Apr 13, 2023·edited Apr 14, 2023Liked by Cameron M. Bailey
Loved your story MW. Isn't it great when that kind of thing happens? I had a similar encounter a few years back, which I'll now share. I'll neutralize the political party identities.
One afternoon I got up from my desk to stretch my legs and decided to walk down to the Starbucks on the corner. Near the end of the block a young woman with a clip board approached me and asked if I wanted to sign something to support a Presidential candidate. Her guy wasn't my guy that year so I said "no thank you", turned and opened the door to the Starbucks when behind me I heard her say, "Oh, that's a good idea." As she followed me into the shop I braced myself, expecting a lecture about her guy, but instead she stood silently behind me.
When it was my turn to order I asked for a tall dark roast, no room, and then turned and pointed to her and said, "and give my fine [her party] friend here whatever she wants". She politely protested, saying "Oh no! You don't have to do that!". I said, "Yes I do. I'm a strong believer in the two party system. We don't have to agree but we should respect each other because we actually need each other." She graciously accepted, thanked me repeatedly, and told me that so many of the members of [the other] party use offensive words toward her, one of which starts with the letter F.
Actually, I don't have a party. In the team sport of politics I'm a free agent. Maybe because I don't really have a side I place significant value on both sides getting along. I'll buy coffee for any side all day long if it would help.
Thank you for sharing this VW! It is a great story.
I've learned, through working closely with elected leaders from the entire political spectrum that in virtually every case, they are doing what they think is best. They disagree with us because they think our ideas are misguided and will not be of benefit if implemented. They don't disagree with us because they have some kind of evil intent.
This holds true, I have found, no matter where one's political beliefs might reside on the spectrum.
I worry though, because more and more it seems that people are just jumping to a point of seeing evil intent behind anyone they might disagree with, and our society can not thrive if we all think that our neighbors must be evil.
Apr 15, 2023·edited Apr 15, 2023Liked by Cameron M. Bailey
"They don't disagree with us because they have some kind of evil intent.
This holds true, I have found, no matter where one's political beliefs might reside on the spectrum."
I believe this is true, mostly. However, I fear the reverse cannot always be said as there are MANY elected leaders who have bought into and perpetuate conspiracy theories which insist their political opponents are, in fact, evil, thus setting themselves up as wannabe champions for good.
I must admit I find it hard not to judge this particular type of person as misguided at best and deranged at worst.
I tend to try to avoid contact with people of this sort so as to avoid conflict. However, that doesn't do much to solve the problem and I'm not sure how to go about solving it.
Indeed, I may have a bit of a pollyanna view, but I do believe most to be fundamentally good. And I know an awful lot of them personally given my profession.
That said, you are certainly right, there are plenty who are not good, and probably a few who are deranged. ;-)
Avoidance does work in the short term. In the long term we need to convince our neighbors to not fuel the platforms of those who are bad with their money, attention, or votes.
Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill, two diametrically opposed politicians, fought tooth and nail over many issues, but in the evenings they would sit down with a glass (or two) of Scotch and chat.
In lodge, there are members of all political sides that come together as brothers. Perhaps it's because they are not separated by an online wall, but everyone seems to get along regardless of their political leanings. I personally consider people on the other side of the fence as dear friends. Even when talk delves into policies, at the end even if we can't convince one another to change our point of view, we just agree to disagree, and move on.
That's called being an adult I guess.
Where things break down is when there are no repercussions to dialog, when people can say or do whatever they want without fear of retribution. People say or do things they would never say or do in person.
The Internet, as amazing it can be to unite all of us with access to all of human knowledge, has also divided us into tribal camps where walls have been constructed with words that can't be assailed. People desperate for attention try and find more and more bizarre ways to stand out from the crowd to where nothing is sacred anymore. No one is shocked anymore by how some people act and it's gotten to the point that real violence is the ultimate expression of attention seeking.
And it's only going to get worse, although for the life of me, I can't imagine how.
