Friends, relationships, and the fear of reprisal,

A friend of mine, +Song Smith has written a very insightful post about protecting your privacy when using the internet. This is an important concern in today's hypersensitive world. She is a thoughtful, entertaining person, who posts polite, interesting articles about life, travels, and a charming cat with an excess of personality.  She has a right to be concerned, too. People are vigilant about anything that might offend them no matter how inoffensive it might be.

But, it reminds me of the power of the internet, an awesome, frightening power. It is so wild, so wonderful, so terrifying, and so intimidating and yet so commonplace we just look at it as part of life.

This morning, a friend of mine from Kuwait sent me an article about Babylon that he is going to post on our history blog. I finished a short story for a contest a friend of mine from New Hampshire is sponsoring, I congratulated a friend of mine from Germany on her recent marriage, and commented on a blog post from a friend in England.

I have never met any of these people, but they are friends, and I have a relationship with all of them. It is through the power of the world wide web.

Back to Song Smith, though. Here is an educated, reasonable, person whose posts express the ebb and flow of life as an adult. There is nothing you couldn't let your Mother read. But, she has to wear the mask of anonymity out of fear of retribution.

There was an old saying; "your right to swing your arm stops just short of my nose." I don't know how true that ever was. Having lived through several decades of hate, envy and bitterness it seems more cliche than rule of thumb. Today noses are being disjointed, and put out of place over the slightest breeze.

Here is a multi-lingual person with a delightful sense of humor, a desire to connect with people and find some kinship being throttled by people whose idea of being moral and proper is holding people to standards that only apply to others.

And, that is the problem with the internet, many people hide behind the distance to attack others, and they should be ignored. And many use the internet to bludgeon others with judgement and hate and they should be ignored, as well. But, too many people are afraid to say, "This is not a problem, this is a solution, only small minded people would mistake the two."

We have unique opportunity to bring the world closer together, find similarities, common areas of interest, a chance to see in others the things we enjoy in ourselves. But, if we only see the things that frighten us about ourselves it becomes a wedge that drives us further apart, and fills us with dread, and hate.




Which direction will society look, nobody knows, history doesn't offer much insight, but at the same time it does not inspire much optimism.

Saving the world one language at a time

This post is going to be a little unusual, a little more serious.  Recently, a friend moved to Germany, I am not sure why, but she was living in Scotland, originally from the American South, and somehow she ended up, by choice, in Germany.  People can be so unpredictable.   But, that is not what this is about, anyway.  What this is about is hope, possibilities, and a chance for the future.

While still a child I remember reading, with horror, the eye witness accounts of the genocide in Cambodia.  Today, we are inundated with reporting of the brutality of African warlords and their child armies.  And, I have been taught enough history to know that this is not abnormal.  Pick almost any era and there was more than enough savagery to go around.  It was business as usual, the march of progress, those who could, did, without reservation, to those powerless to stop them.  It seems that humankind is hell bent on self immolation, and all that is lacking is the means, and that is not really lacking, it is only limited, temporarily to the biggest of the the lunatics in charge of the asylum.  Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether* with nuclear weaponry.

What does this have to do with an American\Scottish expatriate living in Germany?   Probably not too much, but, maybe it should.

She talks often about going places with her "friends."  When asked where she had made all of these friends in such a short time.  she explained that mostly, they are from a German class she is taking.  Her friends come from all over the world.  And they get along famously, having fun, sharing, enjoying each other.  They have barbecues, and go to festivals, and since they are in Germany sometimes they have beer and bratwurst together.

Here is a group of individuals, from different parts of the world, whose only connection seems to be wanting to learn German, and, live in Germany (none of them probably moved there just to learn German).  Somehow, they have formed the bonds of friendships, bonds of community and mutual respect.  And, they seem to have fun together, and though they drift in and out of each others lives they are replaced by fresh, new faces, and still remembered fondly, and that seems amazing.

If it is possible for this microcosm of society to pull off such a feat of friendship why can't the larger world, and those entrusted with its care?  Why do we have to spend so much time thinking about, and emphasizing our differences?  Why can't we all "try to learn German together"?

Would that be too much to ask of the people in charge, "the suits running the store"?  It has benefited my friend, and her friends, wouldn't we all benefit from something like that?  I know, it is silly to try to change the world, a single person can accomplish nothing.  But, what if we start a movement, the "Life Explained Learning German Movement."

Maybe that is where we should start, maybe language is the key.  If we all try to learn together we can come to understand that there is not that much separating us.   Maybe I'm a dreamer, a hopeless idealist, but we should try to think up something, (I'm open to suggestions) as the man said "we can all sink, or we can all float, because we're all in the same big boat."**

*"The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether."  Edgar Allen Poe
** "One World."  Written by Sting.

Riding the Rails, to Gratitude.

Those of you who stop by occasionally know I am no corporate shill (certainly, it is not a moral stand as much as the lack of opportunity. I  am constantly on the lookout for openings in the exciting field of corporate shilldom.  Of course, it goes without saying that I would be willing to start as a corporate lackey, or even corporate stooge, and work my way up.  So, if any large corporations happen to be reading this, and are in the market let me know.)   But, recently my family and I flew into Omaha, (dreadful business, that flying) and our old friend, who is completely blind, took the train, and his trip could not have worked better.

Onto the point, if anybody has made it this far, I want to express my gratitude to Amtrak.  When we called to initiate the trip the representative was well informed and thorough, making sure he had a seat on the lower level.  The train personel took such good care of our friend.  When they stopped to pick him up, on the way to Omaha, they called him by name at the station, and gently guided him to his seat.  The conductor helped him with his suitcase, and the whole thing was handled with kindness and gentleness.  And the same thing can be said of his trip home.

It was an extemely difficult thing to ask our friend to take such a leap of faith, and climb into the unknown world of a train car alone, and without assistance.  But, it turns out he was not alone, and had all of the help he needed.

So, if any of you know any high ranking officials at Amtrak please tell them how grateful I am for taking such good care of my good friend.  You have earned our undying appreciation.

Hope is on the way!