NOTES OF CONCERN…
…Jack Blair
WHETHER WEATHER
Last week I spent a wonderful time with relatives and friends in Southern Pines and Pinehurst, both in North Carolina. I had for some time wanted to go and visit with them but my schedule simply did not permit.
When I arrived at the Raleigh Durham Airport I was a little disheartened that it was not warmer. It had been 3 degrees when I left home in Massachusetts and headed to Logan airport for the flight to Raleigh Durham. In a hopeful attitude, I put a pair of sunglasses in my coat pocket. During my stay in the South, I never needed the sunglasses but I was surely happy I had taken a couple of sweaters and a winter coat.
Nevertheless, the vacation was everything I had hoped for and it was with a great deal of reluctance that I returned at 8AM one morning to the NC airport for my flight back to Boston. Due to land in Boston around 10AM and go directly to a conference I had planned the trip well but with no wiggle room.
Turns out I needed a lot of wiggle room. I had failed to give sufficient attention to the ugly WHETHER WEATHER question.
Massachusetts had a real cold spell, and a good bit of snow during my sojourn in NC. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had saved the best for last- a big snowstorm hitting Boston the morning of my flight.
On arrival at the JetBlue ticket counter something seemed very wrong. No one was working the counter and no people were in line to check in for the flight.
Some poor soul who worked at the airport went behind the counter and pretended to be an agent. I was told the flight before mine had been cancelled as had my flight. He assured me they had protected me on the next flight, one leaving around 5PM. Remember, it is 8AM and they have done me the great favor of putting me on a 5PM flight. Perhaps I did not look so grateful.
I had no desire to sit around the airport until 5PM so I inquired as to connecting flights that could get me at least part way. I was thinking if I could get as far as NYC the east coast snow would be over and I would fly easily from NYC to Boston in the mid-afternoon, well before 5PM.
“No problem,” he said.
So I was taken off the 5PM non-stop flight from NC to MA and put on a flight earlier to NYC with a connection on to Boston.
“No problem,” I said.
“Problem,” said Mother Nature.
As the morning continued, the flight I was to take to NYC was “delayed.” It was delayed again after one hour and another time after a second hour. I should mention that the word delay is always followed by a period. Nothing follows “delayed.” They do not say how long a delay. They do not say why there is a delay. They do not tell you, in other words, whether you have five hours and can take a cab into town and catch a movie or five minutes to refresh your cup of Starbucks.
It was now clear that even if my NYC flight departed on time I would miss my Boston connection out of NYC. I went up to the desk and asked that I be rebooked on the 5PM direct flight to Boston that I was previously on.
There were four people working that desk. “Working” is not a good descriptive word for what they were doing. They told me they did not have time to rebook me so I needed to go back out of the secure area, down to the main desk, rebook myself and come back through security again.
Somehow these people must have been told that I had been on the flight and that I asked to be taken off of it and that I now wanted back on. I probably sounded a lot like Senator John Kerry and his “for,” “against” and “for” votes that caused his presidential campaign so much trouble.
My response: unprintable.
Down I went. Of the three people working the desk, facing the long line of people trying to find another way out of NC, I drew a real winner. On reflection, I think they grabbed a guy who was sweeping floors and pushed him behind a desk so as to give false hope to we disgruntled travelers.
He took my ticket and my passport, and then asked me my name. This was my first clue. My name was printed on both my ticket and my passport.
I let that pass.
He asked me for a photo ID. Even one who ever travels knows that passports contain passport photos. Nevertheless, I was the supplicant here.
I let that pass as I handed him my MA driver’s license.
I should mention here that to most Southerners the Civil War is not over. In fact, during my stay in NC I heard it referred to often as the “War of Northern Aggression.” I mention this now as it occurred to me that these NC based agents had just been shown a MA driver’s license.
Bad move.
It would have been much better to show him my Mickey Mouse Club membership card, or my American Gold card. If the length of the flight delays had been clearer, I might have been able to run out and join the Sons of the Confederacy and get a photo ID.
The agent went onto his computer. Clearly, this was his first visit to an airline computer.
The next hour gave new meaning to “on the job training.” He yelled a series of questions at the other people working the counter. Since they were very busy trying to look busy helping other travelers they were not inclined to drop what they were doing and come to offer him assistance.
There was not one glint of hope in his eyes.
He booked me, by mistake, twice on the flight.
He was unable to get either booking to cancel.
The machine would not spit out a ticket because I was overbooked.
He had terror in his eyes.
I let that pass.
Finally, the agent let out a groan. I wondered what happened.
Seems the one remaining seat on the flight had been scooped up by a fellow traveler in the counter line beside me, the efficient line, and now there were no seats.
I let that pass.
Finally, someone came to offer help. I think it might have been a hot dog vendor, or maybe a baggage claim clerk. It was clear that whoever it was had more familiarity with both a computer and with JetBlue. When the visiting superman figured things out I did, in fact, have a seat. It seems that making a second booking does not eliminate the first one. Who knew? Certainly not the uniformed employee of JetBlue who was handling my problem.
