Northington Notes--Questions or Answers
Jerry W. Northington, DVM
November 30, 2013
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Human nature being what it is psychologists tell us we would rather have answers which may or may not be factual than to have open questions. An interesting phenomenon which leaves many of us in trouble in ways we may not anticipate. When government officials, for instance, speak we can expect always to hear statements represented as facts. We do not often hear those officials at any level express continued questions or even concerns which cannot be addressed. The speakers are playing to our psychology instead of leading us in ways which may benefit the future in better ways.

Much of our modern educational system is aimed at teaching students to regurgitate the statements presented as facts and to move away from actual questioning and investigation. We humans are taught from early ages to listen and absorb rather than to question and to seek for ourselves. In the end we have a society dependent on media sources of information which may not always offer the truth let alone the whole truth.

Questions are the source of ultimate knowledge. In science the answering of one question by sorting out the findings little by little often opens the doors to even more questions over time. Today even these avenues are beginning to be more limited as the push for commercial success is overwhelming the basic science search for knowledge. The government in all its wisdom continues to cut programs which support scientists who seek without purposeful commercial success as an end goal.

Questioning all we see and hear is difficult work. My childhood was ruled by the saying, "Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see." The point is one may be misled by appearances or by comforting words. It is important always to check the facts. We all prefer to hear answers that fit our world view, but we need to examine outside our comfort zone if we are to progress as a society. We cannot rest on our laurels and allow others to lead us down the garden path of answers without questions.

Question, question, question. Always ask and pursue the answer even if that is not the most comfortable approach. Otherwise expect to find a trail which may not be the one you would chosen otherwise.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.--Voltaire 

Northington Notes--Public or Private
Jerry W. Northington, DVM
November 15, 2013
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The news today is all about privatization of various governmental functions which have for long times been a public function. In the small town America of my childhood such considerations were near nonexistent. There were functions such as police departments, education, fire protection, prisons, and general functions which were all public operations. Other functions such as trash collection were private company run. Today the mix is a varied one which differs from community to community.

In some towns today much of daily life is governed by the government with the addition of utilities on top of the list from years back. Other regions are moving the opposite way toward letting private business take over the operations that were traditionally the purview of government. The move is one that may have economic benefits to the local government allowing their expenses to remain more stable or even to decline in time. The issue becomes one of the overall benefits to our society.

Private operations are intended to be profitable. The operation of most major businesses in the world today concentrates those profits in the hands of a few players at the top of the business ladder. The income inequity in our nation today is the greatest in history and stands to increase if privatization continues to be the rule rather than the exception.

Under the supervision of privatization those with the ability to pay are served while others may be left behind. One need only look to package delivery to see the inequity in this system. Private delivery companies cannot afford to serve many areas of small populations or rural areas where roads may not be well maintained. On the other hand the US Postal Service serves the entire nation for what must be considered a reasonable fee in most cases.

A favorite peeve of mine these days is education and the lack thereof in too many instances. Today not only do we have "No Child Left Behind" and "Race to the Top" ruining what chance we may have for real education in favor of government directed programs but we also have a growing system of private education. Charter Schools are sprouting everywhere as for profit education systems which leave a great deal to be desired. These schools accept only chosen students while taking public funds aimed at educating the entire populous. For the charter system children with disabilities or special needs are often found not eligible. Many of these schools have teachers with less experience than our public systems. The inequalities of the process has been examined and reported in many ways but still our governing bodies continue to push the effort.

Whenever will we, the public majority, see the light here? How far can privatization be pushed to the benefit of the few and the overall detriment of the many? As an entrepreneur and longtime business man I see the value of a capitalist system, but there are functions which need to be reserved for government to serve the greater public good. Continued privatization of public functions to save short term money may lead to complications beyond our ability to cope in the future.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

I don't believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.--Charlie Chaplin     

Northington Notes--Surveillance Society

October 30, 2013
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In childhood days my brothers and I wandered about town with our friends under the watchful eyes of neighbors and parents of our small town. Not much of our activity escaped both observation and reporting. Our parents were watchful from a distance as the community watch kept us safe and at the same time limited our activities to safe and legal for the most part. As rough and tumble country boys we pressed the limits but at no time did we manage to harm another human being along the way.

Today we live in a society in which electronic surveillance of every activity is the rule. The degree of observation endangers our civil and basic human rights as every action is recorded for posterity. All our financial transactions, our travel, and our day by day interactions in society are filmed or otherwise recorded. All uses of electronic devices including phones and computers is monitored with data stored for posterity. At most any time our information may be collected and analyzed without our knowledge or consent.

