Like many of my like-minded friends, I was disappointed with the outcome of last November’s election. But that was so last year.
Like it or not, today is a huge day in American history for obvious reasons.
But racism is not over. The United States has not (perhaps) fully paid its debt for allowing slavery to ever come to our shores in the first place. Decades of discrimination and Jim Crow laws cannot be wiped away with a few pieces of well-crafted legislation. And electing our first African-American President will not completely wipe away the damage done. It is a start.
But today – and maybe just for today – millions of African-Americans can have hope again. The same kind of hope they felt in 1963 when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech.
None of us should take that hope away from those who have waited so long for this day to take place. I’m sure millions never dreamed this day could ever even happen.
Today is hugely symbolic. Tomorrow Pres. Barack Obama, our 44th President, must get down to the nitty gritty of figuring out how to restore confidence in our economy, how to continue to protect our people from terrorist attacks, and dive into the quagmire we call the Middle East – just to name a few priorities.
And when he does, it won’t matter anymore whether he is black or white or how unusual his last name may be. Will he make choices I don’t like or agree with? Sure, but so did our previous President and the one before him and the one …
I admonished a friend on Facebook yesterday for some disrespectful comments he made about the Inauguration. I was not trying to be holier-than-thou when I reminded him of the 2nd chapter of 1st Timothy. Ironically (or maybe by design), today I was reading in Acts 23, verse 5 where Paul said “Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people,” which has its origins in Exodus 22:28.
I won’t promise to pray for our President every day. Maybe I should. But I’m not faithful enough to always pray for everything important every single day.
But what I can commit to, is to not speak badly of him. I can criticize his decisions, disagree with his policies and even hope he is not re-elected in 2012, but bottom line, he is our President right now which makes him my President and therefore deserving of at least my respect and when possible, my prayers.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Communication Breakdown
Talking with a co-worker the other day and somewhat stating the obvious how the internet has changed everything. Further re-stating the obvious to say how it has becomes so many things that were once something else: shopping malls, town squares, encyclopedias and libraries and bookstores, party-lines (more on this later) - this list could go on ad infinitum.
But I thought about how much had changed in my own experience in terms of communications. Postcards have been replaced by Twitters or emailed pictures ("Wish You Were Here!") When I was young, postcards were a big deal. Does anybody send postcards anymore - beside your dentist to remind that it's time for a cleaning?
Party-lines? Not sure exactly what replaced them but has anyone ever been on one or even remember what they were? As a kid I recall my mother being relieved when we finally got our own private line. We no longer had to pick up the phone and hope somebody wasn't already on the line or that while speaking, someone else wouldn't cut in. Hard to imagine a time when the technology could barely carry one conversation down the copper wires. This was 50 years ago mind you but ... when we moved to Missouri in 1991 we had to have a party-line. Funny thing was at first we were the only party on it. Then we moved and in the next house we had to share a line with the people who bought our first house. Fortunately this didn't last long but for a time we had to listen for a certain ring which meant the call was for us.
Fax machines. These have almost (if not already) been made obsolete by email and attachments etc. But I remember my first fax machine. My job required me to communicate with offices in several countries overseas in vastly different time zones. One day my boss's boss, who was a technology geek, came in with something called a QWIP. Odd thing is, I think it was made by Exxon. It was as big as a laser printer is now and had a drum. You put either blank paper (to receive) on one sheet at a time or if sending you put the page face out on the drum. Secured it in place, picked up the handset, dialed a number, waited for some weird tone and then put the handset in a cradle. After a bit the drum would start to spin. It took between 3 & 6 minutes for one page. Nobody would wait that long for anything today but in 1976, this was a miracle. Didn't matter what time it was overseas, I could send my document (one page at a time of course) whenever I wanted and the next day it would be in Sydney or Manila or wherever.
Telegrams. The last one I remember getting personally was on my wedding day from a close friend in CA (Hi and thanks Roy!) But at work we had two machines: a telex and a TWX. Eventually I learned how to use both of them. They were these big clunky machines we kept in our art department - where photoshop hadn't yet been invented and their primary tools were talent, exacto knives and something by Pantone. I think TWX was faster than a Telex. But both of them printed things out on thin yellow-ish paper. Sending meant manually typing in every word. One of them was in real-time which meant there was no benefit to being a fast typist. The machine could only go so fast. If you went too fast (never was my problem!) it either spit our gibberish on the other end or went into freeze mode.
For some reason on the way to work this morning I guess I was feeling nostalgic for all this old technology. At least I could keep up with it.
But I thought about how much had changed in my own experience in terms of communications. Postcards have been replaced by Twitters or emailed pictures ("Wish You Were Here!") When I was young, postcards were a big deal. Does anybody send postcards anymore - beside your dentist to remind that it's time for a cleaning?