Now it is almost noon and I am back on the 5PM flight. I was so happy I broke into a chorus of “Dixie” right there in the airport. I said “remember the Alamo” to the agent, sort of in a soft voice as if it were just between the two of us. If I had packed a copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin I would have read aloud to the assembled travelers. I looked in the gift shop for a jacket with the Stars and Bars in red and grey that I could wear for the remaining hours of my stay in NC. And I vowed never to say “Massachusetts” out loud again when in the South.
I went back through security. It was not an uneventful trip this time.
A mere few hours earlier I had sailed through security. Clearly, my good fortune earlier in the day had something to do with their needing their early morning coffee and donuts.
By noon, they were really paying attention to their jobs. I could tell from the giggling, snorting and general merry-making that everyone tasked to work the x-ray scan that day were seriously enjoying his or her work. If Hugh Hefner had known we were headed down this road he would not have needed to start Playboy magazine. I hear folks are lined up outside every airport trying to get one of the scanner jobs. They are crossing the Texas border in droves in hopes of one of these jobs.
In the morning, they let me keep on my belt.
Noon-no way: “Lose the belt buster.”
In the morning, they told me not to put my IPAD in a separate tray since it did not have any wires a speciall tray was not necessary.
Noon-no way: “Back out there and get that IPAD exposed Yank.”
In the morning, they told me I did not need to take off my watch or to carry my boarding pass through the x-ray machine.
Noon---------well, by now you get it.
They did not let me pass easily.
After a little “touchy feely” routine and the securing of a picture of me naked for the FBI and Homeland Security Christmas Party, I was through security for a second time.
Now about 1PM I knew I had to kill four hours till scheduled flight time. I had a little lunch. I watched some TV in the Sports Bar. I read in my book. I answered a bunch of emails. I made a few telephone calls. Now I only had three hours and 30 minutes to kill.
This is exactly what is meant by the phrase “dead brain cells.”
I thought maybe I would walk around the airport and get some exercise. Let me tell you, airports are duller walks than treadmills. When you have seen one frantic traveler you have seen them all. How many stalled planes sitting at gates that are not open to passengers can one watch in four hours and stay interested?
Maybe a good time for a bathroom break. Friends, in an airport there is no good time for a bathroom break.
You may not leave your luggage anywhere. If you do, you are told an army of TSA agents will sweep down on you and you will be sent to Guantanamo Bay for questioning and to wait until President Obama closes the place…which does not seem to be happening any time soon.
If you decide to brave it, you get about halfway from the gate area to the bathroom before the announcement comes over the loudspeaker detailing all of the horrible things that will happen to you if you leave your luggage unattended.
OK. They have to be watching. No way they could time that announcement to my potty break so accurately.
So you schlep your carry-on bag, your one additional piece of approved luggage (a purse or brief case) and your winter coat with you to the bathroom.
Friends, no one involved in the design of either a bathroom urinal or a stall envisioned you using them with two pieces of luggage and a heavy coat. You know this because there is not enough room on the floor to place the bags. Rarely have they provided a hook for a coat. And then there is the matter of all the wet areas of the floor beneath your feet, clearly breeding grounds for all sorts of bacteria and other less mentionable things. All over the airport are little machines to spray your hands. In bathrooms they should install machines to spray your shoes.
So you try to re-arrange your clothing while hoisting two bags and a coat without having an accident and contributing to the mess already on the floor.
I think it was in the rest room of an airport that Michael Jackson first learned to Moonwalk.
The only good thing that can be said about this experience is that no one is looking at you and laughing because they are all engaged in the same dance you are doing on the cold, wet and dirty tile floor on which you have set two of your bags and reluctantly dropped your winter coat.
During my roughly nine hours waiting for a plane did any airline official offer me a sandwich? Perhaps a free cocktail? A chance to check into a motel and take a flight the next morning? A box of Kleenex?
Nope. Nada. S-O-L fella!
When my 5PM flight was finally called, at 6:45PM, I boarded the plane. The flight is about two hours. Normally. Everything was going smashingly (perhaps not the best word when flying) until we got into Boston air space.
You have undoubtedly heard of that old dance routine called the Hokey/Pokey where everyone lines up and goes right, left, back, around, etc. Well we played airline Hokey/Pokey for another hour while some genius in the Logan Tower took bids on which planes to let land and in what order. I think it had something to do with tickets to the Super Bowl but no one was very clear about it.
I made it to my hotel in Boston about 10PM. You would think I would be happy and relieved.
Nope.
The guy who took my car at the door told me I would owe them $96 for parking when I left. He went out of his way to note this did not include a tip. My head hadn’t even hit the pillow and I owed Sheraton $96.
