Posted on by rjonakait

Honor the Founders, But . . .

On the Fourth of July we honor the founding of our country. The country has always been imperfect, but it is worth honoring.

On the Fourth we honor our Founders, who, being human, were imperfect, but they are worth honoring.

On the Fourth we should also honor all the many people who brought about the Spirt if ’76. When the imperfections of revered people are pointed out, we often say that they were a product of their times. However, the good also comes from the age in which they lived. Jefferson could not have drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1736 because the times were not ready for it. And he would not have drafted it in 1816 because it would have already been written by someone else. As Pauline Maier in American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence reports, many localities had drafted Declarations of Independence in the months before July 4, 1776. If Jefferson had not lived, a national Declaration of Independence, perhaps with not the same eloquence, would still have been adopted. On the Fourth, we should honor more than just the few Founders, but all the Americans who produced the spirit of the times that demanded independence.

On the Fourth of July we honor our warriors, and we should honor those who have performed military service, especially now when an increasingly smaller portion of our population serves to protect the rest of us. Warriors have fought to make us freer and safer.

Those who defend our country are patriots, but so are those who seek to make America better, who strive for an even stronger and freer country today, tomorrow, and for future generations. Improvement, however, requires understanding America’s strengths and America’s weaknesses. Critics of this country are also patriots and should be honored. This includes those who have questioned our wars. Not every one of our armed conflicts has made us freer and safer. The prevention of the needless death or maiming of a soldier is at least as patriotic as honoring the fallen and disabled.

Have hot dogs and hamburgers, ice cream and watermelon. Read the Declaration. Honor Hancock, Jefferson, Franklin and other Founders. But honor many others also.

Posted on by rjonakait

Snippets

As too often happens, my wispy hair, almost completely gray, was standing up and out at all angles, and I thought of what the spouse has never said: “You are as smart as Einstein. You should look more like him.”

A friend told me, “If your wife laughs at your jokes, you can be sure that you know some good ones or you have a good wife.”

Is this true? “If you believe that God made women without a sense of humor it is because then they could love men without laughing at them.”

Much is said about culture wars, which today seem to center on gender and gender identity. But not long ago we had culture wars about something different—evolution. What has happened to that? Did one side win, and if so, how? Did the anti-science battlers give up? Did the other side conclude that the Bible was literally infallible? Or is that culture war still going on?

“True science teaches, above all, to doubt and be ignorant.” Unamuno.

David Foster Wallace wrote, “I’m not saying that television is vulgar and dumb because the people who compose Audiences are vulgar and dumb. Television is the way it is simply because people tend to be extremely similar in their vulgar and prurient and dumb interests and wildly different in their refined and aesthetic and noble interests.” Is he right?

I was in college when I heard a classmate say that he was going to buy “an ice cream.” I had never heard that phrase before and thought it was silly. You can buy an ice cream cone. You can buy an ice cream bar. You can buy an ice cream sandwich. You can buy a pint of ice cream. You can buy some ice cream. But you can’t buy an ice cream. I hear that expression often, and it still grates.

For most of their history, beliefs of Southern Baptists were firmly antithetical to those of Roman Catholicism. Now increasingly the institutions are allied and similar. For example, when Roe v. Wade was decided, the Southern Baptists were not against legalized abortion. Now that Roe has been overturned, Catholics and Baptists find themselves on the same side of that issue. The Southern Baptists were firmly against public aid to religious schools. Now both institutions seek public moneys for their schools. Southern Baptists were opposed to their churches being involved in politics, but that, too, has changed, and the Baptists are like the Catholics. And now the news indicates a tragic way that Southern Baptists have become more like Catholics. The Department of Justice is investigating widespread sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention and its churches.

The philosopher was right: “You cannot humiliate a hog by throwing mud at him.”

At this time of year I wonder how the ant acquired its reputation for being extremely industrious when so many are on a picnic.

“None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing.” Benjamin Franklin.

Posted on by rjonakait

Snippets

The CDC National Center for Health Statistics has just released state-by-state data on life expectancies at birth. Hawaii leads the country at 80.9 years. Mississippi is last at 74.4 years. Eight states have life expectancies at birth of over eighty years. None of those states is red. Fox News and other conservative outlets spend much time telling us how awful it is to live in these blue states, California and New York especially. On the other hand, eight states have life expectancies below seventy-six years. All of them voted for Trump. Fox and other right-wing media often report increased urban homicide numbers telling us the cities have Democratic mayors. (I have never heard them say that the homicide rates started accelerating under President Trump or that Republicans control the states that consistently have the highest homicide rates.) Let me know if you hear Fox reporting that life expectancy is higher in Democratic states than elsewhere.

While crossing the street at a busy intersection, I heard a young man say to a young woman, “Would you rather have your best friend murdered, or . . . .” And it faded away.

I just learned that an Olympic gold medal is really silver. The prize must be at least 92.5 percent silver and is then plated with a bit of gold. The news story said that the gold and silver are worth $758. The article did not say how much a medal was worth on Ebay.

“Many priceless things can be bought.” Maria von Ebner-Eschenbach.

Many people poked fun at Marjorie Taylor Greene for “gazpacho police” and assumed that she did know that she meant “gestapo police.”  “Gazpacho police,” however, at least has the virtue of not being redundant. Now, whether Greene knows the meaning of “redundant” is another question.

 Old joke: “She seems lost in thought.” “I wouldn’t be surprised. She’s a total stranger there.”

The emails beseech me for a donation so that the organization can vigorously defend Navy SEALS who have not been granted a religious exemption from a vaccination requirement. And I wonder about the religious belief system that says a person may kill but may not get vaccinated. I also wonder if the organization would defend someone who wants to be a SEAL but has religious scruples against killing.

 He asked, “Are you religious.” “No,” I replied. “I’m rational.”

I used to have a torso, but apparently now I have a core.

The spouse looked at my wispy, uncut-for-quite-a-while hair haphazardly brushed back and said that I was beginning to look like Benjamin Franklin. I wanted this to be a compliment noting that my high forehead denotes intelligence and that I, too, am a lusty old fellow still sharp as a tack. But I don’t think that’s what she meant.