Blue Space

01.12.09

The American Way vs. The Way

I have written a lot recently about the disillusionment I have with what I believe to be the hijacking or distorting of the American way or American dream. There are elements of the American way or American dream that are beautiful, but it seems that I have become distracted from the fact that “The Way” is more pure and more beautiful. “The Way” I speak of is the same as what Jesus spoke of in John 14:6. His way entails many things chief among them being trusting in His sacrifice on the cross as your only way to reconciliation with the God of the universe. In my opinion, this is absolutely preeminent. However, today I would like to highlight another component of “The Way.” I’m sorry to say that it is a component that isn’t very easy, and being fully committed to it will definitely lead to some frustration from time to time. Furthermore, it is a component that seems to compete with many elements of the American way. You might not feel the competition, but I have experienced it and continue to struggle with how to reconcile the two.

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I know that “religion” has received a bad rap in our current culture. “Religion” in our culture is often short for rules, and most people would prefer to use the world “spirituality.” This isn’t a bad instinct at all, because I hope that what most people intend is that they are less focused on rules and more on people’s hearts. If that is the case for you, you are in good company. It is a prevalent theme of how God and Jesus view humans. Let’s just say that “religion” in this verse means action driven by one’s belief system. When I think about religion in this way, I get a big lump in my throat and am deeply distressed that the American church isn’t fulfilling all of its duties. I’ll admit I hardly ever run into any orphans and most of the widows I know seem to be doing pretty well due to the affluence of our society. However, I am less than active in seeking out orphans and widows that are in need. This is something that I plan on rectifying for the remainder of my life. I would challenge you to consider this and do the same.

And just in case you are unsure if James really represents God’s true feelings on widows and orphans take time to peruse the other scripture that expresses God’s passion for protecting them. The following is a partial list: Deuteronomy 10:18, 24:17-18, 24:20-21, 26:12, 27:19, Psalms 10:14, Psalms 68:5, Jeremiah 22:3, Zechariah 7:10.

Author: Joseph Wendel | Permalink | 3 Comments | Daily Entries

12.12.08

Jay Dean Harper’s American Dream

Some of my recent posts have mentioned various ways that I believe the American dream has been hijacked and perverted. Today I would like to paint a picture of one version of the American dream which I believe has made our country great. I say one version of the American dream because there are so many stories and variants that encompass the American dream that many of us believe and want to believe. It would be criminal to limit the American dream to just one narrative. But none the less here is one narrative.

My grandfather, Jay Dean Harper, was born in a two room log cabin in “Dark Hollar” outside Somerset, Kentucky on April 26, 1927 to Henry and Ina Harper. He was the eldest of 6 children. Jay was a graduate of Shopville High School in Somerset where he was on the basketball team and voted “Most likely to become an auctioneer or politician” by his classmates. (There is something to be said for high schoolers who view auctioneers and politicians in the same light. I hope I don’t offend too many auctioneers.)

I grew up hearing the legend of “Dark Hollar” and had always envisioned it as a small town in Kentucky. When I was in my teen years, we visited the homestead called “Dark Hollar.” It was nothing more than a small log cabin in the middle of a cow pasture far away from anything. I still remember that as we drove up to it, we dodged cow pies along the way. At the time I marvelled and struggled to understand what it meant that someone I knew grew up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with no utilities. My great uncle, Arnold, relayed an amusing and insightful anecdote about those years. The story goes that Jay was on leave from the military and returned home while it was raining. At the time electricity had somehow been run to the cabin. (Having been there, for the life of me, I can’t understand how that was possible.) There was a single light bulb hanging on the porch. For some reason Jay decided to hang up his wet coat on it to dry. It wasn’t long before the coat was on fire. As Arnold humbly put it, “we were still getting used to electricity.”

In 1947 after being honorably discharged from the U. S. Navy, Jay moved to Indianapolis to find employment on the advice of his Uncle Albert. He succeeded in finding work at Chevrolet and also took a part�?time job as a “Soda Jerk�? at Hooks Drug Store. He also succeeded in finding a bride, Virginia, in Indianapolis. Virginia had a young son from a previous marriage named Ralph Wendel. (Ralph is my father.) Jay and Virginia had three children of their own Vonda, VJ, and Vickie. They added another daughter, Sherrie, who needed a home. I am unaware of the details, all I know is she needed a home and she is part of the family.

