The fight... can it be fair?

So, back in the day (as modern tales begin), a rowdy bunch of upstarts fresh from the throes of war met together in a not so climate controlled room during the hottest months in Pennsylvania's year to put together a set of guidelines for this baby nation called the United States. These servant leaders, hot-tempered representatives carried the frustration of having just finished one war only to commit themselves to a war of words so that their posterity (AKA: we, the people) could live better than they.
Seven articles divided into 24 sections each word painstakingly chosen to be sure that each administration following would have equally heated debates and some semblance of order in which to conduct them... as demonstrated by the Bill of Rights and the other 17 amendments!
Our founders gave us the Constitution! This document tells us how to fight fair because they knew we would be fighting. HOW did they know? Because THEY were fighting! They fought to loose the chain of England's government, then turned around to fight with each other over which has more authority: nation or state! And they fought about how to fight... fair!
It's a little bit like a family business that has been handed down through generations, but better because the Constitution is its own never-ending story provided that WE, the people, get a cranial-rectal retraction, quickly (the current state of inversion presents inevitable suffocation).
But I digress... I know that we have assets and liabilities; we are great at both standing united and tearing each other to shreds.
During these summer months in 2016, I ask each who takes in these words to find a climate controlled space to think about what we face when it is time to vote for  legislation and legislators. Fighting is inevitable; let's be more careful to fight fair especially when the fight is inward.

On Violence

Violence breeds violence as the story goes. All things considered (or at least set out to fill the air as dirty laundry often does) Americans find ourselves at yet another crossroads. We love our Liberty, but how do we stop the shooter who is taking aim at the LGBT community? We polish up our justice badges as another judge calls that history of domestic abuse ending in murder "self-defense".  Even our sibling communities are rioting over a futbol game in Marseille. Has it anything to do with the big 7 (age, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or the  Physical/mental/emotional differences based on the aforementioned 6)? Probably. So now the question must be asked, "How can we become more productive and comfortable around one another?

DAMN, that's a GREAT question!

The answer is (from the observation deck, with my dog and my big mug of ice water): each one of us practice courtesy, dignity, and respect with full capacity and valor (BTW, this stuff is all free: it generates inside each of us in limitless abundance; the more we give the more we have to replace it)!

Shall we give it a whirl?

The Bill of RESPONSIBILITY

Resolved, that, as the House and Senate are finding ways to become increasingly disagreeable to WE, THE PEOPLE, of the UNITED STATES, and as related offices, subcommittees and PACS, have become disgustingly prioritized above the clearly peeved constituency, in lieu of media bravado and celebrity endorsement, the following bill of responsibility is humbly submitted:

Article 1: the responsibility of citizens who have reached the age of majority shall cast her/his vote for each public office in his/her district, as well as for each  bill, motion, initiative, referendum, proposition, etc. The aforementioned citizens must do so after having invested themselves in knowing the platforms upon which each candidate for office stands, and the positive and negative repercussions of each suggested legislation being considered by public vote.

Article 2: the responsibility of voting citizens to express themselves by any means (written, verbal, and nonverbal) and for any reason (information, entertainment, or persuasion) will be exercised while respecting other citizens' responsibility to engage in the same.

Article 3: the responsibility of voting citizens to protect themselves and those in their care (citizens who have not reached the age of majority and age appropriate pre-citizens who are pursuing means by which to become voting citizens) from all enemies, foreign and domestic shall not be infringed.

Article 4: the responsibility of voting citizens (and those in their care) to maintain reasonable security in their persons, homes, and belongings shall not be subject to unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause or consent.

Article 5: the responsibility of citizens (including those who have not reached the age of majority and age appropriate pre-citizens) to respectfully upkeep their rights to life, liberty, and property in a manner suited to prevent the aforementioned rights to be revoked by due process of law.

Article 6: the responsibility of citizens (including those who have not reached the age of majority and age appropriate pre-citizens) to be respectful upon being accused of a criminal activity, and to willfully maintain dignity through due process of law as prescribed by existing legislation.

Article 7: the responsibility of citizens (and those in their care) to behave and speak rationally and truthfully in matters of both common and criminal law shall be exercised in order to accommodate expeditious, public trials by impartial jury.

Article 8: the responsibility of the full constituency to provide equitable correction or compensation for crimes and damages for which any citizen (including those who have not reached the age of majority and age appropriate pre-citizens) has been provided a just verdict.

Article 9: in concert with the U.S. Constitution, and existing  ammendments thereto, the responsibility of each citizen (including those who have not reached the age of majority and age appropriate pre-citizens) to mindfully construct personal boundaries which neither deny or disparage the personal boundaries of others.

Article 10: the responsibilities not specifically outlined herein are to be presumed as either equal to or more appropriately exercised obligations for which each citizen is granted rights.

Signed and sworn to by any who has a mind to keep our democratic process in order...

Memorial day 2016

History, as it does from time to time, seems to have been spun erratically again... in light of this Memorial day weekend, I have already been inundated with a barrage of half witted attempts to cast poor spin on events of the past and present. For the sake of the less inclined to conduct research, lle me begin with a few nuggets of what really happened (as opposed to the ill-fitting interpretation that is being vomited on us as fact):
1. Memorial day is a holiday that began as a salute to fallen confederate soldiers in the war of the states/civil war (perception dictates the name - but THAT is for another soapbox). It has morphed to honoring the fallen from both sides of the aforementioned conflict, further expanded to incorporate all US military members who have given their lives in combat. Oh, and opportunists have adjusted their hours and special offers for those who want to honor the dead by getting a great price on a new...
2. U.S. military personnel have died on non-US land by US operated equipment. War is an ugly and divisive reality from which many do not return (innocent and guilty alike).
3. There is no correct way to honor the end of a life, especially one lost to violence that didn't directly  involve those embroiled in the physical battle.

Having cleared my mind of that muggy mess, it is now my privilege, as a veteran and former honor guard participant, to thank every person who has lost a loved one that was killed in military service to the U.S.A. I remember handing over a precisely folded flag to someone whose eyes were too drowned by tears to meet mine and say, "on behalf of the president of the United States and a grateful nation..."

As a salute to fallen US troops, it makes perfect sense to visit places where our men and women physically died and to call for rational restraint in using the devices that killed them (among the others those same devices killed). Sadly, though, as messages spring up about how this or that leader ought to have said or done this or that, I find myself replaying the honor guard sentiment in my mind. specifically, there have been outright verbal and written condemnations to President Obama for having visited the memorials to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It seems that when Mr. Obama encouraged listeners to find less destructive ways to develop our desire to create, some interpreted it as a disregard for our fallen warriors. As I read (&re-read) the transcript of that speech, I find the same sentiment that was used to provoke the celebrators of Decoration day to honor Union soldiers as well as Confederate.

Have we really become so willfully indifferent to "spin" that we will mindlessly accept our faction's voice as truth despite the reason of such philosophers  Plato, Kant, Descartes, or Occam? If, in fact we are living a self-fulfilled destiny, My encouragement today is to seek out a meaningful way to signify this year's Memorial day, and perpetuate that which you love rather than strike out against that which you don't love.

This Wrirer's Qualifications

This morning, after once again being asked to describe my qualifications for a specific type of work, I decided it is time to create a resume' that I am able to attach to any free-lance type of work for which I am both qualified and passionate. Here it is (feel free to suggest improvements, quote me, or share this), submitted to my adoring fans, future colleagues, and anyone who happens to stumble upon it.