My Job is One of the Best

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Imagine my surprise this morning to read that I have one of the best jobs ever, on more than one count. Forbes ran a story on the ten happiest jobs, and I do a mix of both #1 (Biotechnology) and #3 (Education) while I help train people to be #9 (Health Care). What more could you ask for?

While not everyone in these fields shares the sentiment, the criteria on which they based the study do prove interesting food for thought. The study identified first, what the job asks of you daily, secondly, how much autonomy you have at work, and finally the relationship between coworkers at work. These are fine indicators, and in truth apply to my current situation.

I get to go to work every day doing something I was trained to do in school. So many people do something today very far flung from the field they first studied in college. I chose my major because it was something I actually thought I would enjoy doing as a job. Face it, most of what we do at work is work, and if you don't like it, well, you won't like your job much let alone your life. Furthermore, I like what I do because it has an end-user application, which is linked to why I marry up with #3. What I do helps change people's lives, and I love that I get to see people discover new things even on the rare occassions when the curriculum doesn't actually change. We do however seem to have an ever-evolving course content that changes almost every semester in some fashion, and so there is always a learning curve to challenge me as well as the students.

Considering the number of people with whom I interact, I work with a great deal of autonomy. My boss periodically checks up on things, and sometimes the departmental administration makes rounds, but unless something goes horribly awry, I hardly hear a word from the powers that be. Right now, it's up to me to get it done, and I enjoy the challenge. partly, I do what I do hoping to prove to myself that I am capable of all they expect of me.

Coworkers do seem to make a huge difference. Aside from the infrequent inconsolable student and the faculty member having a bad day who tries to share the joy with you, I enjoy working with the people here. Some of the other faculty are people I absolutely adore and respect, and even where barbs have kept some of us apart, we arrived at a mutual professional respect with one another. Most of the students are stellar, and I have been blessed so far to have very few challenges.

I wrote someone this in an email last night:

I am here to help. I cannot impress upon folks enough that I am in education because I love to teach. Sure, I could go to UPenn or something and do something else for more money, but it would keep me away from the part of my college experience that I actually enjoyed and from the thing in which I have found the most enjoyment in life. I am glad it can be mutually beneficial and hope that together we can get [your son] oriented not only for Chemistry but also for other parts of life in a direction that leads to success and satisfaction.

I have a great job. I have a great life. I am richly blessed, even sometimes when trials disguise the blessings that come my way.

Why I Still Actually Read Books

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In classes, in conversations, and in other arenas too numerous to count, people have turned to e-readers in lieu of books. Sometimes I envy them the fact that they can carry around an entire library and have it fit in their pocket and weigh less than a pound. In fact, thanks to online archives and endeavors, I have downloaded and then printed books that are out of print or in the public domain for free for which I otherwise might have had to pay. Sure, I could keep the pdf files or just read them online. However, I have several reasons for which I prefer the actual books.

I mark my books with annotations and references to other things I have read. While I waited for Sears to align the wheels on my car, I broke out a copy of "Faiths of the Founding Fathers" to read. The man sitting next to me was using his Kindle. I periodically withdrew my pen from my ear and scribbled in the margins. No matter how good your stylus is, you may have noticed at the checkout stands just how much worse they make your handwriting appear.

Books require no artificial power: electricity/lighting/batteries. You don't have to stop reading when the power goes out or the battery dies or whatever. You can read anywhere, anytime as long as there's enough light, and you won't lose your night vision.

Resolution of the screen is better in a book. The print is much more clear, it doesn't have glare or feedback, there is no pixelation, and you frequently have a larger overall surface on which to view the material than all but the bulkiest of e-readers.

Library and other online access makes some of them free. It can cost you up to 80% of the price of a book to buy the e-version for your iPad, Kindle, or whatever other device for which you opt to download and read. If it's something you just want to access or it's short enough, that might be a good option, but if you don't want to keep it, why would you buy it? Plus, libraries frequently sell books at great discount if they have extra copies, and if it's a common enough book you can pick up a copy for a song almost anywhere.

Compared to e-readers, books are more resistant to weather. About a year ago, I literally picked up an original copy of the collected works of Benjamin Franklin one morning during my jog. It was raining, and there was a book lying in the road which I took home thinking, "cool, a free book". Had it been an iPhone or kindle, I doubt it would have weathered as well.

I am fascinated with original books, especially those with annotations in them. If you buy an electronic version, it RARELY comes annotated and marked by someone else. Among my prizest of possessions is the copy of the Bible used by my grandfather Hamilton. I like being able to read the thoughts and handwriting of a man I never knew but whom I am told I resemble in visage as well as values. Also, I have a photostat version of Thomas Jefferson's prayerbook, replete with his own notations in the Bible. You will be hard pressed to find these kinds of rarities in electronic versions, because most people don't want those.

People steal electronics, but they rarely steal books. I own a few rare books, but for the most part, books have a really low resale value and are bulky to take. If someone broke into my home, they are unlikely to steal notepads and spiral books or binders or even tomes from the shelf. They will probably take my old, but broken, cell phones, my laptop, my TV, my fridge, etc. If I had an ipod, ipad, iphone, kindle, ad infinitum, they would be much higher targets for theft than the books I own, particularly since I have dogeared the pages and written my own thoughts on the leaves and in the margins.