You touch on something that has always amazed me about Freemasonry, right from the start of my involvement with it. The willingness of Masons to put aside all divisions to find common ground with each other. I've personally witnessed and benefited from that, right from the very beginning.
This has allowed me to have wonderfully strong friendships with other men whom I never would have met, let alone found common ground with, otherwise.
Apr 13, 2023·edited Apr 13, 2023Liked by Cameron M. Bailey
I am also a firm believer in not picking a side and being a free agent. The two sides are supposed to hold each other in tension and thus balance; unfortunately I don’t think a lot of people got the memo.
That said I also think it’s really important to end the “both sides” arguments because that kind of thinking creates a race to bottom. If the other side is just as bad or worse then it’s okay for my side to be just as bad or worse, in fact it becomes necessary to counter them or so some people seem to think.
I try to remind people when possible of the little Johnny argument. You see little Johnny got caught red handed blowing up the toilet in the boys room with an M80. The principal caught him and says, “well son what do you have to say for yourself? Why would you destroy school property?” To which little Johnny replies, “well little Suzy clogged up the toilet in the girls room last week.”
Now if there’s anyone here who thinks little Johnny deserves no punishment I’m gonna go back in time and smack your parents. Unfortunately this kind of 6th grade antics are all I see these days. Part of healing is going to involve some tough love.
Now it’s also going to require some understanding for each other and I think more especially we need to understand what has changed. This is the hard part because people are predisposed to look for simple answers and someone else to blame. It’s just human nature.
Healing also means that we need to understand the consequences of this current paradigm in a human way so I’m gonna share a little personal story here about how rampant bullshirt and shock jock politics does real harm and sets the stage for actual violence.
A couple of years ago my wife called me from work, which is very unusual because we text constantly, a phone call is serious. She tells me she might want a ride home because she doesn’t feel safe at work right now. Of course I’m already half way out the door and ask what’s going on? She relays to me the email they just received from the program director at NIAID warning them that Foxnews has run a hit piece on Fauci and that she is already receiving death threats in less than an hour since it aired, and they are going into lock down. Warning that the people who did this used an FIOA request and have everyone on the projects information. Now I would post the link to the article but I hate giving them anymore attention or money so I won’t. If you want to see this incredibly irresponsible bit of journalism you can search “foxnews fauci 400k research dogs” and you can find it. Now there are some important things to know that most of the piece is an outright lie and the rest is the worst kind of miss characterization possible. Fauci doesn’t work in a lab he works in an office. This research isn’t torturing puppies and this research is going to save human and dog lives. Yes science would come to a standstill without animal testing and if there is one thing every scientist I know feels very strongly about it is that any animal testing be done in the gentlest and least harmful way possible, and that the fewest animals possible are used necessary to gather the data needed. I have personally seen the impact of the autopsy reports on my wife and her co workers when an animal is destroyed to gather the data if that becomes necessary. Most of the studies don’t require animal destruction so they go on to lead happy lives. My point is these are not heartless or cruel people. Furthermore I assure you these dogs are not being subjected to a thousand biting flies. There are likely one or two biting flies per cage and also guarantee you your own dog gets bit more than these dogs in the lab do.
Now the study at hand you should know more about because well it’s really important work. The study in question here is two fold, it is about a vaccine for heart worm in dogs but it has a human component because the way a dog gets heart worm is the same way a human gets Elephantiasis. They are both parasitic worms and they are both spread through insect bites. The research is all about stopping the parasites during the insect bite, which as you can imagine would stop an entire range of diseases if we can defend against the bite transfer mechanism.
Very cool stuff and they have a heart worm vaccine now that is going through its trials, it will save a lot of dogs since there is virtually now way to protect your dog in your own back yard from being bitten. There is also a human vaccine in the works too. The company my wife works for specializes in neglected tropical diseases, one’s that are too small to be seen as profitable research by the bigger companies but that are of high risk for breaking out in new places due to climate change.
Why is this important? Because this super charged hyper political atmosphere comes with people who consume these outrageous news articles and then take it upon themselves to act. The next week my wife and I worried constantly about the possibility of nutbags being outside our home or her place of work each day. I took her to work with a loaded gun in the car. This is the real price of lies.
