Meanderings

Someone I know avoided deploying to Iraq in the heat of the conflict by overstating and then milking a back injury. This is not someone I see often, but when I do see him the situation is such that I need to be.....diplomatic. It's been several years since the event, but I still seethe when I see him or even think about it because he sent someone else into harm's way because he lacked the courage to go himself. The civilian voice in my head tells me, "Let it go, nothing you can do will change it and it was some time ago anyway." My Ranger voice tells me that the guy is, "......Expletives Deleted.....," and there is no getting over an act like that. I may see him soon and need to think through my response ahead of time.

The Fifth Stanza

Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is NOT a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.

I will stand in public and recite this stanza, Mr. President.

Will you?

J'Accuse

I just finished reading a short book of poetry written by Israeli author Ahron Shabtai and translated by Peter Cole called, "J'Accuse". It was a challenging read for me, not because the material was unfamiliar or complex, but because the point of view as so very different from my own. Shabtai is a man who deeply loves his country and is harshly critical of his government's policies. He is an idealist who sincerely believes that Israel's best course of action would be to demilitarize, throw open the borders of the Territories, and to embrace those who shout for Jewish blood.

While I can empathize with his revulsion at the violence (he mentions only violence against Arabs, but it obviously goes both ways), I cannot comprehend the thinking that would assume a positive outcome for Israel if his way were made national policy. To me this is analogous to the United States inviting Al Qaeda and Taliban members to reside here so that they can see that American's aren't so bad.

No, some relationships are not reconcilable and romanticizing about a Disney ending to the Israeli-Palestinian tensions is, just like Disney, the stuff of fantasy.

MSFT CES Swan Song

What message is being sent by Microsoft's final act at the Consumer Electronics Show? Does it mean that they've given up on innovation? Will they be satisfied from here on out with incremental updates and tweaks to their software and services rather than continuing to push for world changing innovation? I guess time will tell.

I wonder....what will your footprints look like when your walk on Earth is over?

More thinking on Lamentations.... As I read more about the background of this book, the overwhelming sadness of its events consume me. Though the author is not explicitly identified, scholars believe that the book's author is the prophet Jeremiah. How desolate must he have felt to have watched his enemies destroy his beloved Jerusalem, desecrating all that was holy, enslaving his people, and rejoicing in their suffering. Though he knew that this was a fulfillment of God's promise to punish the idolators, witnessing the destruction was clearly heart wrenching. Also noteworthy is Jeremiah's uncertainty in his plea to God to restore his people to him, "unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure." Clearly he doesn't know if his people will ever be forgiven or if this is God's final condemnation. How alone must he have felt to have contemplated the notion of Divine abandonment? Particularly as a prophet who had previously had such a close relationship with God - the growing reality that God has turned away must have been overwhelming. I cannot imagine the loss he must have felt.

We received the MISD annual report over the weekend. Looking at he statistics I saw something that I hadn't noticed before. Across the board, about 90 percent of our students passed the state standardized test (The MSP) in 2011. If you consider that 10 percent of our students qualify for special education support, which typically requires a 1 year or more differential between the student's assessed performance and their grade level expectations, this implies that MISD has very nearly a 100 percent effective pass rate on the MSP. Not bad for a little suburban school district.

One of my mom's favorite Bible study activities was to simply close her eyes and open her Bible and begin reading. This evening I did that and landed on Lamentations, Chapter 5 verses 20-22. These are not popular, feel good Sunday school verses that smiling teachers send home with Kindergarteners, but they are instructive nonetheless. They read, "Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old. But thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth against us."

This is the punishing, Calvinist God of the Old Testament who would smite his own followers for generations because they didn't toe the line. The sorrow in the verses that precede these is palpable. Verse 15 says, "The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned to mourning." Though this was written thousands of years ago, couldn't these same words have been written in modern day Darfur? Mogadishu? Or Calcutta? How many generations of people in these tragic places have seen little but sorrow and pestilence? Do they feel as if God has punished and then abandoned them? How does one have faith in places like those?