Where are you going?

In a meeting of the Disciples just before going to Jerusalem for the final time, Thomas said to Jesus, “we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  (John 14:5)

I truly believe that our lives are private journeys publicly shared.  It is a journey of faith and reason.  It is a journey of reason for it will be through reason and with the accompanying tools of reason one can find their way.  It is a journey of faith because it is through faith that we know what lies at the end of the journey.

This is a journey in which I welcome others, no matter what their faith may be, because no journey should ever be undertaken alone.

Now I understand that your own personal journey is different from mine because a journey of reason allows one to see other options.  And should you desire not to walk with me, I shall understand and I will wish you well and offer my help should you ever need it.  I trust that you would do the same.

But today there are some who will not allow me to walk my own journey of faith, implying that they alone know the correct path and that all other paths lead nowhere.

These same groups also imply that only they have the key to knowledge and that all other paths to knowledge are false.  They will seek to limit the power of reason because they fear the ability of people to independently think and reason.

Jesus never intended for Thomas, the other Disciples, or even us today to not know the way.  He spent three years preparing the Disciples to understand what lay before them and what they would need to travel on their own journeys.  It was a preparation of faith and reason.  It was a preparation done with the understanding that each person learns differently and each person’s journey is different.

Now, I have come to this point in my own journey because of what I know and what I believe.  It has not been the easiest journey, to be sure, and I have no doubt that it will get any easier.  But I have chosen to walk this path and one of the things that came with choosing this path was that I would help others find their own path, just as there were those before me who helped me.

We cannot prepare for the future and we cannot travel either journey if our ability to reason is limited or there is only one path to walk.  We cannot prepare for the future if we are not prepared to help others with their journeys.

Come with me as we walk this journey.

Let us give thanks, but . . .

On this Thanksgiving, 2017, let us give thanks but let us also remember what it means to give thanks and what doing so requires.

Let us be thankful for our freedom but let us remember that this was freedom was not given to us but was gained through the efforts of many who came before us and will only remain if we work to maintain freedom.  And just because we may feel we are free, we must realize that others do not share in that freedom, and until that day that all are free, no one is free.

Our freedom can never come at the expense at others but in conjunction with others.

Let us be thankful that we have the right to be independent, to think for ourselves and develop our own ideas.  Our individual and collective freedom is a product of our ability to be independent and free thinkers.

And with this most important individual right comes the realization that we cannot think for others nor can we let others think for us.  We must work together to foster an environment that allows independent and free thought.

Let us be thankful that we have the right to believe as we wish.  But we also must also realize that our right to believe as we wish can never prevent others from believing as they wish to believe.  Our own right to believe does not allow us to dictate how others will believe nor can we let others tell us what to believe.

Ultimately, we can give thanks for freedom in many different ways but we must also realize that freedom is the outcome of the ability to independently think and believe while realizing that implementation of only one set of beliefs in the framework of a single mindset does not bring us freedom.

 

Dear President-elect Trump

This comes from “Yale Climate Connections”; per the notes in 4^th paragraph, I am sharing it with you all.

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Dear President-elect Trump

A Wisconsin retired lawyer has drafted an “Open Letter to President-elect Donald Trump” that he hopes will be widely shared, possibly signed and sent along to the President-elect, and used in a petition to him.

Requesting anonymity, he says that with Trump’s election, his legacy will be based more on his performance in office than on the “understandable pride” he and future Trump generations will take in the “Trump brand” and business. He calls climate change “one of the most important issues” affecting the Trump legacy and says his actions on that issue “will last long beyond your days on this Earth,” a clear appeal to Trump’s keen interest in his brand/image and thus his legacy. He points to a Trump-owned coastal golf course’s having already taken steps to manage risks it faces in a changing climate.

Reconsidering some of his earlier climate change statements as a candidate “would be good for the country, for the world, and for the legacy of Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States,” said the letter writer, who describes himself as “a concerned citizen.”

The letter follows in full and can be copied and shared with others, or signed and mailed to the President-elect or used as a template or model in a petition, the letter writer said.

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Dear President-elect Trump:

Re: Climate change and your legacy

“Before I get to the subject of this letter, I want to offer my congratulations on your successful campaign for president. The outcome on November 8, 2016, will likely stand like no other in the history of presidential politics. The election changed America and I believe it will change you, particularly as it relates to the subject of this letter.

Had you lost the election, your legacy would be the Trump brand. In that case, in the future when people would seek to understand who was Donald J. Trump, their search of the internet would reflect your impact in the various communities where you built hotels, resorts, golf clubs, etc. that bear your name. Your children, grandchildren, and the Trump generations to follow would point to these accomplishments with understandable pride.

