Listening to My Own Drummer

We all are—or should be—aware of the practice of professional athletes taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem.  A great deal of debate has arisen over these athletes exercising their First Amendment rights.  As a Quaker and as a liberal, I am in full support of anyone’s freedom to express themselves in any reasonable way possible.  If it be the taking of a knee, turning one’s back on a speaker, or remaining seated during the playing of the national anthem, so be it.  I do not view it as disrespecting the flag or veterans.  In the contrary, I view it as their right as an American to make their statement in their own way.

Over the past two years plus at the playing of the “Star Spangled Banner” before any baseball game I have attended—over 200—I have declined to remove my hat.  Early Quakers, from what I know, refused to remove their hats in the presence of the king.  Why, on God’s green earth, should I be required to remove my hat for a piece of cloth?  A friend of mine—a retired Air Force colonel—became quite upset with me and told me that he felt like putting his fist through my face when I first declined to remove my cap or salute the flag.  Over time, his anger cooled and we are now back on good terms.

A few weeks ago I became rather upset with Donald Trump’s caving into both Kim Jung Un and Vladimir Putin.  His giving away the house while getting nothing in return from Kim in return and his taking Putin’s word over those of the U.S. Intelligence Service regarding the meddling in the 2016 by the Russians was the last straw.  At that point I decided that I should no longer stand for the national anthem and the piece of cloth that represents a government led by a person so corrupt and in love with himself and not acting like a leader when such is needed, I just couldn’t stomach it any longer.  At that point, I decided that I could no longer stand during the national anthem.

What started out as a protest has morphed into a spiritual leading for me.  A good friend of mine from the Madison (WI) Friends Meeting remarked on one of my Facebook posts that he doesn't stand for the national anthem.  Considering Chuck’s words and his practice, I have come to the realization that in being true to myself, it is no longer necessary for me to follow the lead of the crowd, standing when they do; saluting when they do; and following their path.  I am blazing my own trail and will go whither it leads me.

Some of my baseball buddies took heated exception to my “statement” and started giving me a bunch of grief.  One of my supposed buddies, Mike Sullivan, really lit into me a couple weeks ago, trying to psychoanalyze me while asserting that he has a Masters degree in psychology.  To be quite honest, I really don’t give a crap about his two PhDs or his three Masters.  He said I was just trying to get attention to myself.  I responded that I’ve been doing that for the past ten seasons the the Bradenton Marauders have been in town, by heckling the opposition teams.

As has been my practice, when a young person is singing “The Star Spangled Banner”, rather than remaining seated I will go behind the grandstand until they have finished.  Last evening I approached my seat with the intention of dropping off my backpack and going behind the grandstand when Mike all of a sudden bellowed out to a woman standing in the aisle that, “This guy doesn’t stand during the national anthem”.  I immediately decided to sit out not only the singing of the anthem but also the striking of the colors by the local Civil Air Patrol cadets who had presented them as part of the opening ceremonies.  Just as the first pitch was being thrown, Sullivan got in my face and started hollering at me about my disrespecting the flag and the veterans who fought for it (he knows that I’m a veteran, but it doesn’t make any difference to him).  He kept hollering at me and berating me, again saying that I was out to draw attention to myself.  I kept my cool and finally, in a very un-Quakerly and calm way said, “Fuck you”.  That really got him wound up and he demanded that I repeat what I had said for the benefit of a couple Marauder officials—Nick, the Head of Stadium Operations; and Craig, the Assistant General Manager.  I obliged him and all I got was a grin from both gentlemen.  Mike, in all his high and mightiness, while still berating me, dropped a shit bomb me, which I immediately asked Nick and Craig if they had heard it.

I kept my cool the entire time—even while inviting Sullivan to “be fruitful and multiply” in so many words.  A couple cops were alongside Nick and Craig in case things got out of hand.  Of course, Mike finally diverted his attention from me to the baseball game and cooled down after a while.  I don’t know what got into him this evening.  Perhaps it was because Big Tom, an Air Force vet who sits behind us and who had been absent for the last home stand, was there.  I guess Mike must have felt he had adequate back-up in Tom.  In any event, we enjoyed watching the game—although not the final score—and commented back and forth to each other about game situations as if nothing had happened.

