My beliefs about how to live life can be summarized using a few words:
Do no harm.
We are all familiar with this simplified summary of the Hippocratic Oath, but it means far more to me. I believe that every act of harm does violence, not only to the victim and the perpetrator, but to everyone else as well.
Do no harm.
Every child left hungry, every person struck by a loved one, every soldier left bleeding on the battlefield, every prisoner breathing his last in the chamber and every pet abandoned by it's owner diminishes the humanity of us all.
Do no harm.
Every person will immediately see possible additions or exceptions to this simple statement, but I see no need. It is up to each of us to make of it what we will.
Do no harm.
It is a journey with only one possible end: failure. I am imperfect, just as every other human being living on this whirligig spinning in space is. That doesn't mean that I shouldn't strive for perfection, even knowing that I will fail.
Do no harm.
I do not expect others to feel as I do. For me, this is a contract that I make with myself, no one else. I do, however, hope that more people will make similar contracts with themselves. Many already have.
Do no harm.
I have only to see gentle humor in the eyes of Gandhi or the Dalai Lama or the solemn determination in Dr. King's face to know that I am doing the right thing. If one must be said to have a religion, then this is mine.
Do no harm.
I believe that, one day, exceptions to this will be unthinkable. Until that day, I will work as hard as I can to abide by my contract and to do no harm. Maybe even laugh now and again.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
The Market of Responsibility
If you ask people what the hallmarks of American society are, the two most common answers are 'Freedom' and 'Personal Responsibility'.
Together, they seem to state that we are free to take care of ourselves. There is a problem with this. A society is obviously more than individuals. It is a web of connectiveness. Of obligations and responsibilities not only to ourselves, but to those about us.
Yes, obligations and responsibilities.
The most common tool used to meet these is money. So, in a way, we could view a dollar as a tangible mark of responsibility. A share, if you will, of the overall pool of what we owe to one another.
If you do look at it in this fashion, then our economy takes on a new profile. We are not all just trying to get ahead, but are instead competing for responsibility. Every dollar that you earn adds to your share. Make just a little money and you have enough responsibility to see to your own welfare. Make a little more and the welfare of your family is in your hands. Even more and the community becomes your responsibility.
Now, all too often, responsibility and authority become confused. This responsibility is not to command, but to support. To increase to liberty of your fellow human beings, not limit it. Providing freedom from want, freedom from pain and the ability to take on a greater share of the overall responsibility themselves.
So, if we have to live in a society where money is the mark of success, then perhaps we could add a bit more humanity to the mix simply by changing how we view that mark. We could see it as more than a symbol of what we have and more as a symbol of what we owe.
Our country and our world might be better for it.
Together, they seem to state that we are free to take care of ourselves. There is a problem with this. A society is obviously more than individuals. It is a web of connectiveness. Of obligations and responsibilities not only to ourselves, but to those about us.
Yes, obligations and responsibilities.
The most common tool used to meet these is money. So, in a way, we could view a dollar as a tangible mark of responsibility. A share, if you will, of the overall pool of what we owe to one another.
If you do look at it in this fashion, then our economy takes on a new profile. We are not all just trying to get ahead, but are instead competing for responsibility. Every dollar that you earn adds to your share. Make just a little money and you have enough responsibility to see to your own welfare. Make a little more and the welfare of your family is in your hands. Even more and the community becomes your responsibility.
Now, all too often, responsibility and authority become confused. This responsibility is not to command, but to support. To increase to liberty of your fellow human beings, not limit it. Providing freedom from want, freedom from pain and the ability to take on a greater share of the overall responsibility themselves.
So, if we have to live in a society where money is the mark of success, then perhaps we could add a bit more humanity to the mix simply by changing how we view that mark. We could see it as more than a symbol of what we have and more as a symbol of what we owe.
Our country and our world might be better for it.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
The American Arena
Now that another Saturday has come and gone, I would like to point out,
once again, the pure idiocy and barbarity of watching young men do
themselves serious long-term damage for our entertainment.
There is no longer any doubt that playing football causes brain damage that will negatively impact them for the rest of their lives.
These young men are supposed to be in school to improve their brains, not damage them.
This will continue, unabated, until we decide that it has to stop.