It also hurts on a very personal level to see something my wife is proud of working on, something good, dragged through the mud and made to look evil.
My hope is that by humanizing some of these things it will pull people back from the brink. I highly doubt any normal person would wish this kind of harm on me or my family. Unfortunately death threats seem to be a common occurrence these days I don’t care which side of the fence you’re on. I also don’t think much will change until we get more responsibility in the media. Until we can decouple the profit motive from it somehow.
Also I’m gonna link to an article I read which I think is real food for thought. I really like this article and I think there is a lot to unpack in it. It also should lead to some more deeper questions but I’ll leave the article here for now and maybe talk later about some things it prompts in my mind.
Edit: I realized there was more I wanted to say about my experience with this. As the news broke and the head of the program at the national level was getting death threats on her personal phone and e-mail I became proactive and started trying to keep up with the story as it crawled through the right wing blogosphere. I was just on the lookout for if my wife’s company name started showing up. Lucky it didn’t. Boy let me tell you that the right wing blogosphere is a toxic place it eroded what little faith I had left in humanity. I think this is one of the things that a lot of well meaning conservatives don’t understand. The guy down the road, my neighbor he’s gotta be 70; well he’s got his trump sign and his flag and he’s a conservative through and through. But he suffers from a lack of knowledge about who the people standing next to him are and what they stand for because he isn’t on those right wing blogs. I don’t blame him. He’s a good fella, and he means well.
>>>I also don’t think much will change until we get more responsibility in the media.
I think that you hit the nail directly on the head with this comment.
The media, as it is currently incentivised financially thrives on and rewards 'hot takes' over reasoned and thoughtful consideration. If you want to be paid well, you view, and write every story in a way that generates outrage. If instead you take the time to fully explore a story, drawing measured and reasonable conclusions to it, no one will read it.
In my job it is important for me to know the truth about particular issues as best it can be known. Because of that, I consume media from both sides of the political spectrum. I'm always amazed by how the same story can be reported and distorted in completely different ways. Alas, the middle is the closest to the truth one can usually come. This is a societal evil brought to us from both ends of the political spectrum.
As consumers of media, we all, collectively, need to start making better choices.
Well one thing I know about you MW is you are NOT lazy !!
More evidence is you will be at the S.R. Lodge in Bremerton tonight and I won't be able to go since my sitting in the East last night and doing the Memorial for WB George it took me until noon to get out of bed since I wore my old geezer body out in my 20's and 30's......and standing and sitting doesn't seem like hard work BUT these days it is for me.........and I really wish I would be there with you tonight Brother.
We were back a little before midnight, but then I had to stay up most of the night.
When I got home, there was a car parked in front of the house. Engine running. Odd I thought, but into the house I went. That's when Melinda told me it had been there for hours.
So, I wander back outside, flashlight in hand, colt in holster. Flash the light in the car. Dude in there either passed out or dead.
Call the police. Tell em 'dude in running car, don't know if he's passed out or dead.' (Judging from the car, I'm figuring pretty strongly that passed out is the case.
Police come. Spend a lot of time with him. Yep, passed out. Drink or drugs I don't know, but they get him out of the car and he can't even stand unsupported. Eventually they search his car. Apparently they find no evidence to arrest him, so they make contact with one of his relatives who agrees to come get him and drive him home.
So off he goes. And the police.
Maybe ten minutes later the dude is back. Parked again in front of the house, car running.
This time I go outside with mag light in one hand, phone in the other. Since the dude can't stand up without assistance, I know he's no danger to me. Wander up to the car, shine the flashlight in his eyes, and call the police while standing next to his open window.
That worked, he took off.
But then I stayed up for a few hours, watching reruns on the TV, making sure that he didn't return a third time.
I don't remember us dealing with problems like this when I was growing up.
And that includes in Centralia. The worst thing the adults had in the downtown Centralia area 30 years ago was the cruising. Congested the streets to the point where the emergency vehicles couldn’t get through. So they passed a ban on cruising in the early 90’s.