I can hardly wait for tonight’s game…

Total Disgust

Never in my life have I been so disgusted with the United States government as I have been lately.  The only time prior to this when I have been ashamed was in May 1970 when several Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire, killing and wounding several students at Kent State University.  Even though the act was done by “citizen soldiers”, it was the only time I was ashamed to be in a military (USAF) uniform.

I, along with many Americans, have endured Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushes.  However, when it comes to Donald Trump—whom I refer to as the so-called President—I cannot tolerate.  He is a person on an ego trip who has no concept of concern for others—only for himself.  The fact that this slimy specimen of human protoplasm became president is as baffling as it is unbelievable.  He spoke to the underbelly of American culture, telling them what they wanted to hear while pissing off those who wanted no part of him or Hillary Clinton.  As a result, those who voted for him as well as the many millions who either failed to vote or voted for any other warm body got this prick into the Oval Office.

Events over the past couple weeks have led me to totally renounce the U.S. Government as anything it resembled, even during the Bush II years.  Trump pissed off the other G-8 nations by refusing to sign the accord that was primarily authored by the United States.  He then met with Kim Jung Un in Singapore—a meeting we all  had high hopes for.  The result?  Giving Kim the status he so craved—to be seen as a legitimate national leader.  In addition, Kim got the promise of no more war games with the South Koreans.  What did we get in return?  Zero; Zip; Nada!!!    

What’s next, you ask.  No less than a trade war with our biggest trading partners—Canada, China, Mexico, and Japan.  Thanks to Trump’s executive orders, we are now in a trade war with our traditional trading partners.  Add to this Trump’s backing out of the Iran nuclear deal, we are now seeing rising gasoline prices.  Couple this with the trade war and the sonofabitch will end up ruining the American economy while enriching the pockets of his cronies and big business tycoons.  Gas prices are already on the rise.

The last straw came with Jeff Sessions’ edict that children of illegal immigrants should and must be separated from their parents.  Trump could negate this practice—something which he says he “hates”, but will do nothing other than blame the Democrats for the situation—a bald faced lie!!!  The separating of children from their parents is something reminiscent of what the Germans did to the Jews or, even, what we did to the Japanese Americans and the internment camps to which they were subjected during WWII.

Over the past couple seasons at local baseball games, I have declined to remove my cap during the playing of the National Anthem.  Being a Quaker, my reasoning has been that, since early Friends wooed not remove their hats for the king, why should I remove mine for a piece of cloth?  However, I have now taken that a step further and tonight refused to remove my cap or to even stand for the “Star Spangled Banner”.  Instead, I sat, with my elbows on my knees and my head bowed, looking at the floor below.

Until such time as my government makes me feel good about it, this will be my practice.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am as patriotic as anyone you will ever meet.  However,  patriotism can be expressed in many ways.  This is my way of expressing my sense of patriotism.

Reflections on Father's Day - 2018

This morning in Meeting for Worship, one of the women stood and gave a message, reflecting on Father’s Day and how “God the Father” created us all in his image, saying that we all need to be reflections of God in everything we say and do.

I too had been reflecting, but in different terms.  I kept getting the image of a televangelist ranting and raving, putting his hand up to his ear while looking heavenward and pleading, “What’s that God?  You want me to do what???”  If anything, God does not need to be told to speak up or with more clearly!

I have always been somewhat of a spiritual person—especially for the past 30 years or so.  Having gone to a small Methodist college in the Bible Belt of North Carolina, I found myself force fed religion.  In fact, even in high school I had the preposterous idea that I wanted to be a Methodist minister—a notion, thankfully, I put aside because of a positive comment made to me by my high school history teacher, David Turner.  It was upon leaving college that I realized organized religion was not for me.

