Who Helps the Poor When Religious Institutions Vanish?

A church in the Seattle area has opened its parking lot for homeless car owners to park at night. The church rents portable toilets for them. A church member opens the doors of the church for two hours on weekday mornings and evenings so occupants can use the bathrooms and kitchen, useful for those who have school or jobs.

Some in Seattle have called for more parking places for the homeless. One of the reasons cited for the lack of spaces, at least in church parking lots, is that many congregations are shrinking in size, along with their budgets for staff, extra utilities, and services.

Religious institutions have provided help for the poor since the first churches in the Near East took up collections for needy brothers and sisters. Monasteries and nunneries provided refuge for the destitute and dying during the Middle Ages.

We are familiar with the caricature of the Victorian do-gooder, more interested in saving souls than in physical sustenance to the poor. Religious leaders, however, prodded secular society toward fairer treatment of the poor, not to mention the end of the slave trade.

Working through government for humane change is as important now as then. However, one result of that shrinking church membership mentioned above is that fewer Christians are around to take up the slack when secular institutions fail.

 

Jade Helm Is Over and We’re Still the Land of the Free

Jade Helm, the U.S. military training exercise in Texas and surrounding areas, is over. No government roundup of private firearms ensued. No rogue U.S. government was set up. No martial law was declared.

The operation’s commanders said their aims were satisfied. The drill, so the military said in the beginning, was to train troops to operate in “hostile” territory. Since U.S. forces often operate in hostile territory, designating a section of the training terrain as “hostile” is not unusual. It’s a training term.

Last spring, U.S. Army soldiers with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment carried out a 1,100-mile convoy through six countries en route to their home station in Vilseck, Germany, after finishing training with allies in Poland and the Baltics.

To reassure countries on Russia’s western periphery, the U.S. and other NATO allies have been training continuously in the Baltics and Poland since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine last year.

The forces were cheered by local residents, reminiscent of liberation scenes at the end of World War II.

Interesting that units of the American army can ride through Eastern Europe and be welcomed as heroes, but here in the U.S., we don’t trust our own army.

 

Refugee Story from the Mother of A Friend

I’m reading the story of a refugee, the mother of a friend of mine. The mother was a child during World War II. Her family was fairly well off on their Latvian farm in the Baltic region of Europe before the war. Then they fled, as armies churned toward them.

She was wounded from nearby fighting. They fled further with millions of other civilians. Some estimate the number of displaced persons during the war as high as sixty million.

Finally the war ended, but they could not return to Latvia, now under Russian control. Europe was devastated from the war. They were placed in a “displaced persons” camp with thousands of others from different countries. They remained in the camp about four years.

Eventually, the family emigrated to the United States. She became a nurse, and her family entered the American mainstream.

Now we are again facing the greatest civilian displacement since that other war. They come from the fighting in Syria, Iraq, Lybia, Afghanistan and some sub Saharan countries. Economic refugees join the surge, making it more difficult to identify true refugees.

Families grab what they can carry and flee to any country that promises safety. They pay life savings to human smugglers, who, once paid, don’t care whether they reach safety or not. Thousands die en route.

Perhaps we can learn lessons from that other time. Obviously, the chaos that ensues when thousands of people surge into small countries calls for a more orderly process. The fact that the European Union, or the rest of the world, was not prepared for this exodus is water under the bridge. Better to work on the immediate situation.

Perhaps displaced person camps can be set up, especially for families. They could be cared for in a more humane setting while proper vetting of the applicants is carried out. We would expect all democratic nations, including the United States, to take in refugees, as the U.S. did following World II.

 

Stories as Community

For as long as we have had language, we have told stories. Stories inspired men and women and children at solemn events—coming of age ceremonies and funeral reminiscences. Sometimes stories were told merely to entertain around a fire on a cold winter’s night.

Stories gained new potential once we learned to write down our thoughts. We were not limited to present memory. We could write for future generations or for those outside our immediate group.

Much of our entertainment was still communal, however. Writers like the Greek playwrights and Shakespeare created plays for audiences to approve or disapprove.

Then the novel appeared. Reading a novel, unlike watching a play in a theater, often is a private affair. However, book clubs and book reviews abound. We like to discuss what we read. We gain pleasure from sharing our thoughts.

