Ruminations on my birthday--Part ll

My friends and relatives treated me royally on my special day.  I didn’t get any of those “over the hill” cards or ones that mentioned Metamucil, sagging boobs, or my memory.  The only card that I received with a “60” on it came from my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Eugene and actually raised my spirits.  It read, “60 is about feeling excited to be alive at a time when you’re free to really live.  60 is about knowing yourself--and truly liking who you’ve become.  But most of all, 60 is about celebrating the beginning of the most beautiful years of your life.  Enjoy.”  Reading that, who wouldn’t be glad to be 60?

My other cards mentioned growing mellow with good wine, having a day filled with delicious moments, and my being a blessing (okay, that may be a stretch).  Best of all, Jeremiah (my grandson) and his significant other, Betsy, even gave me permission to “Be naughty.”  My Facebook wall was filled with well wishes--all from people very precious to me.  Presents?

I was showered with presents, ones that reflected my interests--from the latest Anne Lamott book, to food given to a church food pantry in my name, to a pair of handmade earrings, to chocolate covered strawberries.  I loved every single thing I received.  Paula asked me what Bob gave me.  It wasn’t jewelry or an exotic trip; it was something better.

Bob gave me a girls’ week in Holland with my best friend from H.S., Barbara.  I had not seen her for three years, and I ached to be with her.  Had there been a prize for “Worst 2010,” she would have won it, and I needed to see with my own eyes that she was surviving and healing.

In addition, there is something very special about friends from childhood.  They are usually among the few who knew us when we were young (before we had a career or made families of our own) and who knew our birth families.  As B. Kathleen Fannin says in Reverence and Revelry, “They can reflect to us who we used to be so that we better understand who we have become,” or as George Herbert said, “The best mirror is an old friend.”

Actually Barbara is even more than that.  Her husband has labeled us “identical best friends,” and I think he’s spot on.  Our personalities, strengths, and interests are very similar.

Our time together was delightful as we shared old favorites such as “Steak & Shake” and found some new.  Most mornings we sat in front of our computers, awakening slowly with our first cups of coffee, before we decided whether to have a quiet or adventurous day.  It was a balanced week.  On my birthday, she put a white bow around her neck, and we had a great laugh--one of many.  The end of the week arrived, and it was difficult to part.

This wasn’t the end of my celebration.  There was birthday cake and candles with Lana and Kent when we briefly returned to Savoy, and I’m hoping to share time--and perhaps, wine, chocolate, and cake--with friends and family in the next few months.  Perhaps 60 is a good time to have fellowship with all those one loves.

John O’Donohue in Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom speaks about the autumn time of life being “a time of great gathering…a time for harvesting the fruits of your experiences…gathering lost moments and experiences, bringing them together and holding them as one.”  He suggests that one “come to see aging not as the demise of your body but as the harvest of your soul…”  I wonder what that will look like?  I wonder if this is part of my increased yearning for God?  I wonder if this is part of my need to write?

I hope it will be a good harvest.

War no more

I have signed petitions and sent e-mails to President Obama, but these group actions seem to have had little impact toward ending the war in Afghanistan and ending our occupation of that country.  Please read this wonderful column by Jim Walls.  What can we each do to effectively change current policy and bring our troops home?


The War Must Not Go On!

Get a free issue of Sojourners Donate to support Sojourners

Last evening, President Obama made his long-awaited announcement on beginning withdrawal of the 103,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The president announced that 10,000 of these troops will be withdrawn by the end of this year, starting in July, and 23,000 more by the end of summer 2012. That will leave approximately 70,000 troops in Afghanistan, roughly double the number of troops (34,000) when he took office in 2008. The president said these remaining troops will be withdrawn “at a steady pace” going into 2014.

But that’s not good enough. President Obama had an opportunity to pivot his policy on the war in Afghanistan -- to focus on the still real threats of terrorism, rather than on failed wars of occupation with massive numbers of troops on the ground. Public opinion polls now consistently show that 50 to 60 percent of the American people want the troops to come home. Two-hundred-four members of the House, from both parties, voted in late May for the McGovern-Jones amendment -- which calls for an accelerated withdrawal and a responsible exit from Afghanistan. Two members of Congress, Jim McGovern and Walter Jones, one Democrat and one Republican, were the authors of that measure and have been the real leaders of political and moral conscience on this war. Twenty-eight bipartisan senators also called for an accelerated withdrawal in a recent letter to the president. A wide array of political leaders, from both parties -- including senators Carl Levin, Max Baucus, and Richard Lugar, and Republican presidential candidates Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul -- are expressing reservations about the war strategy. Obama could have built on these changes in public opinion and announced a dramatic change in war policy for Afghanistan. But last night, he did not.

