An Email from God

From:  God [god@heaven.net]

Date:  July 29, 2014 at 8:33:22 AM PDT

To:   Distribution list [all humanity]

Subj: Just stop it!

Reply-To:  [www.prayerstoGod.net]

People, I’m sorry, but I just don’t understand you. And if I don’t understand you, that’s saying a lot. LOL

I created anatomically modern versions of you about 200,000 years ago. I know, I know: some of you take everything literally and believe I did it in October of 4004 BC.  But that’s just part of biblical mythology ... an early kind of PR campaign on My part, don’tcha know. (Sorry. I digress.)

After you muddled on for a few thousand years I let you develop modern human behavior: language, abstract thought, symbolism, etc. That was about 50,000 years ago, and at that point I thought you would develop real intelligence and common sense on your own. I was wrong.

From the moment I let your species loose on this planet—whether on the sixth day of Creation, as it says in that book you wrote about Me, or some date scores of millennia earlier—there has been but one overriding story line: war.  Constant, unrelenting, unforgiving war. It’s fueled by your fears, anger, jealousies, and hatreds. It never solves anything, but you keep doing it. Apparently you hope that the next one will be the last one. It never is.

I think one of you said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “It’s a mark of insanity to keep trying the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results.” Well if that’s true, I’m here to tell you that you’re all insane. You never get different results; everyone loses, but you keep trying. Pardon the italics, but I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more.

I have watched you fight it out for aeons (I’m old, I use the old spelling), and the list of conflicts is endless. To name just a few, there’s the Peloponnesian War, the Hundred Years War, various civil wars (that’s an oxymoron if I ever heard one!), World War I (“the war to end all wars”), WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and hundreds of others.

Now the Middle East is ablaze again in Syria and Gaza and Iraq. And you’ve even democratized war so much that it no longer requires an army: a few zealots with a cause can fly like kamikazes into large buildings or shoot down civilian aircraft with shoulder-held rocket launchers.

Wake up, people! It doesn’t make any sense! You fight endlessly. You fight over territory. You fight over power. You fight over tribal jealousies (take the Hutus vs. the Tutsis, for example). All your great religions purport to worship Me and act in My Name, and they all speak of the desire for love and peace, but you even fight about religion! (See, e.g, Christians vs. Muslims; Catholics vs. Protestants; Sunnis vs. Shiites).

William Shakespeare, the best author I ever created, might as well have been referring to war when he wrote: “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

So here’s my message to you humans: JUST STOP IT! Ask your most respected religious and spiritual leaders (no politicians, please, for My sake!) to get together and send this message to the world on my behalf—

High School Daze

A college-era friend called yesterday. He and his family are in So. Cal. on vacation, and he had told me a week or so ago that we might be able to get together. Now that they’ve arrived at their beach rental—in Carpinteria, near Santa Barbara—he realizes that he’s more than 200 miles from San Diego and getting here would require a long slog through LA traffic or 5½ hours on the train. 

After apologies for the change of plans and our agreement to try again some other time, we got to talking about family, mutual friends, what we do for fun, and even high school reunions because this year is the 50th anniversary of our respective graduations. He’s “devilishly curious” to see whether high school friendships will have survived five decades.

Loyal readers of this blog (assuming there are any) may recall that three years ago I briefly mentioned a related phenomenon. In that post of June 8, 2011, I wrote:

It was prom season recently. "Glee" had an entire episode on it, and the NYT had a story about proms for adults, of all things. The headline read, "Second Shot to Have the Best Night of Their Lives." Their best night! Really? … Gag me! I thought proms were stupid when I went to them (credit peer pressure for my going), and I feel even more so now. And proms for adults? Puh-leeze!  

I guess you can sense where I’m headed with this: my friend Bill is going to his reunion, but I couldn’t care less about mine. The adolescent years generally—and high school years in particular—aren’t especially joyous ones for a lot of people. I don’t think you’re even supposed to be happy at that age, so why conjure up those memories? For me the pleasant ones are few and the lasting friendships fewer still. I’ve kept in touch with the handful of my peers I really care about.