A form of the play, the movie, was created in the twentieth century. We can rent movies or watch them on Netflix, but we still enjoy our community movie houses. Sometimes we invite our friends and families to be with us when we watch movies at home.

Now we have smart phones. At the moment, checking and using our phones seems to favor private viewing. Yet, who knows? The urge for community may conquer even this solitary activity.

Notice the number of people checking their phones even when in a group. Perhaps we will begin using our smart phones as stepping stones for discussion, all reading a book or an article at the same time.

 

We Buy Politicians; Why Not Buy an Army?

It seems money rules not only politics but increasingly warfare.

In dysfunctional societies like Somalia, mercenaries act in place of a national army. Even in some countries with recognized governments, both the civilian police force and the military are corrupt or ineffective. Wealthy citizens hire their own security.

Faced with an increasing number of terrorist threats to U.S. diplomatic posts in countries with minimal security, the State Department began contracting with private security firms. The firms handle security for the more dangerous missions. Members of one firm, Blackwater, hired to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq, were convicted of murdering unarmed civilians after a firefight in Baghdad in 2007.

The contracts with security firms often are lucrative, giving the companies great incentive to manipulate conditions, if necessary to keep a contract. In the case of the Blackwater incident, investigators earlier found serious misconduct by the company, but the findings were ignored because of the security firm’s power over security arrangements.

On a broader issue, going to war becomes easier for a country like the United States if it can contract forces to fight. The government need not mobilize support from its citizens.

It’s doubtful if hired guns will make the world a safer place. Read “Hired Guns” by Allison Stanger, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2015.

 

Your Obituary, The Only Certain Story

In between summers when I was in college, I worked as an intern on my hometown newspaper. My first job was calling funeral homes to find out who had died. Obituaries were an important section of the paper.

I would be sent down to the basement where the newspaper’s “morgue” was located to bring up past stories about a recently deceased citizen. This was before the days of digital storage. The morgue was a kind of library of past news articles.

At my young age, death seemed remote, but it dawned on me that the only certain story about anybody was their obituary. For the famous, it already was stored in the morgue because death, even more than taxes, was certain. Someday it would be used. As a person accrued honors or elective office, the facts became current news, but they also entered that person’s obituary file.

When a famous (or infamous) person dies, the story is already written, now waiting in an online file, except for the immediate circumstances of death.

My current hometown newspaper carries the obituaries of most who die in our area. If we haven’t known the deceased since childhood, the obituary surprises us with information we didn’t know about former marriages, former jobs, former honors, association with historic events.

Some may not wish to think of death’s inevitability. For others, it acts as a reminder to joy in the gift left to us.

“Each man’s death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.”
(John Donne)

 

Dealing with the Whole Enchilada Syndrome

Our politics have descended into the Whole Enchilada or Nothing Syndrome. We either get all we want or we threaten to destroy the system.

When is it ever possible for mortals to have perfect knowledge? Negotiation, diplomacy, and compromise are necessary because none of us is God.

Genuine listening, give and take, and civil dialog work best in an imperfect world.

We can’t always work out a win/win solution but more often a some/some resolution. Nobody hogs all the cake and ice cream. We enjoy a better party if everybody shares some.

 

You Must Be Willing To Be Rejected

“I was willing to be rejected. That’s what allows you to be a good salesperson. You have to be willing to be rejected.”

–Atul Gawande, Being Mortal

Gawande, in the above passage, is talking about a doctor who was able to sell his new ideas on caregiving to a nursing home, resulting in better quality of life for the patients.

But a willingness to be rejected is true of many successful pursuits in life. Most writers who eventually publish first undergo rejection from publishers.

One fights the temptation to quit too early. Success may require persistence. Top athletes do not begin at the top of their form. Politicians may lose races before they finally succeed.

We are unrealistic if we expect to succeed all the time. Accepting that one path is not the right one and choosing another is not necessarily failure. Sometimes it’s part of a journey.

But one has to start out. And starting out requires the understanding that failure will happen along the way. We must be willing to endure in order to enjoy a useful life.

 

Five Suggestions for Surviving This Election Cycle

By the time this election is over (if it ever is) we will be sick of every candidate. Each will probably have at least one scandal dragged up against them by opponents.

We may struggle to find any candidate we like enough to vote for. Perhaps the one who offers the most comic relief will win.