We constantly hear the message, “Support the troops.” It’s on bumper stickers, at ball games, and on banners in airports. As a Christian who opposed the two wars our troops have been fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, I can say that I do support the troops. They are primarily young, from lower-income and working families, who in the current economy have few other options. The military promised them the opportunity for a job, training, and perhaps the chance go to college on their return. But that promise to young people with few other options came at a high price. So far, 1,552 Americans have died in the war in Afghanistan; 11,200 have been wounded. In one study of the 300,000 returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who sought help from Veterans Affairs health centers, nearly 37 percent of those treated for the first time were suffering from mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, or alcohol problems. These problems too often result in suicide. During the first half of 2009, more American soldiers committed suicide than were killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. In June 2010, an average of one soldier a day committed suicide. Furthermore, 11 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are unemployed.

Of course, there are very few children of members of Congress, or of finance and business executives, in the military. Those who run the country are not sending their children to fight the wars they continue to prolong. Frankly, war is good business for those who run the military-industrial complex that former President Eisenhower warned us about. Generals always recommend more war because it’s their business. It gets them promotions and advances their careers. And they often distort the facts to stay in business -- claiming progress in order to justify continued war -- when there really is no significant progress at all. Meanwhile, more young people get killed or damaged for the rest of their lives, and the cost for so many innocents is even higher. That can simply no longer be justified in Afghanistan.

The president acknowledged and honored the sacrifice of the troops, and said we need to shift from nation-building in Afghanistan to nation-building at home. But the meager reduction of troops he announced last night simply doesn’t support either goal. I heard on Morning Joe this morning that John McCain has more staff on Capitol Hill than the CIA reports al Qaeda now has in Afghanistan. And the threat of Bin Laden was not ended by the war in Afghanistan, but by focused intelligence and counter-terrorism in Pakistan. Yet, after the president’s announcement last night, the United States will still have nearly 100,000 troops in Afghanistan for the rest of this year, and will spend more than $100 billion in the coming year. It seems the war in Afghanistan will go on and on and on.

To truly support the troops who are fighting and dying in Afghanistan, we must commit our resources where they are most needed. We must make the courageous decision to end the war in Afghanistan much faster than the president called for last night. Incremental and gradual drawdowns of troops over many years is not the correct response to a failed war. We needed a pivot to a new policy last night -- but we didn’t get it.

The president’s decision to finish his first term with twice as many U.S. troops in Afghanistan as when he took office is a political and moral mistake. This week, nearly 40 religious leaders delivered a letter to the White House saying “we are united in the belief that it is time to bring the U.S. war in Afghanistan to an end.” We must now build on that to mobilize resistance to the war across the religious community. It’s time for the faith community to help lead the movement that will bring this unnecessary and unjust war to an end. The president’s message last night was “the war goes on.” Our message on Afghanistan must be: War No More.

About a dad

Glenn Russell Bandy

May 6, 1925 - December 26, 2008

Glenn Russell Bandy, 83, of Champaign passed away at 3:10 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 26, 2008, at Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana.

My words at my dad's funeral

For a funeral, I usually try to fight my Reubenesque body into Spanx or at least control top panty hose.  What a relief not to be in that position today.  My dad liked to be comfortable.  He liked lounging in his PJ’s and wearing elastic waist slacks.  I come by it honestly!  He didn’t even wear a tie to prom, much to my mother’s chagrin.  Ah, yes, also an example of his Taurus stubbornness.

And you may have noticed that we’re not having music at his funeral.  As my dad’s hearing worsened, his interest in music waned.  However, he was never a big fan, and now you know why our family attended the first service (choirless) at University Place Christian Church.

I shared a deep bond with my dad.  I once asked my mother why I didn’t have any siblings, and she said that my dad didn’t think he could love another child as much as he loved me.  I don’t think that’s true.  His heart was filled with love.