In a seminar not so long ago attorneys were discussing the current surveillance state in terms of their clients. One defense attorney related the story of being confronted with cell phone records in court without advance notice from the prosecution. At the time such records could be obtained by law enforcement agencies without a warrant. Phone companies keep data stored for indeterminate periods of time during which time the data may be analyzed.

Over the course of many years government and big corporations have often been reined in by insider information leaked to the press by 'whistleblowers.' Today our government uses data surveillance to prevent employee contact with journalists by threatening legal action against the employee. To that end government operates with a degree of secrecy that is a danger to true democracy. And corporations foul our environment or act in other ways which are detrimental to society without fear of punishment.

Some measure of surveillance is necessary in the pursuit of crime but is the overall level of today's observation and recording a necessity? Many would argue the government has gone far beyond the pale and overstepped many bounds. Even the court process (the FISA Court) set up to supervise the National Security Agency admits the power to limit illegal activities is far too limited. The Agency works on its own without regard to legal limits in too many cases.

Legal limits are no real solution as we see in the news on a regular basis. The solutions may come from community action. What and how those actions are to be taken is yet to be seen. This story continues to evolve and unfold on a near daily basis as the battle between surveillance advocates and those who seek an open and free democracy. The end is nowhere in sight. The pondering is to be continued...

Peace.

Northington Notes--On Democracy Once Again

The dictionary defines democracy as "government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." Once upon a time we Americans lived under just such a system. Or at least we could hold to the belief that our country was a democracy at least. In social studies classes in middle school we kids were taught the principles of a democratic government and assured we would spend our lives represented in accordance with the wishes of the electorate.

Today we see just how easy the system fails as our government is paralyzed in the midst of a shutdown brought about by failure of our elected officials to follow the wishes of a majority of the electorate. The current fight over the budget covers up the real issue in which a small number of Congressional members oppose the healthcare law. While Americans overall favor the new healthcare system some continue to hold the nation hostage to their personal vendetta. Meanwhile democracy fails to be the rule of the day.

True democratic rule is a difficult system to sustain as there must be means by which middle ground may be found. Today's polarized system of politics makes agreement difficult on many counts. We humans live with innate psychological functions which make understanding opposite opinions difficult. To that end people various political persuasions may find great trouble in reaching agreement with those holding opposite opinions. We hold to our course and may not wish to bend toward middle ground.

But the middle is where democracy lies. We are a large and diverse nation. If we are to find room for all opinions we must each give a bit of consideration to the remainder of the spectrum. ALL must bend a bit, not hold to ideological stances which allow no room for compromise. Such inflexibility is the root of the trouble in Washington today. Meanwhile the nation suffers the consequences both at home and around the globe as trust in our government is eroded.

What will the future hold? Who can tell for certain? The current state of affairs is not one which will maintain our nation another 200 years. Democracy is at risk these days. It behooves us each and every one to put all our efforts into changing the system. Every act counts. We must not fail or our one day our nation will find itself in the throes of change which may or may not be best for our citizenry.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

 

