Steve Daniels - Life Musings

About Tikaani

This is Tikaani. He is a 10 year old Siberian Huskie that has been my friend since he was a baby. Tikaani means "wolf" in one of the Eskimo dialects.

Tikaani loves to hike in Colorado and smell everything he can put his nose on. He is very athletic and has a great disposition. He even tolerates cats. He goes almost everywhere I go including the office everyday.

He is a great friend.

We call him "Kaani" for a nickname.

Bridge Collapse - Society Collapse

First, let me express sympathy for the families that are missing their loved ones in Minnesota.

The possible cracks in the Minnesota bridge reveal the cracks in our democracy that risk the collapse of what we cherish. I would stand at the front of the line defending our system of government. Yet, it has its deficiencies. Like cracks in a bridge, our system has cracks that we may have noticed in an inspection, but, fail to repair. The news accounts now inform us that the Minnesota bridge was "structurally deficient" similar to thousands of other bridges that we drive on. Tonight's news revealed that reports in 2005 and 2006 revealed serious concerns.

These same cracks were viewable in New Orleans. Also in the anti-terrorism group in Washington. These cracks are clearly visible in our education system (i.e. drop out rates, education achievement, school violence, and poor college persistence). 

Our democracy depends on elected representatives, leaders and bureacrats, to do the job that we all would do ourselves if given the responsibility. Make no mistake, our government belongs to us. It is as good as us and no better than us. At any time, if we are unhappy with its course, we can change it. We simply fire, vote out, impeach or indict the scoundrels not doing the job that we would do.

The cracks in our society reveal our shortcomings as voters in this society. We choose not to read the news. We choose not to vote. We choose to not go to school.

We choose to not care until a calamity happens. Until a bridge falls. Or a hurricane hits. Or a levy breaks. Or a plane flies into a building. Then we express outrage.

We as a country, a state and a town need to see the cracks and begin to repair them. Not just in the bridge but in ourselves. We must repair the cracks in our society from a poor education and a poor understanding of civic responsibility.

Hitting bottom - ker plunck

We all run into situations in life where we wish we could write "a prescription" for someone we care about to make their life better. One of the larger quandaries of the "human condition" is that others can't hear or follow our advice when they are in their own pain.

Pain is the source of most addictive behaviour. Only when someone feels the pain bad enough... unmedicated.... can they decide for themselves to change their lives. Some call this "hitting bottom". Drugs, alcohol, eating and many other addicttive behaviours simply can't be affected by love and caring from others. It sucks.... but it is true. Many know the frustration of caring so much for someone that seems not to care for themselves.

Sometimes the best way to help someone acting out addictive behavior is to let them fall and or fail. Then stand near them to support them when they finally decide to change their lives.

Immigration according to Teddy -

Teddy Rooselvelt that is...

"Those that do not learn the lessons of history are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past." We frequently look for an original way to think or comment on important issues when others before us have "nailed the issue". The debate on immigration could be helped by considering the views of a previous American president.

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who say s he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language, and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

 

Ps. DD1 Comment - I am somewhat conflicted as to whether I want to introduce political comments here, but thought this was a useful point of view. 

QotD: Cheapskate

Who is the cheapest person you know?  (Not frugal... just annoyingly cheap!)
Submitted by kryan70.

One of my former bosses. He not only nitpicked every dime we spent on travel, but, he acscended to "cheap hall of fame" when I invited him to a Chicago Bulls playoff game in the 90's. This was the hayday of the most dominant basketball team to play the game. I had invested in season tickets and knew he had no tickets and wanted to go. While not typically a "suck up", I thought this would be a welcome gesture on my part as he wanted to attend a playoff game.

Well.... I offerred and he let me drive to the game and pay for parking. But the ultimate cheapness occurred when we stepped up to order some hot dogs as the game was starting. When it came time to pay, of course, he let me pull my wallet out without even suggesting he might pay. Not that $10 was gonna break anyone's bank, but the cheap label could have been easily avoided with a simple gesture. 

Walking in Others' Shoes

It is pretty easy for us to look around our town and wonder why kids drop out of school, why teenagers are out until all hours of the night, why it seems there is so much drug use and why so many choose a life of crime, guns and shootings. Its seems so many are afraid to look for the root causes of these phenomona. Better education would lead many to different choices and a better life. Yet, there is so little determination to really expect, demand and affect much better public schools and education.

The other night I engaged a friend about these issues. He had a very different set a beliefs about these issues and their causes. It was a long and wide ranging conversation that really resulted in no solutions but many questions. Several points he made were hard to comprehend. They included:

 

• The world of kids in urban jungle is so different than other worlds. "Man Laws" may not apply in this world.
• The temptation to be judgemental about these behaviors may be based on our values but out of synch with the reality of the urban jungle.
• Some inexplicable behavior may seem normal to those engaged in it.

I may not be able to agree with my friend but respect that his point of view is based on first-hand knowledge that I don't have. I remain convinced that education and a re-introduction of key values is important. How to accomplish this will be the perplexing issue. We must talk about it.

Fan of Vox Blog

I just need to say that I have been away from this blog site and wow.  VOX (a member of the TypePad family) has done a great job with this blog environment. What a great way to share your thoughts and ideas (and sometimes - therapy) with others.

They are a number of great blog platforms out there. Try one out or email me if you want a suggestion.

Where from here

Hi there.

I have been gone awhile which makes these blogs really boring. I have decided to try to write more for this blog but with a new focus. For anyone that knows me, there may know that I already write for Macon County Shared Vision and Simple Facts and Simple Truth.

I will keep those blogs up but will focus this blog more on musings about life. I hope you will be interested and more importantly comment and share. I also encourage you to link to this blog.

I can't stay right now, but will return soon.

State of Denial

Bob Woodward is a great journalist and should be accepted as credible. He intends well and believes what he writes. But, war is hell and littered with errors, disappointments and thousands of revisionist historians.

We have not had to ever face an enemy to democracy, freedom and the American way of life that we now face with fundamentalist terrorists. We may never understand them due to the huge difference in values. What would be nice to understand and debate is ourselves and the moderates in the world that pretend to share our values. Where is the outrage?

Outrage? Over what?

Lack of respect for life. Lack of value of education and enlightenment. Lack of regard for women and basic human rights. Most that express outrage over one policy or misstep, verbally and mentally ignore the ugly reality of the world and values of that the terrorists believe in.

We must overcome.

Simple Truth

Bush and his administration are not in a "State of Denial". They are determined to defend our country, allies and way of life. There is no alternative. Of course, conversation snippets can be taken out of context. Of course, some military leaders have other points of view. They always have. They have in every war fought in this nation.

Lets debate the real issues. What can we do better? Where do we fight next? How do we defend ourselves better? What new ideas will help us overcome?

Soybean Fields - Simple Facts & Simple Truth

This is my new blog which will be largely political and policy oriented. When I have time, comments will attempt to digest important policy issues into simple facts and simple truth. What topics are you interested in.

I have decided (7/28/2007) to revise the purpose of this blog. For ideas on national and international issues please see Simple Facts and Simple Truth.