My dad and mom were married when they were only nineteen.  I have never seen a man love a woman so devotedly as my dad loved my mom for over sixty years.  Every single time he looked at her, it seemed like he fell in love with her again.  It was incredible to witness and also an incredible example.

My dad’s love was deep for everyone in his birth family.  I never heard cross words between any of them. As I was growing up, we would drive to Litchfield at least one weekend each month, also stopping to visit my mother’s siblings' families in Decatur and Taylorville.  These family experiences shaped me and gave me the “sisters” (cousins) that I so need today.

I have heard that my dad slept with his younger brother in his arm.  My dad was protective of his brother, Bill, and I think never outgrew that feeling.  In my dad’s mind he was convinced that he was taller than Bill when, in fact,  Brother Bill had grown taller than my dad many years earlier.  Those two brothers were Cubs’ fans and remained eternally optimistic that “this would be the year!”

I think one of the reasons that my dad and I have been so close is because of the agoraphobia, anxiety, and panic attacks my mother suffered from the time I was seven until after I was married, when medication was finally developed to completely control her condition.

He was a rock for me.  Stable.  Someone to lean on.  When the doctor informed us that I would have to wear a back brace for my scoliosis, I ran to his arms.

And how he sacrificed.  My father hated to shop and, yet, on Friday evenings after supper, during my elementary school years, he would give me one dollar and take me shopping in downtown Champaign.  I didn’t spend that dollar quickly.  I had to slowly walk the aisles at Kresgees,  Grants, Walgreen’s, well, you get the picture.  I often ended up with those little candles that were made in different shapes for the holidays.

My father was blessed with the coordination of a great athlete.  He pitched at age 15, left-handed, of course, on a men’s team and could have signed a contract with the minor leagues.  He was also a great basketball player.

I, on the other hand, was a reader and not a player, but he never seemed a bit disappointed.  He started taking me to the Illini football games when I was ten.  He taught me the rules, explained the plays, and made me an enthusiastic college football spectator.  Even now, during the fall, I am parked on the couch at 11:00 a.m. and try not to move until the last televised game is over.  We also went to many Illini basketball games, even at Huff Hall, where I saw more pillars than players.

Besides sports, my dad was a whiz at math.  He could do those parlor games, like add huge numbers together without writing them down.  He was also a great bridge and pinochle player, because he remembered every card played.  It was a challenge being his partner, worse being his foe.

My dad was a member of  Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation, a man who served in the Army in World War II.  He scored so highly on the IQ tests that on the ship over to France his job was to teach the other soldiers French.  My dad didn’t know a word of it!  I can’t imagine my dad as a soldier.  He didn’t like to hunt and wouldn’t even have another dog after he had to have our dear 15-year-old Susie put down.

I definitely got my love of dogs from my dad.  Trixie and Pal were two of his more than 25 furry friends.  Sadly there were no leash laws when he grew up and too many found themselves victims of train wheels.

Talking about things my dad loved, dessert is near the top.  A restaurant buffet lost money on him.  From pudding to pie to ice cream to cake, he would have it all.  This past year, everyone really indulged his sweet tooth.  And when I visited at the Arbours‘ Court, right after he greeted me, he would ask what I had brought for "coffee break!"  I bet you’re seeing a lot of similarities between my dad and me.

When I was a young girl, a woman commented to me (in front of my mother), “You look so much like your mother.”  My reply, “Have you met my father?”

I loved my dad’s twinkling blue eyes.  Behind them was a dry sense of humor that was with him to the end, despite his dementia.  He enjoyed bantering and teasing.  He was also quite gracious and accompanied us to the door at the end of every visit.

I never saw my dad lie or cheat, not even on taxes.  He was the first to lend a hand to others.  He never worshipped money or his work and was not ambitious.  His priority was those he loved.

Last night I was reading through the Psalms and realized that it is by my dad’s example that I am able to understand and rejoice in the love of our Heavenly Father.  As the Psalmist says:
    But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
    Slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.  --Psalm 86:15

    The works of his hands are faithful and just. --Psalm 111:7

My dad never talked of dying but did believe that all of his days had been written in a book.   (All the days ordained for me were written in your book  --Psalm 139:16.)  His dementia laid waste to his body and mind, but my dad’s love never failed.

