Ethical Work

I was raised in New England and one of the bedrock values was the importance of a work ethic.  Since returning I have noticed the very real erosion of that value amongst New Englanders.  It could be that this is because I now reside in that near communistic morass known as the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.  There seems to now be a culture of entitlement where healthy, capable people take advantage of a system set up to ensure the truly needy were taken care of.  I’ve been to a number of public hearings where people are allowed to speak to local government.  Almost invariably the most strident of these speakers proudly proclaim they are living on disability or welfare.   There is no shame and a very definite sense of = the rest of you owe me a living.  In most places in the US the hardest working people are the immigrants – struggling to make a life for their families in this truly best of all countries.  Here in Massachusetts, the generous welfare system has led to whole families coming here – not to work.   This is the danger of one party rule, such as we have here, where the genuinely good intent of these programs are abused.   I’m sure that more than a few of our “rock ribbed” forbearers are looking down and wondering what has become of us.

Starry, Starry Morn

As the season moves on it is getting progressively darker in the mornings when I go out for my run.  When I went out this morning the very bright moon of last night had set and the stars were so brilliant and clear that I had to stop and wonder at the stark beauty of the sky.  This is one of the benefits of country living, away from city lights.  I especially enjoy going out on the deck late on a cold, crisp winter night. On a clear night it’s almost as if you could reach up and touch the stars.  It was a great weekend for star watching.  We had some old friends up for the weekend and we were out on the deck Saturday night sitting around a fire, cooking marshmallows for smors and enjoying the occasional shooting star.  I was reminded of a night long ago in Central America.  I was just a lieutenant and we were on a training exercise in Honduras.  We were dropped off, exhausted and soaked, by helicopter on top of a stone peak that thrust out of the jungle.  As I lay down, trying to find a comfortable position amongst the rocks, the clouds cleared and the most brilliant night sky came into view.  The moon was so large and bright that I understood how ancient societies came to worship the moon as a deity.  For a cold, tired lieutenant, that night, it was divine.

Favorite Thought

At the risk of getting esoteric, I was swimming last night and my thoughts wandered (trying to ignore the somewhat desperate messages my arms were trying to send to my brain).  I latched onto a memory of something that really struck me as a child and continues to have that ability – something I refer to as “my favorite thought” (I told you – I was young!).  That thought is – how amazing it is to actually exist, how fortunate we all are to be alive. I can clearly remember when that thought first hit me; I was in junior high and was not all that contemplative.  It shook me to my core to consider just how lucky I was to be.  For some reason, I existed, the choices, thoughts, and desires were mine alone – I was unique.   This may be why I am less sympathetic than I should be to people with suicidal thoughts.  No matter what issues you are confronted with you are still blessed with life.  I am inadequately trying to explain exactly what this thought embodies and  how much impact it has had on me. When confronted with some of life’s inevitable challenges or disasters, I always hark back to this thought and experience the gratitude all over again.  Last night as I was painfully striving to remain afloat this thought came back to me.  How wonderful life is and how precious that gift is.  A gift that should be cherished and nurtured not wasted or minimized.  Enough obscurity – it’s Friday – that means pizza and beer tonight!

How Low Can TV News Go

I am struck each day by the continuing dissolution of the TV news industry.  I understand that mine is the last generation that will read a daily newspaper; something I still enjoy.  I guess you can say I am in the bridge generation because I used to enjoy watching the news on television as well.  As with most people nowadays, I do get most of my news over the internet, especially sports news.  As newspapers die, the sports section seems to be one of the first appendages to go.  In the face of the internet onslaught television news, for me, is approaching the ludicrous.  We are in the midst of an actual shooting war, with Americans dying almost every day and a very serious economic crisis.  Despite this, the lead story was about the freedom of a potential murderer in Italy, with breathless narration of her flight back to the U.S.  Television news has evolved into a personality business.  Watch the news and note how much of the content is “analysis” which is, in fact, thinly disguised “opinion”.  All the reporters and the anchors are struggling to package the news to make it memorable – even if the base story is not newsworthy.  They are clearly in the entertainment business.  I miss the days when editors actually exercised some control over the on air “talent” and when there was a clear line between editorial opinion and actual facts.  Instead of a thoughtful presentation of the facts we get a rushed package of sound bytes.  One of my favorite fables is the one where several blind men touch different parts of an elephant and then describe it based on the part they are touching.  Reporters rush to get someone to say something memorable for their newscast – even if that someone is a complete “idiot”.  The only medium that allows for a true examination of the facts is the written word.  Maybe there is hope in the internet with its written content and maybe that is why television news continues to descend into irrelevance.  Newspapers are not really dying – they are transitioning into the electro-magnetic spectrum of the internet.

