Is all Equality equitable ?

Something struck me today while reading a newspaper.  It wasn't that I was so old to still read a newspaper, but I did enjoy that irony a little.

It was a reference to someone's religious rights conflicting with another's gender rights, and it struck me that perhaps some needs for equitable treatment are more equal, or more important than others.  Is the requirement to create an equitable environment on something I don't control - my gender, my race for example that I'm created with, more important ultimately than something I may choose, such as my religion.

This very very quickly moves into grey areas - sexual orientation and sexual identity for example that are arguably not chosen either, rather some claim that people are born this way.  Importantly, I'm not suggesting we determine the answers here, but I want to pose the question for you to consider.

Many communities are struggling to achieve equality in various areas.  Some of these struggles have been going on for a very very long time.  I think few would argue the merits of equitable treatment in itself, though many have varying lists of who should be equitably treated.  I guess I had never thought through that if all were given equality, then some circumstances would need to be more fairly treated than others when they came into conflict.

Our Planet Isn't in Jeoprady

I've been thinking about this a little - the arguments for and against our environmental actions and how they're destroying our planet.  From the continuing global warming debates, to fracking to electric cars, it's an issue never far from being top of mind.  One thing I take exception to however is something I think we've all heard over and over again - we're destroying the planet. This is just patently false.

Our planet has been here for billions of years and will be here for billions more, until it's barbecued in a natural process when our Sun expands and absorbs it on a molecular level.  We on the other hand are a small blip on that timeline of billions of years, and I'd hasten to predict we won't be here in 7 billion years when the Sun does grow old.  Is it true to say that we've had a far greater effect on the planet than just about any other life form...probably yes if we discount the planets that have shaped the entire atmosphere we currently enjoy.  But our impacts have been faster.  Yay us - take that plants that have been here a couple billion years.

Our planet isn't at risk - we are.  We are changing the environment to make it inhospitable to us at worst, and highly problematic at best for our style of life form.  We'll also take out most of the current animal and flora life with our effects...but then the planet will do what it does - take a few million years and reboot.  It's going to recreate itself, with a new dominant species - perhaps going as far back as simple, complex or multicellular life or maybe it'll be the cockroaches turn.  This isn't new or novel - the Earth has had at least three extinction events we know of.

Where are we in this ?  We're dead.  We killed ourselves.

Our planet ? It will be fine.   Don't believe me ?  Listen to Julia Roberts tell it.

Waking up from the American Dream

Some of you may not like this.  But I'm a believer in the idea that somebody needs to talk about the way things actually are, and not 'spinning' or being 'politically correct'.  There is too much of that in our society and it flies in the face of common sense. That's another post I think.

The issues in America, from domestic terrorism, to gun violence and hate groups and racism, all share a common thread of cause to some degree - the fact that the American dream is dead, and yet no one has admitted this.  To be clear - I'm saying this is contributing factor, not the sole cause.  All of these issues are multifaceted, and some go back hundreds of years, but their continuing prevalence on the front pages in a seemingly healthy, prosperous society baffles unless you look a little deeper.

America is about three things fundamentally - freedom, democracy and capitalism.  These are worn as badges of honor at home and abroad.  Think of the justifications for any foreign policy moves in the last 50 years, and some mix of these three is at the core.  Americans are justifiably proud of the good that has been done in the name of these values.  But the challenge of the American Dream is that there are huge barriers to achieving it, and these barrier and higher and stronger than ever, and most have been erected and are enforced by the very people that overcame them.

1. The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers.

It's not simply about hard work and being bright - brighter even.  It's about the root theme that it's possible to accomplish this.  Any child born in the US can grow up to be President, anyone can be smart enough to seize opportunity and achieve wealth and power.  The beautiful thing about the American Dream is that it weaves together freedom, democracy and capitalism in a nationalistic apple pie, a wholesome vision of a personal manifest destiny.  But it doesn't acknowledge  that there groups in place that are very keen on you not realizing it.  They want to keep in place the symbols and structures to keep you down, and make sure you're a cog in the wheel and not the hub.  Those people control the institutions (South Carolina state house; CEO's with unearthly pay; the Koch brothers) and aren't keen on giving up the power that they have.  On the other end are those people that have been fed the American Dream since birth and are so frustrated and angry that it's not real, that they lose it.  There are your anti-government, NRA devout who want 'their America back', and they'll fight to get it.  The destruction of a black church, the killing sprees in public places and the Boston Marathon bombers amongst others were betrayed by their expectations of the American Dream.  Look at the homeless on the inner city streets, or in the heartland of America being fed the soylent green of 'the dream' while their jobs, futures and lives are economically decimated.

