The Smell of New Leather, The Feel of New Clothes

Perhaps I am easily amused, but I went to the gym today and I was totally thrilled to be seen wearing my brand spanking new pair of Asics Nimbus running shoes. These are shoes that have never yet been outside and met a puddle. They are so white you practically need sunglasses, just to wear them. After 600+ miles on the last pair, it was time for a change, and I could not be happier about it. New stuff makes me happy.

I grew up in pretty modest circumstances in Central Arkansas in the 1950's and 1960's. When you say modest circumstances in that place and time, you're talking pretty damned modest. Okay, we were poor. We so poor we couldn't afford a pet peeve. We were so broke we couldn't pay attention. We were..... You get the point. Anyway, in those days my mother would go down to Pace's Department Store and buy us all our school clothes in late August on store credit. We would pay it all off a little bit every month and by Christmas it was all paid off and it was time for Mom to buy us some more clothes for Christmas, you know winter stuff instead of that late summer, early fall stuff from August. I seem to remember coats and sweaters and a few toys thrown in. I also remember underwear and socks. At Christmas? Oh yeah.

The thing is, whether it was the bunch of new clothes at the start of the school year or the mid-winter wardrobe renewal, I loved it all. The crisp feel and that brand new smell you get with new clothes, there's nothing like it. When you spent some of your early years wearing used stuff from Goodwill Industries, new stuff was just a thrill and the smell and feel of it stuck in your brain. New shoes were especially nice. To this day I love the smell of new leather. I love the look of shoes that have never been scuffed, that have never been worn and creased from walking in them.

All of this baggage about new clothes has stayed with me over the years. I still feel the thrill when I get something new to wear. I still feel ultimately cool when I wear it out in public for the first time. I can still get an olfactory jolt from smelling those new shoes. Why wear them? Why not just keep them in the box and get them out long enough to stick your nose in them and smell that new shoe smell instead of that been worn on sweaty old feet smell? Because then you wouldn't get to show them off to people. That's why. Never stopped me from taking that surreptitious sniff of the new shoes when no one was looking though. It's just a little sad when that smell goes away. They're broken in. They're no longer new. Then they're good for wearing, but not good for sniffing any more.

As I've gotten older the thrills have gotten a little more expensive, but not necessarily more sophisticated. I walked into the office of the building where I live yesterday. There was a new smell about it and it made you feel good. The building manager looked at me sniffing and said, "New carpet." It made that office smell new. It made you feel good. Not particularly impressive or overly decorative, but new carpet. It was all a part of a multi-million dollar restoration project that is being paid for out of my assessment and the assessments of the other owner-tenants at 860-880 Lake Shore Drive. Like I said new smells and feels have gotten a wee bit more expensive.

What about that new car smell? There is nothing like that new car smell. The funny thing is, I never owned a new car until I was 40 years old. I got used to the smell pretty quick. I like it. That first new car was a Mazda Protege and it cost the whopping sum of $10,000. It smelled great. I think I could get used to savoring the smell of a brand new Mercedes, but I haven't advanced quite that far as yet. The last new car smell I savored was a Mini Cooper. Not a Mercedes, but considerably more than the cost of that new car smell in the Mazda Protege.

The last item that gave me that new thrill before the running shoes was a birthday present. Babs knows how much I lust for leather coats. My last one finally bit the dust several years ago, and I've been suffering through the Chicago winters in a cloth coat, albeit with that microfiber lining to keep you warm, for the last several years. The zipper broke. I was due for a new coat and on my birthday, Babs presented me with the most fantastic heavy winter coat, made of the most wonderful supple leather. I was overjoyed. It smelled fantastic! It still hasn't gotten cold enough to wear this coat. I've been wearing my lighter weight suede coat so far, and it doesn't smell new anymore. I really want to wear that new coat out so everyone can see it, and I can strut my stuff. In the meantime, however, I can still go to the closet when no one is looking and take a hefty sniff. That new leather coat smell is marvelous. And I'm thinking that I may just need some crisp new shirts to wear with that coat, maybe a sweater, and probably..........

War, Uh! What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing!

I have a history of speaking out against wars, and violence in general. I was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. When I was drafted, I spent two years working in a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas instead of serving two years in the army and being sent to fight a war. I was then and still remain proud of the fact that I stood up for my convictions.

