Took in a movie today. Very ordinary.
But at the mega–theater, I saw a sign on the entrance:
Oh, wait, that’s not big enough. Try this:
Not big enough? Ok, here’s a close-up:
Wow, you’re hard to please. Here is a REAL close-up:
That - and the same sign on other doors - is the only thing which tells people that weapons are banned. This, by the way, is not another gun post sure to piss off both sides. This is about taking the FIRST Amendment seriously and not pussyfooting around.
The theater has a perfect right to ban weapons from the premises. It’s a statute in West Virginia which, incidentally, is unnecessary. If you have a business premises, you can determine what people bring with them. You can’t discriminate on suspect classes - Methodists, Algerians - but other than that, the business owner is in charge. Period.
What I can’t figure out is who the owners are trying to please or who they are afraid of. If they are trying to please the don’t-take-a-gun-into-a-theater crowd - probably most folks - by saying to anyone who asks that they have a sign, what kind of idiot would believe that is sufficient? If they are trying to please the NRA by hoping nobody notices, well, that’s cowardly.
Political correctness works both ways. It works for liberals. It works for conservatives, too. It even works for me if I choose to use it, even though I’m a firm mind-your-own-business-ite.
Come on, people. Take a stand.
Mizpah!
You can buy absolutely ZERO with one penny.
“Cent” refers to the Latin word for “1/100,” in this case 1/100 of a dollar. The One Cent piece originated around 1793. Then, they had just a bit of value. Even in the Twentieth Century, a penny had a bit of value. Remember in the movie “Sergeant York,” how Gary Cooper worked penny by penny to come up with the $25 price of some Tennessee bottom land?
But today, pennies are a bother. In 80% of consumer cash transactions, the vendor handles between one and four cents. Then the consumer has to figure out what to do with them. The company is not going to round up and give the customer extra. And we - the consumer - aren’t going to donate to Burger King.
So the pennies continue to roll.
United States pennies are made up copper-plated zinc. The price of zinc is slowly increasing. On the distant horizon is a zinc shortage.
A penny does nobody any good standing alone. Lots of pennies can get together and do modest wonders. 300 pennies get you a loaf of bread. Gather up 2 million pennies, and you can buy a modest new car. 20 million can get you a thoroughly decent house.
Big charities recognize how insignificant a “penny” sounds. They also understand that the pennies add up. “For less than Fifty Cents a day, you can provide food and a school to [some poor child].”
Business also recognizes the power of massed pennies: “For $9.95 a month – less than 32 cents a day – you, too, can have life insurance.”
In cash transactions, we keep collecting pennies, sticking them in our car consoles, laying them on the night table or putting them in a dusty milk jug because “someday we may use them.”
Fat chance.
So I have a proposition:
Let’s empower people to donate their pennies to charities that they choose. This is outside the government, outside of expensive ad campaigns, and purely voluntary.
The great majority of cash registers in the United States are linked to a computer somewhere. So, we put a sign by the register, “This week – Pennies go to the Marion County United Way.”
Or the Girl Scouts.
Or the American Red Cross.
Or any charity.
The clerk asks, “Want your pennies?” The customer replies, “yes,” in which case the change includes pennies. If the customer says “no,” the pennies are credited to a special account in the computer. At the end of the week or month, the store deposits a check or electronically deposits the accumulated pennies in the charity’s bank account.
The vendor was holding the money for customers, so they don’t get a tax deduction. And to each individual consumer, it’s not enough money to keep track of or to worry about.
People will have decided how to amass pennies to do a little good.
If half the people who go to a McDonald’s say “no pennies,” then an average of 1-1/4 cents will go charity times however many hundreds of people they have served that day.
Me, I’d keep it local – the food bank, the mission and so forth. But that’s just me – the people get to choose.
Note on irregular publication schedule:
I’m doing twice the writing that I have ever done. But it is in different venues. I will tend to these Dispatches as time permits.
Mizpah.
Take a step back from this election cycle.
Hey, we all know that the “other guy” is crooked, a closet atheist/axe murderer, an uptight libertine, teetotally drunk, a kindly grandmother/grandfather who hates children and puppy dogs, and who supports pickpockets, pimps, pederasts and other people who’s sins begin with the letter “P.” That is a given.
For sure, s/he’s vain, believes that God/the Universe/the Force has decreed that s/he rule and that s/he will save America from certain doom which is certain to follow another candidate’s election.
And we drink the Kool-Aid deeply. We actually believe that s/he is the only hope for America and the world.