Books don't usually come with other distractions. Unlike the gadgetry now available, if I find myself distracted by a book, I don't end up using it to surf the internet or playing games, even 3-D games (See the brilliant Peter Serafinowicz spoof on the iPad). It helps me focus on where I am, what I am doing, and what I hope to accomplish. As a college professor, I have found that cell phones and other electronic devices in class often allow students to distract and displace themselves in or from class. I prefer people who are present, and with the book, I am always there because there's nothing else in the book itself to mislead my mind.

One of the things I most value is my personal library. While it's not worth a lot monetarily or as extensive or grandiose as those of other people I know, it represents my interests and a large investment of time and treasure to acquire not only the books but also the concepts contained therein.

Roadside Assistance

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A friend and I went to Red Rock NCA this week while we're both on Spring break. About halfway up a gradual but rather long incline, his car overheated, so we pulled over to let the car cool down and brainstorm what might have happened. While we waited, I started paying attention to the cars that passed us and the people who inquired after us. My findings were an interesting preliminary study.

We noticed some interesting trends and surprising results. Everyone from Oregon and New York inquired after our state of affairs. Nobody from Nevada or California even slowed down as they passed us, although the Nevadans all rubbernecked in our direction. Likewise, if you were from Colorado, Washington, New Mexico, Arizona, or Michigan, you passed on by. However, one woman from Canada on a bicycle offered whatever she could do to help us.

In order to draw any conclusions, we would need more data. More information about why they didn't stop and more cars altogether would be necessary to draw relevant conclusions. Also, we didn't get a good sampling of all the states. However, it was an interesting observation.

Fortunately I have only been stuck on the side of the road once when I was unable to resolve the problem myself. That being the case, I have pulled over several times to offer help, even if the people were already taken care of or had a problem beyond my abilities. I think that people just might want to know someone cared.

I keep coming back to the example of Jesus Christ. Well known is that parable of the good Samaritan. The least likely person pulled aside to help a struggling soul, and yet all of those Christians out there thump their chests proudly and speak of what good Christians they are. Did not Christ tell us the second great commandment was to love our neighbors as ourselves? What should we do?

I know some of the circumstances are extenuating. We didn't really need anything in this instance and flagged those onward who looked inclined to stop. Due to circumstances, you might not be able to do everything you might wish you could. When you can't do it all, do what you can. You never know when you might serve an angel unawares.

Bad Mechanics

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I've owned my Saturn long enough that I'm intimately familiar with it. Sometimes, mechanics have taken me for a ride, and on the rare occasion, they have been straightforward with me. However, I'm fairsure I know my car better than they do. Not everyone has that advantage, and I swear when I walk in or others of my friends take their cars in, they see dollar signs walk through the door and calculate just how much they can rip us off. At least the bad ones do.

A few weeks back, there was this awful grinding noise when I would turn. All the online diagnostics and discussion boards pointed to the CV axle. My friend Jay and I spent four hours and 100 miles on his car trying to get tools or leverage to remove the part. Then, I took it to a shop, where a mechanic told me I needed two engine motor mounts and that my axle was fine. So, I swapped the struts, the strut mounts, and the motor mounts, and took my car over for an alignment.

That's where I met the unethical mechanics. They put my car up on the wrack and then told me I need to buy a set of bolts for $160 so they could align the wheels (a $70 job) and that it would cost me $95 in labor to install the bolts. Now, they must have thought I was born yesterday, because not three days before, I had myself taken out the struts and knew it would take them all of five minutes to swap the bolts since THEY HAD TO REMOVE THEM ANYWAY to align the wheels. Plus, Jay had seen the bolts and his, and he told me mine looked better than his, the age of my car notwithstanding.

As soon as possible, I took the car to Sears, where they did the job for $75 and aligned the wheels to within factory specifications. That's quite impressive given that the frame is bent. Eat that, Ted Wiens Firestone.

Earlier this evening, a friend of mine reported on Facebook that she had to have her wheel bearings repacked. I am not really sure what that means, because the only bearings I know of are in the CV joint, and if that fails, it's best just to replace the part and go from there. Packing the joint is probably more in labor (I wouldn't want to do it), and so they took her for a ride.

I do not look much like a mechanic, but I know a few things. In fact, I look like a typical scientist, and people are frequently surprised when I return with tools and know how to use them to fix small things at work instead of waiting on maintenance. When I do my own work and I break something, at least I know that something broke and hopefully what. When you take it to a mechanic, because the car isn't their car, they don't care, and they frequently cause other problems through inattention if not through outright sabotage. Plus, they find other things you 'need'. They pulled the cam bolt scam on my dad, and his $50 alignment multiplied to a $500 job, after the familiarity discount. For $300 I can buy the lasers and do the alignment myself. Too bad the HOA won't let me run a business out of my house.

Any entity of man is only as ethical as the people of which it is comprised. Unfortunately, there are enough 'bad mechanics' in every industry that we either distrust everyone or hate the industry, even if we never access it (like investment brokerages or luxury yachts or gold watch fobs).

Meanwhile, the car drives quieter and better than it has for many years (I put the alignment off for a LONG time). It's also a more comfy ride, not that anyone knows since people don't like riding in my car. I recognize the sounds my Saturn makes, and I know which to ignore and to which I should hearken. There are even still a few original parts, like the paintjob ;). I'm grateful for good friends and an inventive father who have kept me on the road through some unexpected setbacks like broken motor mounts. Oh, and I am still getting 36mpg average. Eat that Toyota.

Separation of the Bible and State

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It's apparently only acceptable to divide belief from the state if you are a Christian. It's apparently ok to exercise your right to religion unless you are a Christian. The courts say so. A judge ORDERED that Sharia law, which is muslim religious law, be applied in a civil court. That's tantamount to my being able to deny you franchise or have you stoned to death if you commit adultery.