I am also proud to say that I was not one of those who yelled epithets and treated the returning servicemen badly, those who either chose to go or were forced to go to Vietnam. I knew far too many who were not as lucky as I, who had to serve. I knew far too many, who believed they were doing the right thing by serving their country, right or wrong. I knew far too many who were killed or came back from the war maimed, either physically or mentally. War takes its toll. I am enough of a realist to know that there are times when a person has to protect himself or his family, when a citizen has to protect his nation and his people, and a fight is necessary. 90% + of the time, however, it can be avoided.

In 1985, I met my wife, Babs, and became a part of her family, as she became a part of mine. Her father was a proud Marine who fought island to island in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Her brother-in-law was a Vietnam Vet, who downplayed the experience, but was a proud member of the American Legion. In time they came to know my experience as I came to know theirs, but I never once suggested they were wrong and they never once told me I was wrong. We were family, and everyone has their reasons. We respected one another.

Just recently, my father-in-law, 92 year old former Marine, and my mother-in-law, 88 year old former WAVE from World War II, were part of a group of World War II vets who were flown to Washington D.C. to visit monuments and to be honored for their contributions to this nation. My mother-in-law was touched that in Washington D.C. hundreds of people showed up in the pouring rain to honor them. She was amazed that hundreds more met them at the airport in Mason City, Iowa when they returned. She was appalled that her hometown newspaper in St. Ansgar, Iowa ignored them.

She wrote a letter to the newspaper and saw to it that a notice of the experience appeared in print. She then wrote a letter about the whole thing to Babs, and her heartfelt eloquence touches me at my core. This is a woman who grew up in an age when one unquestioningly accepted the actions of the USA simply because it is your country and your country is on the side of right. This is a woman who, for any foibles I may think she has, has garnered a little bit of wisdom in her 88 years.

In her letter to the St. Ansgar Enterprise-Journal my mother-in-law, Dorothy Brasch, had this to say, "The rain was almost a fitting background as we viewed the World War II monuments. The awesome monument of sculptured gold stars, one for every 100 Americans killed in combat: 'The Price of Freedom, Lest We Forget.' These monuments are not by any means a celebration of war, but instead a tribute to all the men and women who died for our freedom." I am in awe of her eloquence.

Then, as if I were not enough in awe, she had this to add in a personal note to her daughter, my wife, "We have had constant rain for days and it is getting depressing. I became even more depressed tonight when Dick Cheney appeared on TV in his tuxedo at his fund-raising dinner, having the audacity to say Obama was taking too long to send 40,000 troops to Afghanistan. I've seen enough gold stars and shed enough tears over all those men who died in the war. Enough wars. they don't solve anything." There is more in those words than I ever have or could say on the topic. I am choked up and I salute you Dorothy Brasch. Your heart and your head are in the right place. Would that we all had your wisdom.

Afghans? I Like the Kind Grandma Used to Make.

I have mixed feelings about this business in Afghanistan. The good liberals are saying get out. General McChrystle is saying more troops. Our NATO allies are saying McChrystle is right. Joe Biden is saying we ought to focus more on Al-Qaida in both Afghanistan and in Pakistan and forget trying to fix everything in Afghanistan. The President is silent while he considers all the facts. Dick Cheney is against anything that the current administration does, even if it is the same thing his administration did. So what's the solution?

Anyone who was alive on 9/11/2001 knows that Al-Qaida is dangerous and committed to attacking targets in the U.S. and within the borders of our Western European allies. Anyone who was paying attention back then knows that the Afghan government, then run by the Taliban, gave aid and support to Al-Qaida. Well the Taliban government is long gone. Al-Qaida went into hiding and for the most part has been operating out of Pakistan.

It's a given that we shouldn't have gotten involved in Iraq in the first place and the Obama administration seems committed to withdrawing from Iraq, leaving the Iraqi people to iron out their differences or blow each other up or whatever they want to do within the confines of their own borders. The question is, is Afghanistan a threat to the U.S.? Well, only as much as the possibility of the Taliban returning to power there is a possibility. We know what happened last time they took over in Afghanistan.

So is it a possibility? Apparently General Stanley McChrystal thinks so, and he seems to have convinced European Defense Ministers from NATO. He recommends sending more troops to stop the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and the Europeans seem to be buying the argument. So are they committed to sending more troops? Are they willing to invest money and lives from their countries to this task? All too often it seems that Europe is willing to support a military action as long as its American money and troops being committed. Want a war in Afghanistan? Well commit your fair share. The whole world is suffering from the current economic malaise, the U.S. included and we have suffered our fair share of loss of lives in this conflict already.