I hung on to my luggage for dear life. No way was I going to have some guy carry it from the curb to the desk inside and wait for a big tip. I schlepped it myself. I cannot bring myself to relate to you the cost of the room. The good news was the floor was clean and there was a hook for my coat.
The day had been long and tiring. I decided a martini and a shrimp cocktail while sitting quietly in the lounge would help get me calmed down enough to sleep. Just as I was really calming down the waitress brought the bill: $37.00 And, it did not include the tip.
Friends, the moral of this story is that travel is not for intelligent or practical people. It is not good for people easily irritated. It does not generally work for people who are cheap, stingy or poor. And it is most certainly not for anyone who has not considered the weather report.
It isn’t a great idea for anyone who wants to make sense out of their day.
Travel remains of interest only to airlines that manage to fill every seat on their plane but still cannot turn a profit.
Travel remains of interest to those who work as waiters and porters and garage attendants. You have to tip them because they do not earn a decent wage and you have to do so while their employers are robbing you of every dime you have. But after their harrowing trip across the border from Mexico at least they don’t get taxed on their tips.
Travel is a great interest to owners of hotels and providers of food and drink. Imagine that you could get hundreds of dollars every night by letting someone sleep in your bedroom. Then you could get another $50 for permitting them to park in your driveway. You could collect $5 or $10 for helping them with their bags. You could get $3.50 for a cup of coffee and $3.75 for one biscotti biscuit. Then there is the matter of charging them to watch your TV, use your bottled water, or take drinks or snacks from your refrigerator.
I have notified the wife that I am opening The Blair Arms.
I can make enough dough on renting out the guest room 365 nights to enable me to travel into Boston or down to North Carolina one or two days each year.
Depending on whether the weather cooperates on those days, of course.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
The Cheese Stands Alone
American foreign policy purports to be built in modern times on a disinterest in "nation building." Accordingly, we must choose to prop up regimes that, when the chips are truly down, can be counted on to provide support to us in our own pursuit of foreign policy goals. World War II was a good example in that we were in bed with Stalin in order to defeat a more serious threat from Hitler.
Hosni Mubarak succeeded Anwar Sadat. Throughout the rules of these two men the U.S. has had a friend in Egypt. In light of the commonly accepted truth that we have few friends in that area of the world, it has been in our national self interest to overlook on many occasions the way Egypt operated in a number of spheres. Of course there are things done in Egypt that we would never permit in our own democracy. Undoubtedly there were violations of human rights. The list of "concerns" could go on.
It behooves us to remember that President Anwar Sadat took a bullet from his own army because of his willingness to consider talking with the State of Israel, a willingness that we pressed upon him in a highly public and pressure filled visit to Camp David. His successor, Hosni Mubarak, has been able to continue as our ally for 30 years. For those who haven't checked lately, you can count our allies in the Middle East on one hand.
Now there is a concerted effort to bring down regimes that are not fundamentalist and replace them with more leaders like those with which we must deal in current day Iran. Egypt may fall to fundamentalism. If so, others will shortly fall also. The end result will be a block of mid-east fundamental regimes with no greater purpose than the decimation of the State of Israel and all out terrorism against the United States.
We played this game of Russian roulette a number of years ago when President Carter turned our national back on the Shah of Iran because of his human rights violations. Not only did we lose a strategic ally in that part of the world we gained a new foe in the form of a fundamentalist state that hates our nation, threatens the area with the creation of nuclear weapons, denies the Holocaust, ignore the United Nations and generally funds and encourages the kind of revolt currently happening in Egypt.
So we made our point: we do not support regimes that do not act nicely. We were instrumental in putting in place a far more threatening, irrational and horrible regime.
Short sighted. Naive. Foolish. I would apply all three adjectives to our foreign policy under James Earl Carter. President Obama would do well to study history. As in the old childrens' song "The Farmer in the Dell"-ultimately the "cheese stands alone."
The "cheese" in this instance is The United States of America.
It is a wake up call.
Hosni Mubarak succeeded Anwar Sadat. Throughout the rules of these two men the U.S. has had a friend in Egypt. In light of the commonly accepted truth that we have few friends in that area of the world, it has been in our national self interest to overlook on many occasions the way Egypt operated in a number of spheres. Of course there are things done in Egypt that we would never permit in our own democracy. Undoubtedly there were violations of human rights. The list of "concerns" could go on.
It behooves us to remember that President Anwar Sadat took a bullet from his own army because of his willingness to consider talking with the State of Israel, a willingness that we pressed upon him in a highly public and pressure filled visit to Camp David. His successor, Hosni Mubarak, has been able to continue as our ally for 30 years. For those who haven't checked lately, you can count our allies in the Middle East on one hand.
Now there is a concerted effort to bring down regimes that are not fundamentalist and replace them with more leaders like those with which we must deal in current day Iran. Egypt may fall to fundamentalism. If so, others will shortly fall also. The end result will be a block of mid-east fundamental regimes with no greater purpose than the decimation of the State of Israel and all out terrorism against the United States.