I'm not remotely suggesting anyone resorting to violence is correct in their actions, but I will go as far as suggesting that until there is widespread understanding that there has been a significant shift in the United States towards an established, old world style embedded power structure - at the cost of the reality and achievability of the American Dream - then we shall continue to see unease, unrest and violence from those that conclude that there has to be another course of actions to 'fix' America their own way.

Exit Strategy

Perhaps the most oft-forgotten words in the language, this idea, this reality - it comes back to bite almost every time.

We are generally pretty good at beginnings, at births.  We can plan for it, and then even if the planning is done poorly, we can 'deal' with the outcomes.  But the end ?  My gosh (insert suitable word here), no one ever seems to anticipate that things will end.

We all die
There will be a big crunch after the big bang
Businesses fail
Relationships collapse

And life goes on.  We generally (perhaps death and the big crunch excluded) live to fight on another day in a  new way, one that perhaps wasn't foreseen but it still manageable.  It's the ugly face of change.  It amazes me that we still build ideas and institutions with complex and involved joining rituals, and yet very little attention is paid to the exit - the other end where things are bound to go.

I look at Europe today, and the whole economic tragedy that is Greece and wonder how so many people can toil for long periods without imagining that at some point, nations with fewer resources (and perhaps a sense of entitlement) wouldn't be able to pay their bills, and so will need to be gently, and lovingly evicted.  It's ok - some things weren't meant to continue forever.

Whatever we each do in the future, plan for an end.  Because the guy walking with the sign board - he was right -  the end is coming, and the question really isn't if, it's when.

I Bought an Apple Watch

So you're asking...why ?

Interestingly, it was the same question I asked. I was looking for the "use case" - the rationale to spend the money. I found it in the tradeoff in wanting a fitness tracking device, and in the chance to explore wearables - to see what they could do.  It doesn't hurt that my old watch was broken.

I almost didn't pull the trigger. The lead times were a turn off, conditioned as I am, as we are, to instant gratification.  And I'd have preferred to have it available in store.  Alas, we can't always get what we want.

In this case, I've tried one on, and it feels remarkably high quality. The case is aluminium and therefore the lightest of the options available.  And the band is some rubber-y compound.  I did enjoy the tactile pulse feeling on my wrist while wearing it.  But I'm old school in some ways, and still miss Blackberry''s little red flashing light.  So go figure.

I'm looking forward to exploring it and will try to keep you updated as to my opinions and findings.

Did it

There is no rhyme, nor reason.

There is no prep that puts you in the 'right' mind-frame before-hand.

There is only you, and the road.

I achieved a personal best - the best in the last 10 years, and just slightly behind my all time best, when I was younger, fitter and more sane.

But I'd be hard-pressed to replicate it, as I'm not sure what I did to make it go right.  I just know it felt good.

Head Games

I've got a race coming up this weekend, my 3rd half marathon in the past six months.  And it's gotten into my head.

I've run the distance many times, and I've been in more than few races, the latest a 10k this past weekend. I even got a personal best at that one.  But there's something about the word 'marathon' that starts eating at me days in advance...those niggling, wiggly little negative thoughts that say "you can't do it."   I think these worries are largely unfounded.  This one coming up is primarily downhill,  its the perfect running weather for me, and while I'm referring to it as a race, the only race going on really is between my legs and my expectations. I can go as slow as I want.

Still though.

There's something about the large group of uber-fit looking people, all ropey-muscled and lithe standing together, adjusting tight clothing, aerodynamic sunglasses and various bits of technology that makes you think we were all on a moon mission rather than a couple hours jog this Sunday morning.  The adrenaline starts pumping and you go out of the gate at a faster clip than intended. And at about 3-4k's, I bonk.  Bonking is a word I've appropriated here to mean hitting a mental wall.  It's using up your easy energy and having to reach down deep.  Bonking at 15-18k's is fine, as you power through those last few steps (I think I can, I think I can..), but when it happens so close to the start, within 15-20 minutes of the beginning it seems an unsurmountable mountain to finish the course.

Running isn't hard, and it takes place between your ears as much as between your feet as so many challenges seem to.  But the mental prep is critical, and when it starts turning south (I haven't trained enough; I needed to lose that extra 10lbs to make it easy) the race anticipation goes into a nightmare. There's a school of running thought that says - just run your own race and enjoy the day, do your best, it's all you can ask.  That's fine, and intellectually I might even agree with that.  But I grew up
listening and internalizing a philosophy embodied by a little green guy that went - Do or do not, there is no try.

So the race has already begun for me, I'm running while doing other tasks this week, and while I sleep. When I get to the finish line on Sunday, it will have been a long race, and a well earned mental and physical rest.