In the early years Jay would work all day at Chevrolet and then haul trash in the evenings. These jobs were procured by a simple ad in the newspaper and were booked by Virginia during the day. Like most business stories I have heard, the desire to better oneself and the willingness to work hard developed into a full time job. In 1949 Jay’s Moving Company was founded. For 24 years the kitchen was where jobs were booked, payroll was calculated, pay envelopes were filled and passed out, bills were paid and of course meals were prepared and served. God blessed the business whose red trucks always displayed Jay’s favorite verse, John 3:16, because Jesus was his personal Savior. (If you are an Indianapolis old timer, you might remember those big red trucks.) In 1973 Jay’s Moving moved to 1132 Prospect Street in the heart of Fountain Square. It was a Christian witness in the community and all five children learned the value of a good work ethic as a result of working in the business at one time or another. Jay and Virginia ran Jay’s Moving for almost 60 years, an amazing testament to their hard work, honesty and trustworthiness. Jay and Virginia were married for nearly 60 years, an amazing testament to their dedication, patience, and love for one another.

Jay enjoyed bowling, fishing, spending time wiht his family and serving his Lord. He lived according to Colossians 3:17,

“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”

His faith was steadfast. He was secure in knowing he would live eternally with his Savior, Jesus Christ. On Tuesday, December 3rd he awakened in Glory where he is with his Creator and loved ones who preceded him in death. His desire would be to be with you in Heaven too.

My grandfather’s funeral truly was a celebration. It had its sad moments, but it was a tremendous encouragement to me and has helped crystallize my understanding of the man that went before me. There are two things that stood out to me as I listened to others speak of him and as I considered his life. First, a Pastor that knew him well commented that when Jay prayed he prayed like a little child. There was a humility, simplicity and sincerity in his prayers that we all would do well to emulate. I know this from experience as I have heard many of those prayers. They are and will be a lasting reminder to me. Second, throughout his life he carried in his wallet a picture of that cabin in “Dark Hollar.” Whenever someone asked where he was from, he would pull out his wallet and give them the full story of “Dark Hollar.” I can’t say precisely why he did this, but I believe that he did it to show people that he understood and remembered his humble beginnings. I also believe he did it to reinforce that in America it matters little from where you came. This is the common thread of what I believe to be the American dream.

Author: Joseph Wendel | Permalink | 1 Comment | Daily Entries

11.19.08

The Socialism Debate

A funny thing happened on our way to electing our next president. The awareness of government sponsored socialism was raised several notches. Many in the socialist camp view this as a rare opportunity to further their ideology while much discontent exists with the American status quo. Many in the capitalist camp ridiculously defend their ideology by stating flatly that socialism is un-American. So let me enter the debate and thereby ruin any hopes that I may run for public office. (This will undoubtedly save me a lot of trouble in the long run.)

Let me first state explicitly that ideology is not a bad word. Ideologues have taken a pretty bad wrap because so many of them lacked common sense and/or morals while pursuing their ideology. However, I do believe an ideological discussion is warranted and highly needed from time to time. The present time in our American experiment is just such a time.

I believe that our country is in dire need of a newly framed ideological message proceeding from Christianity and those that support it. It is my belief that this newly framed message must make a clear delineation of how socialism can actually work. My belief is that socialism can only work among Christ followers that have sold out and made Jesus the Lord of their lives. These Christ followers must have rid themselves of all selfishness and coveteousness. This is no small task. In fact, it is monumental. This approach is fraught with peril as almost all historical examples (the earliest church in Jerusalem being one) proved to be unsustainable. Anyone who has served in a church or para-church setting knows that it is a very tall order to maintain an environment where shared burdens can truly be shared happily without sin and division creeping into the group.

