We are all Cain and Abel

A young  man walks into a Newtown grade school and murders 20 children with a rifle and then commits suicide.  Not only do I determine he was angry, jealous, lonely and a wretch who acted out in profound dispair; I must also establish that he was a coward. He was a sick and reprobate man who never learned what was required of a responsible adult in a real world and certainly never understood a consequence for imoral behavior. 

Where in the world did the adults go? Who were the stewards of this man's character? I suspect that, like many, he was abandoned, cast away and perhaps medicated by adults too busy to be bothered, and clueless on how to bring discipline to a young troubled man as he entered into adulthood. No one taught him how to be a man. These are the same adults who now wring their hands without a notion about the answer to such a tragedy. This, I fear, is now our culture.

I consider the ancient book of Genesis to be one of the most profound texts of wisdom known to the human race. In the 4th chapter we read how Cain murdered his brother Abel -- and we see the gloom of the human heart  on full display.  Imagine how a man could possibly be so tormented that he would murder his own brother? We are compelled to ask from what depths of hell did this evil act emerge?

As "The blood of his brother cried out to God  from the ground",  we observe that Cain acted out, in rage, from the darkness of an evil heart and he did this of his own free will. This is sobering. The idea that humans have the capacity to murder, to lie, to steal, to be jealous of others success, and to act out willfully, is far reaching. But  this is hardly a new revelation. The question is how is one  to fix the dark heart?

As the years pass, I am less surprised at the brutality of humanity. It seems that we learn early to mock the weak and the different. And often, as we observe our own depravity, we act and  "take it out" on others so we can feel better about ourselves.The human heart needs discipline, it needs a morality and it needs to observe that the adults who have  gone before have an answer for the Cain's in this world.

Modern society no longer agrees upon a transcendent moral standard from which we all measure the actions of our lives. It has been replaced by a weird moral relativism that changes at the whim of political power. The adult no longer has confidence in what is understood to be right ... it keeps changing ...  and so our observant youth act out in confusion, sometimes in tragic fashion.

Now, we all stand around and point to the rifle and proudly proclaim that this inanimate object is the cause of our woes. Well ...  I mock that.

In 1994 in space of about 100 days, upward of 800,000 Rwandans were murdered primarily by the Machete. You see, reprobate  humans don't need a rifle for an excuse to kill each other. If you take the rifle, they will use the knife, if you take the knife they will use the hand, that's what they do. 

If you think about it,  there is only one answer to this tragedy. The real adults, the few who remain,  need to stand up and tell the clueless to step off ... and actually mean it.

--Jack

Particles and Progress Oh My!

Bill Nye (the Science Guy?) has an opinion about creationism and science. I guess he thinks that exposing children to the Genesis account is tantamount to .... drum roll .... child abuse. Really?

Hey Billy Boy, I am sure James Clerk Maxwell would beg to differ. But, I am not  sure you know who he was? Do You?

I hold Maxwell, a devout Christian,  in high esteem for his contributions to our understanding of Modern Physics.  You, not so much. You are more a celebrity activist, political wonk and policy advocate than an actual scientist.

People are what they do, not what they say they do. And, since you act like a politician,  I can safely ignore your declarations about this topic.

Go ahead Bill,  make the case for "Particles and Progress'' in a universe that is only 14-16 billion years old.  Give it a whirl.

--Jack

Preacher Math

As it turns out, Paul Ryan fibbed a bit on his Marathon time. He said he ran a marathon in less than three hours, when, in reality it was closer to four. Funny thing, Mr. Ryan was "doing" Preacher Math ... a running joke amongst my family members.

Let me explain. As long time church members, we have noticed that any time you ask a Pastor about numbers, they almost always pad them. Kind of like this:

Hey Rev, how many people were at church last Sunday?

Answer: Great day! We had about 100. In reality; it was 78.

Hey Pastor, how was the offering last week?

Answer: Really nice we, came in above average. In reality; the giving was down by 50%.

It goes on. So, anytime the Preacher talks of numbers in an informal setting, we factor in the padding and call it "Preacher Math".

Men do this all the time when talking about past exploits.  "Did you know I caught a fish THIS BIG!" 

I think I will give Paul a little grace on his reported marathon time and just chalk it up to "Preacher Math".

