I hoped we were different

I was hoping we were different.  We watched as our enemies celebrated out tragedies.  We watched as they burned our flag.  We tried not to watch when they published videos of executions of our friends and allies.  We were horrified by news of terrorist attacks in Great Britain, Spain, even Russia.  We heard and watched them rejoice after the attacks on September 11, 2001.  I was personally affected by the bombing of the USS Cole which killed seventeen of my fellow sailors.  I was also moved and humbled by the death of a friend...a single mother killed by an Improvised Explosive Device, especially when I attended her funeral and saw the sadness of the seventeen year old son she left behind.

I was hoping we were different.  We never seemed to be okay with death and destruction.  We always seemed to find a way to be compassionate for those in need, even when they were not necessarily our allies.  As a country, we seemed to be willing to step right up and do the honorable thing for others.  We are more apt to reach out to people of other countries with our generosity and desire to help. 
I was hoping we were different.  Then we decided to make a HUGE deal about the death of Osama Bin Laden.  We celebrated in the streets.  We decided to show the world that maybe we're not that different.

I was hoping we were different.  We felt for the loved ones that were left behind.  We claimed we were different when we went to war to chase down those that came into our borders and wreaked havoc in our land.  We claimed we wanted justice, but it seems what we wanted was revenge. 

What we forget is that we're not that good with revenge...it's never been part of our make-up.  We defend our people.  We defend the helpless.  We defend our allies.  We don't do revenge.  However, our enemies know all about revenge.  I hope we're prepared for what's to come, because our enemies are now fragmented and enraged...not a good combination.  What would have been the difference if we had gone in and taken care of what we did quietly?  Why did we have to thump our chests and tell the world "We got him"?  Are we so enamored with our national egos that we had to boast?  What example is that setting for out children?

I was hoping we were different.  Our compassion should extend to the people he left behind.  Yes, he did what he did, but he was also a family man.  He left behind children, just like my single mom friend.  Maybe we should get back in touch with our compassionate side because I believe we're going to need it...just like the families of the 80 military recruits who died in Pakistan.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/12/pakistan.explosions/index.html

Stunting the growth of our children's future

Every day in America, more and more schools are closing.  Every day, more and more teachers are being let go.  Every day, school districts tell America's children that their future is going to be uncertain because of the bottom line.  Do we wonder why children lose hope?  Isn't it obvious why children walk away from school because they can't seem to trust the system that's supposed to prepare them for the future?  I am not normally an advocate of government involvement in our day-to-day decisions, but since our government likes to involve itself in our daily business, why are our schools failing?  How do we talk about the future without looking to our children?  If there is one thing our leaders should be concerned about, it should be the education of our children.  I suppose if we can't create jobs, then we shouldn't prepare our kids for employment...there won't be any.  Why aren't our leaders outraged about this dilemma?  Wasn't it education that prepared them to be leaders?  Are we so consumed with making our own way that we don't want to usher anyone else along? 
There are those who claim to be "self-made"...I can go along with that concept...if you're an amoeba.  Nobody gets where they are without someone helping them along the way...NOBODY. 
I don't mean to pick on Andrew Bynum of the Los Angeles Lakers, but I heard a staggering statistic just today.  He has been suspended without pay for the first five games of next season for a dangerous flagrant foul against another player in the last game of the season for his team.  The staggering statistic was this...those five games will cost him over $700,000.00 in salary.  He's not even one of the big dogs in the NBA.  Imagine if the top 50 paid players in each sport donated 5 game checks towards the support of America's schools.  Imagine if the folks on the Forbes 500 list contributed 5 days worth of salary to support America's future.  How much money could be raised?  Imagine....

Works Cited: 
http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=13585718
http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/Article/Index/4846
http://www.prefixmag.com/news/south-las-hip-hop-high-school-closed-due-to-budget/49941/
http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?S=14207655