The last few days in the hospital my dad’s voice was weak, his body seemed agitated, and I could rarely understand his words.  But when we left Christmas evening, he kissed me, hugged me and said he loved me, and then looked at Bob and told him that he loved him too.

In the manner that we always parted, I said, “See you later, alligator,” and he replied, “After while, crocodile.”  Those were his last words.  A wonderful, no, the perfect, Christmas gift.

HAVE FAITH. END HUNGER.

All of us are solicited, seemingly all of the time, by charities that want (and need) our dollars.  It is difficult to say "no" to any of them, but Bob and I made a decision long ago that we would focus our giving on fighting hunger.   Elaine, my friend, writing partner and spiritual mentor, introduced me to an organization that shares that purpose.  It is called Bread for the World.  Please read the information below from its website, www.bread.org. 
 

In the contemporary United States, few can rival the voice and energy of Bread for the World, a citizens' group inspired by its Christian faith to lead the cause to end hunger.

                                                                 — World Bank Report

Who We Are

 

Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.

By changing policies, programs, and conditions that allow hunger and poverty to persist, we provide help and opportunity far beyond the communities where we live.

We can end hunger in our time. Everyone, including our government, must do their part.


With the stroke of a pen, policies are made that redirect millions of dollars and affect millions of lives.
 

By making our voices heard in Congress, we make our nation’s laws more fair and compassionate to people in need.

What We Do

 

Bread for the World members write personal letters and emails and meet with our members of Congress.

Working through our churches, campuses, and other organizations, we engage more people in advocacy.

Each year, Bread for the World invites churches across the country to take up a nationwide Offering of Letters to Congress on an issue that is important to hungry and poor people.

As a non-profit, Bread for the World works in a bipartisan way. Our network of thousands of individual members, churches, and denominations ensures Bread’s presence in all U.S. congressional districts.

Together, we build the political commitment needed to overcome hunger and poverty.

How You Can Help

 

God's grace in Jesus Christ moves us to help our neighbors, whether they live in the next house, the next state, or the next continent.

Confronting the problem of hunger can seem overwhelming.

What can one person do? 

Plenty—and Bread for the World can help.
________________________________________________

Please go to the website and sign "The Memo from the Boss" (we, the voters, are the bosses of the legislative members) asking them not to balance the budget on the backs of those most in need.  Thank you. 

Ruminations on my birthday - Part One

Yes, celebrating a birthday is better than the alternative but moving into a new decade can be a bit off-putting.
Born in 1951, my attitudes (and life purpose) bear the marks of the civil rights and peace protests.  Having never trusted anyone over 30, it was difficult to realize that in 1981, working for the State Board of Education, I had become a part of the establishment.  However,  my passion was satisfied with my charge of watching over the rights of all the special education students in the state.  The world around me was entering a new phase with all the technological advances--the first flight on the Space Station Columbia, the first time the word Internet was mentioned, the release of the first IBM PC.  (The cost of a gallon of gas was $1.25.)

Ten years later, I was a married woman of six years praying for David’s safety in Desert Storm.  In late summer, with the birth of Andrew, I became a grandmother, a very young grandmother.  Amy had finished her freshman year at ISU.  One million people were hooked up to the Internet and a web browser was invented.  Globally there were changes I never thought I would live to see--the Soviet Union ceased to exist and after years of Apartheid, South Africa formed a new constitution for a multiracial society.  (The cost of a gallon of gas dropped to $1.12).

When I turned fifty, we’d been living in our house in Savoy for a year and Zoe was nearing her first birthday.  Of course the most memorable events of that year were the terrorist attacks on our country, the start of the War on Terrorism, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the cessation of easy airplane travel.  Technologically, Wikipedia went on-line and Apple released the iPod.  (The cost of gas was $1.46.)

I am amazed at the changes in my life since that last decade birthday.  Bob retired and became a cancer survivor.  We are now orphans, free to travel at will…and we do!  I celebrated fifty years of friendship with Muffy and that led to the purchase of a condo in Holland, MI.  I was even paid to write editorials for a local newspaper.  Historically, our country finally elected an Afro-American president.  But, to my dismay, the U.S. is involved in multiple wars, elected officials are controlled by business, business is trying to break the unions, greed reigns on Wall Street, and federal and state spending is out of control.  (The cost of gas has almost tripled.)