We played this game of Russian roulette a number of years ago when President Carter turned our national back on the Shah of Iran because of his human rights violations. Not only did we lose a strategic ally in that part of the world we gained a new foe in the form of a fundamentalist state that hates our nation, threatens the area with the creation of nuclear weapons, denies the Holocaust, ignore the United Nations and generally funds and encourages the kind of revolt currently happening in Egypt.
So we made our point: we do not support regimes that do not act nicely. We were instrumental in putting in place a far more threatening, irrational and horrible regime.
Short sighted. Naive. Foolish. I would apply all three adjectives to our foreign policy under James Earl Carter. President Obama would do well to study history. As in the old childrens' song "The Farmer in the Dell"-ultimately the "cheese stands alone."
The "cheese" in this instance is The United States of America.
It is a wake up call.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
A LOT OF BULL
Notes of Concern...
...Jack Blair
A LOT OF BULL
I was born on June 4th.
All my life, according to the Zodiac, I have been a Gemini, a twin.
While I do not place a lot of faith in Zodiac signs or the supposed characteristics that are predictable in people based on the Zodiac, I have over the years enjoyed being told by those who believe in these signs how my personality fits the Gemini designation.
Since my wife is also a Gemini I just assumed we were the “twins” being referred to!
So often in life change upsets the apple cart.
After much study a couple of “dingbats” have decided someone got the dates wrong or that the stars are out of alignment or that Elvis screwed things up when he went hiding behind a yet undiscovered star in a far away galaxy.
Whatever.
They say this has all happened because the Earth got a little wobbly on her axis. And here I thought my “wobbly days” were due to an aged body with a bit of arthritis. Who knew the globe was playing “bake and shake” without our knowledge.
(Well, in all fairness Al Gore did tell me about the “bake” part. And to think I thought he was flaky.)
I am now a "Bull", a Taurus.
No “BS” - a bull I am!
The wife gets to remain a Gemini! I hope she doesn’t start looking for a new “twin” to replace me. She was never much into barnyard animals and, as I recall, even refused to go see a bullfight when we visited Spain.
So I am now a bull.
This will not come as a surprise to many who know me. Although my true sign was hidden all these years many have accused me of being a “bull in a China shop.” People have long known I can “throw the bull” with the best of them. And over the years a number of strangers have said “BS!” in response to something I have said. Perhaps I should have picked up on those early clues that something was remiss.
Frankly, I don’t think I ever bought into the Twin/Gemini thing. I have always known I was “one of a kind.” No way there was another of me. So maybe there is something to this Bull stuff. I can now go by the name “Bull Blair.” It has a nice ring to it but no matter what bulls wear in their noses I am not having any nose ring in mine.
So as I enter my golden years of retirement I find I now have to adjust my personality, abandon my Gemini life and internalize my Taurus.
I may not be writing for a few weeks because I have to first find a carnival sideshow or a traveling Gypsy band to learn more about my new horoscope and how it might impact my membership in AARP.
Psychic readings don’t come cheap and I am going to need to cash in a few IRAs in order to get a handle on my new found personality.
From the website Explore Astrology I found this definition of the new me:
“The function of Taurus, more than any other sign, is to witness to the value of the senses in human life. We are material beings with physical bodies which have needs and desires, and Taurus says, in effect, these needs are valid, the body's desires are to be valued and appreciated for their own sake. Good food, good wine, good sex, a beautifully furnished home and tastefully chosen clothing are all to be enjoyed, and can make Taureans feel good about themselves, and so make them more lively and satisfying contributors to human life as a whole.”
As everyone who has packed on some years knows, the older we are the harder it is to change. But I am reasonably clever and I intend to accept this major diversion in my life and plan accordingly.
“Good food, good wine, good sex, a beautifully furnished home and tastefully chosen clothing are all to be enjoyed…”- I accept. It is surely a big challenge but as the old saying goes: it isn’t much of a hill for a stepper!!!
A man does what a man has to do!
I wish they had notified me of this change in my teenage years. It is going to be a little hard to live up to the Zodiac expectation at my current stage in life. But I intend to make every effort to do so.
I am reminded of that story of the old bull and the young bull standing on a hill, looking down on a herd of cows… well, that is another story and not appropriate for a family newspaper but it is an example of how a bull is supposed to operate. Suffice to say I am so happy to be the “old bull” and to now know it was always my destiny.
...Jack Blair
A LOT OF BULL
I was born on June 4th.
All my life, according to the Zodiac, I have been a Gemini, a twin.
While I do not place a lot of faith in Zodiac signs or the supposed characteristics that are predictable in people based on the Zodiac, I have over the years enjoyed being told by those who believe in these signs how my personality fits the Gemini designation.
Since my wife is also a Gemini I just assumed we were the “twins” being referred to!
So often in life change upsets the apple cart.
After much study a couple of “dingbats” have decided someone got the dates wrong or that the stars are out of alignment or that Elvis screwed things up when he went hiding behind a yet undiscovered star in a far away galaxy.