Face to Face

     Although I am definitely a "glass half-full" kind of guy, I believe there are members of society who operate somewhere in the shadows and get up each day with the intent to do wrong.  I continue to be dismayed by some of the stories we hear every day about this killing here, that disappearance there, senseless violence at that other place...  What I find even more disturbing is how much younger the perpetrators are, and how more women seem to be involved in these activities.  Maybe I'm just naive and women and youth were always involved and I just didn't see it.  I also wonder what intelligent, thoughtful people would say tops the list of contributing factors to these trends.
     Somewhere along the road to "progress", technology has accelerated faster than the average individual's capacity to keep up except for some of those very individuals I mentioned who look for more and more creative ways to do what's wrong.  It wasn't that long ago when the preferred method of communication was face-to-face interaction, where you could look someone in the eye and watch their body language and make a fair assessment of honesty and trustworthiness.  In this day of Twitter, Facebook and any of the other myriad of social networking resources, one can believe they're friends with total strangers.  In fact, one can call themselves friends of folks they will never, ever meet.  The shadowy area of this particular environment is where the predators and criminals operate, portraying themselves as honest, trustworthy people of character.
     Some of my outrage started to simmer when I found myself watching Dateline's "To Catch A Predator".  Surprisingly enough, some of the men caught on that show were repeat offenders.  Up here in the Pacific Northwest, a 22 year-old woman was just found guilty of first degree murder and other charges related to a murder she helped organize when she responded to a Craigslist ad for the sale of a diamond ring.  She and three men went to the house and terrorized a family, ultimately killing the father when he tried to protect his family.  In October 2007, a 24 year-old woman was killed after corresponding via Craigslist with who she thought was a lady looking for a regular babysitter for her 5 year-old son.  When she got to the house, she was met by a young man with a .357 who killed her.  In February 2009, a 21 year-old male was killed responding to a Craigslist ad for the sale of a Chevy Caprice.  On the news right now is a continuing story about a serial killer who's been preying on women selling themselves for sex on Craigslist for at least three years now.  What I can't wrap my brain around is that although the news stories about this are out there, women (and men) continue to meet for sex with strangers...sorry...friends.

     Since we trust what people post online, we will be more inclined to venture out to meet our "friends".  Where do we draw the line?  How do we know what's waiting for us on the other end?  We buy our children cell phones and Internet-ready gadgets before some of them can even read or write properly.  What responsibility do parents bear when their children are preyed upon via social networking sites?  What should we teach our children about these "friends"?  Were our families safer before all this technology became available?  Even though the predators and criminals were doing their thing before all this, at least you got to look them in the eye once in a while.

http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-national/official-calls-craigslist-long-island-serial-killer-an-animal
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/04/15/1626921/woman-guilty-in-craigslist-murder.html
http://craigscrimelist.org/

Pardon my naivete'

I have no experience whatsoever with blogging.  I'm old-school...okay older (56), and sometimes wonder how we ever got by without smart cell phones, iPads, Facebook, etcetera...
This is my first attempt at blogging, so those who are savvy should forgive my lack of online graces.

For this class, I decided to look into the issue of methamphetamine and the proliferation of labs and use of the drug.  I was taken aback by the sheer numbers of labs that are out there, and "creative" ways people use to obtain the items they need to cook the drug.  I had no idea that they have come up with a "shake and bake" method of cooking the drug for personal use.  I suppose when one wants to do wrong, one will find a way.  The drug is so addictive that users will resort to radical ways to generate product.

Although most of the recent information I found was from the Mid-South regions of the US, the nationwide statistics show that most every state has a meth problem, although some have taken major steps to at least slow the growth of the epidemic.  I'm stationed in Portland Oregon, and this state was one of  the pioneers in enacting laws to restrict access to the main ingredient pseudoephedrine, which is found in some over the counter medications like Sudafed.  The law seems to have contributed to a gradual decline in the number of meth labs found throughout the state. 

What's truly sad is that meth users and cookers ultimately have little or no regard for the welfare of those around them.  I read of incidents where children were sleeping in houses where the cooking was going on and died due to inhaling the fumes, and other stories of tragic deaths when the labs either blew up or went up in flames.  Cooking meth can leave behind five to ten pounds of poisonous gases and fluids for every pound of product produced, and larger labs can take more than 8 hours to clean up due to the handling and disposal of the hazardous by-products.  There are now companies that specialize in meth lab clean-up.  
I don't know what can be done for meth addicts if they don't want to be helped.  Addiction is unique to each individual addict, so the outlook looks a little bleak for things to improve.  Maybe in a future blog entry I will have pondered this issue enough to offer my humble opinion on possible approaches to battle this issue.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/1056395/Meth-Labs-An-Environmental-Hazard
http://methlabcleanup.com/index