Either religion has place in a secular court, or it doesn't. I don't happen to believe it does. I certainly don't hold people to my religious beliefs, standards, or punishments for transgressions against their dogma that I exact of myself. I don't even hold members of my own Faith to the same standards I set for myself. I believe that where I have been given much, much is required, and so I hold myself to high standards. You, well, you can only hold me to the highest standard you hold, which might be why I ignore you.

Just this morning, a friend of mine was assaulted for her thus far inability to keep religious resolutions. It is easier for one to call you out as a hypocrite than for him to change his life, because change can be painful and costly. He just wants to feel good about what he chooses to do (the beam in his eye) because he can draw attention to the mote in yours. Notice that he requires of you something he is unwilling to do himself. Such a man asks you to prove you are better, but this is a trap, because as soon as you err (which you will), he will take that as incontrovertible evidence that you are no better than he, which is not true. He is setting you up to be a scapegoat by which to justify his aberrant and abhorrent behavior, or as a Saint, which is impossible.

This judge, and the supposed 'friend' of my friend's, are holding people to unlawful standards. The Constitution either forbids the combination of church and state or it doesn't. Quite frankly, it says nothing about it. What it says is that you can exercise your Faith as long as those tenants do not rob others of their own inalienable rights. That's part of why we oppose radical fundamentalist islam, because it would deny you of rights without trial.

Quite frankly, any law foreign to the understanding of the parties involved is inappropriate. The article mentions German law. Why not Danelaw or the rights of Saxony? Why not the law of the Massachusetts Bay Colony or the Puritans? On Cape Cod, why can't I expel people with religious beliefs I oppose? Ah, because we are progressed, which means we bow to everyone else.

It is expressly repugnant in the eyes of God for men to take power over other men. He has always condemned slavery, hegemony, and monarchy. He knew that in granting a title of King to Saul that his chosen people were headed for bondage. Prescient the thoughts of James Madison who said, "If men were ruled by angels, no government would be necessary". Relevant the words of Christ, who said, "render to Ceasar that which is Ceasar's". If a man commit a crime against God, let God hold him guilty before the tribunal. Civil code belongs in civil and criminal proceedings. Religious matters belong within the faith.

It is often debated the question of separation of Church and State. If you take Thomas More as an example the true danger is not that Religion shall infect the State but that State will co-opt the Church as a means to establish what God hath not wrought. Look at marriages by the Justice of the Peace, which is a long-standing breach against the sacrament of marriage, if you need more examples than this Florida case. Walk out if your church starts to dictate or suggest to you for whom or what you should vote. Inspiration and direction are matters of and subject to individual relationships with the Almighty.

Type A Personalities

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I'm not really much for the kinds of things that match people to jobs or partners or particular niches. In fact, I'm a lot like the manager of a bank with whom I spoke yesterday who has risen to branch manager and no higher because she's not into interpersonal politics. Unfortunately for us both, pretty much every aspect of society involves politicking, and so unless we want to become Mongolian Yak Herders, we're kind of out of luck.

Last night, a close acquaintance of mine tried to foment discord between a close friend of mine and myself. I don't really know why unless it's to get attention, because we interact without her largely and around her, and she doesn't like that. Like many Type A personalities, she likes the spotlight on her and the focus on her, which is fine. It's not really my cup of tea.

There is however a group of Type A to which I do belong, which is partly why I don't buy any balkanization of people. We are the Type A Minor mentality. We are about work because we enjoy what we do. We accept money for our time, but we don't trade our time just to get money. In fact, we frequently trade time in things we value that don't pay us any wage at all. We don't really want to be leaders, but we hate when everyone refuses to take the lead, and so we make decisions about which others later moan and murmer when they were unwilling to do so in the first place. We don't want to be masters of your life, but we do seek to master our own, and we resist any effort to impose tyranny over our minds from outside. Our parents see us as stubborn and sometimes wayward; we just know what really matters to us, and we pursue it doggedly until we achieve it.

Most type A personalities bother me because they are control freaks. They want to be in charge all the time, whether they are qualified or not. They pursue programs without regard for cost. They are the type who will attempt to juggle 10 glass globes and then applaud themselves that they only broke six. They look beyond the mark. They are frequently those who surround the board of director table and who fill legislatures around the globe. They are do-gooder busibodies who know how to solve everyone's problems except their own.

I am not really looking for other A personalities. What you frequently find with them is the "too many chiefs; not enough Indians" scenario. Everyone wants to be in charge, and nobody can be taught. You can't work with A personalities frequently because they want to be in charge, even if another A personality is better equipped to handle the situation.

If you are a type A, great. If you love one, even better. Some of us are not very loveable. If you teach one or more of them, then I tip my hat to you. That is a tough nut to crack, but I appreciate the individuals who taught me to manage who I am to handle others as well as I do.

God Remembers Them No More

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One of my close friends thinks he has figured out why some people don't like me. For many years now, I have known that I have some degree of Eidetic Memory. In college, it was a great boon because I could remember to the space on the page where I had read certain material when it came time for tests. In Europe, it was useful, because I was able to learn the language with relative ease. Now, it's kind of a shame because I remember things I would rather forget.

My friend thinks that people don't like me because I remember their representations. When they say things, do things, promise things, I hold them accountable. I do not hold people to my standard, but if you tell me yours or promise to do something, I will remember. I even remembered to prepare an example demonstration for a professor today who forgot he asked. People sometimes do not like to be held accountable for what they do and say, and somehow I can remember everything, even when I would rather move on.