Your victory on November 8 changes this. Your legacy will now be a matter of what you do during your term in office. Unlike your legacy as a builder, which will be fixed when you die, your legacy as president will reflect the actions you take during your term in office – actions whose effects will last long beyond your days on this Earth.

One of the most important issues that will affect your legacy as president is climate change. In the weeks leading up to the election it was reported that one of your properties – Trump International Golf Links Ireland – filed an application with local zoning authorities for permission to construct a seawall. According to that report, the application explicitly cited global warming and its consequences – increased erosion due to rising sea levels and extreme weather this century.

If you were to roll back the U.S. positions on climate change, the dangers noted by your resort application will most certainly ensue, along with severe population disruptions in the U.S. and elsewhere when millions are forced inland to higher ground to avoid the coastal flooding from currently projected major sea-level rise. In the future, when Americans and others around the world are enduring the miseries of unchecked climate change, they will likely look back and point to your actions as a significant if not deciding cause.

Post-election reporting has revealed your willingness to adjust some of the positions you took during the election – e.g., keeping some features of Obamacare. My hope is that you will reconsider your stated opposition to actions to halt or lessen the impacts of climate change. It would be good for the country, for the world, and for the legacy of Donald J. Trump, 45th president of the United States.

Okay, here’s the plan.

First, we need to continually remind President-elect Trump that he is the President of the United States and not chairman of the board.  He cannot appoint friends and cronies who will loot the United States Treasury for their own personal well-being.

He is the President of all the people but just as some of his supporters say that we need to support him, so too do we remind us that he must lead us all and not those who curry his favor or his temperament.  The Constitution remains in effect and he will take the pledge to preserve, protect, and defend it.  If he so desires to dismantle laws designed to protect people, if he so desires to dismantle laws design to ensure that this planet on which we live is safe to live on, if so desires to create and extend divisions between the people because of race, religion, economic status, gender, then he will have violated his oath of office.

And the second part of this plan is to remember that there is an election in 2018 and that every member of the House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate are up for election.  Despite the efforts of the Republicans to strip individuals of the right to vote, to return to the days when only a select and privileged group of old white men with property could decide the future of this country, the people still have the right to vote.  Any member of Congress who works to insure the equality of all people, to maintain this planet as a safe place to live and work, and works to advance the rights of all people has nothing to fear.

But any member of Congress who seeks to limit equality, who does not care about this planet on which we live, or seeks to limit the rights of all people needs to be voted out of office.

The American Revolution was a long and sometimes frustrating period in the history of this country.  And these next few years promise to be as frustrating.  But when one thinks of the future, it is what we must do.

What does it mean to be a conscientious objector?

There is a movie currently in release that describes the life and actions of the only conscientious objector to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.  This individual felt that he needed to serve in the military during World War II but he also felt that his beliefs would not allow him to carry a gun or kill anyone.  After some difficulty, the Army allowed him to serve as a combat medic and it was in that role while on Iwo Jima in 1945 that he repeatedly risked his life to save the men of his unit.

When I was in college and faced with the possibility that I would be drafted into the Army, I contemplated seeking conscientious objector status.  But merely being opposed to the war and the draft was not sufficient conditions for such a status and I had to consider other options.

In the end, the effects of acne on my back was sufficient for me to be exempted from the draft and I went on to teach high school chemistry.

Now, before going on, let me point out that as the son and grandson of military officers, I was not, at that time nor am I now opposed to military service.  I am opposed to the draft because of its inherent inequality and the use of military power to solve a world problem should always be the last option and never the first.  Unfortunately, I do not believe that many people feel that way today, thinking that we should just bomb our enemies first and then seek a peaceful solution.

But more to the point, what does it mean today to object to something because it goes against one’s religious beliefs, what I believe to be the major point in considering conscientious objection.

When I was teaching college chemistry a few years ago, I had a Muslim woman in my class.  And as an article of faith, she wore the hijab.  I will be honest; this did not bother me but I was worried about the safety issue of having the fabric of the covering being close to any open flames.  But rather than make a big deal out of this, I simply conferred with her about being careful in the lab.  And that was the end of the discussion.

Later in the course, the question of ½-life and radiometric dating came up.  This was, for a few students, a problem because it was an article of faith that the earth is less than 10,000 years old.  And again, you have the problem of dealing with an article of faith and a matter of scientific fact.

In the end, my counsel to the students was because this topic was highly unlikely to play a factor in what they were going to do.  I simply suggested that they understand the mathematics behind the problem so they could solve the one or two questions I was likely to answer and any discussion about the meaning of physical evidence with relationship to issues of faith should be discussed within their faith community.

But there are situations where the article of faith is, in my judgement, faulty.  And to use faith as a reason for holding onto a false belief is wrong and a discredit to the faith in question.