A Green Revolution

Between now and 2020, the world's going to add another billion people. And their resource demands--at every level--are going to be enormous. I tell the story in the book how, if we give each one of the next billion people on the planet just one sixty-watt incandescent light bulb, what it will mean: the answer is that it will require about 20 new 500-megawatt coal-burning power plants. That's so they can each turn on just one light bulb!   --Thomas Friedman, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America

A challenge and an opportunity!

Fareed Zakaria, on his Sunday morning show, mentioned his latest book: The Post-American World (Release 2.0).  When I looked it up on Amazon, I found this very interesting discussion between Thomas Friedman  and Zakaria.  Do you think it's time for a "green revolution?"  Read on...

Thomas Friedman and Fareed Zakaria: Author One-to-One

Fareed Zakaria: Your book is about two things, the climate crisis and also about an American crisis. Why do you link the two? Thomas Friedman: You're absolutely right--it is about two things. The book says, America has a problem and the world has a problem. The world's problem is that it's getting hot, flat and crowded and that convergence--that perfect storm--is driving a lot of negative trends. America's problem is that we've lost our way--we've lost our groove as a country. And the basic argument of the book is that we can solve our problem by taking the lead in solving the world's problem. Zakaria: Explain what you mean by "hot, flat and crowded." Friedman: There is a convergence of basically three large forces: one is global warming, which has been going on at a very slow pace since the industrial revolution; the second--what I call the flattening of the world--is a metaphor for the rise of middle-class citizens, from China to India to Brazil to Russia to Eastern Europe, who are beginning to consume like Americans. That's a blessing in so many ways--it's a blessing for global stability and for global growth. But it has enormous resource complications, if all these people--whom you've written about in your book, The Post American World--begin to consume like Americans. And lastly, global population growth simply refers to the steady growth of population in general, but at the same time the growth of more and more people able to live this middle-class lifestyle. Between now and 2020, the world's going to add another billion people. And their resource demands--at every level--are going to be enormous. I tell the story in the book how, if we give each one of the next billion people on the planet just one sixty-watt incandescent light bulb, what it will mean: the answer is that it will require about 20 new 500-megawatt coal-burning power plants. That's so they can each turn on just one light bulb! Zakaria: In my book I talk about the "rise of the rest" and about the reality of how this rise of new powerful economic nations is completely changing the way the world works. Most everyone's efforts have been devoted to Kyoto-like solutions, with the idea of getting western countries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. But I grew to realize that the West was a sideshow. India and China will build hundreds of coal-fire power plants in the next ten years and the combined carbon dioxide emissions of those new plants alone are five times larger than the savings mandated by the Kyoto accords. What do you do with the Indias and Chinas of the world? Friedman: I think there are two approaches. There has to be more understanding of the basic unfairness they feel. They feel like we sat down, had the hors d'oeuvres, ate the entrée, pretty much finished off the dessert, invited them for tea and coffee and then said, "Let's split the bill." So I understand the big sense of unfairness--they feel that now that they have a chance to grow and reach with large numbers a whole new standard of living, we're basically telling them, "Your growth, and all the emissions it would add, is threatening the world's climate." At the same time, what I say to them--what I said to young Chinese most recently when I was just in China is this: Every time I come to China, young Chinese say to me, "Mr. Friedman, your country grew dirty for 150 years. Now it's our turn." And I say to them, "Yes, you're absolutely right, it's your turn. Grow as dirty as you want. Take your time. Because I think we probably just need about five years to invent all the new clean power technologies you're going to need as you choke to death, and we're going to come and sell them to you. And we're going to clean your clock in the next great global industry. So please, take your time. If you want to give us a five-year lead in the next great global industry, I will take five. If you want to give us ten, that would be even better. In other words, I know this is unfair, but I am here to tell you that in a world that's hot, flat and crowded, ET--energy technology--is going to be as big an industry as IT--information technology. Maybe even bigger. And who claims that industry--whose country and whose companies dominate that industry--I think is