Nowadays? Yes, I’ve been downtown at midnight, 1:00 AM, etc. While I’ve never had problems myself, I’ve seen issues, and I remember the stabbings and the drive-by shootings that happened a block away from where I work. Fortunately I wasn’t there when those things happened, although the suspect in the stabbing got a haircut about half a week after the Police notified us. You tend to remember things like that.
But once again, this topic is germane in that we need to get back into the community and become a part of the solution, in our own way, just like the Salvation Army down the street is trying to be part of the solution in their way.
Agreed. We must work to create the world we want, and how that work gets done is through the institutions of Civil Society.
As leaders of the world's largest, oldest, and most prosperous such institution we can make a difference. But for Freemasonry to be able to make that difference it must be strong. Our Lodges must be strong.
We can, I think, very plainly see that problems such as this have grown in our city in direct proportion to the decline of Civil Society. The Elks are gone, the Eagles are gone, the Moose is almost gone, the Grange a shadow of its former self. Our Lodge, and the VFW have greatly contracted. And community pride has fallen in lockstep.
When we improve our Lodge, we are indeed improving our City.
He must have ingested all the evidence BUT returning like that is strange
It has been about 15 years since I had something like that with a drunken fool trying to knock our back door open at 3am and he had walked all the way to my house and his car was a mile away and he had crossed the creek so he was also all wet and I was in bed watching tv so I had the wife call the law and then I opened the window and pointed my .50 Cal. Desert Eagle at him about 25 feet away with the porch light on and he didn't even look in my direction but continued trying to push the door open.......deputies showed up and hauled him away and I went outside and the fool claimed he knew me........well I live on 5 acres surrounded by trees and only get a rare visit from a Mason so after 40 years here I pretty much only allow wild critters......and they all demand food daily
Drunk and high people do indeed act the fool! Hopefully we've seen the last of him. Not sure why he would think that the street in front of my house was the good place to do whatever he was doing.
I did talk to the neighbor lady about an hour ago when I left to pick up my granddaughter from school. Apparently the guy returned again this morning, but she ran him off.
As for the wild critters... Yep! We've got a handful of squirrels, doves, blue jays, and various little birds. Crazy thing is they are picky eaters! I usually buy a specific brand of bird food at True Value, but a couple months ago I was at Tractor Supply so bought a different brand. The little buggers wouldn't eat it. I guess that there are enough feeders in my neighborhood that they get to pick and choose who has the best food on offer!
We have near 100 hummingbirds every year including up to 50 all Winter and they get 200lbs of sugar every year and this is the 35th year.........all the spoiled chickadees and nuthatch and finches get black oil sunflower seeds so I get 40lb bags several times and we have sort of wild mallards who walk from the pond to the house for seeds or cracked corn and same fir squirrel and chipmunk families come to the back porch waiting for the same seeds or saltless peanuts and the squirrel gets grapes from the wife.......Canada geese visit the pond and occasional swans and egrets and herons and deer expect apples from the tree and over the years we have had bobcats and even a BIG lynx but no bear but they live up in the forests above us........used to have lots of trout in the pond but otters would come all the way up the creek and sneak in and eat them so I gave up on restocking........we are home most of the time and live down a long gravel road and I planted all the trees around the 5 acres when I was in my 20's and 30's and planted over 150 evergreens and about 45 Giant Sequoias that I started planting in 1987 so some are close to 100 feet tall now.......and 4 windmill palm trees and 3 types of magnolias.......and many other things.......I planned to do all that and then just have to mow the lawn in my 60's........that plan didn't work.
You are welcome to see it on a Summer day (all the big magnolias are flowering right now)
Your place sounds quite delightful! Thank you for your kind invitation.
When I lived in the great metropolis of Index WA I had a great flock of hummingbirds too. They are quite delightful to watch. None here in the city to speak of, or any of the other creatures you mention.
Loved your story MW. Isn't it great when that kind of thing happens? I had a similar encounter a few years back, which I'll now share. I'll neutralize the political party identities.
