Good and Evil

Sitting in church during our Easter service I was filled with thoughts, some obvious and some that had finally roosted in me.  This is a day of celebrating what makes Christianity different than other beliefs.  Not Christmas, but the rising of Christ from the grave. I wondered if  instead of the ham, cheese potatoes and salads I was  looking forward to eating; maybe it should be a day of fasting. No Easter eggs and candy. No 24 packs of Bud Light as we observed someone carrying into their house.  Prayerful thoughts of what was done 2000 years ago. Just a thought.

I also ruminated on the state of our country on this day and the nature of our society. The church I attend is a mainstream Protestant denomination with an aging membership. I, just passed double nickels, am one of the younger adults. I think of one of our sons attending church a block away with a membership that better represents the anglo demographics of our town. I've never attended their church, but if, "They serve breakfast" is one of their high points, then I may need to look elsewhere. He seems happy and feels he is learning; that is good. Then another thought hit.

Maybe the aging membership has something in common with another group of Americans---farmers.  The average age of farmers in the US is now at 60 years. If you are a cattleman, it is 70. In and of itself these two groups, Christian believers and farmers, and their ages may seem unconnected. But stop and think about the things that these two groups have in common. They are grounded on a concrete system and thoughts inherent with those beliefs and system.

Christians follow a belief that we are evil and sinners, God sent his Son to earth, the Son sacrificed Himself to clear our sin. The belief that we do wrong (sin) and need to be cleansed is a foundation many do not believe, let alone follow. We live in a society that tells us "we were made that way" and then fight for our right to do anything we want regardless of the result. Christianity gives us the foundation that we choose our actions, and we live with the results.

A farmer grows food.  They live with the results of their actions, as well as the weather. If they don't feed their animals, the animals die, the farmer doesn't make money to live and we consumers have less to eat. Pretty basic it seems to me.  I call it common sense, just like believing in God.

And that is where my thoughts started to converge. Franklin Graham has made some statements about President Obama that have received some negative press. Yesterday I listened to him say something that caught me off guard a bit. He was asked by Sean Hannity if he, Graham, thought the President was evil. I am paraphrasing, but the idea was that President Obama was a bad president.  Graham said no, he didn't think the president was much different than previous presidents. What was different was the society that elected him and other politicians.

That's when the vines started connecting for me. We as a society have lost our ties to foundational truths. We don't believe God, we don't know where our food comes from, and we want to do whatever we like. But the worse thought was to come. It doesn't take a consensus of the society to bring this about, it only takes 51%. Or less if the eligible voters stay home.

The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.

Albert Einstein

Getting Schooled

Yesterday my family and I received another lesson in how the banking system and some businesses make money from the general public, and probably most of the public doesn't realize it. I would say it appears to be totally legal, but I sure felt cheated, violated, and robbed by two local businesses I chose to deal with.  We try to vote with our pocketbook.  We try to spend locally in our community when possible.  Our small town, like many, doesn't have some types of businesses.  In the last twenty years stores have closed because of outside competition from bigger retail chains. So when we can we will spend money, even a bit more money, at stores within our city. I also understand that I should expect to pay when a service is rendered.  Yes we all like to get free stuff, but businesses are hounded for donations and other contributions, so the paying customers need to pay some times. I agree, but to be charged when no service is given is wrong.

Here is what happened. Two days ago my wife and daughter went to a local gas station and mini mart we buy gas and food from occasionally. The family that runs the store is nice and they fit the profile of the kinds of stores we like to give our business.  Daughter gets out to pump gas, swipes her mother's debit card, sees the price of the gas go up, cancels the transaction and pays with $25 in cash inside the store.

Yesterday, two days after the canceled transaction, I go into our bank to cash a check.  The bank won't cash the check because we are overdrawn $60 plus dollars. The teller first says it's from a $123 PayPal  transaction. I don't use PayPal, so I get my wife to come in and help with the details. After going through  the bank records the problem is a $125 dollar "hold" on our account by the mini mart for the gas we didn't charge but paid cash for. The tellers and assistant manager explain that when the card was swiped the business puts a hold on our account because it doesn't know how much gas we will pump.  That seems reasonable. The bank receives the "hold," which makes us overdrawn and they charge us a $30 overdraft fee. That's when things went south at the bank.