going to enjoy more national security, more economic security, more economic growth, a healthier population, and greater global respect, for that matter, as well. So you can sit back and say, it's not fair that we have to compete in this new industry, that we should get to grow dirty for a while, or you can do what you did in telecommunications, and that is try to leap-frog us. And that's really what I'm saying to them: this is a great economic opportunity. The game is still open. I want my country to win it--I'm not sure it will. Zakaria: I'm struck by the point you make about energy technology. In my book I'm pretty optimistic about the United States. But the one area where I'm worried is actually ET. We do fantastically in biotech, we're doing fantastically in nanotechnology. But none of these new technologies have the kind of system-wide effect that information technology did. Energy does. If you want to find the next technological revolution you need to find an industry that transforms everything you do. Biotechnology affects one critical aspect of your day-to-day life, health, but not all of it. But energy--the consumption of energy--affects every human activity in the modern world. Now, my fear is that, of all the industries in the future, that's the one where we're not ahead of the pack. Are we going to run second in this race? Friedman: Well, I want to ask you that, Fareed. Why do you think we haven't led this industry, which itself has huge technological implications? We have all the secret sauce, all the technological prowess, to lead this industry. Why do you think this is the one area--and it's enormous, it's actually going to dwarf all the others--where we haven't been at the real cutting edge? Zakaria: I think it's not about our economic system but our political system. The rhetoric we hear is that the market should produce new energy technologies. But the problem is, the use of current forms of energy has an existing infrastructure with very powerful interests that has ensured that the government tilt the playing field in their favor, with subsidies, tax breaks, infrastructure spending, etc. This is one area where the Europeans have actually been very far-sighted and have pushed their economies toward the future. Friedman: I would say that's exactly right. It's the Europeans--and the Japanese as well--who've done it, and they've done it because of the government mechanisms you've highlighted. They have understood that, if you just say the market alone will deliver the green revolution we need, basically three things happen and none of them are good: First, the market will drive up the price to whatever level demand dictates. We saw oil hit $145 a barrel, and when that happens the oil-producing countries capture most of the profit, 90% of it. So, some of the worst regimes in the world enjoy the biggest benefits from the market run-up. The second thing that happens is that the legacy oil, gas and coal companies get the other ten percent of the profit--so companies which have no interest in changing the system get stronger. And the third thing that happens is something that doesn't happen: because you're letting the market alone shape the prices, the market price can go up and down very quickly. So, those who want to invest in the alternatives really have to worry that if they make big investments, the market price for oil may fall back on them before their industry has had a chance to move down the learning curve and make renewable energies competitive with oil. Sure, the market can drive oil to $145 a barrel and at that level wind or solar may be very competitive. But what if two months later oil is at $110 a barrel? Because of that uncertainty, because we have not put a floor price under oil, you have the worst of all worlds, which is a high price of dirty fuels--what I call in the book fuels from hell--and low investment in new clean fuels, the fuels from heaven. Yes, some people are investing in the alternatives, but not as many or as much as you think, because they are worried that without a floor price for crude oil, their investments in the alternatives could get wiped out, which is exactly what happened in the 1980s after the first oil shock. That's why you need the government to come in a reshape the market to make the cost of dirty fuels more expensive and subsidize the price of clean fuels until they can become competitive. Right now we are doing just the opposite. Bush and Cheney may say the oil market is “free,” but that is a joke. It's dominated by the world's biggest cartel, OPEC, and America's biggest energy companies, and they've shaped this market to serve their interests. Unless government comes in and reshapes it, we're never going to launch this industry. Which is one of the reasons I argue in the book, "Change your leaders, not your light bulbs." Because leaders write rules, rules shape markets, markets give you scale. Without scale, without being able to generate renewable energy at scale, you have nothing. All you have is a hobby. Everything we've doing up to now is pretty much a hobby. I like hobbies--I used to build model airplanes as a kid. But I don't