There is in this country and around this planet a crisis of faith.  There is a need for faith in these times as there is a need for reason.  And the need for faith requires more than just blind acceptance but an examination of the reasons.  There are those who say that you can never question the articles of faith for it will destroy your faith.

But if you say to me that I must accept a statement of faith, then you must also show me why.  And you must allow me to decide.

Understand, there are some articles of faith that I do not question.  I trust that I understand what I believe and I know that I must work to make sure that is true.

But there are also articles of faith that I have discarded because it is clear to me that they were false in their basis and run counter to the basic tenets of faith.

In the end, you may claim that you cannot do something because it runs counter to what you believe.  But if what you believe is based on false assumptions or false teachings, then you will have a problem.

Okay, I get it.

Donald Trump is the elected President of the United States.  He was elected under the rules that were in play and, unless something happens when the Electoral College meets in a couple of weeks, he will take the oath of office on January 20, 2017.

But he was not elected by the majority of the voters and as much as those voters need to recognize that he was elected, he and his followers need to realize that they are not the majority view in the country.

And as much as his supporters feel that there should be no protests, let me remind them of all the acts of violence and hatred his followers did during the campaign and threaten to do if Trump were not elected.  And they also need to remember that just because Trump advocated many things, that does not give them the right to treat others any differently than they themselves expect to be treated.

And in these post-election days, we already see that Trump perhaps does not have a complete grasp of the task before him.  The names that have been bandied about for potential leadership positions suggest an administration that will be marred by scandal and corruption.  And even if there is no scandal or corruption, the plans they have will end up in the physical destruction of this planet.

What will happen to the rules and regulations that keep our air clean and our water drinkable?  We already have the answer to that question when we look at what happened in Flint, Michigan.

What will happen to the workplace environment?  Donald Trump wants to bring jobs back to America but he also believes that we need to abolish the minimum wage.  I hope he has a plan in that word salad mind of his for taking care of the sick and needy because the economy will collapse.

And there will be a constitutional crisis when he demands military action that could include use of nuclear weapons.  Even if he can find field commanders that will carry out those orders, the result will be the destruction of the planet for all times.

And do we expect Donald Trump to miraculously transform into an ethnically pure individual because he is now the President?  Personally, I doubt it.  His embrace of evangelical “Christians” and their embrace of him tell me, at least, that he is, to say the least, ethically challenged.

I know enough to accept the outcome of the game as it was played.  But I will not allow the rules of the game of life to be changed and I will stand up in any way that I can.

I hope you get it.

Saturday morning thought

Why have so much of our factory work been outsourced? Hint: It has nothing to do with trade deals.

But it has everything to do with cost. The American buying public doesn’t want to pay a whole lot for what it buys. Second, plant owners are more interested in the bottom line than they are the workers (there are exceptions).

Steel plants in the mid-west closed because it was cheaper to produce the steel overseas. Our plants were inefficient and dirty. If we were to reopen the closed steel mills in this country and use the same old processes as before, our air and water would get dirty (all one must do is look at the skies over Delhi to know what happens when you don’t have regulations to keep the air clean).

Ending trade deals by itself will not necessarily restore greatness to America.  But demanding quality goods made by workers paid a fair and living wage in conditions that are fair and equitable and by processes that do not damage the environment will.

And for the record, the evidence shows that this can be done.  There are sufficient examples that paying workers fair wages and having decent working environments does work and does not decimate the business climate.

The only ones who don’t want regulations that keep our air and water clean, who don’t want to pay workers fair and living wages, and prefer massive profits are the owners and the wealthy elite.  They will do whatever they can to keep their money and they, frankly, do not care what happens to the workers (as long as the workers keep them in power and wealth).

My Grandfather’s Diary entry for this day, 11 November 1918

I first published this on 11 November 2007.  I think it is important enough to be reposted.

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For those who are not aware, I am the son of a career Air Force officer and the grandson of a career Army officer. I do not know much about my grandfather, as he died when I was five years old. What I know about him comes from “tales” told to me by my parents and the diary that he wrote while in combat in France during World War I.

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His entry for the month of November reads

At the beginning of November, 1918, the 2nd Army was preparing for a major attack on the section of the Hindenburg Line in the Metz area. The attacks were scheduled for November 10th and 11th. At the beginning of the month, the 14th Brigade had been withdrawn from the front line and replaced with the 13th Brigade. While ostensibly a move to give the 14th Brigade time for additional training, it appears that this move also facilitated moving the 14th to its intended position of the planned series of attacks. The 34th Regiment found itself scattered throughout the section.

During the period 9 – 11 November, the Division executed local attacks and gained temporary occupation of a hill west of Preny (9 November), Hill 323 (1 km southeast of Rembercourt) on 10 November, and established a line from 310.2 to 287.1 in the Bois de Grand-Fontaine, captured the quarry near 278.7 west of Rembercourt, and the small woods .25 km south of Mon Plaisir Fme. on November 11th.