There are those, the President and Vice President of the U.S. included who seem to be advocating a focus on stopping those elements that would pose a terrorist threat to the U.S. (and our allies) and kicking their butts. That would mean turning over the protection of Afghanistan from internal enemies to the Afghan people. Ultimately, that would mean leaving some U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a while until the Afghan government can be trusted to take on its own military actions, but it would mean withdrawal over time, as is happening in Iraq.

The value in this tact is that the U.S. could focus on one thing, stopping the operations of the radical Islamic elements that operate with impunity along the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. And the Europeans need to be more than just cheerleaders for the U.S. NATO is an alliance and an alliance has duties and requirements for all members of that alliance, not just some. When Afghanistan is stabilized, then they could contribute to the effort. Pakistan has already begun some efforts at cleaning up the situation on their side of the border, but a great deal more needs to be done.

Furthermore, radical Islamic militancy does not just threaten the U.S. and Western Europe from this base of operations. Russia and China are both just on the Northern side of the border from Afghanistan. Russia has been making a lot of noise about the heroin epidemic there, and the heroin has its beginnings in the poppy fields of Afghanistan. They are also experiencing small Islamic insurgencies in portions of their country. It is in their interest to get involved. Why aren't there Russians helping out? (Could it have something to do with the previous war they had in Afghanistan in the 1980's when they got their butts kicked?) There are Chinese areas where radical Islamic elements would like to get hold. Where are the Chinese troops to stop the spread of this scourge of the planet?

We all know that Afghanistan is a difficult place to control. The British pacified all of India and at that time India included Pakistan. They were never able to control Afghanistan, however. The Russians set up a puppet Communist government in Afghanistan and could not keep it in power. An Islamic insurgency toppled it. Now the U.S. is mired there. What are our chances of pacifying Afghanistan and controlling the Islamic radicals?

"It takes a village to raise a child," and it takes a planet to stop a radical movement that threatens to destabilize an entire region of that planet, while making life unsafe for anyone different from themselves all over the planet. This is not just a threat to the U.S. It is a threat to every advanced nation of the world. This is not a job for just the U.S. It is a job for all of the advanced nations of the world to share, in order to make this go away. We all have to share in the protection and in the cost of that protection. The U.S., at this juncture, can ill afford to continue throwing money and lives at a problem that belongs to everyone. Not our job, even if there are elements of our society who think it is. Not our job, even if everyone else in the world has become accustomed to the U.S. taking on the lion's share of military responsibilities.

Real Teacher Conversations, Brought to You By CPS

The following snippets of conversation have been gleaned from real conversations by real teachers in the course of doing their jobs. Okay, some may be subjected to the artistic license rule, but for the most part they represent the essence of conversations that have really occurred in all too real Chicago Public Schools. The names have been changed to protect the innocent, the perpetrators, and the instigators.

"I can't believe she can just do that to people. Where is the Union in all of this?"

"You know what she's trying to do, don't you? Trying to make it uncomfortable enough for them that they'll retire. Then she'll hire someone else to do the job, and they'll owe her for their jobs."

"Yeah and they'll save a lot of money by hiring younger teachers who get paid a lot less."

"I'm really surprised the new librarian isn't younger."

"Oh you know she likes to hire people from her church. This school is full of them."

****** ******* *******

The teacher said, "I can give you one name, XYZ. She's not officially labeled BD (Behavior Disordered) or anything, but she acts like it. Nobody ever documented it and got her labeled as such. Every time she walks in a classroom, she creates a scene over something and the drama is contagious. By the time security comes to remove her the rest of the classroom is out of control."

The administrator said, "Maybe you can write it up and get her referred to the social worker for some counseling."

Another teacher said, "The social worker is only here one day a week."

Yet another teacher said, "I tried that. She won't go to see the social worker." At that point the conversation fizzled and someone interjected something taking the conversation in another direction.

Later 3 teachers, not in the company of an administrator were talking. One said, "When you write her up and call for security, she bolts the room and wanders the halls. Nothing ever happens to her."

Another teacher replied, "Well you're better off without her in the room. At least you can get some teaching done when she's not there."

The first teacher agreed, "Yeah. You know it's gotten to the point that I saw her in the hallway before class the other day and when she turned and went the other way I pretended not to see her. Without her there, class progressed reasonably."

The third teacher smiled and added, "Now that's good teaching. See you learn something after teaching for a while."

