After all these years

I met a freind that I hadn't seen for quite a long time and we spent  a little time catching up on life, work, and things in the world.  In an email I got from him later he wrote how good it was to see me "...after all these years."  I read the short email twice and began to wonder, as many people of a certain age often wonder...'where has the time gone?' 

Sometimes I'll see a television program featuring performers from my teen years and think "those people look old" and suddenly realize that I am growing older too.  Its funny how many of us look in the mirror every morning but only see the face of our youth.

So as hectic as things are in life I try to never go to bed angry at someone I love. I pass this small message on to my children, to the students at the school where I work, and now here.

There is a suddeness in life that does not always allow for the closing of every circle. The point is to not leave too many circles open.

jt

A hard rain is going to fall

15 May, 2011
Here in the Northeast it seems to be raining almost everyday.  A quick look at the weather forecast shows rain for the next 5 days. This past winter saw record snow storms follow one after the other.

In the South the Mississippi River is flooding while tornados have caused a great deal of damage and the loss of many lives.  While in the Southwest there is a lingering drought.

Across the globe natural disasters seem to be happening more frequently.   In 2010/2011 there have been an earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, earthquake in Haiti, Peru, and Chile.  There have also been flooding and mudslides in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and (as I mentioned) in and around the Mississippi River.  

Scientist around the world have chronicled the melting of the polar regions, the increase in the earth's temperature, and the rising of the oceans.  According to a survey by the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Science" (reported in the USAToday, June 22, 2010) "...97 percent of scientific experts agree that climate change is "very likely" caused mainly by human activity."  The report is based on questions posed to 1,372 scientists. 

Each of these things can be looked at as "Isolated Incidents" with no relationship to one another.  Many of us will shake our heads and say "I am glad thats not happening to me", and a great deal of us will fall back into a fitful sleep until the next disaster strikes.

But I think that somewhere in the back of everyone's mind is the realization that something is not quite right.   A truth that we can't, or perhaps, don't want to verbalize.  But it's crying out to be said.  What is it?

What it is...is that all these things are related!  Everything is 'cause and effect'.  The increased burning of fossil fuels rises into the atmosphere and warms the planet changing the weather patterns.  The pollution of the oceans damages aquatic habitats which makes it unable to support sea-life ending with the disappearance of certain species.

According to Sylvia Earle, oceanographer and undersea explorer, "Since the beginning of the 20th century, aquatic and terrestrial species have been reduced to a fraction of their former abundance and entire ecosystems have been consumed for short term use..." (May 15, 2011, Smith College speech).

So what is the solution? 

Each of us are called upon to do our share to help save the planet.  But the solution can not be just the individual sweater-wearing person shivering in their dimly lit houses using cloth instead of plastic shopping bags.  Nor can it be the man or women biking to work everyday to help reduce air-pollution.  And it definitely is not  the poor and middle class families that are always called upon to make sacrifices that they can little afford.

The solution will involve all of us pressing our governmental representatives to stop the partisan bickering in Washington and acknowledge that we have a problem.  Then come up with some concrete action.

The solution needs to include the scientific community researching and developing long and short term ideas. Practical ideas based on increasing the availability of low cost non-polluting energy sources like wind, solar, wave-energy, and geo-thermal  would be a great start.

Our government, as well as governments across the globe, will need to stop tip-toeing around the large multinational corporations and impose more stringent regulations to slow down the burning of fossil fuels and stop the carbon emissions that are  suffocating the planet. 

Schools will need to actively reinforce in their students the importance of a healthy planet and instill an understanding of what an ethical relationship between their future careers and a healthy world should look like.

But most importantly people across the globe must come to understand that the decay and destruction of the earth will ultimately become the decay and destruction of human life on the planet as we know it.

jt



To show or not to show the death picture of Bin Laden

11 May, 2011
There seems to be some people demanding that we display pictures of Osama Bin Laden taken at his compound following his death at the hands of Navy Seals on May 1st.

There is nothing to be gained by showing 'death pictures"  of Osama Bin Laden.  This president has made the right decision.  The militants of the world do not need another reason to hate the United States.  Osama Bin Laden is dead. Showing graphic pictures of his death will only be used to further inflame anger and windup further endangering U.S citizens and military personell  at home and abroad.

There is also no need to prove anything further or appear to gloat over Bin Laden's killing.
People, we are better than that!  An ugly episode has ended. Lets move forward.

jt

The Passing of Osama

3 May, 2011
So finally after all most 10 years Osama Bin Laden  has been killed by US forces. This will end a dark chapter in U.S. history that has troubled the American people for a decade.  It is not unfortunately the end of the story.  It's only the end of one brutal mans life.

September 11th, 2001 was a defining moment.  It shook the American people out of a long sleep of false security.  It also awakened a sleeping President who, up to this point in his presidency, was spending too much time on his ranch.  It showed the anger and hatred, by some militant groups, at the United States  and the lethal lengths that they would go to in order to make a point.  It set in motion two wars costing the United States  billions of dollars and thousands of lives. 

The list of political ineptitude, congressional decision-making blindness, repressive governmental policies created in the name of 'making things safer and better in the country', is a list that could go on for many pages.  A short look at the history of the past 10 years should be enough for anybody to see that the country was politically and economically out of control. 

Now that we are a few days pass the headlines and the continued in-depth "rehashing"  of the facts it may be time to think about where we have all come over these pass 10years. 

I think the first thing that most people are feeling is a collective sigh of relief.  It's as if a weight was being lifted off our shoulders.  These past 10years have had the American psyche lost in a nightmare that we all were not even aware we were having.  The feeling of impending dread,  insecurity, and a lingering  depression that can not be clearly articulated has, to some degree,  begun to lift. The death of Osama Bin Laden will act as the closing of a painful circle that has haunted the past 10 years. 

The amount of time we will have to find our national balance will be short.  There are many other pressing issues in front of the American people that need a quick resolution.  The economy, unemployment, the environment, energy, and more  are still on the doorstep.

But for right now,  lets all take a moment to reflect on the future.  Lets all think about our role in the global community.  Lets make our world safer by making ourselves better citizens in it.
Jose