Do all politicians do "Preacher Math" ... yeah, I think most do ... so factor that in.

--Jack

Down for the Count

G. K Chesterton once noted that a man could fear a woman's words and perhaps her silence, but if she ever took up stance to fight, well ... that is just laughable (my paraphrase).

Now, with this thought in mind, I entreat you watch current movies, TV shows and commercials and observe the role that men and women play in them. You will find, more often than not, that the man is depicted as a gangster thug, or a wimpy goof; maybe a combination of both. The women are strong, powerful and smart. Just watch and you will see. There are lots of cop shows these days showing women beating down some male criminal or, perhaps, in a movie doing "Bruce Lee" moves on some goof a a male gangster. Now we all know that in "real" life; "that doesn't play". We know this, because G. K. was right, it is laughable. Who writes these shows? Really, who thinks this stuff up?

The physical difference between the male and female is dramatic. That is why we like to watch men play sports and women ... not so much. I have twins; boy and girl. They are grown up now, but in the day they both played soccer up through high-school. Often we would watch my daughter play on the same day the boys played. The game was not even close to the same. My wife and I often marveled at the difference; the boys game was fast, aggressive and fun to watch. The girls game was boring in comparison. I was always quite happy when the girls played first, because when it was the other way around the "action" was quite boring for the second game. Hey, I enjoyed watching the girls play, but if my daughter was not on the team, I would have never dawned the bleachers.

You may wonder what the point is? None really, I just wanted to comment on the state of entertainment. I suppose it is OK to fantasize about the physical power of women in a show, I am good with that. Especially if they are wrapped in some nice tight spandex, you betcha! But now when I chuckle at the show, during the show, you will know why.

--Jack

We All Get Trophies Now

I have seen the Occupy Wall Street crowd before. They "played" on the youth soccer teams and fields about 15 years ago. In those days, everyone was awarded a trophy. You didn't have to win. Heck, you didn't have to play. All you had to do was put on the uniform ... most of the time.

Well, this crowd graduated and real life doesn't award trophies for just showing up. They are clueless about what to do, so they camp in the city, bang the drum and chant for "social justice." I think the phrase "social justice" is just code word for "where is my trophy?"

I can't blame them too much because they are simply acting on what they have been taught by the culture.

Their parents, on the other hand, are a bunch of "Donkey Hats". What have they done? They sowed and now they reap. The harvest is the culture of entitlement. I think we are in deep trouble.

Something else really bugs me about this crowd. The majority of them are Darwinist. Can they, at least, be consistent? What happened to the survival of the fittest? Why do they get exercised about someone else becoming more powerful and successful? Oh, never mind, they, like their parents are a bunch of "Ass Hats" lost without their trophy.

--Jack

Day 18 on the JMT

Had on opportunity to resupply the happy trio up at Onion Valley. Here they are about to hike back over the pass. That is Greg with them, he is Chris's dad. Way to go guys.

Day One JMT

Here are a couple of pictures of the trio at the trail head to the JMT and the path into the first campsite. Good luck guys!

Rich and Kat Getting ready for the John Muir Trail

Richard and Kathryn will be hiking the John Muir Trail up in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range starting this week. It's a 220 mile trek that starts up at Tuolomne Meadows and ends at Mount Whitney. Some of the passes are well over 10 thousand feet. Here are a couple of pictures of them preparing for the trip.

A California Walk, 68 Degrees and Breezy

Here are a couple pictures I took today out at Garland. The walk was great, the weather was nice and I only ran in to one person.

The Greedy Big Dog

You hear a lot about the greedy "Fat Cat" banks and oil companies ruining the world and the economy. If you do just a little bit of research, you will find that the most prosperous company in the world, the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company, rakes in about $458 billion dollars a year.

I admit that is so much money I can hardly think about it, but, at least they provide the world a product that allows us to live a modern life.

On the other hand, if you look at the US federal tax receipts for 2008, you will notice that the number was $2.68 Trillion Dollars. Hum?

Who is the Fat Cat Greedy Big Dog?

When I see the statists spew venom at the free enterprise system and talk about the "greed" of companies that actually provide something of value to its costumers, while the Feds sit on a pile of cash that dwarfs it's nearest commercial competitor ... well ... 'nuff said.