Anyway, reflecting on my worshipful reverie this morning, I came to realize that I must work harder on reflecting my inner Light.  In doing so, I would hope to engender the inner Light in others—be they Quakers or not—to be the best they could be. I am often praised by others for my volunteerism, be it for hospice or for personal friends.  Muhammad Ali once said, “Service to others is the rent we pay for our space here on Earth”.  I am paying my rent, and if my rent payments inspire others, then I am much the better person for it, as are they…

Good Good Bye and Good Riddance - 2017

Here I sit, in the opening hour of 2018, hoping that this year is better than the last.  2017 wasn’t  a total loss, but it was close.  Pam I made our first visit to Wisconsin since our son’s, David’s, marriage in 2010.  We had a wonderful time spending a long weekend in Madison, visiting with him and his family as well as with longtime friends.

In addition, I returned to Rocky Mount, NC for the 50th homecoming of the NC Wesleyan College class of 1967.  Unfortunately, I was the only member of the Class of ’67 who was there.  I doubt seriously if I’ll ever make another trek back to Rocky Mount.

However, the biggest disappointment of the year was having to endure the presidency of Donald Trump.  In many ways, this was the saddest year of my life.  For starters, I was so put off by his election that I absolutely refused to honor him by watching the inauguration.  Instead, I took in a movie, “The Accountant”, a movie wherein Ben Affeck was a CPA who had a night job as a hit man—kinda like a TV reality star who has a night job as the leader of the Free World.  

At first, I was willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, but as the year wore along, I realized that having him as President is the worst scenario I could have imagined.  His rhetoric in opposition to and the baiting of Kim Jung Un of North Korea was something that concerned me.  I am not too thrilled with the prospect of having Mike Pence as president but, after due consideration, I came to the determination that having a homophobic Bible thumper sitting in the Oval Office was much better than having a crotch grabbing narcissist with his finger on the button was much more preferable.  Trump’s actions clearly demonstrate a willingness to overstep his builds as President and abuse his powers as the Chief Executive.

For one, he wanted to pardon AZ Sheriff Joe Arpayo who had been convicted under AZ law of contempt of court in his arrest and treatment of prisoners in Phoenix.  In addition, his overturning executive orders issued by his predecessor, Barack Obama—orders meant to serve and improve the lives of Americans—have given me great concern.

Trump is nothing more than a narcissist who wants only for things to go his way and, if they don’t, the hell with the rest of you…  I have never been so bitterly opposed to a president as I am opposed to Donald Trump.  I hated LBJ because he make me fight in a must unjust and illegal war. I despised Nixon because of his overstepping his bounds of the presidency (“If the President does it, it’s not illegal.”), but I have to admit that , at first, I didn’t think he should resign because of the precedent it would set.  However, I finally changed my time. Trump, on the other hand, is in a category all by himself.  

Trump's use of power and his cavalier attitude toward the office he holds is most repugnant to me and, the sooner we are rid of, as John Dean called it, “this cancer on the Presidency”, the better off we’ll all be.

What is Insignificant?

The Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed what I heard as a teenager--that there are more stars than there are grains of sand on all the beaches in the entire world.  That makes our round blue marble a bit insignificant in the overall scheme of things.

All great things that have happened over the course of human history has begun as a single thought in a person's mind.  Be it Jesus; Muhammad; Samuel Adams; Thomas Edison; or whomever...  They all made a difference.  Rachel Carson, author of The Silent Spring, once stated, “Never think that a small group of people cannot change the world.  In truth, it’s the only thing that really has!”  To think that any one of us is insignificant, just check out these examples.

Better yet, if you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.

I am... AMERICAN!!!

I am Muslim;

I am Jewish;

I am Catholic;

I am Buddhist;

I am Athiest;

I am Mormon;

I am White; I am Black; I am Red; I am Yellow; I am Brown;

I am gay; I am straight; I am a tranny; I am celibate; I am married;
I am divorced;

I am Skinny; I am Fat; I am a Vet; I am I am Disabled; I am Fit; 
I Struggle;

I am Democrat;

I am Republican;

I am Libertarian; 

I am Independent;

I am Communist.