Garfield HS, Terre Haute, IN

I’ve never been back to my high school, and it doesn’t even exist any longer. Its reunion will be combined with the reunions of two other schools in town that also have been relegated to the dust bins of history. Thus, were I to attend the joint festivities I wouldn’t recognize most of the people there and would have little in common with any of them. Why would I want to go back to see a bunch of old people I don’t know?

They can “drink a cup of kindness” to the days gone by, but as for me … I’d rather live happily in the present.

# # # 

The Longest Day

Today is the longest day of the year, the summer solstice. It is also "The Longest Day" -- an event sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association to raise funds for their care, support and research efforts. It’s one day to honor the strength and courage displayed by people with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.


This event challenges participants to push themselves to complete approximately 16 hours of a consecutive activity -- such as playing bridge, which is what my bridge club is doing. The Redwood Bridge Club of San Diego is "up and at it" today, both figuratively and literally.


Figuratively because we exceeded our goal of $1600 and raised more than $2000 for the Alzheimer's Association. And literally because we opened before sunrise today and will remain open past sunset tonight with bridge and related activities. There's "party bridge" all day, a class by one of our instructors this morning, a catered lunch, our regular afternoon and evening duplicate bridge games, and a home-cooked meal in between.


I am part of the team that planned the activities, and it has been fascinating to observe people's reactions. I think literally everyone I talk to about The Longest Day has some story to relate about a friend, relative, or spouse with the disease. As a result, people have been really generous with their time and financial support.


We've already started thinking about next year's event, and my co-chair has enlisted the San Diego HOG Group (Harley owners) who want to team up with us for TLD 2015. I can't promise any particulars yet, but the HOGs have talked about doing a "bridge ride" -- a caravan over some of the bridges in San Diego. A Harley bridge ride with bridge club members ... what a combination! Stay tuned.

# # #

She Who is Gone From our Sight

Today we celebrate the long life of my aunt, Elaine Showalter Smith, shown here--still performing remarkably well at age 94--with her daughter, my double-cousin Carol Witherell.

 
Aunt Elaine died yesterday at age 99 years, 6 months and 16 days. She was my father's sister and the wife of my mother's late brother, J. Stanford Smith.

Coincidentally, on The Writer's Almanac today appeared this poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. I found it apropos of the moment. It is titled "Solitude"

Laugh. and the world laughs with you;

Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain. 

But there are times when others do grieve with you.
Today is such a day: we grieve the loss
of my marvelous aunt but
rejoice in the memory of her life and

know that the halls of heaven are crowded

with a large chorus of family and friends.
They gather round her piano; 

they sing her lively hymns and

welcome her: she who is gone from our sight.

# # #

Why Email is Dangerous

This morning I was listening to KPBS, my local NPR station, and heard a certain sentence to begin a story. Read it out loud as the announcer did, with the emphasis on the underscored word. Here's the sentence: 

“You don’t have to have a lot of drinks to be a dangerous driver.”

What do you think the story was about? Texting and driving? Talking on the phone while driving? Dealing with screaming kids in the back seat?

Nope. None of the above. The story was about a study showing that a blood alcohol level of even 0.01% — virtually zero and well below the legal limit — is found in the case of many fatal car crashes. Are you surprised that was the topic? I was. The way the announcer read the opening line was misleading. She should have stressed a different word. Read the sentence again with the emphasis on lot: 

“You don’t have to have a lot of drinks to be a dangerous driver.”

Ah ha! The words have an entirely different meaning now, don’t they? They point to the idea that even one drink can be a problem for drivers.

This little exercise shows how important are tone, voice inflection, cadence and other verbal clues in communication. Never mind that on the radio or over the phone, for example, we lose all possibility of visual clues (gestures, body language, “lip-reading,” etc.), at least we have vocal patterns to help us. And in a face-to-face conversation or Q&A session we can ask for further explanation if the message isn’t coming across clearly.

