohr (a Catholic priest in his 70's) calls Tupac and Kendrick Lamar prophets, you know there is good stuff happening in the world. 

guy to facebook:

“You have to ask yourself how you will be remembered. As one of the three big internet giants, together with Steve Jobs, I should say, and Bill Gates, who have enriched our world and our societies, or at the other hand, in fact, [as] a genius who created a digital monster that is destroying our democracies and our societies.”

Guy Verhofstadt to Zuckerberg, appearing before the European Parliament yesterday. 

Damn. 

two announcements!

First, the Lights Like Us video is out! Thanks to the awesome people at Kindnss for putting it all together! You can watch it here. See the event if you missed it, watch it again, share it, spread it, enjoy it! And thanks again to all of you who made it what it was that night! 

Second, my interview on the God Broke podcast is out! iTunes here. It's a fairly new podcast from Jason and Jordan and it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. I love these guys and we had a conversation that covered lots of things in a short amount of time. They call me a "modern mystic" which is very kind and makes me sound way better than I am, but hey, I'll take it. Thanks guys! And check it out, I really do think you'll enjoy it. 

great.

I know facts really are difficult these days but let's try anyway. 

Population of U.S. : 325.7 million (2017)

Population of the other G7 countries (G7 countries are generally considered the most advanced economies/arguably countries/ in the world: 

Japan: 127 million (2016)
Germany: 82.67 million (2016)
France: 66.9 million (2016)
U.K.: 66.54 million (2016)
Italy: 60.6 million (2016)
Canada: 36.29 million (2016)

The combined population of the other 6 countries is more than the United States. 

Let's start the measuring in January of 2009 and go to May 21, 2018. 

There have been 288 school shootings in the U.S.
There have been 5 in the other countries. Combined. Yes, combined. 

So, roughly same population sizes. 288 compared to 5. 

You can own guns in every single one of those countries. Yes, some are more strict than others but none of them do not allow citizens to own guns. 

So, let's recap.

288 to 5.

Citizens can own guns in all of them. 

I only say this because someone said to me the other day, we'll never stop school shootings. We can't. It's impossible.

I guess technically they are right. But, I personally prefer 5 to 288. 

It works to say you don't want to do anything, but don't say we can't. Ever. Ever. Ever. Please. 

One more thing: is it great to have less school shootings and more restrictions on guns or more school shootings and less restrictions on guns? Honestly, very important distinction in how people define "great", especially if we're trying to make our country that word or consider it to be the most of that word in the world.

Maybe instead of talking about gun control we should talk about what it means to be great?

Y

Maybe the most important letter in the English alphabet. 

It ends one of the most important words: why. And starts another of the most important: you. 

Together they form one of the most important questions: why you? 

In other words, why do you.... 

believe that?
do that?
think that?
see that?
feel that?
send that?
bring that?
pay that?
support that?
resist that?

Why you?

Not them. Not what. Not her. Not when. Not him. Not who. 

Why. You?

If we can honestly answer that a way we're happy with, we're rolling.

Honestly, if we can just think about that for a half-second, we're rolling.  

if you still don't believe the Bible is true...

This and this. 

The same stories of power, tribes, violence, religion, idolatry, etc... from thousands of years ago... still happening today. 

When we think the point of stories has nothing to do with our own, well, this is what happens. (A point also made throughout the stories...) 

I still have hope that someday we will learn the lessons and change the narratives but, if we follow the trajectories, most of the stories (at this point) have some definite dips on the horizon. 

Unless...

Can we get some badass prophets going?