Stop watching.
Stop participating.
Stop putting your own children into the arena.
Put an end to high school and college football.
There is no longer any doubt that playing football causes brain damage that will negatively impact them for the rest of their lives.
These young men are supposed to be in school to improve their brains, not damage them.
This will continue, unabated, until we decide that it has to stop.
Stop watching.
Stop participating.
Stop putting your own children into the arena.
Put an end to high school and college football.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
The Lethargy of Darwin
Here's a surprise: Human beings aren't perfect.
In fact, we're pretty messed up. It's not really our fault, evolution is a messy business. We're supremely well equipped for life on the savannah, not so much for Wall Street. Eyes that evolved for limitless horizons fail after staring all day at a screen eighteen inches away. Hearts meant to support a running hunter collapse in a sedentary office worker.
We are just not built for this modern world that we have created.
Many people believe that we should change our way of life to better fit our physical needs. Reduce our intake of sugars and meat, exercise more and so forth. We can certainly do so, to a degree, but our lives demand more than our physiology is prepared to give. These efforts are little more than stop gaps. Very much needed stop gaps.
One day we will be able to adapt ourselves in much more fundamental ways, but that day isn't here yet.
Right now, human cloning and genetic modification are illegal across most of the planet, with good reason. Our methodologies are so crude that using them would most certainly be immoral and unethical. This, however will not be the case for long.
The time is rapidly approaching when we will not only be adept at genetic engineering, but be hard pressed to find reasons not to make use of those skills. Like I said, we are a truly messed up species, not only physically, but mentally as well. Our instincts are no more suited to modern life than our bodies are. Fight or flight made sense ten thousand years ago, but today it leads to tragedy more often than salvation. Our thought processes are crude and mostly run under the surface, giving us little control over them.
The rate of change in our societies and technologies are outstripping nature's biological coping strategies. If we hope to survive in the long term, we will have take control of our own destinies. That means removing chance from the slow, slow mechanisms of evolution.
This WILL happen somewhere, sometime. Whether you like the idea or not means absolutely nothing. Once the process begins, there will be no stopping it. Wars may be fought, millions may die, but it will continue. We will have to decide what side of the argument we will be on. Will we stand with the past or the future?
As a man will bad eyes, bad knees, a bad heart and an addictive personality, I know where I stand.
The saying goes, "Evolve or die." Well, Darwin is just too damned slow. It's our turn. Soon.
In fact, we're pretty messed up. It's not really our fault, evolution is a messy business. We're supremely well equipped for life on the savannah, not so much for Wall Street. Eyes that evolved for limitless horizons fail after staring all day at a screen eighteen inches away. Hearts meant to support a running hunter collapse in a sedentary office worker.
We are just not built for this modern world that we have created.
Many people believe that we should change our way of life to better fit our physical needs. Reduce our intake of sugars and meat, exercise more and so forth. We can certainly do so, to a degree, but our lives demand more than our physiology is prepared to give. These efforts are little more than stop gaps. Very much needed stop gaps.
One day we will be able to adapt ourselves in much more fundamental ways, but that day isn't here yet.
Right now, human cloning and genetic modification are illegal across most of the planet, with good reason. Our methodologies are so crude that using them would most certainly be immoral and unethical. This, however will not be the case for long.
The time is rapidly approaching when we will not only be adept at genetic engineering, but be hard pressed to find reasons not to make use of those skills. Like I said, we are a truly messed up species, not only physically, but mentally as well. Our instincts are no more suited to modern life than our bodies are. Fight or flight made sense ten thousand years ago, but today it leads to tragedy more often than salvation. Our thought processes are crude and mostly run under the surface, giving us little control over them.
The rate of change in our societies and technologies are outstripping nature's biological coping strategies. If we hope to survive in the long term, we will have take control of our own destinies. That means removing chance from the slow, slow mechanisms of evolution.
This WILL happen somewhere, sometime. Whether you like the idea or not means absolutely nothing. Once the process begins, there will be no stopping it. Wars may be fought, millions may die, but it will continue. We will have to decide what side of the argument we will be on. Will we stand with the past or the future?
As a man will bad eyes, bad knees, a bad heart and an addictive personality, I know where I stand.