No quick fix exists, but here are five partial solutions:

1) Limit your time watching election coverage except in cases of obviously news worthy events. (Example: Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump join forces to establish an independent ticket.)

2) Read a book about the current condition of the country’s political system.

3) Read a book about America’s place in a changing world.

4) Research the Internet for articles exploring growing inequality in our nation’s economic system.

5) Write emails every few weeks to your elected representatives asking them to vote for a constitutional amendment against excessive campaign funding. If the candidates have less money, they can’t afford such long campaigns.

 

Teaching Americans to Work the Chinese Way

Recently, Chinese businesses have invested in the United States. Reasons include the strength of the U.S. economy, recent actions of the Chinese government concerning their currency, and a possible U.S. trade agreement with Asian nations that excludes China.

One area of Chinese investment is the American textile industry. Textile jobs migrated decades ago from New England to the South to find cheaper labor and then to Asia for the same reason. Many U.S. workers lost their jobs when mills closed.

Now workers are finding jobs as the Chinese invest in the textile industry in places like North Carolina. Chinese supervisors mention, politely, that American workers sometimes work differently from Chinese workers. For example, Americans don’t always arrive at work on time.

An economic mixing of cultures occurred earlier when Japanese and Germans invested in factories for their cars to be made in the United States.

Such diversity happens because most communities accept foreign investment when it encourages jobs and economic growth, regardless of differences between nationalities. Even former enemies (i.e., the United States and Vietnam) have found common ground in an economic version of the global village.

 

Where I Belong

After working with a story over a long period, I develop an attachment to my characters. That’s probably why they reappear in later novels, often in cameo roles. Joe Harlan, an older Foreign Service officer, appears off and on as a kind of mentor to the younger characters. I finally made him a main character in Tender Shadows.

The author Wendell Berry, in his series of writings about the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky, does much the same thing. Main actors in one novel become supporting actors in another.

His novels, like mine, are not a connected series featuring one main character.

After completing Tender Shadows, I began a story about Mark Pacer, a transplant from Mocking Bird, Georgia, to the Foreign Service in 1976. I decided to let Mark have his own series (Where I Belong). A series lets me enjoy Mark from youth to—who knows—old age?

Following Mark’s life through the years also allows me to indulge my love of near history. The seventy years from 1945 (the end of World War II) carried us from early television to smart phones, from daily print newspapers with occasional extra editions to news from the far corners of the globe at the flick of an iPad.

What did this warp speed journey do to us? How does a fairly conservative young man, raised in an Appalachian village in the fifties and sixties, react to the changes of the seventies and beyond? Where does he belong? Will he become a refugee from the past?

Mark is twenty-one when the series begins, just finishing college and accepting an appointment with the U.S. Foreign Service. His father objects. “Too dandified for people like us,” he says, and we’re off into the story, which I’ve almost finished.

 

Going Beyond Democrats and Republicans: Why Not a Third Political Party?

Dick Meyers asked that question in an article for The Seattle Times (August 9, 2015). After all, political parties aren’t even mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. Nothing says we must have political parties, much less limit them to two.

Third parties appear from time to time, but generally are too quixotic or too one-issue oriented for the average American. What about a party focused more widely and deeply on many issues?

As more and more citizens become disgusted with either party and become independents, the followers who remain tend to be more extreme. Thus, voters often must decide between two candidates from the more extreme ends of the political spectrum. Each party must play to its base, then try to shift gears and appeal to independents in the general election, the swing voters.

To avoid saying anything that would scare off voters from either group, politicians tend to mouth meaningless platitudes: “I’m for peace. I’m for jobs. I’m for a great America.” They coat their opponents with scorn and harsh criticism verging on accusations of criminal behavior.

What about a middle-of-the-road party that speaks to today’s independents, the fastest growing segment of the electorate?

 

The Nuclear Accords with Iran and Injustices, Ours and Theirs

In the 1990’s I served in the State Department with one of the released hostages of the Iranian takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979. The Iranian government, in a breach of all international norms, allowed radicals to take over the U.S. embassy and imprison sixty-six Americans. Some were released at various times, but fifty-two Americans, including my acquaintance, were held for 444 days. Captives were mistreated and harshly interrogated. They were released in January, 1981.