One afternoon I got up from my desk to stretch my legs and decided to walk down to the Starbucks on the corner. Near the end of the block a young woman with a clip board approached me and asked if I wanted to sign something to support a Presidential candidate. Her guy wasn't my guy that year so I said "no thank you", turned and opened the door to the Starbucks when behind me I heard her say, "Oh, that's a good idea." As she followed me into the shop I braced myself, expecting a lecture about her guy, but instead she stood silently behind me.
When it was my turn to order I asked for a tall dark roast, no room, and then turned and pointed to her and said, "and give my fine [her party] friend here whatever she wants". She politely protested, saying "Oh no! You don't have to do that!". I said, "Yes I do. I'm a strong believer in the two party system. We don't have to agree but we should respect each other because we actually need each other." She graciously accepted, thanked me repeatedly, and told me that so many of the members of [the other] party use offensive words toward her, one of which starts with the letter F.
Actually, I don't have a party. In the team sport of politics I'm a free agent. Maybe because I don't really have a side I place significant value on both sides getting along. I'll buy coffee for any side all day long if it would help.
Thank you for sharing this VW! It is a great story.
I've learned, through working closely with elected leaders from the entire political spectrum that in virtually every case, they are doing what they think is best. They disagree with us because they think our ideas are misguided and will not be of benefit if implemented. They don't disagree with us because they have some kind of evil intent.
This holds true, I have found, no matter where one's political beliefs might reside on the spectrum.
I worry though, because more and more it seems that people are just jumping to a point of seeing evil intent behind anyone they might disagree with, and our society can not thrive if we all think that our neighbors must be evil.
"They don't disagree with us because they have some kind of evil intent.
This holds true, I have found, no matter where one's political beliefs might reside on the spectrum."
I believe this is true, mostly. However, I fear the reverse cannot always be said as there are MANY elected leaders who have bought into and perpetuate conspiracy theories which insist their political opponents are, in fact, evil, thus setting themselves up as wannabe champions for good.
I must admit I find it hard not to judge this particular type of person as misguided at best and deranged at worst.
I tend to try to avoid contact with people of this sort so as to avoid conflict. However, that doesn't do much to solve the problem and I'm not sure how to go about solving it.
Indeed, I may have a bit of a pollyanna view, but I do believe most to be fundamentally good. And I know an awful lot of them personally given my profession.
That said, you are certainly right, there are plenty who are not good, and probably a few who are deranged. ;-)
Avoidance does work in the short term. In the long term we need to convince our neighbors to not fuel the platforms of those who are bad with their money, attention, or votes.
Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill, two diametrically opposed politicians, fought tooth and nail over many issues, but in the evenings they would sit down with a glass (or two) of Scotch and chat.
In lodge, there are members of all political sides that come together as brothers. Perhaps it's because they are not separated by an online wall, but everyone seems to get along regardless of their political leanings. I personally consider people on the other side of the fence as dear friends. Even when talk delves into policies, at the end even if we can't convince one another to change our point of view, we just agree to disagree, and move on.
That's called being an adult I guess.
Where things break down is when there are no repercussions to dialog, when people can say or do whatever they want without fear of retribution. People say or do things they would never say or do in person.
The Internet, as amazing it can be to unite all of us with access to all of human knowledge, has also divided us into tribal camps where walls have been constructed with words that can't be assailed. People desperate for attention try and find more and more bizarre ways to stand out from the crowd to where nothing is sacred anymore. No one is shocked anymore by how some people act and it's gotten to the point that real violence is the ultimate expression of attention seeking.
And it's only going to get worse, although for the life of me, I can't imagine how.
You touch on something that has always amazed me about Freemasonry, right from the start of my involvement with it. The willingness of Masons to put aside all divisions to find common ground with each other. I've personally witnessed and benefited from that, right from the very beginning.
This has allowed me to have wonderfully strong friendships with other men whom I never would have met, let alone found common ground with, otherwise.