As I thought about this and what to say on this blog, I thought about justice and mercy. I have frequently feared that justice will have me in the end because of the things I intend to do but in which I fall short. My memory makes it more difficult for me to forgive than others, because although the pain may fade, the memory remains. It is not that I hold it against them as such as much as it colors how I interact with them later on. Someone else once wrote, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me". I would consider myself unwise to ignore lessons of the past when I see signs in the present that warn of a dim future.

So what of mercy? God requires us to forgive all men, and because of the sacrifice and atonement of Christ, for those who repent, He will remember them no more. I marvel at this prospect. They say that time heals all wounds, but I disagree. I think that at least for me, the mind scabs over them in order to move forward. Some day I hope God will teach me to deal with my memories the way He deals with His memories. Somehow, God is able to regard them as if they never were.

It is a great blessing to forgive. It is probably one of my greatest struggles. I am fairsure God granted me an amazing memory for good purpose in Him; as I learn to master it, I hope I can also learn that particular skill. Perhaps that's why I meet the people I meet- not to learn patience as much as to learn how to master my memory.

I challenge you, for the things you have done in life which could be better to change them. As CS Lewis writes, appeal to God's camp, and you will always find it ready to come to your defense. Let Him heal your heart. I can feel how mine has been and is healed. Christ's atonement isn't just about making bad men good; it also helps good men become better. I promise you that as you change things for the better, you will find peace and lasting joy in this life. Not everything that brings lasting joy makes you immediately happy, but when you too completely move beyond the things you would like to forget, you will be happier too.

Fukoshima: Man in Perspective

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As news outlets continue to whine and moan about the dangers of the Fukoshima reactor problems, it seems relevant to note what they have not mentioned. It's important and impressive to note that the Fukoshima reactors have stood up this well against one of the strongest earthquakes ever. Despite being so close to the epicenter of the earthquake, the sum of all fears has not yet been realized.

What's fascinating about these mini-meltdowns is what the people have done and what the reactor has not. Japan's reactors are run by people, amazing people, who, whereas other people might have buckled under pressure, have "stood at their posts while the trainees ran" (Scotty, Star Trek VI). Although there have been explosions, the engineers in Japan have managed to prevent a nuclear explosion. They of all people know exactly what that might cause on their tiny island nation. The materials and science and engineering that went into this particular type of reactor have kept them largely intact and minimized both exposure and death as a consequence of nuclear venting. It is also important to note that the US Navy has operated nuclear vessels for over 50 years without any disasters.

Man, properly supplied, motivated, and educated, can build things that are safe and can last. Although it does not follow that everything he makes will survive, it shows of what men are truly capable. After waves crashed ashore, the Japanese buckled down and got to work, clearing up, cleaning up, and shoring up against other things that might come in the wake of something that came beyond their control.

I for one stand in awe at the abilities of those who build, maintain, and repair the things that stand as hallmarks of our society. The communities in which our technological advances exist are elevated by them and persist in spite of persistent threat of 'what might be'. If your only hesitation comes from a fear that something might happen, dismiss it. JRR Tolkien taught us that "it's a dangerous thing, walking out the front door. Once you put your feet on the road, you never know where it will take you". If we never set foot outside, never took risks, we would also never get anywhere, and then everyone would die at home, alone. In the words of the poet, "Of all the words e'er writ by men, the saddest are these- it might have been".

Fukoshima is a triumph of man and his machinations. The reactors and containers and attempts are holding. The people are close to the danger trying to prevent it from expanding and devastating more people. The works of men have withstood one of the toughest tests imaginable and held now for about a week. If nothing else, this testifies of all that can be good in men, but the idealists, who believe that men and his works are good, are noticably absent from this assembly. They are afeared. They are afraid man might actually be good, in which case, he has no need for idealists.

Your life is what you build of it. The fact is that there are some really amazing things that have happened since the Japanese earthquake. These people are my heroes because they are real people doing real things that to us from afar look very amazing. Idealists want to use this as a rational to ablate nuclear power, pointing the 'real dangers' posed if we follow the policies of the realists. Whereas realists admit there are things they don’t know, idealists insist they know everything. Whereas realists recognize that everything has layers of complexity and nuance, idealists insist that everything is simple. Although realists recognize the weaknesses in man and idealists believe people are fundamentally good, the happiness possible to realists is also real.

Godspeed to the Japanese people who time and time again prove that attitude and fortitude are keys to success. Greatness means facing a challenge with persistence and courage. Japan is a great nation because it is full of great people.

To Match the Message

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On the way to work this morning, as I often do, I noticed a large number of cars with personalized plates breaking the law. After one large SUV with the plate "XALTHIM" refused to let me over so I could make my turn, I swung in behind the woman to take an alternative detour. As I drove behind her and noticed the plate, I silently hoped that the rest of her behavior matched the message she proudly displays on her license plate and on car decals in her back window.

I really appreciate the zeal of those who proclaim and profess their faith in Christ. I really hope that their actions back up the words that issue from their mouths. All too frequently in my opinion the heathens are better Christians. Many of those who are most open about their Christianity don't actually do anything to prove their faith or Faith. They wear the cross around their neck, tatoo his name on their neck, speak his name with their lips, etc., but they do not have Christ written in their hearts.

Membership in the Kingdom of Heaven depends more on who has your heart than who has your records. We need so many more people who espouse Christian virtues whether they believe in Christ's divinity or not. We have enough people who believe in Christ but do not actually believe Him, evinced by the fact that they do not do what He taught. Christ told us that those who loved Him would keep His commandments and do the works He did. Instead, many Christians are involved in either illicit or ruderal activities and do very little to act in faith according to their Faith.