Whatever.
They say this has all happened because the Earth got a little wobbly on her axis. And here I thought my “wobbly days” were due to an aged body with a bit of arthritis. Who knew the globe was playing “bake and shake” without our knowledge.
(Well, in all fairness Al Gore did tell me about the “bake” part. And to think I thought he was flaky.)
I am now a "Bull", a Taurus.
No “BS” - a bull I am!
The wife gets to remain a Gemini! I hope she doesn’t start looking for a new “twin” to replace me. She was never much into barnyard animals and, as I recall, even refused to go see a bullfight when we visited Spain.
So I am now a bull.
This will not come as a surprise to many who know me. Although my true sign was hidden all these years many have accused me of being a “bull in a China shop.” People have long known I can “throw the bull” with the best of them. And over the years a number of strangers have said “BS!” in response to something I have said. Perhaps I should have picked up on those early clues that something was remiss.
Frankly, I don’t think I ever bought into the Twin/Gemini thing. I have always known I was “one of a kind.” No way there was another of me. So maybe there is something to this Bull stuff. I can now go by the name “Bull Blair.” It has a nice ring to it but no matter what bulls wear in their noses I am not having any nose ring in mine.
So as I enter my golden years of retirement I find I now have to adjust my personality, abandon my Gemini life and internalize my Taurus.
I may not be writing for a few weeks because I have to first find a carnival sideshow or a traveling Gypsy band to learn more about my new horoscope and how it might impact my membership in AARP.
Psychic readings don’t come cheap and I am going to need to cash in a few IRAs in order to get a handle on my new found personality.
From the website Explore Astrology I found this definition of the new me:
“The function of Taurus, more than any other sign, is to witness to the value of the senses in human life. We are material beings with physical bodies which have needs and desires, and Taurus says, in effect, these needs are valid, the body's desires are to be valued and appreciated for their own sake. Good food, good wine, good sex, a beautifully furnished home and tastefully chosen clothing are all to be enjoyed, and can make Taureans feel good about themselves, and so make them more lively and satisfying contributors to human life as a whole.”
As everyone who has packed on some years knows, the older we are the harder it is to change. But I am reasonably clever and I intend to accept this major diversion in my life and plan accordingly.
“Good food, good wine, good sex, a beautifully furnished home and tastefully chosen clothing are all to be enjoyed…”- I accept. It is surely a big challenge but as the old saying goes: it isn’t much of a hill for a stepper!!!
A man does what a man has to do!
I wish they had notified me of this change in my teenage years. It is going to be a little hard to live up to the Zodiac expectation at my current stage in life. But I intend to make every effort to do so.
I am reminded of that story of the old bull and the young bull standing on a hill, looking down on a herd of cows… well, that is another story and not appropriate for a family newspaper but it is an example of how a bull is supposed to operate. Suffice to say I am so happy to be the “old bull” and to now know it was always my destiny.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
UNACCEPTABLE
Notes of Concern…
…Jack Blair
UNACCEPTABLE
From the beginnings of our country there have been unsettled, unhappy, irrational, mentally and emotionally disturbed people in our midst.
These people are still with us and always will be.
One television program or political campaign or school disciplinary procedure does not make them what they are. They are a product of a gene pool, parenting style, exposure to outside events, lack of medical and psychological attention, and so many other variables that it is simply not acceptable to try to define their disorders by attacking any one of these “causes.”
What prompted a young man to shoot President Reagan? Should we really believe it was simply an attempt to impress an actress?
When President Garfield was gunned down by an unhappy job seeker, are we to really believe it was only the assassin’s inability to receive employment that caused him to take the life of our national leader?
When a young fan shot the “Beatle” John Lennon outside his NYC residence should we really accept that he simply wanted fame.
These three murderers, and so many others who find themselves in these situations are the product of a lifetime of experiences as well as possible deficiencies in their physical and mental health. All of this comes together in the moment of their taking an action that runs counter to the norms of society.
Our society, over many years, has evolved ways of handling these sorts of aberrant behavior. We do it through our justice system. Occasionally, the justice system must work hand in hand with mental health professionals.
Early in our history these murderers often met with tragic ends. There were lynchings. There were ostracisms from society. There were incarcerations and commitments to mental institutions.
Today we are advanced enough to apply all the remedies and penalties crafted by laws enacted over years of experience. We are able to separate crimes of passion, crimes of premeditation, crimes of incredible perversity and to bring to the equation both the penalty required and the treatment necessary in light of all the special circumstances.
The Arizona Congresswoman was doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing: communicating with her constituents. The federal judge stopped by on his way home from Mass to ask the Congresswoman some questions. A little nine-year-old girl was experiencing the thrill of seeing a member of Congress right in front of her. In other words, normal people were going about normal activities when an abnormal personality brought down on them unspeakable horror.