November 9, 1918

On way to front again. We are to attack tomorrow. Men have been hiking all day & night, then to go in an attack will sure be hell.

November 10, 1918

Attack held up by very strong machine gun fire and a cannon barrage by “Fritz”.

NOVEMBER 11, 1918. –ARMISTICE DAY–

November 11, 1918

A great day. The armistice was signed today. We were to resume our attack at 2 p.m. in case it was not signed. Slept in a German dugout last night.

From a second diary –

Was in German dugout at points 242.4 & 365 (on the Thiaucourt 1 to 50,000 maps) on the day Armistice was signed. 34th Infantry Regiment captured 1 German officer, 32 enlisted personnel, and 3 machine guns during tour; advance the outpost line .75 kilometers to include Hills 311.2, 310.2, and 312.

Nothing in what my grandfather wrote tells me anything about his feelings on war. Any mention of death or destruction in the diary is rather simple. I think that this was because he used his diary as a drafting board. As the Adjutant for the 34^th Infantry Regiment, one of his duties was to prepare the daily reports. Those daily reports, recorded in the unit history, are almost the same things I read in the diary. Still, it was what he wrote on the front page of the diary that tells me he saw war for what it was and what it could be.

If I should fall, will the finder of this take it on him or herself to see that gets to my wife, Mrs. Walter L. Mitchell, 4150 A De Tonty Street, St. Louis, MO., USA? By doing so, they were conferring a favor upon Walter L. Mitchell, Captain, 34th US Infantry, American Expeditionary Forces, France.

The Highest Possible Standard

Ann and I just sent the following message to our Senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

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With the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, we are faced with the possibility and/or probability of one of the most corrupt administration since the Harding or Grant administrations.

My wife, Ann Walker, and I encourage to you to use your position as a United States Senator as outlined in the Constitution to advise and consent the President-elect on his selections for cabinet, Supreme Court Justices, and other administration posts and hold these nominations to the highest ethical and moral standards possible.

The need for this scrutiny cannot be over-emphasized.

Science, nature, and the awesome wonder of God

These are some thoughts about being a scientist and a Christian.  I will be honest; there are some who say that one cannot be both and you must choose between the two.  And there are many who say that one is doomed if you do not choose their side of the argument.

I, of course, do not hold to that view and have chosen to follow in the paths of individuals such as Newton, Boyle, Priestly, Mendel, and Lemaître.

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Can one be both a scientist and a Christian?  Can one both appreciate the beauty and wonder of creation and still ask how it all came into being?

The “Pillars of Creation” in the Eagle Nebula (taken by the Hubble Telescope)

Today, there are those who see science as a threat to religion, and especially Christianity.  And there are those who see religion, and especially Christianity, as nothing more than superstition and meaningless today.

Scientists from Copernicus and Galileo to Boyle and Newton and onto this day have never sought to prove or disprove the existence of God, only to understand what He has done.

And in one small way, science has always been a part of the Bible story.  After the Creation, Adam was given the task of naming all the animals and plants that were in the Garden of Eden, making him the first biologist.

The Psalmist looked at the world around him and at the skies above him and saw the Glory of God,

I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry,

Moon and stars mounted in their settings.  Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,

Why do you bother with us?  Why take a second look our way?

Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods, bright with Eden’s dawn light.

You put us in charge of your handcrafted world, repeated to us your Genesis-charge,

Made us lords of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild,

Birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps.

God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.  (Psalm 8: 3 – 9, The Message)

And how could Jesus use the habits of foxes and birds or know how mustard seeds grow in his parables if He had not studied science when he was growing up.

Science can give meaning to what we see in this world but it cannot explain why it is here.  Science can never explain there is good and evil or why there is suffering and pain in this world.

Science can never show you God; it can only show you, through nature, the works of God.  Science has always been driven to know things about the world in which we live.  Scientists from Copernicus through Newton and even into these days used the process of science to understand the works of God, not disprove the existence of God or displace God.

Science gives us the opportunity to know what is happening in this world; it is up to our faith to know why it is happening.  It is our faith that will provide the guidance that we need to use what science shows us.  It is through our faith that we can discern the path that we should take, to use our scientific discoveries for good.

Science can open avenues of research whose answers will help feed the people of this planet and cure sickness and disease but science cannot eliminate injustice and oppression.  For all that science can do, it cannot do all things.  And for those things that science cannot do, you must have faith, faith in things unseen, faith that will lead you to find ways to use the knowledge that you gain from science.

We look at the world around us and wonder why and how.  As we ask how things came to be, we find ourselves marveling at the works of God.  And as we begin to understand the works of God, we began to understand ourselves just a little bit better.

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