Over two decades ago, Ezra Taft Benson spoke of how we need missionaries who match the message. He said: "Give me a young man who has kept himself morally clean and has faithfully attended his Church meetings. Give me a young man who has magnified his priesthood. Give me a young man who is a seminary graduate and has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me such a young man and I will give you a young man who can perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field and throughout his life." Where are the Christian virtues in the rising generation? I wrote a few weeks back about how disgusted I was that Bristol Palin was being held up as an abstinence advocate. I am still annoyed that Charlie Sheen has attracted so much attention and that he's brazen enough to sue the studio.

I continually meet Christians who don't know much about Christ. They have never read the Bible cover to cover, something I have done more than ten times. They let other people tell them what Christ said instead of looking for themselves. When I was on my mission, Douglas S. and I met with some Jehovah's Witnesses for bible study for a while. After a while, I suggested that instead of just reading what the Watchtower said Christ taught we should read what Christ said and discuss it. We did. It opened the scriptures to them but eventually closed the door for us to meet with and teach them. Some Christians do not attend church meetings frequently or pray on their own or study without a group. They do not know the Master, and therefore they are not as valiant in His service as they could be.

We need Christians to match the message. We need Christians who are physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. We need Christians who study the Master's life and teachings and strive His works to do. We need Christians who testify with boldness and faith of His divinity and who worship regularly both on Sunday in public as well as in their private hours at home. We need Christians who serve. Too few hear and heed the call to serve. We have forgotten that Elijah promised us that if we first serve the Lord, He will multiply our oil and meal. We need Christians who believe in miracles and who are ready and willing and worthy to pronounce them as did Elijah to the faithful.

I challenge you to live in such a way that if you were called into court there would be enough evidence to convict you of being a Christian. I promise you that if you do, Christ Himself will comfort, protect, elevate, and fill your life with all that is of lasting value. If Christ had other people to spread His message, be His hands, and help His children, He would ask them, but He doesn't have other people. He has us. Match His message and it will surprise you what the Lord does through, because and for you as you serve the King of Kings.

People Who Love Their Jobs

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I've been searching for it for over an hour now- one of my favorite cartoons on higher education. It shows a split screen panel with two professors. On one side, a tenured professor stands behind a lecturn, lecturing while his students drool and fall asleep. On the other side, it shows an adjunct professor excitedly moving through the class as he shares something. While it's not always true, it has made me think, because the people we enjoy most as teachers are often those who are passionate about and enjoy what they do.

A few weeks back, I was in the Department Chair's office dealing with one of our voluminous problems this semester. I told him that I was actually excited to come to work on Mondays, and he told me "that's almost the definition of success". People can tell that I like what I do, and I think some of them catch the fire because of my enthusiasm for and understanding of the subject matter we discuss.

Frequently when I substitute for other instructors, the students invite me back any time. I'm not saying the other teachers are bad; what I think is true is also true of so many other industries that the longer one is there the less clearly it comes across that you like your job. I think they enjoy the class because I like my job, that for me it's more than work, it's an adventure.

Not everything we do at work is fun. It's work. Work can be fun, however, and I have tried to show them and discuss with them things that are relevant to their lives even if they never study anything scientific again. When you can show them how it matters, I think they value it more.

Very few people love what they do. Many people do it for the status or the money, which is just another way by which they obtain status. Some of them do what they do because they don't know what else to do or don't think they can do better. A few do whatever they can find for work. I've been in all of those camps, but for once in my life, I actually have a job I enjoy that satisfies my soul and compensates me adequately for my time and effort. When you love what you do, the work day is easy and passes quickly. When you love what you do, other people pick up on your positive energy, and the time is better spent even if they never get as excited as you are.

Maybe it's just because I'm new to teaching. A close acquaintance of mine who teaches high school described most of us as active and engaged, and one of the professors here remembers being as excited and engaged as I am. I'm starting to think that the young professors are well liked not just because they're cute, which is true of me, but also because of their energy. I make class fun. Share your love of what you do. Who knows what will happen as a result?

They Need Parents

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As I drove to work this morning, I noticed something I found very odd. There's a section of my commute that passes through a series of rather handsome tenement housing blocks that house the city poor. Since I got stopped at every light for children to cross the street, I looked at them, and I saw that many of the children, despite the abject poverty in which they live, have cellular phones.

Children do not need phones, they need parents. Phones are an excuse to not be a parent, to not be present, to be able to reach out and touch them from far away and keep tabs on them without knowing where they really are. Children do not need presents or toys or privileges. They need values and morals and knowledge. They need to know they are loved because their parents are there for them, not because they can call them on a cellular phone.

With so many people in poverty in this city and so much talk of the economic malaise, this struck me deeply. What do you think the children are learning from the example of their parents? How likely do you think these children will be to innovate and design and make something of themselves? How much do you think they value what they have? What do their parents do for a living that means they can afford cell phones but not put a roof over their own heads?

What do children really need? Yes, I know very well I don't have any, but I was one once. I remember vividly when I was in elementary school coming home and calling out my mother's name. I didn't need anything per se; I just wanted to know she was there, with me, in the house. I remember another evening when I arrived home many hours in advance of my parents to a locked house. I was very lost and alone. What a child really needs is to know he is loved. Animals know this; I have a beagle at home who, no matter the hour of night, even if he doesn't get to see me long before I head to bed, jumps up and down for joy to see me. They crave attention, which you can only provide when you spend time with them.