This disturbed young man must now face the totality of our justice system. He must be tried and he must be punished. Whatever his deficiencies and whatever the extenuating circumstances the final fact of taking away the future of so many people, separating them from their loved ones, denying us their talents and forever ending their dreams simply is too great an affront to permit rational and heartfelt sympathy for him or an acceptance that his own demons were the foundation of his behavior.
In the passage of time, he will receive both justice and treatment.
In the passage of time we will come to understand what happened in Arizona to be part of the unpredictable and random part of life.
We will never come to understand why we encounter these people any more than we really understand why bad things happen to good people.
Our human nature will never allow us to ignore the randomness of this kind of acting out. Our deepest feelings, our convictions, will never permit us to be completely without wanting some sort of justice to be applied to such acts.
But justice is measured. Justice is delivered in the manner our deepest study and experience has shown us to be impartial and right. Our justice system has evolved over hundreds of years of experience in our own country and with an understanding of the common law that traces back far beyond that in the world.
It would be good if we could begin to better see the early signs of this kind of outrageous behavior in individuals. There never is a lack of signs. Each time we modify our reaction to the signs or allow ourselves to be lulled into believing the signs do not have meaning nor require remedies, we enable this kind of person to engage in behaviors that eventually lead to the kind of situation we experienced in Arizona.
As a country, as a people, we need to be more engaged in observing our fellow citizens and we need to be more willing to intervene at an earlier point in the divergent paths some people seem to be on, divergent from commonly acceptable behaviors.
Let us stop being enablers and begin being better observers on a path that could seriously reduce these sorts of anti-societal behaviors.
…Jack Blair
UNACCEPTABLE
From the beginnings of our country there have been unsettled, unhappy, irrational, mentally and emotionally disturbed people in our midst.
These people are still with us and always will be.
One television program or political campaign or school disciplinary procedure does not make them what they are. They are a product of a gene pool, parenting style, exposure to outside events, lack of medical and psychological attention, and so many other variables that it is simply not acceptable to try to define their disorders by attacking any one of these “causes.”
What prompted a young man to shoot President Reagan? Should we really believe it was simply an attempt to impress an actress?
When President Garfield was gunned down by an unhappy job seeker, are we to really believe it was only the assassin’s inability to receive employment that caused him to take the life of our national leader?
When a young fan shot the “Beatle” John Lennon outside his NYC residence should we really accept that he simply wanted fame.
These three murderers, and so many others who find themselves in these situations are the product of a lifetime of experiences as well as possible deficiencies in their physical and mental health. All of this comes together in the moment of their taking an action that runs counter to the norms of society.
Our society, over many years, has evolved ways of handling these sorts of aberrant behavior. We do it through our justice system. Occasionally, the justice system must work hand in hand with mental health professionals.
Early in our history these murderers often met with tragic ends. There were lynchings. There were ostracisms from society. There were incarcerations and commitments to mental institutions.
Today we are advanced enough to apply all the remedies and penalties crafted by laws enacted over years of experience. We are able to separate crimes of passion, crimes of premeditation, crimes of incredible perversity and to bring to the equation both the penalty required and the treatment necessary in light of all the special circumstances.
The Arizona Congresswoman was doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing: communicating with her constituents. The federal judge stopped by on his way home from Mass to ask the Congresswoman some questions. A little nine-year-old girl was experiencing the thrill of seeing a member of Congress right in front of her. In other words, normal people were going about normal activities when an abnormal personality brought down on them unspeakable horror.
This disturbed young man must now face the totality of our justice system. He must be tried and he must be punished. Whatever his deficiencies and whatever the extenuating circumstances the final fact of taking away the future of so many people, separating them from their loved ones, denying us their talents and forever ending their dreams simply is too great an affront to permit rational and heartfelt sympathy for him or an acceptance that his own demons were the foundation of his behavior.
In the passage of time, he will receive both justice and treatment.
In the passage of time we will come to understand what happened in Arizona to be part of the unpredictable and random part of life.
We will never come to understand why we encounter these people any more than we really understand why bad things happen to good people.
Our human nature will never allow us to ignore the randomness of this kind of acting out. Our deepest feelings, our convictions, will never permit us to be completely without wanting some sort of justice to be applied to such acts.
But justice is measured. Justice is delivered in the manner our deepest study and experience has shown us to be impartial and right. Our justice system has evolved over hundreds of years of experience in our own country and with an understanding of the common law that traces back far beyond that in the world.
It would be good if we could begin to better see the early signs of this kind of outrageous behavior in individuals. There never is a lack of signs. Each time we modify our reaction to the signs or allow ourselves to be lulled into believing the signs do not have meaning nor require remedies, we enable this kind of person to engage in behaviors that eventually lead to the kind of situation we experienced in Arizona.
As a country, as a people, we need to be more engaged in observing our fellow citizens and we need to be more willing to intervene at an earlier point in the divergent paths some people seem to be on, divergent from commonly acceptable behaviors.
