God, Guns, Country

Walking ....

I rode, not drove
To a quiet place for peace
So elusive lately
Three miles around a lake
To think
To wonder why.

God made this day ....

Blue sky, warm sun and pine trees
Not a cloud in sight
No people either, just me
Mother Nature fooled the calendar
As She often does
In Georgia, in December.

God looks down ....

And sheds a tear for us
Guns everywhere to blame
But it cuts much deeper to our souls
It's a culture of violence
It's all we have ever known 

We must face our violent truth.

We hated the Brits ....

And a nation was formed
Born in violence and nothing has changed
We elect a conservative president
Who appoints conservative judges
Who love powerful guns
And children die.

We hate weed ....

And fill our jails with young, black men
We hate health care
And fail to see a moral imperative
Preachers hate queers
Preachers hate women
Do preachers hate God too? 

But We Love War ....

It's the worst kind of violence
We do it too often, too easily, too recklessly
We hate a bad guy
And destroy the lives of countless innocents
Why?
I didn't know then
And I don't know now.

Abraham, Martin and John ....

We wanted more land and killed the Indians
We wanted cheap labor and enslaved a people
We killed each other to right a wrong
We killed a great president
A great man of peaceful change
Another president and a brother
Listen to the music.

I Swear to God .... 

It's true 

People buy it for $3.99 on eBay

And put it on bumpers and windows 

Says GGC in bold print 

It's sick, it's us
I want to cry 
And the children die.
 

Remember When?

I sent her a text message a few days ago, acknowledging the one year anniversary of our first date when, like teenagers, we made out on the shores of the Hooch.  I asked her if she remembers when and she responded, "Of course, I remember when."  I would have been hurt if she had forgotten so soon.

We chit-chatted for a time before the conversation turned serious when I asked why we stopped dating.  She told me it became too much for her to handle.  When she said this, it was like a weight lifted; it gave me some closure that has long been missing.  Before, I only got excuses for missed opportunities.

Her answer doesn't explain everything, but it is good enough for now.  I suspected emotional overload, but it meant so much to hear her actually say it.  So, in a follow-up email the next morning, I thanked her.  I told her the women in my past remain dear, and if at anytime, she wants a beer, a roll in the hay or a male friend just to talk to, I'll be there.  She only needs to call on me.

Sadly, I know she won't.

Marijuana Kudos

Kudos to the good folks of Washington State and Colorado for voting in favor of common sense.  It is now legal in both states to possess personal use amounts of cannabis in private.
Why is this important?  To answer this question factually (I'm trusting), I turned to the NORML website and copied the following nearly verbatim (the non-italicized comments are mine):

1.) Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America, behind only alcohol and tobacco, and has been used by nearly 100 million Americans;

2.) Marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco.  Around 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning.  Similarly, more than 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking.  By comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot cause death by overdose.  (I assume this ignores the carcinogenic effects of smoke intake.); 

3.) Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually and results in the arrest of more than 750,000 individuals per year (a disproportionate number of whom are young, black males) - far more than the total number of arrested individuals for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault;

4.) Driven by the Drug War, the U.S. prison population is six to ten times as high as most Western European nations. The United States is a close second only to Russia in its rate of incarceration; 

5.) Of all the negative consequences of marijuana prohibition, none is as tragic as the denial of medicinal cannabis to the tens of thousands of patients who could benefit from its therapeutic use.

Of course, cannabis is still illegal at the federal level and currently in all but two states. Undoubtedly, other states will follow suit now that Washington State and Colorado have paved the way (except here in the Southeast where social change is always slow to come).  A great deal of work remains with the two states in developing implementation legislation and at the federal level reconciling the federal and state legal differences. When asked about going after weed users in legal states, President Obama is on record saying, "We've got bigger fish to fry." 

As noted in the previous post, prohibition can be a very bad idea, whether applicable to alcohol, abortion or marijuana.  After years of following a terribly failed prohibitionist policy for which we are paying a huge price, both in human and monetary terms, the time for change is now.  Two states have stepped up to the plate and, hopefully, others will soon follow their lead.
    

Tiny White Crosses

On the front lawn of the Catholic church my family and I attend, 50 tiny white crosses sprout like flowers from the ground.  A sign proclaims the crosses representative of the fifty million infants aborted since 1973, the year of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.  Not surprisingly, there is no mention of the number of infants aborted before 1973, the implication, of course, being that Roe v. Wade kills infants.

The use of the incendiary word infant is no accident.  Pro-life folks, including church clergy, have long sensationalized through the misuse of words such as infants, babies, and murder in the condemnation of abortion.  In the interest of truth, Roe v. Wade has nothing to do with infanticide, the practice of which is highly illegal and certainly not prevalent in the U.S.

Nonetheless, all of this got me thinking:  How old do you have to be to remember life before Roe v. Wade and to objectively weigh (assuming objectivity is possible) the pros and cons of legalized abortion?  Well, in 1973, I was 28 years old and a news junkie; back then, I made a habit of reading the daily newspaper front to back.  (Today, I refuse to bombard my psyche with so much negativity.)  So, yes, I remember the many media reports surrounding the abortion issue.  Would I have remembered at 23?  Probably.  At 18?  Probably not.  

Based on this inexact and admittedly convoluted logic, I have concluded that someone born after 1950, meaning someone less than 62 years of age today, has not experienced the world before Roe v. Wade as a mature, thinking person.  This does not mean that the issue can not be studied and comprehended retrospectively; as with any historical period of time, it certainly can and my hat goes off to those who have made the effort.  However, I suspect many young (less than 62) pro-life folks have not done so and are guided far more by emotion than first-hand knowledge or intellect.      

If my suspicion is correct, those (at least those who are young) who advocate for the illegalization of abortion, fail to understand the associated implications: the return of back alley clinics, where women suffer sterility and death from infection; discrimination against the poor, as women who can afford the cost travel to other countries for the procedure; teenage girls unable to escape the wrath of abusive parents; the imprisonment of doctors who, guided by conscience, act on their training and save lives; women who die in hospitals pending an attorney's opinion; and women forced to endure legal battles to prove rape.  These are just some of the negative repercussions reported in the media before 1973; yet, these things, as bad as they are, only scratch the surface with regards to the complexity of the abortion issue.  

In order to objectively weigh the pros and cons, a person must form an intellectual answer to some difficult questions:  At what point, if any, is the life of a pregnant woman less important than the life of the embryo or fetus?  (I'll refrain from using the biologically correct terms of host and parasite.)  Under what circumstances, if any, should an abortion not be an option?  When is the life of the fetus viable?  If a woman decides to abort, does she have a legal and moral right to a medically safe procedure?  Does societal interest supersede the individual right of a woman to exert control over her body?  Whew!  It is little wonder that as a country we are almost equally split along the pro-life, pro-choice great divide.

I recognize the very valid arguments made for both points of view; however, I staunchly oppose the efforts of the pro-life camp to illegalize abortion.  As we learned from the Roaring Twenties, prohibition can be a very bad idea.  The price of illegalization (prohibition), and even highly restricted legalization, from both a societal and individual perspective is simply too great, whether applicable to alcohol or abortion.  Often, even in the face of something distasteful, a pragmatic approach works best.  Unfortunately, the issue is so emotionally charged for many that this perspective is often lost, replaced by well intended, but misguided reasoning. 

Ecstasy at Your Feet

You do not need to do anything, just remain sitting at your table 
     and listen.
Do not even listen, just wait.
Do not even wait, just be quiet, still and solitary,
     and the universe will expose itself to you.
It has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
     --- Franz Kafka