******* ********** ******

In another instance several teachers were discussing what to do about chronic hall-walkers, students who don't go to class unless forced to do so, yet show up daily at school.

"We should make a list of the ones who are always in the hall, and put them in in school suspension every Friday until they stop roaming the halls."

"Do you really want to have all of those kids in one room all day long? Do you want to deal with all of them in one place?"

"You know most of them are really low functioning and they just don't like being in a classroom. They read on a second grade level and we're asking them to do high school level work. People just pretend that they can be successful when they can't and they get frustrated and roam the halls."

"Yeah well, if we're making a list of hall-walkers, I say we need to put Student XXX on the list. He never comes except when he's rounded up and made to come."

"Student XXX? That kid is dangerous."

"Dangerous? When he's in my class he never causes any trouble. He's kind of quiet, but then he only shows up when he's caught in the hall, and then it's usually halfway through the period."

"Really? He probably doesn't have any of his buddies in that class with him. They feed on each other when they're together. Believe me, that kid needs to be locked up."

"Are you going out for lunch?"

"Yeah. Need a ride?"

Needless to say these conversations didn't take place at an elite college preparatory high school. They happened at a neighborhood high school in a neighborhood known for gang shootings. Teachers had this to say about their school as opposed to an elite college preparatory high school.

"Wouldn't it be fun if you could have a one month social science experiment where you switched all of the teachers from Elite College Preparatory High School with all of the teachers from Bad Neighborhood High School and saw how each group fared? Who do you suppose would have the most success with their students?"

Baseball in November? Why Not Hockey in June? Oh Wait...

I have very fond memories from childhood of the World Series and childhood friends debating the merits of Yankees vs. Dodgers. It was early October and while summer was officially over it was usually sunny and warm enough yet to justify a summertime pursuit like baseball. Most of the games were played in the daytime. TV had not yet brought its cash and need for after work audiences to bear on the culmination of the nation's pastime for the year.

Then TV ratings and stuff happened and baseball moved to evenings, except on weekends. I remember when the last holdout, the Chicago Cubs gave up the ghost and put lights in Wrigley Field. It traumatized half a city, but in the end the furor died down and profits rolled in. The American League and National League both added teams. They divided each league into divisions.

Divisional playoffs were added. The American League said pitchers didn't have to bat, and added a designated hitter. Ticket prices went up. Luxury skyboxes went into every stadium. Baseball enlarged its spectrum and went into Canada. Cold weather cities built domed stadiums. Really hot weather cities built domed stadiums. Cities built stadiums with roofs that could be retracted in good weather, and closed in inclimate weather.

Jeeesus! Is this baseball? Okay, I admit going to Twins games and enjoying watching Billy Martin blow a gasket over one of those high pop flies that got lost in the massive white roof of the Metrodome. That was before they painted it blue, to emulate the sky I suppose, and to reduce the incidence of what came to be known as "Dome Balls." Still, in retrospect, it seems a little silly, and the Twins are moving to a new outdoor stadium next year. They saw the error of their ways.

The latest and greatest travesty to beset the National Pastime, however, is the expansion of the playoffs until the divisional rivalries are not settled until the end of October and the World Series will not be over until sometime in November. Have you seen the players on the field in Boston and New York wearing hooded things under their hats to keep their heads and ears warm, wearing insulated batting gloves, sitting in dugouts with electric heaters? What ever happened to "The Boys of Summer"? It's mid-autumn for crying out loud. They had to postpone a playoff game in Denver because the weather was more suited to "cross-country skiing."

Frankly, there is a point of diminishing returns when the baseball season goes on this long. People grow tired of it. There is simple baseball fatigue. And it has to compete with football (Both pro and college), basketball, and hockey. Want to play baseball this long? That's why they have leagues in the Caribbean and in Mexico.

As for the cold and inclimate weather factors, there are two possible solutions for the future of baseball playoffs and the world series. One possibility is that you forget that home and home format and make all playoff games go to a domed stadium to play. Frankly, that is untenable. Home crowds watching their teams play and the advantage that comes of playing on the home turf are integral to the game and its playoffs. The other option is to shorten the season to, say 150 games. That would end the season a couple of weeks earlier. The playoffs would begin earlier. The actual World Series would be back to being played in the early days of October like it traditionally has been. I vote for that.