Let us stop being enablers and begin being better observers on a path that could seriously reduce these sorts of anti-societal behaviors.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
MEGA BUCKS & MEGA NUTS
Notes of Concern…
…Jack Blair
Mega Bucks and Mega Nuts
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Maybe it was because I had just returned from spending the Christmas holidays at Yosemite National Park, but the television “ad” really caught my attention. Throughout the next few days, it appeared again and again.
First you see a picture of a two-dollar bill, or facsimile thereof. You notice that it has a picture of one of our national parks. Then the voice tells you that you can have this collector’s item for a mere thirty dollars plus shipping and handling.
Who knew there were “collectors” of this sort of thing?
I am betting most of them live on the west coast!
With me so far?
You pay $30 and get $2 in return.
This limited edition is also colored. As I recall it is colored in yellow. And you can actually have it for $10 if you telephone your order soon enough.
The early bird still gets the worm (and how)!
With me?
You pay $10 plus shipping and handling and you get $2 in return.
But, since you are really a nice person, they will throw in another $2 bill if you act on the offer quickly enough.
Still with me?
You pay $10 plus unstated shipping and handling charges and you get $4 in return.
It takes the bright watchers and listeners only a short time before they realize the deal just went up 100% for them. They can grab two of these $2 bills instead of one if they smile and dial quickly.
Now it is obvious that there must be a large group of the easily fooled out there in TV land. Somebody recognized that printing up these flimsy pieces of paper, throwing in some yellow dye, and buying up the broadcast advertisement time, could yield a mighty handsome profit.
And, as an aside, they must have gotten a count of the gullible and addle brained in the United States before embarking on this scheme. In other words, they knew the market was out there.
Hey, if someone down in Connecticut (yes folks, not DC or NYC or “lalaLand”-not the U.S. Mint nor the Federal Reserve) can do this and make money, why not me? Those lower Fairfield county bumpkins have nothing on us real New Englanders when it comes to ingenuity.
So I am announcing that I am setting up shop right here in my town. I am going to beat these advertising geniuses at their own game.
I am going to get a local printer to run off a gazillion $4 bills. These will be colored in red, white and blue, not because they will be frameably beautiful but because I don’t want the U.S. Mint and the Feds knocking at my door and using words like “counterfeiter” and “criminal” and “hard time” any time soon.
In fact, I plan to use elementary school children to do the coloring. If the beautiful red, white and blue coloring doesn’t capture the investor, surely the child labor concept will.
My $4 bills will be available for the same price as those $2 babies. People seeing my ad will immediately recognize that my bargain is better than what they saw previously. Now they can get $8 for their investment of $10.
What a deal.
Who could refuse?
So I am planning on becoming the next instant billionaire. That Facebook founder guy better look behind because I will be coming up fast.
One problem I have yet to solve.
The ad I saw kept saying “shipping & handling” but never gave the cost of that. Realistically, two small rectangles of paper placed in an envelope with one stamp could surely only cost, say, in the neighborhood of $10.
Buyers have to understand that the shipping department does not require a lot of overhead but that “handling” part, now there you have a labor intensive effort.
So I will quietly collect $20 in real, spendable, U.S. currency (including shipping & handling) in return for my sending off the equivalent of $8 (two $4 bills) that will not be spendable, for a pure $20 profit, less labor, printing and paper costs.
I greet 2011 as the “Year of the Entrepreneurial Spirit”. This is the year I hit the jackpot. My mega millions await.
To keep the Feds happy and off my case I plan to share my client list with them. The Feds are very happy to occasionally get a count of the nut cases currently residing in the United States. It helps them arrange testing procedures to be used by Homeland Security at our airports, but that is another story.
There is only one possible way this plan could fail.
What if the kids cannot color within the lines!
…Jack Blair
Mega Bucks and Mega Nuts
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Maybe it was because I had just returned from spending the Christmas holidays at Yosemite National Park, but the television “ad” really caught my attention. Throughout the next few days, it appeared again and again.
First you see a picture of a two-dollar bill, or facsimile thereof. You notice that it has a picture of one of our national parks. Then the voice tells you that you can have this collector’s item for a mere thirty dollars plus shipping and handling.
Who knew there were “collectors” of this sort of thing?
I am betting most of them live on the west coast!
With me so far?
You pay $30 and get $2 in return.
This limited edition is also colored. As I recall it is colored in yellow. And you can actually have it for $10 if you telephone your order soon enough.
The early bird still gets the worm (and how)!
With me?
You pay $10 plus shipping and handling and you get $2 in return.
But, since you are really a nice person, they will throw in another $2 bill if you act on the offer quickly enough.
Still with me?
You pay $10 plus unstated shipping and handling charges and you get $4 in return.
It takes the bright watchers and listeners only a short time before they realize the deal just went up 100% for them. They can grab two of these $2 bills instead of one if they smile and dial quickly.