Today, three Americans; Amir Hekmati, Jason Rezaian, and Saeed Abedini; are jailed in Iran on spurious charges. Saeed Abedini, is a Christian pastor whose imprisonment in Iran is a form of religious persecution.

Iran has supported Syria’s brutal tyrant, Bashar al-Assad.

Iran also has issues with the United States. Before the takeover of the U.S. embassy, we strongly backed an Iranian ruler, the Shah, whose regime used secret police and torture. Before that, in 1953, the United States supported a coup against a popularly elected Iranian official because we disagreed with his policies.

All wrongs cannot be righted, either ours or theirs. That is not the purpose of the nuclear accords. Their purpose is to control nuclear weapons. Judge them on their ability to inhibit nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

 

Prisoners With a Purpose: Training Dogs to Find Bombs

Labrador retrievers are dogs known for sociability and physical resilience. Those qualities, according to an article in The New York Times by Ethan Hauser, make them ideal for training as dogs to detect bombs and drugs.

One program supervised by a canine performance group at Auburn University uses prisoners as handlers to begin the task of training the dogs as sniffers. The prisoners, living in a more structured environment, train the dogs better than families do, who tend to see them as pets rather than candidates for a challenging job.

Inmates chosen for the trainer jobs must have a high-school diploma or equivalent and be free of disciplinary problems for a year. They live in a dedicated living area, with the dogs in crates beside their bunks.

A former warden credits the program with improving the inmates’ morale and behavior. “A lot of these guys have never been given a lot of responsibility, and this is their chance not only to be a responsible adult but a responsible citizen.”

Maybe we need to consider how many of our incarcerated citizens crave meaningful activity—and whose experiences might prove advantageous for certain jobs.

 

Seventy Years Ago: World War II Ended and the Atomic Age Began

Seventy years ago this month, World War II ended when Japan surrendered following atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The world, connected as never before by a terrible war, entered unknown territory.

Europe struggled to recover from the war’s devastation. Asia reeled from conflicts in the Pacific, upsetting colonial empires, some established centuries before. The Japanese dealt with the catastrophe of nuclear destruction.

The United States lost thousands of its military in the war but emerged unscathed materially. No bombs had touched it; no armies had occupied it. The country grew into an economic powerhouse that carried the rest of the world. The suburbs boomed with new families and schools for the burgeoning number of children.

Who knew that within the next seventy years, American life would change more than in the centuries preceding it? The Cold War with the Soviet Union brought fear of nuclear annihilation, but it ended without either nation using nuclear weapons. Christian practice increased for many years, then the nones, those choosing not to be identified with religion, began growing faster. Living together without marriage become normal in some communities. More children were born to unmarried parents.

What have we learned from our seventy-year roller coaster ride? Patience and diplomacy work sometimes and should always be tried before military action. Society works best when Main Street as well as Wall Street shares in economic profits. Programs allowing working and middle class students to afford a college education benefit the country. Strong families bolster a society, but society suffers when the family disintegrates.

Ideas to consider as our political candidates scramble for attention.

 

How Do We Get Re-elected After We’ve Done It?

“We all know what to do, we just don’t know how to get re-elected after we have done it.”
— Jean-Claude Juncker, European politician

The British leader Winston Churchill is quoted as saying that democracy is the worst form of government except for any other. Most of us agree that democracy provides the best check against dictators or elite groups establishing a corrupt government for their own benefit.

If we’re honest, we also admit that no form of government is perfect. Popular opinion is important, as it should be, to the policies decided by democratically elected leaders. But how do we allow for the fact that popular opinion is sometimes wrong?

The United States’ second war with Iraq, a majority of Americans now agree, was a mistake. But at the time, the congressional resolution favoring the war passed with a solid majority in both houses. Americans and their representatives, caught up in anger after the attacks of 9/ll, allowed themselves to believe unsubstantiated arguments that Iraq posed a danger to the United States.

We have access to more information than ever before but also to unfounded myths and rumors. The Internet drowns us in information without necessarily supplying truth.

The success of democracy depends on an informed electorate willing to read beyond the next sound byte and on politicians willing to do the right thing even if it means losing the next election.

 

Will Wonders Never Cease—Have I Found an Example of Civil Democracy?

My small hometown (population around 1100) is examining means of transport from its marina on Puget Sound up the bluff to the main section of town. At present a steep, narrow road with a sidewalk is the only means of transit between the two. Boaters must climb the hill if they wish to visit the restaurants and shops of the town and perhaps lug back groceries.