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost.--Aristotle  

Northington Notes--Exceptional
Jerry W. Northington, DVM
September 30, 2013

#################################    The dictionary tells us the definition of exceptional has to do with the characteristics of being unusually excellent or superior. In recent days President Obama used the word to describe the United States. One could argue his usage was correct in any one of many ways when describing our nation. We live under what may be the best example of freedom in our world today even though the government continues to limit our personal freedoms in increasing ways. For the most part we are a prosperous nation even though far too many suffer the daily pangs of hunger. The latest use of the term, exceptional, to describe our country went on to explain the term applied because we as a nation 'were willing to fight unpopular wars.' Under that use of the word we must look to another definition, forming an unusual or rare instance, for our working defnition. The overall tone of the speech and the media coverage is disturbing since at the time polls showed Americans to be opposed to another war on foreign soil. During a time in Vietnam it was my turn to see the effects of war on the people, the land, and on the troops on both sides of the conflict. The sight was not a pretty one but the experience did serve to shape much of my life since those days. In Washington today we have very few elected officials with any measure of military experience let alone firsthand duty in a combat zone. Perhaps if more had such an experience their viewpoint might be different today. The current state of the nation is one of mixed values. We as a nation continue to pour large amounts of our annual budget into military affairs. We possess enough firepower to turn the globe to a cinder at the flip of a switch. No other nation around the world has near the military capability of the United States yet we continue to maintain more than 700 military bases around the globe (more as a sign of our strength than for any real need for action). At the same time we have people struggling on a daily basis to find food to feed themselves and their families. Increasing numbers of people are reduced to welfare and food stamps as the gap between the haves and the have-nots grows at a rapid rate. Today the difference in economic status between the upper echelons and the lower class is greater than at any time in our history. And still our Congress and our President want to increase spending on the military and to fight the 'unpopular war.' Our children are reported to be less and less prepared to enter college with the high school diploma of today. Our legislators continue to push for 'Race to the Top,' 'No Child Left Behind,' and 'Common Core' at the expense of real education. All these programs manage to enrich the corporations supplying our so-called educational system but fail to respond to the science surrounding the ways children learn. This picture is wrong on so many counts one could spend days accounting the wrongnesses. Yet the scene continues to unravel and to increase in severity day by day. Where this will end is not yet open to our vision today. The future is not predictable but if the current course continues we can begin to see the end is not going to be in the best interest of any nation let alone an exceptional one. We as a nation are beginning to form an exceptional issue based on faults and not on solid ground. We should one and all fear the situation and work in all the ways we have at hand to insure the future direction of our nation is truly exceptional in all the goodness of the word. Peace. *************************************** Quote of the Week: It's a deft trick to turn American exceptionalism into an exceptional political tactic.--Ron Fournier  ***************************************

Northington Notes

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Northington Notes--Guns or Butter

In my youth the experience of seeing President Dwight Eisenhower up close and very nearly personal is one that will not be forgotten. Attendance at a Boy Scout Jamboree event in Colorado Springs afforded the opportunity to see the touring President from the side of the tiny road as he passed by. There were not more than 8 feet or so between us staring boys and the President. We were all awed by the experience.

Some time later, in 1961 Eisenhower spoke to the disparity between military spending and social support for the nation's citizens. In his speech the words were as succinct and meaningful as one may ever hear.

  

     "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies,   

     in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who   

     are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.   

     It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of   

     its children."

  

America today spends more money on maintaining military might than all the other nations of the world combined. In the recent budget talks in Congress we all heard a great deal about how all programs should be cut except for the military. Many of us would argue that is not a proper or correct course for the future of our nation.

We as a nation maintains hundreds of military bases to keep the American presence alive and well in nations around the globe. To what end? Are we indeed more safe as a result? Or is the presence serving the governmental philosophy of the day and imposing American ideals on other nations?

The answers are not easy ones at all. Perspectives differ from person to person. As a veteran of the Vietnam era I am today committed to the seeking of a more peaceful future for our nation. To that end I would argue we are better served spending less money on sustained military forces and more on supporting various social programs around the world. Hungry people are not happy people. People who see military swagger in the neighborhood while their children are hungry are not going to be supporters of the nation supplying that force.

Finding a new way will not be easy but is necessary if our nation and our global civilization is to survive far into the future. Given the American political system's absolute dependence on money we are not likely to see real change come from our elected officials.   Change rests in the hands of those of us willing to work for real change. It is up to us to continue to protest, to continue to write to newspapers and elected officials, and to speak person to person at every opportunity. It is by our collective action we may one day see change come to our world.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

 

We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society.--Hillary Clinton 

Northington Notes--Books

In my time of elementary school and in the sixth grade reading became a prime occupier of free time. During the sixth grade the teacher allowed me to move to a desk beside the bookshelves in the classroom. (In those days the classes were self-contained with no school library.) At the end of the year the newspaper printed a short article commending me for reading 52 books during the year. The hometown newspaper in those days was always on the lookout for any material of local interest to share so my minute of fame came and went with the remainder of the newspaper that day.

Remembering those days of discovery in the wide world of reading takes me back to a time of innocence when all printed was taken at face value and believed as though all was truth and fact. During the course of human history the longest of our times kept our history by oral tradition handed down from one person to another. Along the way if a speaker changed the content there were very likely to be people to correct the error and hold the substantive truth and only the truth.

In today's world the printed word is so available that we can no longer be certain if or not what is written is truth. Sometimes an error (or even a bald-faced lie) is repeated often enough people begin to believe. With the printed word we have only ourselves to discover if or not the truth is held within the writing.