What a child really needs is to be taught what is right. They need to see their parents do what they ought, even if it doesn't bear the fruit for which they hope. They need to learn about morality and faith, about the Source from which our hopes and rights really come. What would help them most is for parents to sit them down in the home regularly and discuss family, faith, and fortitude. They do not need friends; they have those at school. They need parents to show them the boundaries, to give them rules, to require things of them, and push them to do what they ought. Then, when they fall short, they need parents who love them, for who they are and what they did accomplish of the total required of them, who forgive them and comfort them and welcome them back and enjoy what they do and how they act.

Family is supposed to bring people together. Cell phones help keep us apart, because why should we have a face-to-face-to-face, when we can just mass text one another? Children need to know what really matters. They need their parents. They need good parents. They need parents to point them to goodness by virtue of their rhetoric as well as their examples. That will elevate their station in all the ways that really matter and make real men out of them in the end.

Why I Go Without Internet

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I've made a few new acquaintences in real life lately. Just this Sunday, I told one of them that I frequently miss out on activities because some communication goes out only via the internet, and so if it's last minute planning, I don't get it. I don't have internet at home.

There are many reasons for this. It helps me completely disconnect from the in silico world and reconnect with actual friends in person and with the earth in my back yard or in Red Rock NCA. It helps me control how I use my time. A friend of mine, who owns a marketing firm, told me a few weeks back that most internet activity occurs between the hours of 10AM and 2PM. The internet sucks people in. It helps me control what gets into my house. See, when you're at home, where nobody sees you, you think nothing of doing things that you wouldn't do in public...like math. It doesn't have to be something nefarious or evil, just that I wouldn't manage an online dating profile from work or post malicious comments about coworkers or the job there (assuming I had them to say), and since I cannot at home, they go unsaid and I calm down. I also don't impulse buy or buy comfort items. If I want something, I have to go to the store, and I frequently don't want Rocky Road badly enough to walk the mile to Smiths to buy it.

Years ago, I got some really good advice from Pat Morita in The Karate Kid. "Best way avoid fight, not be there." There is also a poem, whose origin yet eludes me, that says, "All the water in the world, no matter how it tried, could never sink the smallest ship unless it got inside. All the evil in the world, the blackest kind of sin, cannot hurt us the least bit unless we let it in." So, I choose not to have to fight with cable or the internet or those nefarious forces that roam it in search of easy prey. The dirty back alleys of yesteryear are now something we carry with us into every refuge and sanctuary. We carry our iPhones in our pockets and allow both bad people and good people to contact us at their leisure. You no longer have to seek trouble and go there; it can find you anywhere and at any time. Now they come to you, even when you do things you believe to be innocuous. It is for me a fortification.

I really like to disconnect. People forget that cell phones are a privilege, and instant gratification is the business of fast food companies, not mine. They expect me to answer because I can, even if I am at work, asleep, or in an important meeting. Last night, I was paying bills by phone. It is not that I don't care or am involved in something bad, it is that I am already involved in something that deserves my attention because it was there before you came.

Not having internet allows me to control better that to which I give my attention. Sometimes it's inconvenient, but I don't use it as a crutch. Last week, I read three books cover to cover, and I really rather enjoyed it. I took my dog for a walk three nights. I even met some new folks. I get out and enjoy the world, and I rather like that. Sometimes I think we have too many options in how to employ our time. CS Lewis wrote that it does not have to be something wicked that destroys a man. "Adultery is no better than cards if cards will do the trick...the safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." In short, he can win our souls by simply wasting our time.

Almost exactly a year ago, someone I once knew well told me this, which inspired me:

I've always hated social networking sites. I've always hated the internet in general. It connects me to the virtual world, but disconnects me from reality. I'm picking up more books, going on walks that will be full of thought, writing incessantly, and spending time with actual people. I will not allow the internet to consume me like it does so many others. I've made up my mind, and this will be au revoir.

So she since returned to the internet; big deal. I'm not sure you can survive or thrive in a world dominated by quick connections without the internet, but the point I have adopted is this: I will not allow the internet to consume me. Playing video games, surfing, tweeting, using facebook, etc., are fine as long as the games are not playing you. My object is to recover and retain a modicum of self control and trade the jejune and ruderal for things of eternal consequence.

So-Called "Rights"

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There has been a lot of talk of late about so-called 'rights'. Many of these things may be common today, but when I was born, they were not so. The wide-spread enjoyment of rights is a relatively recent innovation. Most of recorded history has been a repeated cycle in which one tyrant passes power to another, by will or by blood. Although many people have never had it so good, it's never enough, and they want more.

Just today alone, I have seen people post things about 'rights' that don't exist. This morning, there was a story on yesterday's student protest for the 'right of education' that was nothing more than an inflammatory fit. Then there was a blog article I read about the 'right to healthcare'. The story of those who advocate these rights seems to be the same, even down to the faces of some students who lobby for them. It is however not a mature way to handle something to say "give me what I want or I will be a miscreant".

Today, however, I also saw something that gave my arguments power. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr admitted that these rights aren't in the Constitution. They desire to put them into it. There is currently no actual legal right to things such as health care, education, and a home. You can watch him talk about it on cSPAN:

The thing is that rights don't come from government. They come from God. Unless they come from somewhere other than man, they can be taken away by man on a whim. If government grants you something, it's really an 'entitlement', not a right, and if it can be taken away, it's not a right at all. These rights are unalienable, meaning that they cannot be removed by man. Inga Barks said years back, "There is God and there is government. God is greater than government, and government doesn't like that." They want you to remember why you need them.