Bus or taxi or golf cart? Possible, but the curve to go down the road is iffy. Widening the road increases the possibility of disturbing unstable soil. What about liability and maintenance? Training and maintaining drivers? Handicapped accessibility of the vehicles?

Funicular? Elevator? Possible, but will this impact the bluff? Or the scenery?

Doing nothing? Okay, but again, those boaters. What about handicapped and elderly people who can’t negotiate the steep sidewalk?

And so on.

Our small town democracy has its moments of incivility, but a meeting to discuss issues packed the fellowship hall of a local church (often used for community gatherings). While discussion was frank it generally was polite. A large proportion of the city’s citizens attended. Many asked questions and expressed views.

How wonderful if our national democracy would practice this type of interaction. No, we can’t pack a national meeting center, but we can read even-handed analyses of where candidates stand on issues important to our survival as a nation. We can refuse to be a party to remarks that tend to belittle candidates, choosing instead to encourage the discussion of issues.

Oh, yes. It also helps if we vote.

 

Can Foreign Money Influence Political Campaigns in the United States? . . . and Other Concerns

More than 129 million dollars has already been contributed to the U.S. 2016 election, according to figures in a July 16 article in the Los Angeles Times. That’s in addition to money contributed to political action campaigns (PACS). They can raise unlimited contributions.

Like many Americans, I’m concerned about the amount of money given to U.S. political campaigns, as well as the lack of information about where some of it comes from. We don’t even know if all of it comes from U.S. citizens.

I emailed my concerns to my congressman. His reply listed several pieces of legislation that would attempt to reign in campaign finance abuses. Unfortunately, several appear to have died in Congressional committees or otherwise been derailed.

One of them appears still active:

H. J. Res. 34, the “Democracy is for People Amendment,” would amend the Constitution to establish that only individuals with the right to vote in elections can make political contributions, and affirms the right of government to regulate campaign finance. I take it this means Congress could then pass stricter legislation for campaign contributions and disclosure of donors.

Sounds good to me, at least for a starter. Why don’t you contact your own representative to express your concerns?

 

Leaving Home, Loving Your Parents

The teacher at the writers’ conference offered helpful suggestions for my work in progress. However, he expressed puzzlement at the story’s relationship between the young man, my main character, and his father.

The protagonist was raised in Appalachia, had gone away to college, and was now in conflict with his father, a conflict that deeply troubled the young man. He is choosing a profession that the father disapproves of.

“Why,” the teacher asked, “would a man in his early twenties care what his father thought of his choices?”

I could not explain the importance of family, especially in more rural settings. I could not explain how love between some parents and children remains important to their relationship.

Adult children are obligated to act as adults. Men and women leave their birth homes and form homes of their own. Jesus said a man shouldn’t use a parent as an excuse for not following his own calling.

The young man in my story continues in his chosen vocation. Later, he and his father reconcile. They are able to do this because of their love for each other.

The independence that a healthy adult child assumes does not preclude a caring relationship with his birth family.

 

If McDonald’s Raises My Salary, Will They Eliminate My Job?

The minimum wage is shifting upward. Cities like Seattle are raising it. Employers like McDonald’s are raising it. Contractors for certain government jobs are raising it.

In the past few years, the number of middle class jobs with middle class salaries has decreased. Teenagers looking for part time or seasonal jobs now compete with adults for work that usually pays minimum wages.

Even as the computer revolution eliminates some middle class jobs, however, health care and retail trade employment is increasing, typically jobs that require more human interaction. But if salaries in these fields are raised to middle class levels, how often will profit-seeking employers seek to eliminate these jobs?

The economist Paul Krugman suggests that workers are not like commodities traded in a market that tends toward the cheapest price for them.

“… the market for labor isn’t like the markets for soybeans or pok bellies. Workers are people; relations between employers and employees are more complicated than simple supply and demand.”

He says, “. . . workers are not, in fact, commodities. A bushel of soybeans doesn’t care how much you paid for it; but decently paid workers tend to do a better job, not to mention being less likely to quit and require replacement . . .”

Treating workers as things, as parts of equations about supply and demand, may not only be against many religious teachings, it may also be bad for businesses.