How much more simple were the older times of oral tradition. And yet how very much our world is changed and enlarged by the distribution of the printed word. The two-edged sword is never more evident than in the two faces of the printed word.

How ever would we manage a world society without printing and the distribution of thought around the entire globe? And yet what dangers lie in that same distribution as hateful or dangerous text is spread about?

There are no easy answers in our world of communication today. We are each and every one left to our own resources, to our own decisions, to our own manner of processing to decipher the right answers from the wrong ones. And in so many times we may find there is not one but many answers on both ends of the right-wrong spectrum.

And so life goes on day by day as we humans struggle to make sense of the world around us. The complexity grows more rapidly than most of us can manage to comprehend. We do best when we focus on a smaller number of important issues, sorting out as best we can the facts of those issues, and trusting others to do the same sorting of other issues. In the end if we share at least our thoughts we should all end stronger for the various efforts.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.--Mark Twain

Northington Notes--Roads
 
In life today all roads are said to lead somewhere. In times of long ago youth my friend and I often set out to hitchhike around the county. In those fine days the process was simple as people were more trusting and trustworthy than sometimes is found today. We would set out on a fine summer day and follow the trail to wherever and whenever we managed to go. Mostly we landed in small towns where we could wander a bit and travel back home. Thankfully our parents either did not know of our exploits or at least had the good sense not to comment.

Today roads are a normal part of everyday life. We get in our cars, on our bicycles, or start walking down a road expecting to arrive at a place we may or may not know well. In fact roads are more interesting than most of us allow. Predicting the future in terms of where we will go, or even more what we will see along the way, is not very accurate outside the generalities. It is important to take time to see the sights and hear the sounds of our journey.

As a perpetual walker these days I am confounded by the people who travel trails and roads plugged in to an electronic device either listening to music or talking to a far away person on the telephone. The missing joy of experiencing the feel and the sights of nature fails my understanding.
So often today we allow ourselves to travel the road of life as directed by others. We dance to the tune of the media or listen to the sounds of politicians and other leader types. It is important for us to follow our own road and to insure we experience the fullness of whatever comes our way. We may be led astray otherwise.

Or if we do not know our own road we may follow a road set by another without questioning or without observing in proper order. The day after day experience of interacting with the road we travel is important no matter where or when that road leads. We may predict our arrival at a friend's home, but who can know what sights, sounds, events, distractions, or amazements may accompany our trip. Only by opening our eyes and ears to the fullness of our world does the road become the personal adventure we deserve.

Try bits at a time if you do not already focus on your world to watch for the little joys that surround us day by day. The big picture will overwhelm sometimes if we fail to see the tiny bits that make up the larger picture. It is the bits coming together that offer the fullness we so often miss by staring at a screen or closing our ears to the surrounding world.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

When all's said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it's not so much which road you take, as how you take it.-- Charles de Lint

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Northington Notes--Distractions

In my childhood days we had a fair come to town every year and sometimes two times a year. Thetime for celebration was at hand as we children went for the rides, the various sights and sounds, and cotton candy and other sweets until we were ill.

We were told stories of gambling games behind the scenes but were not allowed to participate of course. Adults often played a  "shell" game in which a pea was hidden under one of three shells. The player then bet on his/her ability to guess the shell under which the pea lay after the hawker moved the shells about on a table. Talk, hand motions, and other distractions were employed to keep the player at a constant disadvantage in the wagering process.

 

Today we all suffer the same sort of trouble in our lives.  If we approach any issue of life we may be distracted from our focus by the distractions of life.  Passing the TV for instance may lead to a period of time watching to see what is coming next.  With luck the distraction is a flower garden or a child at play in the neighborhood. 
 

Politicians often use distractions to take our attention away from issues which may get unfavorable attention.  Politicians always play to the positive to insure reelection and continuation of the power base that comes with holding office. Talking one way and voting another when in session is a common feature of political distractions.

Major corporations often use distractions to take away attention from their dark side.  If we are to believe advertising major corporations are always working for our best interests. One only need follow the recent campaigns promising less salt and sugar in foods marketed in some stores.  The idea is a fine one which is necessary in improving the health of our nation as we become increasingly overweight and diabetes continues to rise in effect.   

The ad campaign by at least one major corporate chain is a distraction in the sense we are led to believe the corporation is a 'good guy' and not the 'bad guy' so often posited in the media.  In fact the dark side continues to live.  Said corporation continues to discriminate against women or so the case would seem with women earning less than men and holding far fewer management positions in relation to their numbers than men.