The saying goes, "Evolve or die." Well, Darwin is just too damned slow. It's our turn. Soon.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Ode to a Hairy Face
Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm here today to inform you of a little known fact.
I have a beard.
It's long, somewhat ill kept and has more than a little gray in it. It also happens to be one of my favorite things.
Now there are many reasons that I have a beard. It's manly, all human males above the age of fifteen are SUPPOSED to have hair on their faces, it's silky soft and it keeps my meals off of my ever expanding tummy, but the number one reason is that it just keeps growing there.
I hack it back every six moths or so, but otherwise leave it be.
Oh, and I'm lazy and shaving sucks.
To all you ladies who shave 60% of your bodies every day, I have only one thing to say: you are completely nuts.
A hairy face in winter.
Keep your scarf.
I am all warm and toasty.
I have a beard.
It's long, somewhat ill kept and has more than a little gray in it. It also happens to be one of my favorite things.
Now there are many reasons that I have a beard. It's manly, all human males above the age of fifteen are SUPPOSED to have hair on their faces, it's silky soft and it keeps my meals off of my ever expanding tummy, but the number one reason is that it just keeps growing there.
I hack it back every six moths or so, but otherwise leave it be.
Oh, and I'm lazy and shaving sucks.
To all you ladies who shave 60% of your bodies every day, I have only one thing to say: you are completely nuts.
A hairy face in winter.
Keep your scarf.
I am all warm and toasty.
Friday, November 8, 2013
The Era of the Super Denial
At this moment, Typhoon Haiyan is tearing through the Philippines. Bearing wind gusts up to 235 mph, it is the strongest storm to make landfall in recorded history. Last December, another category 5 "Super Typhoon" named Bopha, hit the islands claiming some 1900 lives. The year before that yet another storm hit, claiming another 1300.
How long do we have to wait? What level of destruction is enough, before we admit that it is happening?
We are in the era of the Super Storm.
Over and over, from Katrina to Sandy to Haiyan, we see these storms come. Scientists, rightly so, refuse to claim categorically that global warming is to blame. That is because that is how science works, but all save a few wingbats admit that warming is almost certainly the cause.
Those on the right use the inherent uncertainty in the scientific process to say that the issue is undecided, but they...are...wrong. The issue IS decided.
"Overwhelming consensus."
That is the phrase used by 98% of climate scientists. If you lift your nose at that, then you are living in a dream world while the rest of us have to deal with the nightmare.
The carbon that we have already put into the atmosphere will persist there for at least another 100 years, so we will be dealing with the effects no matter what we do, but for the sake of our grandchildren and great grandchildren we have to act NOW.
Otherwise, the nightmares of today will be fond memories for the generations to come.
How long do we have to wait? What level of destruction is enough, before we admit that it is happening?
We are in the era of the Super Storm.
Over and over, from Katrina to Sandy to Haiyan, we see these storms come. Scientists, rightly so, refuse to claim categorically that global warming is to blame. That is because that is how science works, but all save a few wingbats admit that warming is almost certainly the cause.
Those on the right use the inherent uncertainty in the scientific process to say that the issue is undecided, but they...are...wrong. The issue IS decided.
"Overwhelming consensus."
That is the phrase used by 98% of climate scientists. If you lift your nose at that, then you are living in a dream world while the rest of us have to deal with the nightmare.
The carbon that we have already put into the atmosphere will persist there for at least another 100 years, so we will be dealing with the effects no matter what we do, but for the sake of our grandchildren and great grandchildren we have to act NOW.
Otherwise, the nightmares of today will be fond memories for the generations to come.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Doc Hendley
We just finished shooting "A Conversation with Doc Hendley" here in the KACV studios. He started a charity called Wine to Water. They travel around the world digging wells and helping to ensure access to clean water.
He's a great guy. He was a bartender in 2003 who decided that he needed to do more. A real testament to what a person can achieve when they stop listening to that little voice that whispers, "You can't..."
Doc Hendley
He's a great guy. He was a bartender in 2003 who decided that he needed to do more. A real testament to what a person can achieve when they stop listening to that little voice that whispers, "You can't..."
Doc Hendley
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