These politicians don't care much what you think unless it's what you think about them. They want you to be beholden to them for everything. At first, they may extend to you some new freedoms you've never had and give you free handouts, but in the end, all oppressors are all-oppressive, and you will rue the day you handed them the reigns of your life. Things are better for us today than they ever have been, and the things that are wrong will not be changed for the better until and unless the men who change them do so without guile, without ulterior motive, and without gain. I challenge you that if you want what is right, first do what is right, and I promise you that the consequence will follow.

Love Thy Neighbor

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Imagine a world where a homeless man, out of food and out of work, can walk up to a woman's door in the middle of the afternoon and tell her, "Ma'am, I ain't had a bite to eat for some time, and I sure could use a warm, dry place to sleep." Imagine a world where that woman responds, "Come right on in. I have some soup, and there's a spare bedroom down the hall in which you can catch some shuteye." Imagine a world where that same stranger then joins the family for family dinner and laughs and eats and prays with decent folk. Hard to imagine? That's the way this world once was.

Times have changed. Why? We are first of all not allowed to love our neighbor and secondly afraid to do so. I have had my share of people take advantage of my kindness, but I have stopped alongside the road frequently myself and given assistance or a kind word to strangers without so much as a thought of any reward or recompense.

Jesus told us this was a sign preceeding his second coming. To his disciples at passover, he told them, "and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold (Matthew 24:12)".

People all around us are looking for love. I observed on the way to work this morning not less than five very young couples holding hands and walking arm in arm. I spoke this weekend about and with several couples who believe they are in love only because what they take for love is a bastardized and incomplete picture thereof. People yearn for compassion, they yearn for companionship, and they yearn for connections, at a time when it has become, by virtue of a combination of technology, crime, and politics, more difficult than ever to connect with other people.

It is a hallmark of a society that waxes cold in iniquity that there is less love therein. We have become paranoid and fear fraternization and familiarity. We have been hurt. We live near enough to people that we fear that we do not trust anyone and jealously hold to what we have. In November at the HOA meeting, one woman was very agitated because she thought her own neighbors, who are renters, had broken into her house. Last night, I heard gunshots from my back yard, and I live in a relatively affluent part of town. We do not know our neighbors because we fear them. How then can we possibly love them? We do not love our fellows because we have been betrayed in the past. Without trust, without faith, and without love, sometimes we do unto others before they do unto us and thereby shoot ourselves in the foot.

Sometimes we are not allowed to care for others. Friends of mine laugh at me when they drop by work, because I will prop the door to my office open when there are visitors. I explain to them that I simply cannot abide to risk the chance that someone will accuse me of inappropriate behavior behind closed doors. I am concerned about the laboratory classrooms whose windows are completely obscured, because who knows what might happen in them? We are afraid. We fear liabilities, and so we don't offer to help repair homes or bind up wounds or invite friends over, because we don't want them to sue us for being injured on our properties. We fear the police, and so even good people flee when they arrive, even if they have nothing actually to hide. I have been pulled over once when I wasn't doing anything wrong, but because they wanted to make sure my temporary tag was legitimate. Yesterday, I was approached by cops while sitting in my car outside my own parents' house because it is known that there is someone suspicious loitering in the neighborhood. Some groups that used to feed the homeless no longer do because if there's a fight or something, the cops might come, and they are afraid. We fear other legal consequences, and so people like me do not get close to students for fear of fraternization or too familiar of associations. In general, we fear strangers, and so, among other things, we take our candy over after halloween to the hospital so they can X-ray it.

People commit suicide every day because they do not feel that anybody cares. That's probably at least partly why most people are so desperate to be in relationships- because it at least gives them the semblance that someone else cares about them, even if they don't care for them at all. We want to feel love even if other people just go through the motions towards us. we don't want to be alone. We write off people who tell us things that are hard to bear, forgetting that true friends tell you what you need to know, not just what you want to know. Too many people I know do not hold such courageous conversations because they know they might lose the friend, however temporarily, as a consequence.

The Savior commanded us to "Love one another as I have loved you". It is the second great commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. While many of us do not love ourselves, we are afraid and paranoid, which has curtailed compassion to a great degree and sent people off "looking for love in all the wrong places". This great utopian society everyone hopes we can have will not come until people trust that there is goodness in other people. CS Lewis wrote that "If you take away all that is good in man, you are not left with a bad man, you are left with nothing at all". There is weakness and evil in man, true, but there is also greatness and strength. To find it, you sometimes have to be looking for it.

However Pollyanna of me this may sound, I testify to you that there is goodness in men. I challenge you to look for the good in men, and I promise you that if you look for goodness you will find it.

Proud to Be Chicken

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A fellow educator told me Friday about a show she watched on one of those nature shows on cable. It followed a mother hen as her hatchlings emerged and began to scratch out an existence. At one point, near the end of the story, all the chickens in the coop scattered for cover. A hawk was overhead. The mother hen whose chicklets had just been born initially followed suit, then stopped and returned to cover her hatchlings, who were naturally as yet uncognizant of the threat posed by a hawk.

The hawk dived. It careened into the sky as feathers flew, a large bunch of them in his claws. The mother hen was still on the ground. Apparently, this young hawk didn't realize how many feathers chickens have or how thick the feathers are. He continued off in flight and the mother hen saw to her babies.