Now as for the other problems of professional baseball, can we please get rid of the designated hitter? That's not real baseball. Can we stop with the corporate naming rights of stadiums? I can't really buy into U.S. Cellular Field. I still think of the White Sox as playing in Comiskey Park. Of course I think the football Cardinals moving to Phoenix and the football Rams moving to St. Louis is just wrong too. Some things cannot be fixed.

But one more thing. There is serious professional baseball in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Venezuela, and all over the Caribbean. Of course the U.S. and the Japanese are the only ones who pay serious salaries for their players. That's an issue too. Good God! $30 million to play baseball! As I said, some things cannot be fixed. How about a real World Series sometime, though. Let's see how the rest of the world stacks up against baseball in the U.S., or how we stack up against them, sort of like the World Cup in Soccer (Futbol). Little League has a real World Series. How about the Major Leagues?

Popes and Anglicans and Leaning Towers of Liberals

The Pope and the Anglicans are in negotiations over bringing the Anglicans back into the Catholic Church. It seems the liberal leanings of one part of the Anglican Church have gone and ordained women and gay men into the priesthood and the more conservative elements have issues with all of this liberalization. Next thing you know the Americans will reject the British monarchy and start calling themselves Episcopalians instead of members of the Church of England. Oh wait. That already happened, didn't it?

Funny thing, once upon a time there was one Christian Church and the Romans saw to it that the radical responsible for that upstart religion was crucified. Then the Emperor decided Christianity was the one true faith and all of Europe had to become Christian. Then the Empire weakened and split in two and good old Constantine moved the capital to the East and named the city Constantinople (Great to have a city named after yourself, don't you think?).

Next thing you know the Christians in the East and the Christians in the West were arguing over the use of icons and there was an Eastern church at Constantinople called the Orthodox Church and one in Rome called the Catholic Church. This lasted a pretty long time. The two churches left each other alone and they both agreed that neither liked Muslims. There were some religious wars called Crusades.

The Dark Ages ended. The Renaissance came and more people started thinking for themselves. Along comes this monk named Martin Luther. Seems he had an issue with corruption in the Catholic Church, so he posts all of these theses on the Cathedral door, gets himself excommunicated by the Pope, and "Oh my God," the Protestant Reformation was on. The Catholic Church didn't want to be reformed, so Luther got his own church and, "Voila," there were Lutherans all over Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Last I heard, in places like Northern Iowa, the German Lutherans and the Norwegian Lutherans couldn't agree on anything so now there are separate German Lutheran churches and Norwegian Lutheran churches.

Well Luther started something and John Calvin came along and started preaching pre-destination and hellfire and brimstone, and copycats in France called themselves Huguenots and copycats in Scotland called themselves Presbyterians, and the French Catholics had no sense of humor and killed several thousand of those smarty-pants Huguenots. Presbyterians had better sense, and moved to America and became just one more group of Europeans that took advantage of the Indians.

Then along came Henry VIII of England and he wanted a male heir. Wife had a girl and for some reason couldn't get knocked up again. Henry wanted a divorce so he could marry someone else and the Pope wouldn't give him one. He was siding with the Spanish King, whose sister it was that Henry wanted to divorce. Henry said, "Screw it," started his own church, and gave himself a divorce. Dude went through six wives before he died and when he did, turns out his daughter by his second wife became Queen. (The only male was a sickly little shit and died.) Anyway, the Church of England was born.

Can't leave out the Puritans. Puritans came along and a bunch moved to Massachusetts and spread out all over New England, bringing one hell of a work ethic and the idea that anything remotely fun is sinful. Back in England where they started, they got rid of the king and set up a dictatorship run by this Alpha Puritan, Oliver Cromwell, and he ran shit there until he died, and then the British decided they liked kings better than Puritanical dictators, so they restored the kings to power. Meanwhile in America, the Puritans were busy killing Indians and hanging people as witches. (My personal favorite test for witches involved throwing them in the lake. If you floated you were a witch. If you didn't you weren't. Of course, if you didn't, you drowned, but you went to heaven, not hell.)

Over the next couple of hundred years we got Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, Mormons, snake handlers, holy rollers, and next thing you know we had more Christian denominations than a dog has fleas. Not sure where Jehovah's Witnesses came from. Now the Pope and the Anglicans are talking about reuniting. Frankly they ought to take all of the cultural conservatives, the gay-bashing, keep women in their place (barefoot, pregnant, and in the home, that is.), kill criminals, give everyone guns, and outlaw all abortions and morning after pill conservatives and put them all in one church. They'd all be much easier to keep track of that way. And then it would all come full circle.