History does not really support that. We have survived public officials who a substantial part of us saw as devils, the Anti-Christ and all-round bad people. Just looking at presidents, this includes Thomas Jefferson (founder of a party that Washington warned us about.) It includes Jackson, a poorly educated hothead. VanBuren who just was sort of VanBuren. Buchanan who fiddled while the nation fell apart. Lincoln, who got ZERO votes in several states. Grant - great general, lousy president. Theodore Roosevelt, that “damned cowboy,” according to Mark Hanna. Wilson who, along with TR, took the country hopelessly left-ward. Warren Gamaliel Harding, who played a great game of poker. FDR, Truman, LBJ, Reagan, Clinton, two Bush’s and finally Obama. That’s quite a rogues’ gallery. You know, I’m looking forward to the Tubman $20 bill. At least it’ll be someone’s picture who we haven’t heard real bad things about.
Oh, and it includes Oook, who first took over the Neanderthals.
And we survived most of them.
What to do . . .
No, do not expect answers from these Dispatches. At least I’m not quite so vain as some people mentioned above.
One possible explanation is inertia. Government is a ponderous beast. The most radical of candidates is talking about changing the way government spends maybe 20% of the money it takes in. Government and people’s expectations of government makes it highly resistant to change.
Another possible explanation is the vast mix of deeply held political beliefs. Abortion, gay anything, defense, foreign competition, immigrants, health care is the ONE THING that matters. But it depends on who you ask. The voting public mills around like cattle in a pen. And each separate interest has approximately the same access to means of communication. We just claim that the other guy has an unfair advantage, usually gained through some sort of skullduggery. We just don’t want the other guy’s position to be discussed because it's clearly silly.
We’ll survive President Trump-Clinton-Sanders-Cruz. We always have.
Mizpah!
I spent some time in the last couple of weeks interacting with really sick people in the hospital and elsewhere.
(Why is irrelevant. I'm fine. I can tackle twice my weight in wildcats.)
Reaction to people who are sick of vary. Sympathy. Empathy. (To the extent that person has empathy.) Indifference. Helplessness. The sad knowledge that the patient has been hurled into the big medical monster and has little control. A big dose of "There but for the grace of God …)
The real lesson is that these are just sick people. Our bodies do not have a warranty. Nor do they have an expiration date. But they are people.
I see a lady who is obviously undergoing chemotherapy. She knows it's obvious. The head scarf is not to hide the fact – is to give her a scrape of dignity. When a person is on extra oxygen, that just means they need extra oxygen, so thank God they live in a time when it’s available. It's a problem, but not a big deal. I remember when my mom first went out with an oxygen tank. She didn’t want to go out. The oxygen tank would draw attention. But she went anyway, to Barnes and Noble. Nobody seemed to notice. She was amazed.
They're just people.
Why do we fear disease so much? Very few things are contagious between humans, absent sharing blood products. Cancer absolutely is not catching. Heart disease? Nope. Stroke? Huh-uh. Even the great big bugaboo of contagion, AIDS, is only feebly contagious. Father Mychal Judge, "The Saint of 9-11," had an AIDS ministry. He said that “his people” were amazed when he touched them because they had been treated so much differently, even by their families.
I saw a guy last week, a "working man," about my age. He probably was near the end of heavy radiation. He had a radiation burn on his neck and nowhere else. He was remarkably unselfconscious about it. The burn was not covered with a bandage -- in fact he had no head covering other than his John Deere cap. He was going through a lot, but he was comporting himself with class and with quiet dignity.
They are people.
We are all in this together.
Mizpah!
West Virginia now permits people without a gun permit to carry a weapon concealed.
I have always considered that a mega-stupid idea. But now it’s the law. And the strength of America is that we follow the law even when we think it’s stupid.
So let’s consider what we do now:
(1) Get the training anyway.
Many people dislike the NRA. Hell, sometimes I dislike some of the stupid shit the NRA does and I’m a member. But one thing they do right is certify instructors. There is no shortage of instructors who will gladly share their knowledge.
The reason I don’t use a chain saw is simple: I’m not trained. The reason an untrained person should avoid using a gun is the same. You may hurt somebody.
(2) Be prepared for a law enforcement response.
Officers are going to be more careful. They’d be idiots not to be. There will be more dangerous people out there carrying guns. Don’t get all huffy when an officer who doesn’t know you treats you like you may be dangerous. After all, to him/her, you just may be dangerous.
(3) When you encounter an officer, if you are armed tell the officer that you are, and where the gun is. Don’t be surprised if the officer relaxes and you talk about guns. If you have a permit, show it to the officer FIRST. Until you identify whether you have a weapon, the officer HAS to consider that you may be dangerous.