But consider the written word. There it is, in black and white. Some ink on a page or shapes on a screen that are supposed to convey the author’s thoughts. You can’t ask questions. You don’t hear the inflection. You don’t have visual clues. He or she gets just one chance to communicate with you — one bite at the apple, so to speak. 

That’s why I often say that we talk to be understood, but we write to make it impossible to be misunderstood. 

Even careful writers face a challenge, so consider how sloppy most people are when banging out emails. They need to shoot off a quick message, so they don’t take the time to proofread and may even rely on “spell check” or “autocorrect,” often with disastrous results. In one study reported by the Huffington Post, 65% percent of respondents view even simple grammar and spelling mistakes as "shoddy," saying such errors would cause them to "have no faith" in the person who sent the email.

It may seem that, like King Canute commanding the tide not to rise, I’m fighting a hopeless cause. But if this little essay (which with multiple drafts took me over two hours to write) makes even one of my readers more careful in their emails or other written work, it will have been worth the effort.

** Stay well, keep in touch, and above all: proof your work! **

Reason Doesn't Have a Chance

In the eternal struggle between reason and emotion, reason doesn’t have a chance. 

Not wishing to give up, however, let me try again to inject facts and reason into discussions of health reform. Here are some observations I hope you will consider objectively.

One: The health reform laws (collectively the ACA or “Obamacare”) do not so much change the healthcare system as they reform the insurance industry. Those who claim the ACA is a “takeover” or “power grab” by the federal government are either woefully uninformed or being disingenuous. Helping people choose insurance from private insurance companies is not a takeover.

Two: These insurance reforms—

• Guarantee you can get coverage even if you have pre-existing conditions
• Prevent your being charged higher a premium based on health status
• Cover prevention services including vaccines and screenings
• Eliminate lifetime and annual limits
• Allow young adults to continue on their parents’ plans to age 26
• Make it easier to shop for private insurance through the health insurance marketplaces (“exchanges”) with refundable tax credits if needed
• Provide standardized information and greater transparency about prices for purposes of comparison shopping
• Shrink and eventually close the Medicare “donut hole” for prescription drugs
• Expand Medicaid for states that voluntarily decide to extend coverage

When asked about these changes one by one, without being told that they are part of the ACA, people overwhelmingly approve of them. Only when the epithet “Obamacare” is used does support for them go down. 

Three: Yes, there is an “individual mandate” – a requirement that everyone have insurance beginning next year or pay a penalty. With more than 40 million uninsured people in this country, the policy issue is: is it better that a few be inconvenienced than millions of others have no coverage? This is, fundamentally, a moral issue as well as an economic one. But laying aside issues of morality, the purpose of insurance is to spread risk. The only way to do that is to have everyone in the insurance pool. And, by the way, an individual mandate is part of “Romenycare,” the Massachusetts health insurance plan on which much of “Obamacare” was patterned.

Four: Yes, the insurance marketplaces have had a rocky start, especially the federal Website healthcare.gov. But what new computer system doesn’t have bugs in the early going? Just think of upgrades to the Windows operating system or your iPhone. Those are never perfect on day one and always require “fixes.” (And, by the way, the federal site worked fine for me. That may be because I’m in California, one of the states that embraced reform.) 

Five: It is unfortunate that the President said “if you like your health plan you can keep it.” That was not totally accurate and he’s had to backtrack, thus giving his opponents political ammunition. But more fundamentally, it means that some substandard policies will continue in force, to the detriment of those individuals’ coverage and causing a delay in getting to the goal of spreading risk.

Finally: Obama is the eighth president to champion health reform: TR, FDR, HST, JFK, LBJ, RMN, WJC, and now Obama. If Watergate hadn’t intervened we probably would have adopted universal health insurance 40 years ago because that was Nixon's plan. I wonder what Tea Partiers and Republicans would have said about that. 

Churchill once said: "Americans always do the right thing ... after they've tried everything else first." I say: a century of trying other things is enough.

I don’t care whether you agree with me or not, but please base your opinion on facts and reason, not emotion and the “spin” you get from Fox News, politicians, etc. The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.