We are oftens ubject to the negatively denotated accusation of being chicken. Yet, in this story, this brave mother hen was willing to sacrifice her life to save her chicks. If that's what it means to be chicken, then I am proud to be called chicken.

My Favorite Date of the Year

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Today is my favorite date of the year. It's the only date that is also a complete sentence.

March fourth / March forth.

Yeah, I know. I'm a dork.

Blessings Disguised as Trials

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Several of my friends lost their jobs recently. I know the President thinks that things are recovering, but the trying times extend far beyond this small valley. Several times, I have come close to losing my own job, either as a simple budgetary matter or as a consequence of my tilting at windmills as I speak the truth regardless of possible consequences. While for today I consider it safe, there were some ill winds recently that threatened my safety and security, but even in that time, I told my friends that I trusted that if I lost my job that God knew that was the better option and that I would find something else.

If you are like my friends and unemployed for whatever reason, I am sad to hear that you lost your job. I am sure you are stressed. I hope you have friends from whom to seek counsel and comfort in your time of need. Remember that your Father in Heaven is there and that even if nothing else you can always count on His spirit, that Comforter, to be with you and buoy you up in trying times.

Not everyone who does the right thing sees right done in return. What you decided to do at work was probably right- to fight against wickedness in high places. The longer we allow duplicities in policies to persist, the more people will push the propriety envelope and create excuses to rationalize their own aberrant attitudes. Sometimes, when you do what is right, you might be cast into the Lion's den as was Daniel; other times, you return to your fields and your flocks as did Gideon; in rare but oh so very important cases, you may be spared and elevated as was Esther. It is always the right time to do the right thing.

Who knows what will happen? It is quite possible that this is a blessing disguised as a trial. A story is told of two men in a town in China. The first found a horse one day, and his neighbor commented on how lucky he was. "Who knows what will happen?" said the first. The next day, while trying to break the horse, the first man's son was thrown from the horse and broke his leg. The neighbor commented on the bad luck, but the first man replied, "Who knows what will happen." The next day, king's soldiers came through town looking for conscripts. They took the horse and the neighbor's son but left the first man's son because of his broken leg. When the neighbor came over weeping that he might never see his son again, the first man replied, "Who knows what will happen?"

To the Corinthians, Paul wrote: "There hath no trial taken you except as such is common to man, but God is also faithful and will, with the trial, provide a way for you to escape that ye may be able to bear it." This I know; I will pray that His spirit will convict you with a knowledge that He is on your side, aware of your issue, and ready to assist, not in the way you might hope, but in the way that is best for all parties involved. Have faith, trust in Him, and remember that He is always there. He will provide a way for your escape.

Godspeed, and all my best wishes.

Fire the Firemen

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The firemen in our county have been under investigation for what amounts to theft. Supervisors would authorize sick time for employees who weren't really "sick" and then send callbacks to boost overtime pay for other firemen who reciprocated the favor. Today, the county commissioner announced that their pensions will be cut. In other words, they won't suffer any real punishments. They didn't earn the higher pensions anyway.  They stole this time from the system, and in essence they stole money from every one of us.

Unless the punishment fits the crime, the next crop of people in any vocation will repeat the tricks of the prior one. Fire some firemen, and some of the supervisors who authorized it for that matter, or else they will try again. Maybe somewhere else, maybe a year or a decade from now, they will swing back and try this again. Next time, like last time, they might get away with it.  If they cheated the system, they committed a crime; if the new rules reduced sick leave filings, then someone was frauding the government which means they frauded you.  Sick relatives are not sick self, and that does not give you the right to take sick leave.  If enough of the firemen did it and their supervisors knew it, that could amount to racketiering, which is a crime investigated by the FBI.  It's fraud, and quite frankly, I protest this kind of shenanigen.

The only way to prevent recidivism is to remove the problem. Fire the firemen who tried to cheat us, the taxpayers, and replace them with people who do the job because they like it, they like to serve, or they like the lifestyle, not just people who do it for the money. If your punishment is nothing more than removing the ill-gotten gain, what prevents them from cheating us again? Firing firemen might not stop it completely, but those particular firemen won't cheat us again, because they'll be doing something else for a living.

Taking Care of Business

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You may have noticed over the past couple of weeks that my activity on this blog has dropped off severely. There are other times throughout the year when this happens, like when I'm on vacation or when I'm at home, since I don't have internet there. This time, however, it's because of work.

Over the past several weeks, we've seen huge shakeups in staffing at work. One associate has been out sick for over a month. Another went out at the end of last week and won't return until May. Yesterday morning, another person came to my office to tell me she was headed to the doctor for a checkup and would let me know how it went. We don't know when she'll be back.

From my days in graduate school, I have been in this situation many times. I frequently carried a great deal of water for the organizations that employed me, so much that when I was sick, however infrequently, or took days off (which they asked me to avoid), it took several individuals to cover what I did for them on a daily or weekly basis, as appropriate. My boss and I are now covering everything on the campus for the science labs, and so I am busy from the time I arrive until the time I leave, and I'm quite frankly too tired at night to work on a blog article or lack time to actually take a break and pen a few lines.

I am here for the students. Eventually, something will happen that will impact the labs. Most of the teachers and administrators understand that this is a rough semester. With half our labs in remodel, we have already shifted resources to keep up our offerings to the students as much as possible. With the state budget in turmoil, most folks are worried at least about paycuts if not their other benefits or jobs in general. Tensions are high. Students are stressed. People get sick, and we're stuck in the middle between faculty and our customers.

Please remain calm. Let me know what the problem is, and as quickly as I am able, I will take care of business. Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.