The counterpoint to my belief that the church is the only place where socialism has a chance of working is my belief that government sponsored socialism is absolutely, positively destined to fail. It will fail in a morass of overexpenditure resulting from a beauracracy which inevitably will end up having no personal, emotional connection with those for which they should serve. I do believe that capitalism is the best economic solution in a fallen, sin-cursed world. It is NOT the best solution, but we are not in an environment that is the best. Even with this being said, capitalism is extremely fragile and does require a moral foundation among its constituents that does not devolve into making every dollar its god. (Doesn’t that hit close to home?!) I believe that the questioning and unease that has begun to manifest itself in greater and greater abundance among the American populace flows from the fact that more and more Christ followers and non-Christ followers realize that the United States has lost its way with regard to a moral foundation. The outcry is great against the cheaters among us! (CEOs, governmental officials, tax evaders, sinecure holders, lobbyists, medicare manipulators, welfare manipulators, disability manipulators, etc.) Be careful to fully examine your own life before you lay blame to a cheater as you may also be one. The same crying out people have widely differing views as to what our moral foundation should be, and I believe that all Christ followers must be working hard to guide that foundation back to a foundation built upon Biblical principles.

Author: Joseph Wendel | Permalink | 1 Comment | Daily Entries

11.06.08

Another Crazy Debt Addiction

After my last post, I will delve into something a lot more temporal and straight forward. The US Federal Reserve recently released information that it has now purchased $243 billion worth of commercial paper from various companies. This number has increased almost $100 billion in one week. Although I understand some of the reasoning behind cushioning the harshness of the sudden aversion to commercial paper, it substantially grates against my senses at how commercial paper has been utilized by banks and large corportions. First a primer on commercial paper, the description below is pulled directly from wikipedia.

In the global money market, commercial paper is an unsecured promissory note with a fixed maturity of one to 270 days. Commercial Paper is a money-market security issued (sold) by large banks and corporations to get money to meet short term debt obligations (for example, payroll), and is only backed by an issuing bank or corporation’s promise to pay the face amount on the maturity date specified on the note. Since it is not backed by collateral, only firms with excellent credit ratings from a recognized rating agency will be able to sell their commercial paper at a reasonable price. Commercial paper is usually sold at a discount from face value, and carries shorter repayment dates than bonds. The longer the maturity on a note, the higher the interest rate the issuing institution must pay. Interest rates fluctuate with market conditions, but are typically lower than banks’ rates.

As defined by American law, commercial paper is a financial instrument that matures before nine months (270 days), and is only used to fund operating expenses or current assets (e.g., inventories and receivables) and not used for financing fixed assets, such as land, buildings, or machinery. By meeting these qualifications it may be issued without U.S. federal government regulation, that is, it need not be registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Commercial paper is a type of negotiable instrument, where the legal rights and obligations of involved parties are governed by Articles Three and Four of the Uniform Commercial Code, a set of non-federal business laws adopted by each of the 50 U.S. States.

At the end of 2007, more than 1,700 companies in the United States issue commercial paper. As of 2008 October 31, the U.S. Federal Reserve reported seasonally adjusted figures for the end of 2007: there was $1.7807 trillion (short-scale, or 1,780,700,000,000) in total outstanding commercial paper; $801.3 billion was “asset backed” and $979.4 billion was not; $162.7 billion of the total was issued by non-financial corporations, and $816.7 billion was issued by financial corporations.

Here’s the skinny. Corporations and financial institutions perceived to be stable and highly solvent are able to receive substantial loans at extremely discounted rates via issuing commercial paper and rolling it over continually. Recently, many institutions which heavily utilize commercial paper have suddenly been revealed as something less than highly solvent. (e.g. AAA rated GE needed cash bad enough to borrow from Warren Buffett at a 10% rate plus incentives.) This has naturally led to a substantial reduction in the amount of cash available to them via commercial paper. Suddenly they are forced to play the game like the rest of us and either finance their activities from their own pockets or post collateral for a loan from a financial institution. (FYI - Financial institutions aren’t looking so stable either and don’t really want to lend to less than highly solvent corporations no matter how big.) It seems to me that receiving cash to fund your operations at interest of 3% or less falls under the category of “too good to be true.” The more prudent among us understand that if something sounds too good to be true it probably is. Alas, this maxim has been forgotten along with much of our senses during the period of our “goldilocks” economy. So for the good of the economy, the US Federal Reserve feels it must step in and help these major, highly solvent (supposedly) institutions come down from their commercial paper high gradually. This is nothing more than a not so cleverly disguised, massive, additional bailout of financial institutions and major corporations. These actions must ultimately be funded by newly issued T bills from the US Treasury. (But what’s another $100 billion a week. That’s just $5.2 trillion added to the national debt per year!) I’m still waiting for my 3% loan from the US Federal Reserve. Perhaps it will come with the next stimulus package.