(4) Remember that there are still places you cannot legally go armed.
A person/business can ban guns. Right now, there is a sign on our office door: "NO GUNS ALLOWED - unless you have a concealed weapons permit." And many places will not make the “unless . . .” distinction. Live with it. You don’t like it, don’t come to my office. I will NOT put up with a pretend-gunsl at my office. You cannot go onto school premises, you cannot go into a courthouse, you cannot go into federal premises, e.g., a post office, while armed. Live with it.
(5) Unintended consequences.
If one is charged with a domestic assault or battery, it will be much harder to dispose of it without a trial. Police will be wanting to hold down irresponsible people with gun rights. You don’t like it? Too bad. It’s the law. See the second paragraph of this post.
(6) Be polite.
If someone has a gun who has never had one, s/he is more likely to reach for it without understanding the consequences.
Mizpah.
There is bipartison support in the West Virginia Legislature for a proposal that welfare recipients be drug tested upon a “reasonable suspicion.”
This is NOT because these people are poor and have zero support in the Legislature. One legislator has called it “a compassionate approach.” Let’s start by acknowledging that State money should not be spent on illegal drugs. It’s offends the people of West Virginia.
But in fact, this proposal is FAR to timid. The proposal doesn’t really touch the drug trade. It’s highly moral, but ineffective as written. We can do better.
About 2,000 welfare (TANF) recipients will be affected. Let’s take a scientific wild guess that this group spends 10% on illegal drugs. That’s the equivalent of 200 welfare checks going to criminals. It is right that we intercept that money.
But the state has 65,000 employees. If they are much more law abiding than TANF recipients, we can take another scientific wild guess that only 1% of their state money goes to criminals. But if that’s so, that’s the equivalent of 650 much larger paychecks going to drug dealers. If we are going to honestly attack the drug trade, let’s really attack it. The State is the biggest employer in West Virginia. The U.S. Government is number two. And U.S. employees make 75% more than people in private industry doing similar jobs. Might we not find that this largely law abiding group is responsible for far more drug profits than welfare people? Surely, we can find reasonable suspicion on some government employees.
And that includes the Legislature.
This is a moral issue. West Virginians don’t want people passing laws who are whacked out on drugs. In 1974, during a legislative session, I was in the bar of the Daniel Boone Hotel. There was a quorum of the West Virginia Senate there, most of whom were intoxicated. In 2015, what is their drug of choice? We have only to test to find out. They have nothing to fear.
Only a druggie has anything to fear from a drug test. One would think that people would be happy to be tested and to take a firm stand against drugs. All that is required of any citizen is that he or she follow the law.
So how about it?
Or is the truth that we really ARE picking on poor people -- just because we can?
Mizpah.
Right now, lots of people are working for all of us, bad though the weather may be. 911 dispatchers, firefighters, EMS people, police officers, water operators, road crews all are on a 12 on/12 off schedule. A meditation from me was recently published by the West Virginia Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ):
from Roger Curry, Diaconal Minister for the Region…
A fire engine passes your church during worship. They are on their way to a fire. How does the congregation react?
Well, the siren and the air horns are LOUD. You might have to pause the service for a few seconds until the din dies down. It’s no more than a minor inconvenience.
Is that it?
May it shouldn’t be.
Years ago, I worked as a paramedic at a busy station. Often, I worked on Sunday. Rescue 20 was located near a large Methodist Church. We had to drive up a side street to the church to turn onto Main Street. Often, we wondered aloud what the people in the service were thinking.
The partner I usually worked with was something of a philosopher. He wondered if the people in the church paused to pray for the person we were going after or for us. And sometimes, he said, hey, they’re in church, but so are we.
The Emergency Services - Fire Departments, Emergency Medical Services, and Police Departments - live the spirit of James:
What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
James 2:14 - 17, NASB
These people serve all of mankind. They occasionally are in fear when they do it, but they’ll seldom tell anyone about it. Listen on Youtube to the phone messages left by responders on the way to the 2001 World Trade Center attacks. Lots of them told their families that they may not survive this call, and that they loved them. And many did not survive. But, knowing that, they still ran into the burning buildings.
This happens on a smaller scale every day. The police officer runs the risk of being shot or having a car wreck. EMS people face diseases, car wrecks and when they are flight medics, they face air crashes. Firefighters risk their lives with fire, and with confined space rescues. When a firefighter enters a burning building, usually the smoke is so thick that s/he’s blind. They’ll only see a faint glow across the room and know where to aim the nozzle. They search for victims by touch and if they need to get out of the building, all they can do is follow the hose. If you are watching a fire and the chauffeurs all start blowing their air horns, that’s the signal that the fire is going badly and for everybody to get out of the building. Then they run a “PAR,” meaning that they have to make sure everybody got out.
