in response to the question: what were you doing when….

today, on 9/11, a topic of conversation on facebook is the 9/11 tragedy in 2001.

one question was basically: what were you doing when the towers went down?

here is what i said: 

i work for a television station in orlando.
i was driving in to work (was just a couple of minutes away on anderson), listening to howard stern. he transitioned relatively quickly and surprisingly from trash radio host to radio news anchor… making no fun of what was absolutely not a joke.
at work, everyone was into special report mode. there are a lot of monitors at work and on people’s desks, and lots of times, those monitors play, unwatched.
not that day.
at that time, it was in question whether the plane crash was an accident or not. we watched the second plane bank right in and aim for the second tower. we knew then that no air traffic controller could make that kind of mistake twice. our country was under attack.
while watching coverage, i just knew at least one tower was going to fall. they were leaning. people argued, saying that was impossible.
usually a noisy, verbose group of people, we were absolutely stunned and silent as the buildings fell, watching the deaths within the buildings, watching people (little dots on the monitor) actually jump to their deaths rather than have a building crush them, knowing service workers and innocents on the ground could not escape.
the day was spent in wall-to-wall coverage on both stations (an abc affiliate and a true independent).
many of us felt the same way we felt when the Challenger exploded in 1986. the day was extremely surreal and the effects of that day will last forever in our minds.

religious extremists

what do extremists do?

well, when it comes to religion, extremists do quite a lot.
they kill people (it’s called murder).
they destroy other people’s property.
they burn the flags of those not representing their own.
they aggressively recruit others to their “correct” way of thinking by misrepresenting the views of “the other side” or exaggerating their own.
they incite riots (purposely causing violence).
they burn the holy books of other religions (a strong, metaphoric slap in the face).
the list continues…

but it seems there is one constant in all the actions of religious extremists:
the outright disregard of the actual teachings of one’s own religion.

case in point:
the Rev. Terry Jones at his Dove Outreach Center, an independent church in Gainesville with about 50 members.
these people claim to be christians.
christians define themselves as those who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, therefore, by default, believing in all his teachings.
last i checked, Jesus Christ was not a supporter of violence, whether manifested physically by causing harm to another, or in a nonphysical manner, by desecrating something important to the other.
these people in Gainesville are threatening to burn (desecrate) copies of the Quran (the Muslim Holy Book) on Saturday, the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy (a devastating attack by Muslin EXTREMISTS).

my argument against this horrendous action of burning copies of the Quran has nothing to do with what the devastating world reaction will be (and, yes, i believe it will be devastating).
my argument against this has everything to do with the message of the Bible and the New Testament (which, last i checked, was the Christian Holy Book).
it doesn’t matter what the message of the Quran is.

what really matters is the message of the Bible.

What Would Jesus Do?
based on my understanding of the New Testament, Jesus would not support an act of revenge (which this is, no matter how much one might say otherwise).
self-defense is one thing (self-defense is necessary), but slapping others in the face (which this burning symbolizes) is an outright attack.
would Jesus support revenge?
would Jesus support slapping others in the face (metaphorically or otherwise)?
if you say yes to either of those questions, then i have to ask:

have you read your New Testament lately?

well…probably…

but to extremists, i guess that really doesn’t mean much.

i really hope beyond hope that Mr. Jones and his Dove Outreach Center do not follow through on their threat (yes, call it what it is: a threat (which people must defend themselves against)), because if they do, then saturday and the days following are going to be long, very sad days.

as of this writing, Mr. Jones has backed out of the burning, but the situation is tenuous.  we will see what happens tomorrow.

if he goes through with burning the copies of the Quran, then he is, by definition, an extremist, and no better that any other extremist out there, no matter what religion they “claim” to follow.

why the abuse?

if you ever want to make me cry, i guarantee you’ll be successful if you show me pictures of animals who have been abused.

recent stories of animal abuse have angered me beyond belief.  why did the lady in england feel absolutely justified in throwing a cat away in a garbage dumpster?  why did the kid in croatia feel it was okay to toss puppies into a raging river?  these are just two stories of an untold number of animal abuse situations.  if this behavior were a virus, it would be considered a pandemic.

why do we (the human race) feel it’s okay to hurt and torture the animals that have come our way, most to the point of very difficult/unrestful deaths?
this is not a rhetorical question.  i would really like to have a logical answer.

or, are we (the human race) nothing more than cruel beings with overblown views of our superiority over other children of the earth?

do unto others

“do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
i was raised in an athiest’s househould, but this was a life’s philosophy that my mother stressed strongly during my childhood.

this does not mean “do unto others as they have done unto you.”
that thinking is the basis of the “eye for an eye” principle.  that causes conflicts, not only with yourself but with those around you.

“One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him.” –  Plato’s Socrates
Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself. — Confucius
One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one’s own self. This, in brief, is the rule of dharma. Other behavior is due to selfish desires. — Brihaspati
Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. — Muhammad
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinsfolk. Love your neighbor as yourself… — Leviticus

i know it can be hard to live by this philosophy (and being human, we all have failed in doing so at one time or another).
but wouldn’t this world  be a better place if we all actually tried?

“Can’t we all just get along” – Zorfip (my imp minion in World of Warcraft).

YouTube – Symphony of Science – The Case for Mars ft. Zubrin, Sagan, Cox & Boston

YouTube – Symphony of Science – The Case for Mars ft. Zubrin, Sagan, Cox & Boston.

if it weren’t for politics (that within our government and that within the space program itself), we would have been to mars, already.
but no…
and now our space program is in major jeopardy.
that is such a sad, sad shame.
we have forgotten how to grow…we are secure in our stagnation (and apparently enjoy the politics o…f non-productivity).

i am so disappointed over this.

The Scar Project – International Exhibition – Surviving Cancer. Absolute Reality.

The Scar Project – International Exhibition – Surviving Cancer. Absolute Reality..    

The Scar Project is a moving display of breast cancer survivors and the scars of their battles.
They are beautiful.
i would love to see this exhibition in Orlando.    

when one faces an adversity that leaves scars, there are two ways to handle the rest of one’s life…hide the scars because they might be ”embarrassing,” or bare the scars, letting the world know about the battle won (or being won).    

like the ladies in the exhibition, i live life with the latter philosophy:    

all warriors are proud of their scars

 

there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

nothing at all.

  

photo credit: Maria Wood

sometimes, there is no winning

so, i resigned from sfo, today.

for 2 decades, no matter how hard i tried, my best was never good enough.

maybe, my best just sucks.