Author: Joseph Wendel | Permalink | No Comments | Daily Entries

11.06.08

And in the end…

One of the curious traits of human nature is our additional attentiveness to the ends of things. If you have ever watched a small child when they first discover a light switch, you will note this human idiosyncrasy in a nearly pure form. Often the child will sit for an inordinate amount of time (a preciously inordinate amount for the tired mother or father) looking at the switch, making it move, and then watching the light illuminate or darken. It is worth noting that never have I seen a child after the first illumination, stop, look at the distance between the light and the switch, and thoroughly investigate what has transpired between the two. No, a normal child seems to focus exclusively on the ends of the cause and effect and take much pleasure in making change over and over and over again.

Likewise, I find it fascinating the gravitation that our minds have toward the ends of time. The chronological ends which I speak of are twofold, the beginning and the end. We dedicate a significant amount of consideration and brain power toward better understanding one event (the beginning) which seemingly has no direct bearing on us and another event (the end) which has a seemingly low likelihood of having an impact upon our lives. A strictly logical analysis would point us clearly toward the fact that only the present (middle of time) has any impact upon our lives and therefore we should focus our attention and minds only upon the present. But oh how our minds wander from the subject at hand! One of the BIG questions of life is why does our mind wander in such a manner? Does our mind wander due to persistent social conditioning to consider such matters? Does our mind wander because it is simply too bored with the present and needs something to do with its spare analytical power? Does our mind wander because we secretly enjoy sabotaging our present existence and therefore prefer not to pay attention to it? Does our mind wander because there is some external force that is actually controlling it? On a strictly logical basis, I have no answer for you. I could create a logical answer, but it would most certainly be flawed with either circular reasoning and / or subjective assumptions.

At this point I could stop my essay and retreat safely to my “middle of time” existence. I am either too much of a fool, too full of myself, or too concerned with the question to let it drop. So for sake of simplification, please allow me to reframe the question. Because our minds do not allow us to easily forget the ends of time, how are we affected?

I would argue that due to this idiosyncrasy/foible/spirituality we are affected in almost every way. This is based upon a belief that how your mind processes the ends of time has a significant impact upon your worldview. By the way, I would argue that your worldview determines which word you chose for the first sentence of this paragraph. Worldview is “the overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world” or “a collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or group.” Amazingly those utilitarian, stoic Germans coined the word as Weltanschauung.

At this point you would be justified to ask, where in the world are you going with this? Well, there are many different ways to go, and perhaps in the future I will deal with more of them, but for now I would specifically like to tackle the end of the world as we know it. Our chronological mindset often brings up the question of how will it all end? I hate to take possible answers to such an important question from science fiction, but science fiction movies do seem to delineate the spectrum of answers rather well. They typically envision a future cataclysmic, horrible existence or a future utopian, enlightened existence. (I suppose a future normal, similar existence probably wouldn’t do well at the box office.) It seems to me that given only personal reasoning your take on the end is likely to be heavily influenced by your own inherent optimism or pessimism. The educated optimist has hope for the human race despite its flaws and often trusts in natural selection to enable us to eventually attain our utopian, enlightened existence. The educated pessimist has fear of the many uncertainties of sustaining life and between the human race’s relative ignorance of the universe we inhabit and the many slight chances of cataclysm on an ongoing basis believes that our ignorance and / or those slight chances will eventually catch up with us and seal our demise. They might even label it an inconvenient truth.