The bank was charging us a $30 overdraft fee for a transaction that didn't take place. The bank tellers kept saying, "It wasn't us; it was the store; they put the hold on."  I said I understood that, but you are choosing to take a fee for something you know didn't happen, so you are culpable also. The store, or their gas company, used our $125 for at least two days and the bank took the $30 all for a deal that didn't happen.  I said, "As a consumer I have been violated and have had to pay twice for something that didn't happen.  You have to understand that and agree I have a right to be angry." The tellers and assistant manager nodded their heads sort of, but I think they have been drinking the Kool-Aid too long.  Eventually the assistant manager cleared the $30 overdraft fee and we parted ways for now. But still didn't get the check cashed.

As my wife and I talked afterwards on the way to buy fruit, a few observations, thoughts and plans evolved.  Firstly, the society we live in allows a business to hide fees and make money in questionable ways. I don't know who profited by our $125 being held for two plus days.  I'm pretty sure it isn't the store owner.Yes the money will be returned, but I didn't give you permission to take it in the first place. One bank teller said we did the moment we swiped our card. The bank teller tried to explain that the gas station needed to hold the overage money to cover the "potential" cost of the gas.  Okay I see that. But if you have the software to take the money for a "hold," can't you write into the software to read the amount and only charge that amount?  And in our case the deal was canceled.  You can't cancel the "hold" also?

The bank people were nice and respectful in the face of two angry people.  They did their job.  After a few minutes I started watching them with a partially detached eye. They had stepped back and were in protection mode. They weren't thinking, just following protocol. I was reminded of myself when an angry parent comes to "talk" about their child. The phrases they used were delivered with no passion nor thought. They didn't care; they just wanted to keep their job.  I can understand that sentiment.  They were following the party line.  But that passionless non-judgmental thought process can lead to immoral actions. What has happened to the person or business taking care of the customer? 

The problem is we have to use these stores again.  If not this particular bank and gas station, then others that function the same way with the same money practices. We don't have the option of becoming hermits at this time. So we have to create a system that minimizes the bank's impact on us.  Cash seems to be the way.  We have some direct auto-pay accounts so some money will have to stay in the bank. We will calculate that amount and every other dollar will be taken out of the bank after payday. Gas will be paid for with cash.  No more "holds." The biggest revelation was the reminder that no one is looking out for the common man; we have to look out for ourselves.

Something New on an Old Subject

A few days ago I had the opportunity to hear a Holocaust survivor speak at our school. Elaine has spoken before, but I wasn't sure if I would get another chance and drug my class along to listen.  I love history and the mid-1900's intrigue me.  I feel that many don't know that time period as well as they should, especially in light of what happened them shapes our world now.

I have been a bit angry lately and I  was afraid that listening to this would make me angrier.  I have little tolerance when people mistreat others, and this story seemed ripe for that.  But I was surprised and thankful that Elaine had no anger in her words. She did call the Holocaust revisionists morons, but that was an apt description more than angry name calling.

The students were quiet listening to the story of how Elaine was taken with her family from their home in Poland, some shot in the street, and the rest sent to various camps.  She described how she lived on no rations, only workers received a starvation ration of food.  She being a child didn't receive food.  She talked about the daily act of survival and the eventual freeing after four years by the British.  Elaine describe her journey to America and the speaking she has done in adulthood.

Then the questions came from students and she answered each one with honesty and directness.  The students seemed to sense something good was going on and instead of having to listen to teachers, this was a good chance to hear someone else talk about history.

It was a good hour spent and I am thankful I took the chance.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

S

"You win a few. You lose a few.  Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them."  Satchel Paige said those words.  I seem to be relying on my standby quotes lately in life.  It just seems that I've hit a patch that the simplicity of a quote sums up what I'm living and thinking.

The baseball team is doing a whole lot of losing right now. Some in the normal way when you don't catch, throw or hit at the right time. Some in "creative" ways.  Friday we played a team that we lost to by one run earlier in the  year when we could have won.  This game they sat five of their starters for discipline, our best pitcher gets hit by the ball on his throwing hand while batting and is out of the game.  We lose 6-1.   It's not even close.  We are now a bunch of individuals, not a team.  Time to really go to work.

"Manners are of more importance than laws.  Upon them, by a great measure, the laws depend."  Edmund Burke  Say what you want about the Reset Generation having the attention span of a gnat, but their manners are unfathomable at times.  The fact that I am talking to a student means nothing to some students who step between us and start asking me their question. Walking out of the classroom to wave and yell at a passing student is acceptable. I don't know what teaching will look like in the future; I know that the new Common Core curriculum isn't going to help; and I am thankful I won't be around to deal with the problems our leaders have given us.

"If you come to a fork in the road, pick it up." Yogi Berra  I have many forks in front of me in the near future.  I hope to have the wisdom to pick up some and turn the correct direction with the others.