I am also a firm believer in not picking a side and being a free agent. The two sides are supposed to hold each other in tension and thus balance; unfortunately I don’t think a lot of people got the memo.
That said I also think it’s really important to end the “both sides” arguments because that kind of thinking creates a race to bottom. If the other side is just as bad or worse then it’s okay for my side to be just as bad or worse, in fact it becomes necessary to counter them or so some people seem to think.
I try to remind people when possible of the little Johnny argument. You see little Johnny got caught red handed blowing up the toilet in the boys room with an M80. The principal caught him and says, “well son what do you have to say for yourself? Why would you destroy school property?” To which little Johnny replies, “well little Suzy clogged up the toilet in the girls room last week.”
Now if there’s anyone here who thinks little Johnny deserves no punishment I’m gonna go back in time and smack your parents. Unfortunately this kind of 6th grade antics are all I see these days. Part of healing is going to involve some tough love.
Now it’s also going to require some understanding for each other and I think more especially we need to understand what has changed. This is the hard part because people are predisposed to look for simple answers and someone else to blame. It’s just human nature.
Healing also means that we need to understand the consequences of this current paradigm in a human way so I’m gonna share a little personal story here about how rampant bullshirt and shock jock politics does real harm and sets the stage for actual violence.
A couple of years ago my wife called me from work, which is very unusual because we text constantly, a phone call is serious. She tells me she might want a ride home because she doesn’t feel safe at work right now. Of course I’m already half way out the door and ask what’s going on? She relays to me the email they just received from the program director at NIAID warning them that Foxnews has run a hit piece on Fauci and that she is already receiving death threats in less than an hour since it aired, and they are going into lock down. Warning that the people who did this used an FIOA request and have everyone on the projects information. Now I would post the link to the article but I hate giving them anymore attention or money so I won’t. If you want to see this incredibly irresponsible bit of journalism you can search “foxnews fauci 400k research dogs” and you can find it. Now there are some important things to know that most of the piece is an outright lie and the rest is the worst kind of miss characterization possible. Fauci doesn’t work in a lab he works in an office. This research isn’t torturing puppies and this research is going to save human and dog lives. Yes science would come to a standstill without animal testing and if there is one thing every scientist I know feels very strongly about it is that any animal testing be done in the gentlest and least harmful way possible, and that the fewest animals possible are used necessary to gather the data needed. I have personally seen the impact of the autopsy reports on my wife and her co workers when an animal is destroyed to gather the data if that becomes necessary. Most of the studies don’t require animal destruction so they go on to lead happy lives. My point is these are not heartless or cruel people. Furthermore I assure you these dogs are not being subjected to a thousand biting flies. There are likely one or two biting flies per cage and also guarantee you your own dog gets bit more than these dogs in the lab do.
Now the study at hand you should know more about because well it’s really important work. The study in question here is two fold, it is about a vaccine for heart worm in dogs but it has a human component because the way a dog gets heart worm is the same way a human gets Elephantiasis. They are both parasitic worms and they are both spread through insect bites. The research is all about stopping the parasites during the insect bite, which as you can imagine would stop an entire range of diseases if we can defend against the bite transfer mechanism.
Very cool stuff and they have a heart worm vaccine now that is going through its trials, it will save a lot of dogs since there is virtually now way to protect your dog in your own back yard from being bitten. There is also a human vaccine in the works too. The company my wife works for specializes in neglected tropical diseases, one’s that are too small to be seen as profitable research by the bigger companies but that are of high risk for breaking out in new places due to climate change.
Why is this important? Because this super charged hyper political atmosphere comes with people who consume these outrageous news articles and then take it upon themselves to act. The next week my wife and I worried constantly about the possibility of nutbags being outside our home or her place of work each day. I took her to work with a loaded gun in the car. This is the real price of lies.
It also hurts on a very personal level to see something my wife is proud of working on, something good, dragged through the mud and made to look evil.
My hope is that by humanizing some of these things it will pull people back from the brink. I highly doubt any normal person would wish this kind of harm on me or my family. Unfortunately death threats seem to be a common occurrence these days I don’t care which side of the fence you’re on. I also don’t think much will change until we get more responsibility in the media. Until we can decouple the profit motive from it somehow.