Party-lines? Not sure exactly what replaced them but has anyone ever been on one or even remember what they were? As a kid I recall my mother being relieved when we finally got our own private line. We no longer had to pick up the phone and hope somebody wasn't already on the line or that while speaking, someone else wouldn't cut in. Hard to imagine a time when the technology could barely carry one conversation down the copper wires. This was 50 years ago mind you but ... when we moved to Missouri in 1991 we had to have a party-line. Funny thing was at first we were the only party on it. Then we moved and in the next house we had to share a line with the people who bought our first house. Fortunately this didn't last long but for a time we had to listen for a certain ring which meant the call was for us.
Fax machines. These have almost (if not already) been made obsolete by email and attachments etc. But I remember my first fax machine. My job required me to communicate with offices in several countries overseas in vastly different time zones. One day my boss's boss, who was a technology geek, came in with something called a QWIP. Odd thing is, I think it was made by Exxon. It was as big as a laser printer is now and had a drum. You put either blank paper (to receive) on one sheet at a time or if sending you put the page face out on the drum. Secured it in place, picked up the handset, dialed a number, waited for some weird tone and then put the handset in a cradle. After a bit the drum would start to spin. It took between 3 & 6 minutes for one page. Nobody would wait that long for anything today but in 1976, this was a miracle. Didn't matter what time it was overseas, I could send my document (one page at a time of course) whenever I wanted and the next day it would be in Sydney or Manila or wherever.
Telegrams. The last one I remember getting personally was on my wedding day from a close friend in CA (Hi and thanks Roy!) But at work we had two machines: a telex and a TWX. Eventually I learned how to use both of them. They were these big clunky machines we kept in our art department - where photoshop hadn't yet been invented and their primary tools were talent, exacto knives and something by Pantone. I think TWX was faster than a Telex. But both of them printed things out on thin yellow-ish paper. Sending meant manually typing in every word. One of them was in real-time which meant there was no benefit to being a fast typist. The machine could only go so fast. If you went too fast (never was my problem!) it either spit our gibberish on the other end or went into freeze mode.
For some reason on the way to work this morning I guess I was feeling nostalgic for all this old technology. At least I could keep up with it.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
No more Indy please!
Sorry to say this but I tried to watch the latest installment of Indiana Jones - something about a Crystal Skull and aliens. Somethings just can't be improved upon. In its time Raiders was great. Admittedly I don't think it holds up over time but way back when ...
#2 was too gruesome, dark, etc. #3 was ok mostly because I really like Sean Connery but I confess I don't recall much else about it.
I spent about an hour late one recent Sat evening watching trying to wade thru #4. At about just a few minutes in I almost quit but decided to get some milk and cookies and give it another try. Around 45 minutes I got up but something sat me back down for a few more minutes. But I guess (SPOILER WARNING!) when Shia Lebouf used a big snake to get them out of the sand pit thing - cute that someone remembered Indy's fear and loathing of snakes, but I couldn't go on. The only other thing I think was reasonably clever was making Indy have a son he didn't know about.
I come up with all sorts of ideas and while this one (Indy and son) was not mine, I did write down one for James Bond a few years ago. The premise is that in all Bond's encounters, somewhere he has a son. Eventually they will cross paths. But when they do, his son is going to be on the wrong side of things and this presents Bond Sr. with a dilemma. Save the world or save his son. Probably not new and since I only started watching with Daniel Craig as Bond, there is a lot of Bond history I don't know. So if he already has been there and done this - pardon me. I really didn't know. Otherwise when this storyline makes its way into a movie, remember you heard it from me first or second or third ...
#2 was too gruesome, dark, etc. #3 was ok mostly because I really like Sean Connery but I confess I don't recall much else about it.
I spent about an hour late one recent Sat evening watching trying to wade thru #4. At about just a few minutes in I almost quit but decided to get some milk and cookies and give it another try. Around 45 minutes I got up but something sat me back down for a few more minutes. But I guess (SPOILER WARNING!) when Shia Lebouf used a big snake to get them out of the sand pit thing - cute that someone remembered Indy's fear and loathing of snakes, but I couldn't go on. The only other thing I think was reasonably clever was making Indy have a son he didn't know about.
I come up with all sorts of ideas and while this one (Indy and son) was not mine, I did write down one for James Bond a few years ago. The premise is that in all Bond's encounters, somewhere he has a son. Eventually they will cross paths. But when they do, his son is going to be on the wrong side of things and this presents Bond Sr. with a dilemma. Save the world or save his son. Probably not new and since I only started watching with Daniel Craig as Bond, there is a lot of Bond history I don't know. So if he already has been there and done this - pardon me. I really didn't know. Otherwise when this storyline makes its way into a movie, remember you heard it from me first or second or third ...
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