Now it is obvious that there must be a large group of the easily fooled out there in TV land. Somebody recognized that printing up these flimsy pieces of paper, throwing in some yellow dye, and buying up the broadcast advertisement time, could yield a mighty handsome profit.
And, as an aside, they must have gotten a count of the gullible and addle brained in the United States before embarking on this scheme. In other words, they knew the market was out there.
Hey, if someone down in Connecticut (yes folks, not DC or NYC or “lalaLand”-not the U.S. Mint nor the Federal Reserve) can do this and make money, why not me? Those lower Fairfield county bumpkins have nothing on us real New Englanders when it comes to ingenuity.
So I am announcing that I am setting up shop right here in my town. I am going to beat these advertising geniuses at their own game.
I am going to get a local printer to run off a gazillion $4 bills. These will be colored in red, white and blue, not because they will be frameably beautiful but because I don’t want the U.S. Mint and the Feds knocking at my door and using words like “counterfeiter” and “criminal” and “hard time” any time soon.
In fact, I plan to use elementary school children to do the coloring. If the beautiful red, white and blue coloring doesn’t capture the investor, surely the child labor concept will.
My $4 bills will be available for the same price as those $2 babies. People seeing my ad will immediately recognize that my bargain is better than what they saw previously. Now they can get $8 for their investment of $10.
What a deal.
Who could refuse?
So I am planning on becoming the next instant billionaire. That Facebook founder guy better look behind because I will be coming up fast.
One problem I have yet to solve.
The ad I saw kept saying “shipping & handling” but never gave the cost of that. Realistically, two small rectangles of paper placed in an envelope with one stamp could surely only cost, say, in the neighborhood of $10.
Buyers have to understand that the shipping department does not require a lot of overhead but that “handling” part, now there you have a labor intensive effort.
So I will quietly collect $20 in real, spendable, U.S. currency (including shipping & handling) in return for my sending off the equivalent of $8 (two $4 bills) that will not be spendable, for a pure $20 profit, less labor, printing and paper costs.
I greet 2011 as the “Year of the Entrepreneurial Spirit”. This is the year I hit the jackpot. My mega millions await.
To keep the Feds happy and off my case I plan to share my client list with them. The Feds are very happy to occasionally get a count of the nut cases currently residing in the United States. It helps them arrange testing procedures to be used by Homeland Security at our airports, but that is another story.
There is only one possible way this plan could fail.
What if the kids cannot color within the lines!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Public Discourse
NOTES OF CONCERN…
…Jack Blair
With recently completed elections both national and local, I am reminded again of how many different opinions we Americans hold on issues that relate directly to how we live our lives.
Over the course of my life I have found persuasive arguments on competing sides of issues to be interesting to study intellectually.
It takes time and an open mind to be able to weigh the merits of arguments, sift them into the personal opinions you bring with you from your own life experiences, consider the depth and breadth of the experience of the person making the argument, and then reach a decision as to where you currently stand on the issue in question.
Even after all of this there is the danger of being unduly influenced by the speaker. I can remember a President of The United States for whom I did not vote who could, in a few short minutes on television, lead me in my thinking to exactly where he wanted me to be. Every time I listened to him I had to force myself to remember the larger context of what he was addressing, his position on many other issues, and how I needed to guard against his wonderful personality and presentation.
There are some things I have learned over the years about conflicting positions on important issues. Perhaps the most important, in my thinking, is that although there are a huge number of opinions on all the issues it is not necessary to “marry” any one of them.
That being said, for the person who wishes to be truly wise ,it is necessary to “date” all those opinions.
Happy New Year to my readers.
I hope you will prosper and be healthy and happy in the months ahead. And I hope you will continue to read as much as you can about all the issues that confront us in our lives.
…Jack Blair
With recently completed elections both national and local, I am reminded again of how many different opinions we Americans hold on issues that relate directly to how we live our lives.
Over the course of my life I have found persuasive arguments on competing sides of issues to be interesting to study intellectually.
It takes time and an open mind to be able to weigh the merits of arguments, sift them into the personal opinions you bring with you from your own life experiences, consider the depth and breadth of the experience of the person making the argument, and then reach a decision as to where you currently stand on the issue in question.
Even after all of this there is the danger of being unduly influenced by the speaker. I can remember a President of The United States for whom I did not vote who could, in a few short minutes on television, lead me in my thinking to exactly where he wanted me to be. Every time I listened to him I had to force myself to remember the larger context of what he was addressing, his position on many other issues, and how I needed to guard against his wonderful personality and presentation.
There are some things I have learned over the years about conflicting positions on important issues. Perhaps the most important, in my thinking, is that although there are a huge number of opinions on all the issues it is not necessary to “marry” any one of them.
That being said, for the person who wishes to be truly wise ,it is necessary to “date” all those opinions.
Happy New Year to my readers.
I hope you will prosper and be healthy and happy in the months ahead. And I hope you will continue to read as much as you can about all the issues that confront us in our lives.
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