Also I’m gonna link to an article I read which I think is real food for thought. I really like this article and I think there is a lot to unpack in it. It also should lead to some more deeper questions but I’ll leave the article here for now and maybe talk later about some things it prompts in my mind.
https://www.compactmag.com/article/why-conservatism-failed
Edit: I realized there was more I wanted to say about my experience with this. As the news broke and the head of the program at the national level was getting death threats on her personal phone and e-mail I became proactive and started trying to keep up with the story as it crawled through the right wing blogosphere. I was just on the lookout for if my wife’s company name started showing up. Lucky it didn’t. Boy let me tell you that the right wing blogosphere is a toxic place it eroded what little faith I had left in humanity. I think this is one of the things that a lot of well meaning conservatives don’t understand. The guy down the road, my neighbor he’s gotta be 70; well he’s got his trump sign and his flag and he’s a conservative through and through. But he suffers from a lack of knowledge about who the people standing next to him are and what they stand for because he isn’t on those right wing blogs. I don’t blame him. He’s a good fella, and he means well.
>>>I also don’t think much will change until we get more responsibility in the media.
I think that you hit the nail directly on the head with this comment.
The media, as it is currently incentivised financially thrives on and rewards 'hot takes' over reasoned and thoughtful consideration. If you want to be paid well, you view, and write every story in a way that generates outrage. If instead you take the time to fully explore a story, drawing measured and reasonable conclusions to it, no one will read it.
In my job it is important for me to know the truth about particular issues as best it can be known. Because of that, I consume media from both sides of the political spectrum. I'm always amazed by how the same story can be reported and distorted in completely different ways. Alas, the middle is the closest to the truth one can usually come. This is a societal evil brought to us from both ends of the political spectrum.
As consumers of media, we all, collectively, need to start making better choices.
Well one thing I know about you MW is you are NOT lazy !!
More evidence is you will be at the S.R. Lodge in Bremerton tonight and I won't be able to go since my sitting in the East last night and doing the Memorial for WB George it took me until noon to get out of bed since I wore my old geezer body out in my 20's and 30's......and standing and sitting doesn't seem like hard work BUT these days it is for me.........and I really wish I would be there with you tonight Brother.
Sorry you missed it Brother, but I'm sure I'll get a chance to see you soon!
Interesting how our PGM was in Bremerton, when I was with a band of Brothers buzzing by YOUR area last evening on our way to Sequim Lodge!
I got home just before 1:00 AM. Bro. Bill Thayer hours.
We were back a little before midnight, but then I had to stay up most of the night.
When I got home, there was a car parked in front of the house. Engine running. Odd I thought, but into the house I went. That's when Melinda told me it had been there for hours.
So, I wander back outside, flashlight in hand, colt in holster. Flash the light in the car. Dude in there either passed out or dead.
Call the police. Tell em 'dude in running car, don't know if he's passed out or dead.' (Judging from the car, I'm figuring pretty strongly that passed out is the case.
Police come. Spend a lot of time with him. Yep, passed out. Drink or drugs I don't know, but they get him out of the car and he can't even stand unsupported. Eventually they search his car. Apparently they find no evidence to arrest him, so they make contact with one of his relatives who agrees to come get him and drive him home.
So off he goes. And the police.
Maybe ten minutes later the dude is back. Parked again in front of the house, car running.
This time I go outside with mag light in one hand, phone in the other. Since the dude can't stand up without assistance, I know he's no danger to me. Wander up to the car, shine the flashlight in his eyes, and call the police while standing next to his open window.
That worked, he took off.
But then I stayed up for a few hours, watching reruns on the TV, making sure that he didn't return a third time.
I don't remember us dealing with problems like this when I was growing up.
And that includes in Centralia. The worst thing the adults had in the downtown Centralia area 30 years ago was the cruising. Congested the streets to the point where the emergency vehicles couldn’t get through. So they passed a ban on cruising in the early 90’s.