try to change the world as a hobby. And that's basically what we're trying to do. Zakaria: But aren't we in the midst of a green revolution? Every magazine I pick up tells me ten different ways to get more green. Hybrids are doing very well... Friedman: What I always say to people when they say to me, "We're having a green revolution" is, "Really? A green revolution! Have you ever been to a revolution where no one got hurt? That's the green revolution." In the green revolution, everyone's a winner: BP's green, Exxon's green, GM's green. When everyone's a winner, that's not a revolution--actually, that's a party. We're having a green party. And it's very fun--you and I get invited to all the parties. But it has no connection whatsoever with a real revolution. You'll know it's a revolution when somebody gets hurt. And I don't mean physically hurt. But the IT revolution was a real revolution. In the IT revolution, companies either had to change or die. So you'll know the green revolution is happening when you see some bodies--corporate bodies--along the side of the road: companies that didn't change and therefore died. Right now we don't have that kind of market, that kind of change-or-die situation. Right now companies feel like they can just change their brand, not actually how they do business, and that will be enough to survive. That's why we're really having more of a green party than a green revolution. Zakaria: One of your chapters is called "Outgreening Al-Qaeda." Explain what you mean. Friedman: The chapter is built around the green hawks in the Pentagon. They began with a marine general in Iraq, who basically cabled back one day and said, I need renewable power here. Things like solar energy. And the reaction of the Pentagon was, "Hey, general, you getting a little green out there? You're not going sissy on us are you? Too much sun?" And he basically said, "No, don't you guys get it? I have to provision outposts along the Syrian border. They are off the grid. They run on generators with diesel fuel. I have to truck diesel fuel from Kuwait to the Syrian border at $20 a gallon delivered cost. And that's if my trucks don't get blown up by insurgents along the way. If I had solar power, I wouldn't have to truck all this fuel. I could—this is my term, not his—‘outgreen' Al-Qaeda." I argue in the chapter that "outgreening"--the ability to deploy, expand, innovate and grow renewable energy and clean power--is going to become one of the most important, if not the most important, sources of competitive advantage for a company, for a country, for a military. You're going to know the cost of your fuel, it's going to be so much more distributed, you will be so much more flexible, and--this is quite important, Fareed--you will also become so much more respected. I hear from law firms today: one law firm has a green transport initiative going for its staff--they only use hybrid cars--another one doesn't. If some law student out of Harvard or Yale is weighing which law firm to join--many will say today: "I think I'll go with the green one." So there are a lot of ways in which you can outgreen your competition. I think "outgreening" is going to become an important verb in the dictionary - between "outfox" and "outmaneuver." Zakaria: Finally, let me ask you--in that context--what would this do to America's image, if we were to take on this challenge? Do you really think it could change the way America is perceived in the world? Friedman: I have no doubt about it, which is why I say in the book: I'm not against Kyoto; if you can get 190 countries all to agree on verifiable limits on their carbon, God bless you. But at the end of the day, I really still believe--and I know you do too--in America as a model. Your book stresses this--that even in a post-American world we still are looked at by others around the world as a role model. I firmly believe that if we go green--if we prove that we can become healthy, secure, respected, entrepreneurial, richer and more innovative by greening our economy, many more people will follow us voluntarily than would do so by compulsion of a treaty. Does that mean Russia and Iran will? No. Geopolitics won't disappear. But I think it will, speaking broadly, definitely reposition us in the world with more people in more places. I look at making America the greenest country in the world like running the Olympic triathlon: if you make it to the Olympics and you run the race, maybe you win--but even if you don't win, you're fitter, healthier, more secure, more respected, more competitive and entrepreneurial, because you have given birth to a whole new clean power industry--which has to be the next great global industry--and put your economy on a much more sustainable footing. So to me, this is a win-win-win-win race, and that's why I believe we, America, need to take the lead in it. In the Cold War we had the space race with Russia to see who could be the first to put a man on the moon. Today we need an earth race with Japan, Europe, China and India--to see who can be the first to invent the clean power technologies that will allow man to live safely and sustainably on earth.