I am Socialist;

I am Progressive;

I am ashamed of our Corrupted Government:

- A Congress that allows itself to be bought by the highest bidder;

- A President who:

- Did not receive a majority of the popular vote;

- Pandered to the ugly underbelly of American society;

- Lied to the folks who supported him during the campaign;

- Allowed his campaign to be manipulated by Foreign Interests;

- Has not a clue as to what it takes to be President;

- Fills his administration with his Monied Cronies;

- Cares much more about money than about people

- Continuously lies to the American (and foreign) people;

- Is dismantling years worth of environmental progress;

- Feels he is the be all and end all when it comes to governing;

- Is a narcissistic crotch grabber;

- Has done nothing to heal the wounds after Charlottesville;

- Was forced to make a break with the racists and bigots;

- The list goes on and on……..

An American Tragedy in Perspective

As I sat in silent worship this morning at the Sarasota Friends Meeting (Quaker) my thoughts were, as were those of many millions of Americans, on the 9/11 attacks that occurred fifteen years ago today.  We all remember where we were when we first heard of the attacks.  I was on my way to Springfield, IL from my home in the Madison, WI area, to visit Lincoln’s hometown.  Knowing my son, David, had an appointment for a job interview, I called him at 9 AM (Central time) to make sure he was awake and he told me of the attacks.   I was heartsick at the news and cancelled my trip, returning home for three straight days of TV watching.

True, the 9/11 attacks were a most profound matter of national concern and outrage—the Pearl Harbor of my generation—but when one considers it in the context of American historical events, it pales in comparison.

Millions of Africans were either kidnapped or born into slavery.  When one considers what many of them went through in terms of beatings, killings, having their families split up, and generally treated as little more than work horses, 9/11 doesn’t even hold a candle.  Even after slavery was outlawed forever by the 13^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the ex-slaves’ treatment was not much better than it had been before.   The Jim Crow laws in the South and the birth and rise of the Ku Klux Klan caused the wrongful  imprisonment, murders, and lynchings of untold  numbers of ex-slaves and their descendants.

The displacement of Native Americans—mainly Cherokee, Seminole, Muskogee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw--from their ancestral homelands in the Southeast to reservations in present-day Oklahoma was simply a wrongful eviction facilitated by the Indian Removal Act of 1830.   The law was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, to which President Andrew Jackson responded, “They made their ruling.  Now let them enforce it”.  The Cherokee were the last to be removed from Georgia to Oklahoma and, of the 16,543 that began the trek, somewhere between 2000 and 6000 of them perished along the way, giving rise to the term, “Trail of Tears”.

The illegal and unnecessary wars in Vietnam and Iraq (in particular), as well as the invasion of Afghanistan were American Tragedies.  I am a Vietnam vet who was there during the Tet Offensive of 1968.  My path toward pacifism started during a rocket attack one night.  We were being showered with rockets and mortars.  As I was running for cover, I spied a dog running hell bent for election not knowing what was going on or why.  I immediately identified with the poor guy, feeling sorrow and compassion for him and his totality of angst.  Having attended and graduated from a small college—N.C. Wesleyan—I, like many others of my generation, lost friends--three of whom were college buddies.   In fact, a fourth student, whom I did not know, was also killed.  The Vietnam War was an American Tragedy of epic proportions, yet we tend to forget with the passage of time.

While it’s understandable that the foul tastes left in the mouths of Americans could justify an invasion of Afghanistan in order to topple the rule of the Taliban and hoped-for capture of Osama bin Laden, there was absolutely no justification for the invasion of Iraq.  Saddam had not harbored the 9/11 terrorists nor did he have any WMDs that were used as a lie and excuse for invasion.  The loss of life, both to civilians and soldiers is regrettable.  But even more so is the inadequate and even denied medical care given to American G.I.s who were wounded—either physically or emotionally—during the course of the war.  It is a tragic situation that many volunteered for what they felt was their patriotic duty when America needed them, but where was America when these poor souls needed it?

There are many other American Tragedies that could be cited and explained away—Pearl Harbor; the JFK and Lincoln assassinations; the Indian Wars; and the like—but my purpose here is to remind folks that tragedies occur and that those in the past should not be forgotten.  They should be remembered for what they were and serve as reminders that we can always be better as we progress on this journey called life.