Nowadays? Yes, I’ve been downtown at midnight, 1:00 AM, etc. While I’ve never had problems myself, I’ve seen issues, and I remember the stabbings and the drive-by shootings that happened a block away from where I work. Fortunately I wasn’t there when those things happened, although the suspect in the stabbing got a haircut about half a week after the Police notified us. You tend to remember things like that.
But once again, this topic is germane in that we need to get back into the community and become a part of the solution, in our own way, just like the Salvation Army down the street is trying to be part of the solution in their way.
Agreed. We must work to create the world we want, and how that work gets done is through the institutions of Civil Society.
As leaders of the world's largest, oldest, and most prosperous such institution we can make a difference. But for Freemasonry to be able to make that difference it must be strong. Our Lodges must be strong.
We can, I think, very plainly see that problems such as this have grown in our city in direct proportion to the decline of Civil Society. The Elks are gone, the Eagles are gone, the Moose is almost gone, the Grange a shadow of its former self. Our Lodge, and the VFW have greatly contracted. And community pride has fallen in lockstep.
When we improve our Lodge, we are indeed improving our City.
It wouldn't be easy to do anything in a big city these days........and I know my vote never worked.
He must have ingested all the evidence BUT returning like that is strange
It has been about 15 years since I had something like that with a drunken fool trying to knock our back door open at 3am and he had walked all the way to my house and his car was a mile away and he had crossed the creek so he was also all wet and I was in bed watching tv so I had the wife call the law and then I opened the window and pointed my .50 Cal. Desert Eagle at him about 25 feet away with the porch light on and he didn't even look in my direction but continued trying to push the door open.......deputies showed up and hauled him away and I went outside and the fool claimed he knew me........well I live on 5 acres surrounded by trees and only get a rare visit from a Mason so after 40 years here I pretty much only allow wild critters......and they all demand food daily
>;-P
Drunk and high people do indeed act the fool! Hopefully we've seen the last of him. Not sure why he would think that the street in front of my house was the good place to do whatever he was doing.
I did talk to the neighbor lady about an hour ago when I left to pick up my granddaughter from school. Apparently the guy returned again this morning, but she ran him off.
As for the wild critters... Yep! We've got a handful of squirrels, doves, blue jays, and various little birds. Crazy thing is they are picky eaters! I usually buy a specific brand of bird food at True Value, but a couple months ago I was at Tractor Supply so bought a different brand. The little buggers wouldn't eat it. I guess that there are enough feeders in my neighborhood that they get to pick and choose who has the best food on offer!
We have near 100 hummingbirds every year including up to 50 all Winter and they get 200lbs of sugar every year and this is the 35th year.........all the spoiled chickadees and nuthatch and finches get black oil sunflower seeds so I get 40lb bags several times and we have sort of wild mallards who walk from the pond to the house for seeds or cracked corn and same fir squirrel and chipmunk families come to the back porch waiting for the same seeds or saltless peanuts and the squirrel gets grapes from the wife.......Canada geese visit the pond and occasional swans and egrets and herons and deer expect apples from the tree and over the years we have had bobcats and even a BIG lynx but no bear but they live up in the forests above us........used to have lots of trout in the pond but otters would come all the way up the creek and sneak in and eat them so I gave up on restocking........we are home most of the time and live down a long gravel road and I planted all the trees around the 5 acres when I was in my 20's and 30's and planted over 150 evergreens and about 45 Giant Sequoias that I started planting in 1987 so some are close to 100 feet tall now.......and 4 windmill palm trees and 3 types of magnolias.......and many other things.......I planned to do all that and then just have to mow the lawn in my 60's........that plan didn't work.
You are welcome to see it on a Summer day (all the big magnolias are flowering right now)
Your place sounds quite delightful! Thank you for your kind invitation.
When I lived in the great metropolis of Index WA I had a great flock of hummingbirds too. They are quite delightful to watch. None here in the city to speak of, or any of the other creatures you mention.
YES Brother I was still awake until about 4am