The water and light

When you first open the door into our condo on Lake Macatawa in Holland, MI, there is only one thing you see--the water.  Your eyes and then your feet are drawn right through the living space to the lake only steps beyond.  This not only happens the first time, but every time.  Seemingly with magnetic pull, it is God's creation that is the star, or as those on HGTV would say, "The focal point."  The light is another gift.

At this northern latitude (42.49 degrees north), we enjoy more hours of daylight in Holland than we do in central Illinois (40.08 degrees north).  As we near the summer solstice, sunrise occurs just after 6:00 a.m. and sunset is near 9:30 p.m..  Where the condo building is situated, there are times in the morning and evening when the light passes over the pier and her boats in a breath-holding beauty.

Leaning over the condo's balcony railing with a gentle wind caressing my face, my mind free falls.  Like meditation, random thoughts enter consciousness only to be driven away by a reigning peacefulness.  Bob said that when the real estate agent first brought us here and he saw the look on my face as I stood on the balcony, he knew it was the place for us.  (Yes, I have a most wonderful husband.)

Water and light, God's creation on days three and four of the Genesis story, feed my inner self just as much as sun and rain grow our plants.  God makes good things and shares them abundantly.  Life is good.  Amen.

How can...?

"How can a country justify firing both missiles and school teachers?"

From Henry Alford's review of When God Was a Rabbit in the NYT, 6-3-11

Doggie sick bay X two

Many years ago I did some contractual work for the State of Illinois as it considered offering a cafeteria plan of benefits for its employees to choose from.  It was interesting and fun to investigate all the possibilities.  One I included was canine insurance.  We could have used it with our third Zeiders' dog.

Had we possessed insurance for Puddy and Belle, dogs one and two, we would have lost money.  Other than a teeth cleaning or two, they made their annual visits to the vet and no more.  It has been a different story with Zoe.

It began when Zoe was only one and stepped over a hose.  Now she wasn't doing some fancy football move or fast cutting on a wet obstacle course, but in that one step she became a three-legged dog due to a tear of her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament).  She had surgery at the University of Illinois Small Animal Clinic and was kept quiet for six weeks.  The cost?  Over one thousand dollars.

Our regular vet retired, and the next time we visited the office,  we were assigned a just-graduated-from-vet-school veterinarian.  He struck fear into us as he described Zoe's "heart condition," which included an enlarged heart, a murmur, and more!  We immediately arranged an appointment with the doggie cardiologist at the University of Illinois Small Animal Clinic.  We were reassured with good news.  Small dogs have large hearts (well, I could have told him that...only he meant "on x-ray"), and her murmur was only evident when she was stressed and her rate was elevated.  That unnecessary visit cost us a couple of hundred dollars.  We changed vet clinics because Zoe said, " Let the new guy practice on someone else."

Things settled down for a while, until Zoe tore the ACL in her other back leg.  We followed our vet's (two female veterinarians own this office) advice and didn't have it repaired.  The vet had done the same with her dog.  Zoe quickly bore weight on it and was doomed to arthritis with or without the surgery.  Although she never remembers she has limitations and has to make it home, she still wants to strike out on a big walk and thinks nothing of a carry back.  Her hind legs may not be the best formed in the neighborhood, but she does have a cute little bottom that sashayes down the sidewalk.

Now she is almost eleven, and the years are catching up with her.  She has recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure and early kidney failure.  Worst of all, she is suffering from a large ulcer on her left eye.  She had one last summer in the right eye, and it healed.  We thought little of it.  This time it started to heal and then got worse.  Time to go...see the doggie ophthalmologist... at the University of Illinois Small Animal Clinic.  Are you seeing dollar signs?  It was an impressive consult that included treatment...and a contact lens.  The lens was $70 and the appointment over three hundred.

Oh why, oh why, didn't we consider doggie health insurance???

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Snickers (who is Lana and Kent's dog...but has stolen our hearts) has been having serious digestive issues.  She has been to...the University of Illinois Small Animal Clinic Emergency Room once and to her regular vet (same clinic we use) almost daily for over a week.  Finally her diagnosis has become clear--pancreatitis.  Poor baby, she's "sicker than a dog."  (Now, how did we ever get that figure of speech?)  I bet Lana is pondering her lack of doggie health insurance too.

Imagine if these two were little old ladies instead of dogs.  Can't you see them rocking on the front porch talking of little else but their ailments?  Trying to top the other with the severity of their complaints?  Snickers would be talking about her bowels and not being able to enjoy the foods she used to love, and Zoe would be saying that was nothing compared to having an eye that hurt, having to wear dark glasses, and being mistaken for Stevie Wonder.  Then they'd both rock for a while longer and chat about the possibility of universal health insurance.

It's humorous to consider that scenario, but that isn't the way I view either of these dogs.  They will always be babies to me--vulnerable, unable to "tell where it hurts," dependent.  No matter what the cost, they'll be cared for medically until their passing or until their bad days outweigh the good.

Now, for the end of the story.  What does a physician do after he retires?  He runs doggie sick bay--giving out spoonfuls of water, lying down so "the girls" will rest, leading them on short walks.  His compassion knows no bounds, but his view of his financial spreadsheet still brings to his mind that issue of insurance...