Playing Tour Guide

Spent most of last week being the tour guide/hiking director though our Nation's Capitol.  Always more to see; more to do...

Found a great place I highly recommend if you have teenagers- the National Academy of Science Museum by Chinatown.  They had a great hands-on exhibit on Infectious Disease - Bacteria, Viruses, Parasites... great information on how disease is spread and how immunizations work... with real, non-watered down explanations on how viruses reproduce & how anti-virals and retro virals work.  We could have spent much longer there and for $5 donation, it was probably the best thing we did.  Although walking a lot of the neighborhoods was fun for me. I think the paddle boats on the Tidal Basin were a hit too,

The cherry trees are starting to blossom and when the Festival starts this weekend, they will be gorgeous.  I am looking forward to the Kite festival.  I am grabbing my pink shirt and my box kite and heading to the Mall.  Hopefully, the weather will hold up.

Work is actually great.  Maybe it is just being off for a week, but I am pretty pumped.  Maybe its seeing the end of a big project on the not too distant horizon. 

Maybe it was seeing spouse & child for a week.  I am at least a bit rejuvenated.

Oh... and then there was that birthday.... 

If You Want to Win the War, Make Sure Your Weapons are Ready!

I ran into some examples of a shortcoming in our current educational system.  The sort who has very strong opinions (good), is generally well informed (good) but doesn't know how to ARGUE.

They like ad hominum attacks.   They use broad generalities to fit their opponents into neat boxes.  The throw in profanity for effect and reaction, and then retort with " its just a word".

Unfortunately, they enjoy hearing their own voice and punctuation only in a media where retaliation is not a risk.  I wonder if they would be so cavalier in expressing their opinions and vitriol in a public space. 

I actually agreed with most of the thoughts expressed by the people engaged in this conversion.  It was just their way of "killing their compatriots".  They accused the person ask us pray for the troops of being a hypocrite because her husband had a "cushy stateside posting" and wasn't getting shot at.  They attacked a poster who said she was frustrated by the Phelps- First Amendment decision (protesting at military funerals) and sometimes wishing she could put those people on an ice floe for calling themselves Christians.  They said she was "encouraging violence" against people with different opinions.

I was accused of being ageist - because I requested more civil discourse ... and a "boomer that was responsible for the type of thinking that got us into Iraq & Afghanistan in the first place".  Well, to set the record straight, I guess I am a "barely Boomer", and as a Catholic and a pacifist in general, nope, don't think my opinions are properly reflected by Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.  But, I also believe this does not stop me from praying for the soldiers serving or the civilians in those areas. Or of thinking that the Phelps group protesting at funerals as being crass and in poor taste.

I wish our educational institutions would go back to teaching classics - rhetoric, logic, ethics... Logical, thoughtful discourse is a rare commodity.  I want the next generation to argue their beliefs with passion and not with malice.  I want clarity of thought; not "hot buttons" and sound bites. 

And I can put blame only one place - right here.  People like me who tolerate such boorish behavior.  Encourage it even by supporting Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Howard Stern.  Stop reading the paper and expect our information in 15 minute increments and CNN instant updates.  Look to Fox News and MSNBC to interpret world event for us.

WE all need to be informed.  Read History,  Read the paper.  Listen.  Know both sides of an issue. Listen to your opponent.  Not to destroy them, but to influence them.

Its not as fast; but it last longer.

Never Judge a book by it Cover (or coat)

I was on the Metro the other Saturday during on a typical weekend delay due to track maintenance.  It was chilly and it gave me a chance to make a few outerwear observations.

• I think they issue North Face jackets to every teenager in DC.
• I want to sell retired military trench coats or wool overcoats to Federal Employees.
• Older African-American women can rock wild hats.
• Small girls (any shade) can do the same.
• Rainboots come in some interesting styles now days - leopard, paisley, plaid, cowboy...
• Trendy coat doesn't equal decent person. 

A young man on the train was the total 'hipster' = slim weathered black jeans, camelhair coat, Burberry scarf, spiky hair, serious expensive Porsche tennis shoes.  He spent his time LOUDLY bemoaning to his seat mate how horrible the Metro was, how he was still looking for a job because he needed more money to pay his $3000/month rent and how he couldn't catch a break because he wasn't a minority.  Across from him was a older man wearing a beat-up parka and watch cap, standing up, reading his "Daily Word" kind of half smiling.  Underneath his parka, he was wearing a nice dress shirt and tie, and freshly shined, well worn shoes.  He was standing since he gave up his seat to a young woman with a stroller and another little one holding her hand. 

Man #1 bulldozed his way off the train at Chinatown; man #2 took his turn to exit at L'Enfant. 

Maybe #1 is just frustrated and that is the only way he knows to deal with adversity; by complaining and being harsh.  Maybe #2 has the benefit of age & experience and, since he was reading his daily devotions, knows that all this is passing.

Too bad we can have the benefit of experience when we are young and we are shaping our futures.  Too bad we can't have the options of youth when we finally learn what's important.