They particularly fear emergency calls at a church. A fire in a church is bad. They are usually unoccupied, so they are not noticed until they extend. And a church offers big, open spaces for a fire to extend rapidly.
Many emergency responders do not attend church. Most work at least two jobs - we don’t pay these people very well at all. Some of them, the volunteers, do the work for free.
That does not mean that they are not followers of the Christ of all crises. How can they not be? I’m thinking of things I’ve seen, things my friends have seen and things my son - a firefighter-paramedic - has seen. But I cannot write them down here. Stephen King would find them too upsetting and too disgusting for one of his horror novels. But we as a society, and we as a church, are content with letting these emergency servants deal with what we cannot even think about. Their “day at the office” is not our “day at the office.”
What can we as a church, we as true Disciples of Christ do?
The answer isn’t hard. As a church, we need to do what we have done since the Apostles last saw Jesus in the flesh – Pray. And reach out. When that fire engine passes the church during service, someone is in trouble. They are no doubt waiting and hoping to hear the sounds of sirens, which mean that someone is putting themselves in danger to help.
Somewhere, I heard a prayer:
The sounds of a siren.
Someone’s in trouble.
God have mercy.
The sounds of a siren.
Help is on the way.
Thanks be to God.
Perhaps it’s appropriate to pause in the service for that prayer or something like it.
Reach out. There are lots of ways to do that Remember that the people are on duty 24/7/365. Through Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, through floods and snow, police are out patrolling. In fire and rescue stations, the trucks stand in a quiet garage with their doors open, helmets on the seats and a coat on the door. Day or night, when a call is dispatched, in less than a minute, you can see the lights go on, the doors go up and the first truck “bust the doors.”
Do you ever visit these people? Actually, they are very nice and they LIKE visitors. They like people to express an interest in them and in what they do. They are proud people. These are caring people. And so seldom does anyone they help ever thank them. I still remember that 30 years ago, our station getting a card from a patient. I even remember his name, Leroy from Chicago. Leroy rolled his semi- over a hill and was badly injured and trapped in the truck. His letter was so heartfelt and so unusual that we all still remember it.
It’s sad that this is so rare. A few years ago, a huge 1920's country club building caught on fire late one evening. It was in an area served by a volunteer fire department. Ultimately, it went to four alarms and ten fire departments were working. Several firefighters were hurt, one seriously when a wall collapsed. The volunteers were there till late the next morning. What do they most remember about that fire? That nobody thanked them.
It doesn’t take much. A “Thank you,” or “We’re glad you’re on the job,” goes a long way. On a hot afternoon, when you see a police officer directing traffic you might ask, What would Jesus do? Well, he might stop at the convenience store and drop off a bottle of iced tea to the officer. At a winter DUI checkpoint, I’ve seen police officers act like kids on Christmas when someone drops off a tray of coffee from McDonald’s.
Invite these people into the house of the Lord. Those who travel the streets need to know where they can go to the bathroom or maybe get a cup of coffee. In the Middle Ages, a church was a sanctuary. There’s no reason it cannot be now. Call the Chief of the Department and offer. It will be appreciated.
When you have a special service or a dinner, go down to your local fire station or rescue station, and tell them that they are welcome. Tell the police officer assigned to that part of town that they are welcome. And then make them FEEL welcome. All you have to do is provide a parking place for the fire trucks in case they need to leave in a hurry. (Warning: These are young and very active people. They burn a lot of calories.)
And keep reaching out. Give these people your time. Time to know you. Time to see that you are on their side and that you appreciate them. Time to listen as they s-l-o-w-l-y begin to open up to you. The emergency responders are a special group of “the least of these” whom Christ told us to care for.
By and large, these people follow the dictates of some religion. Many are Christian, many follow Jesus the Christ. If you doubt that, go to one of their service funerals. At the end of a service funeral, the service of the Last Alarm is conducted, sometimes called “the Last Call.” You can find lots of examples on Youtube. The dispatchers clear a radio frequency, and announce that this is the Last Call for Paramedic Mary Jones. The dispatcher calls her on the radio: “Dispatch to Unit342.” Silence. “Dispatch to Unit 342." Silence. “This is the Last Call for Unit 342, Paramedic Mary Jones. She does not answer. She is now serving the Lord. We love you, Mary.” And then, turn and look at the people who are in uniform. And you will see God.
Mizpah.