The use of distractions is a common affair in advertising.  No one knows better than the energy industry how to distract consumers from the effects of carbon-based fuels on the environment.

  

Avoiding the distractions on a day to day basis is a difficult proposition.   In order to do so we must continue to seek information and keep abreast of changing issues.  We must remain vigilant and never allow the issues to be covered up.  The times are changing at a very rapid rate these days but the distractions must not be allowed to rule in the end.  Look behind the story to find the truth. Follow your instincts when the sound or the look is too good to be true. Try never to fall prey to the distractions.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

One of the points about distractions is that everything that they

do is destabilizing. --Bruce Sterling

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Make Your Mark--Northington Notes

Each of us gets only one trek through this life.  The past  two years have seen the loss of three people in my life.   Each one died unexpectedly and two were very young.   The recent events in Arizona brought back thoughts of  death and how very fragile life is for us humans.  We cannot  know in most instances when we are going to meet our end.   That fact makes every moment an important one as we travel along life's pathway.

We should each consider the situation and give some personal thought to several questions.  What will people think of and about me when I am no longer alive?  Will anyone care?   Of course they will, but will the positives outweigh the negatives?

Every day we all have many opportunities to make a variety of choices in our actions.  We can choose positive actions or not.  We can choose to improve another person's life or not.   All of us no matter our individual circumstance have choices these days.

As a child we sometimes ate fruit from a nearby persimmon tree.   When ripe the fruit had a purple skin with orange flesh.  Before the fruit reached its final stage of ripeness we sometimes took a bite to see what might be the taste.  The puckered mouth showed just how unpleasant the taste could be.

There was an expression that arose at some forgotten time and place in my life.  "There are some people born with green  persimmons in the periodontal spaces."  Those people are continually at odds with the world, never satisfied with their lot,  and a constant source of irritation to those with whom they come in contact.  They make a pretty poor mark on their trek through life.

Spend every day trying to treat others the way you'd wish to be treated and you will manage to make the best mark possible for yourself.  At the same time you can manage to improve the lives of those you meet as well as making your own life a better one.

Into each life a bit of rain must fall, but if we carry around a bit of sunshine to make the garden grow the rain will be a supplement and not a detriment.  Do your best to make your life mark one of sunshine and not one of rain.

Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

Every man dies.  Not every man really lives.

--William Wallace

The Ongoing TSA Scam

In the name of "better airline security" we travelers have over the years come to be subject to increasing levels of invasive searching.  Off go the shoes.  Now we are groped in the groin in case we have explosives in our underwear.  And then comes news of theft of valuables following luggage screening in an airport. 

How much longer are we going to tolerate this?  The facade of security is just that.  We are not one whit more safe today than we have been for years.  Yet we must suffer long lines and invasive searches to get on an airline.  My family is avoiding flying when we are able.  Maybe if enough people stay away this mess will change.

Peace.

Christine PAC

No real surprises here.  Christine O'Donnell having lost her bid for the DE Senate is forming a PAC of her own.  "Issues oriented."  Maybe issues mean paying herself a big salary.  Stay tuned for more news on this one.

RIP Spark Anderson

Sparky Anderson, the first manager to win World Series championships with teams from both the National and American leagues, died on Thursday in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was 76.

Political Commentary

Jeff Stahler gets it about right this week.

Peace.

Northington Notes--Intolerance

Musings and commentary by
Jerry W. Northington, DVM
October 15, 2010
##################################

Intolerance

My childhood was spent in the far western reaches of

Kentucky in an area called the Jackson Purchase after

the President who bought the area long ago. During the

time of the Civil War that part of Kentucky made an

effort to secede from both the Union and from Kentucky

in order to support the South in its cause. Union armies

put that idea to rest but for many minds the issue

remains alive and well to this day.


Reading a book recently, "Confederates in the Attic",

by Tony Horwitz, brought back many childhood memories.

Our media today tell tales of continued intolerance when

people are interviewed about their views of immigrants or

of people of color. Some politicians are making hay on

those issues of gross intolerance.


The more we find ways to see ourselves as different

from other human beings the more damage we do to

humanity as a whole. Over the course of history religious

and racial intolerance was the driving force of wars in

many regions. Some areas have lengthy histories of

continued violent episodes.


America is no stranger to racial or religious intolerance.