In the meantime, I attend services with the Reverend R.D. at the "Church of There Ain't No God, But There Sure As Hell Is Morality." We meet on Saturday evenings for services at your finer establishments of imbibery. We're partial to full-bodied red wines and sharp cheeses for communion. We have one key principle, "Judge not and we'll all get along a lot better. Can I buy you a drink brothers and sisters?" Oh and we hold special services during the week at about 5 PM. We call it the Happy Hour.

Peace Brothers and Sisters.

Looking out the windows from the 14th floor, the lake is now empty of boats. The water temperature has dipped into the low 50's. The leaves on the trees in Olive Park are changing colors. Yet the lights of Navy Pier still beckon tourists and families to come on down. The ferris wheel still beckons to the paying customers, "Come and see the skyline from on high." And this past weekend an altercation broke out that resulted in a stabbing near that very ferris wheel.

When I was a teenager between the ages of 13 and 18 I got into a number of fights all of which, in retrospect, were avoidable and stupid. These were, each and every one, fist fights that ended up in some bruises, black eyes, fat lips. No one was ever hospitalized from one of these altercations. Somehow, when the teenage years arrive and the testosterone starts to flow, and the young men begin to feel it necessary to prove their manhood, they are more easily provoked. They feel someone has insulted them. They feel someone has disrespected them. They feel that someone has questioned that blossoming manhood. They feel it necessary to fight to prove that manhood.

For as long as human beings have been human beings this has been a normal part of human behavior, as normal as butting heads is for rams. Stupid when viewed from the outside, but nevertheless a normal part of establishing pecking orders. Though we, as humans, have a greater capacity to reason than those rams, there are times in our development when that reason fails us, when hormones and instinct take precedence. If it's just a fist fight, and nobody gets seriously hurt, we can accept this as normal adolescent behavior.

The problem enters this scenario when weapons are introduced into the mix. When knives, guns, baseball bats, two by fours, kicking people when they're down, and use of all manner of blunt objects are introduced into the mix, this becomes a horse of a different color. Suddenly we're not talking about two teenaged boys, pumped full of testosterone duking it out. We're talking about trips to the hospital, trips to the morgue. We're talking about prison time. We're talking about retribution involving drive by shootings, gang attacks, and oftentimes innocent bystanders being hurt or killed.

When was it that the USA became a land where teenage shooting deaths began to take the place of black eyes? Where is the outrage that our sons (and sometimes daughters) have become so inured to violence that the taking of a life is just a way to show that you're a man (or woman)? When did violence of a deadly sort become so widespread that a safe place to take your children for some family fun became the site of drunken altercations and stabbings?

The violence escalates and I am not talking about some 3rd world country here. I'm not talking about Asia, Africa, or South America. I'm talking about the USA. The movie industry echoes this trend with ever more violent movies. The game industry sell ever more violent video games involving killing of foes. The NRA feeds the demand for more guns with their propaganda that tells us we need guns to protect ourselves from violence. The guns become more readily available, legally and illegally. The number of deaths by gun violence escalates. Fights without guns turn into brawls with blunt objects that kill as well. People are beaten senseless and the frenzy continues until the victims are nothing more than a bloody pulp.

I am not a religious man, but the inherent message in Christianity of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love your fellow man." This is a message I can buy into whether I buy into the religion as a whole or not. I am not a religious man, but the Buddha's message of "Harm no living thing," is a message I can buy into. I am not a religious man. I am a rational man. If humanity is to rise above its animal origins, humanity has to resist its baser urges. It has to restrict access to deadly weapons. It has to teach our children the value of non-violence.

Our children can never be all that they can be if they are dead. Our children can never be all that they can be if they are locked up for crimes of violence. Our children can never be all that they can be if they continually negate the ability of their minds to forge rational solutions to conflict by giving into their animal urges for violence. Our world has changed. It is no longer acceptable to solve every teenage argument with violence. The violence has become too dangerous. It threatens the fabric of our society as a whole. Rome fell to barbaric violence that came from outside. The USA can just as easily fall to barbaric violence from within. I really don't want to spend the rest of my days locked behind a wall with armed guards because our society as a whole has become so violent and amoral that I cannot move freely within that society. We can stop the violence, but it takes all of us. We all have to buy into this, and make it happen. Peace on Earth. Good will to all men. (Even if they hate your guts and say really rude and disrespectful stuff to you.)