Military Mindset

I’m often asked by well meaning friends how I’m adjusting to civilian life. It’s not something I think about a lot.  I am very proud of the time I spent in the Army; it has, more or less, defined my adult life – so far.  I was ready to leave when I finally decided to take the uniform off.  My next assignments would keep me behind a desk until I reached mandatory retirement age – that’s slow death for an infantry officer.  If I was going to sit behind a desk, I was going to do it on my own terms back where I considered home (see earlier post).  The odd thing about “adjusting” is that soldiers are not some brainwashed automatons that some liberal and conservative writers would like to pigeon hole us as.  We are you – Americans who decided, for a variety of reasons to serve their country.  I have hundreds of military friends and we run the gamut of political, personal, and individual beliefs and attitudes.  I’m pretty much the same guy I went into the Army as, except I have a lot more self-discipline.  There are codes that the military lives by that do become ingrained – a sense of personal honor and truthfulness.  Honesty is the coin of the realm for most in the military because telling lies to each other can get someone killed in a combat situation. I think that is what separates us from “civilians”.  So, in terms of “adjusting” – I haven’t. I continue to try to live my life by the same codes.  The union leaders that I am required to deal with in my current job have learned that the very worst thing they can do when dealing with me is to lie.  This was a very difficult adjustment for them but in the long run I think they appreciate that they can expect the same honesty from me.  

The Great Outdoors

I realized back in June that I had let myself get seriously out of shape.  I decided to climb Mount Monadnock, which should not have been difficult, but found myself seriously out of breath a few times.  It was mildly to seriously embarrassing.  It's tough being a civilian and staying in shape.  When I was in the Army we took an hour and a half out of the work day each day to work out, not optional.  I have learned that civilians expect a full work day; granted the civilian work day is only eight hours long, instead of the ten to twelve hours the normal Army day was, but still.  Any hoo, I started running again, 5 days a week, and swimming, 3 nights a week, and am slowly rounding back into a shadowy semblance of shape.  I have learned its much easier to pull muscles as you get older - who knew.  I was out running this morning and was reflecting (hoping to dull the pain in my left calf) about how much I love being outside.  We live on a country road in central Massachusetts and there are a bunch of local trails I can run on.  I reflected on the fact that I loved being outside when I was growing up, camping out, hiking - the complete boy scout experience.  I found that the Army robbed me of this love.  I ended up spending so much of my time outside as an infantry officer that it became work and drudgery.  I was usually dead tired, sweat soaked, and operating without lights at night (thank God for NVGs).  As I was gently pounding the pavement this morning, thoroughly enjoying the early morning mist and quiet if not the running, I realized this is something I should get back to.  I'm adding hiking to the list of things to pick up again this year.  The great thing about it - no 50 pound pack to carry as a civilian.  Oh yeah, back up Monadnock again before the snow flies.

Empty Nest Again

We just returned from the airport where we dropped off my mother in law and another house guest.  We've basically had guests staying with us since May and now we get a little breather.  We have talked that it is challenging at times to have long term, non-family guests.  This guest was an absolute pleasure to have around, quiet as the proverbial church mouse at most times but she really dug in and helped around the house.  The good thing about having guests is that you're motivated to get out and see the local sights.  We spent almost ten years in and around Washington DC but the only times we went to the Smithsonian was when we had visitors.  Without guests, you can always find other priorities in life instead of seeing the great attractions all around us.  The house will seem really empty for a while but we're already planning on getting out to see New England's great foliage in a couple of weeks.