In past times people of color were enslaved and immigrants

of various religions were persecuted. That we fail to

change our course in these times is disappointing.

Children raised in households preaching intolerance continue

to spread the dysfunction through future generations.


If we as a nation or even as a species are to survive far

into the future we must change our ways. We each and

every one must look deep inside at our own feelings. We must

guard against any measures of intolerance. Do not mistreat

any person for reason of their economic situation,

their personal hygiene, their skin color, their language,

their sex or sexual preference, or any other distinguishing mark

that differentiates any person from yourself. If we all live by

the Golden Rule and treat others as we'd like to be treated

we may one day hope to find ourselves living in a much more

peaceful and prosperous world.


Peace.

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Quote of the Week:

It is thus tolerance that is the source of peace, and intolerance

that is the source of disorder and squabbling.

--Pierre Bayle

Christine O'Donnell is NOT Me!!!

But Chris Coons is. Chris is the sort of man we need for our Senator.

Peace.

The Age of Reason

From one of my favorite bloggers come this piece, Age of Reason. If you read nothing else this month this one is worthy.

For example:

The great appeal of Sarah Palin is that bone-ignorant people recognize that she is every bit as bone-ignorant as they are. This comforts, not threatens, them. That is truly the sort of person they want running their lives.(snip)People fear what they don’t understand. It has always been such. And the greatest wrong that the anti-Enlightenment crusaders against objective truth commit, in my view, is that they play to that ignorance, seeding the fear, and thus birth and nurture the hate.

The entire posting is excellent IMHO. Read and ponder.

Peace.

$3 Trillion and Beyond

The costs of the Iraq War are now pegged in excess of $3 trillion with no apparent end in sight. Give a bit of thought to what those numbers mean. Our great grandchildren will be paying the bills as most of the money is borrowed as part of the national debt. Our infrastructure suffers daily (schools, hospitals, roads, water supplies, and public buildings) while there is not enough money to complete repairs or even to supply regular maintenance.

When ever will the American public awaken to the travesty that was and continues to be the continuation of the Iraq occupation? Bad as the dollars are day by day what about the human lives being lost to this day? We have lost too many already. We have no more dollars to waste and no more children to lose to war.

Peace.

Goodbye, Dr. Laura

Goodbye and good riddance,Dr. Laura. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Many of us will not miss your point of view.

Avoidance

Movies are not an ordinary part of my life these days. But one recent presentation about a military veteran caught my attention. In one section of the movie there was a discussion about post-traumatic stress disorder and the mechanisms with which affected troops (or other people, too) live their lives in response to the disorder.

A psychiatrist spoke to avoidance as one means of coping. People avoid situations which may remind them of their past trauma. That was a mechanism I employed after coming home from Vietnam and in some measures continue to apply to this day. Our society today practices avoidance in dealing with the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when we fail to see the images or to hear the pleas of the affected peoples.

The trauma of a war zone cannot be put into words. The experience is not one any human being deserves. Civilians, troops on both sides, and the land involved all suffer damage as a result of any war. In war the major insult is not to the troops but is rather to the civilians, the women, the children, and the aged who have no part in military activity. We must continue to remember every person on either side killed or wounded as a result of our military intervention is a son or daughter, maybe a mother or a father, perhaps a brother or a sister. Every life lost touches the lives of the many who surround that person. The damage spreads ripples throughout the surrounding society.

Walk a moment in the shoes of an Iraqi or Afghan civilian. Imagine your town is occupied by foreign soldiers. Imagine your cousin (or niece or brother) has been killed by the foreigners. How are you going to feel? Would you resist the occupation? What makes the Iraqi people one small bit different from us here in the U.S. or in any other nation around the globe?

Go one more step in your mind. Think about all the children born since the invasion who have known nothing but war in their short lives. How will this childhood affect them in the future? Will they be able to put this behind them and live peaceful lives or will they forever be scarred and turn into terrorists themselves?

I suggest we cease our avoidance and look to peaceful means of resolving world conflicts. The end solutions to terrorism will lie in social and economic change. We need to begin our pursuit of those measures as soon as possible. We must vote for those people offering the most hope of real change. Then we must remain vocal and keep in touch with those we elect to remind them they serve us first of all. Those we elect must lead our nation in the direction we choose. Only our continued action will insure the best course is taken.

Peace.

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Quote of the Day:

In peace, sons bury their fathers.

In war, fathers bury their sons.

-- Herodotus


From Northington Notes, June 30, 2010.