I don’t have confidence in my personal reasoning, and I am aware that I would definitely end up in the pessimist camp. The truth I choose to believe is the Bible. Therefore, I hope that it would be said that my worldview is Biblical. I believe that the Bible teaches that we are heading toward a climactic ending which will begin with an unusual peace and quickly turn into a living hell with many cataclysmic, horrible features. The good news is that after that Jesus Christ returns and exercises his omnipotent power to usher in a completely perfect, enlightened existence for those who remain. At this point let me state clearly that I believe it is a considerable waste of time to focus too much on Biblical prophetic writings and to spend ones life distracted from what Jesus has called you to do. (i.e. You won’t find me wandering around Times Square with a sign that reads THE END IS NEAR.) However, my worldview causes me to envision a falsely perceived upward progression of mankind followed by disastrous consequences. This worldview leaves me skeptical of an inordinate reliance upon man’s progress. Let me also state emphatically that I believe no one knows when the end will happen. I believe this allows for a considerable ebb and flow with regard to mankind’s progression, enlightenment, regression, and ignorance. If you would like to hear the Biblical end of the worldview please read Jesus’ words in Matthew 24.

The main difference between the secular and Biblical end of the worldview is who is in control. The secular optimist worldview believes that the human race is in control of its own destiny. The secular pessimist worldview believes that either the human race will cause its own demise or random chance will lead to our demise or a combination of the two. The Biblical worldview believes that ultimately God is in control of events that will lead to the end of our world.

Author: Joseph Wendel | Permalink Comments Off | Daily Entries

10.24.08

All the Fed’s Horses and All the Fed’s Men…

What if very complex problems do not require even more complex solutions? I know that this works against the grain of the independent American spirit of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” and “necessity is the mother of invention”, but what if the problems became a problem BECAUSE they were overly complex. Our elitest “group think” instinctively believes that we need to find the smartest guy in the room to figure these things out and engineer a solution because we don’t understand the things anymore. If paid well, this genius will work very hard and produce a solution that is extremely complex and will likely be almost painless. We then applaud him for his ingenuity and effort, but often even he is unsure if his extremely complex solution will work because it has never been tested. When tested if his genius idea fails it simply leaves us poorer and more hopeless of finding a nearly painless solution. Meanwhile a distinctly non-elitest, simpleton proposes a simple, highly effective solution that is very painful.

I hope at this point you have a glint of an idea of where I am going with this.

So to bring the simple full circle, I would like to put forward a nursery rhyme. All the Fed’s horses and all the Fed’s men couldn’t put the credit markets back together again. I do believe at this juncture that this nursery rhyme is sadly apropos. The lesson of humpty dumpty is that sometimes the thing is broken and cannot be fixed. All additional effort by the kings men would simply be wasted and so I suppose humpty dumpty is abandoned or cleaned up and taken away.

I believe that the US Federal Reserve and Congress are simply throwing more and more money on top of humpty dumpty and hoping that he is magically brought to life. I would advise them to stop immediately. The credit markets are in shock because of at least a full decade of engineering more and more complex debt related instruments. These complex instruments theoretically were supposed to work, but a dose of fear and lack of trust has shown them to be nothing more than a pipe dream and a house of cards. When a house of cards falls does it make sense to set a few back up to buy time?

The reality we face is a future without much of the debt related assistance to which so many of us (persons, corporations, local governments, state governments, federal governments) have become addicted. Almost two decades of nearly placid economic waters have left us wholly unprepared for the days ahead. If I must make a comparison, we are as soft as the Pillsbury doughboy. The unexpectedness of our new reality and our general unpreparedness can only be made worse by not owning up to our problems. We can tighten our belts and face our new reality or continue down the path of spending ourselves into oblivion.

Author: Joseph Wendel | Permalink | No Comments | Daily Entries

10.21.08

Wall Street’s Unscalable Wall

Proverbs 18:11
The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.

The last couple months I have watched financial development after development once considered unimaginable transpire. It has left me pondering that various small developments can accumulate into consequences unforseen, unintended and uncomfortable. The wall street (whatever you want to call it) problem has created a lot of feelings from unease, fear, anger, and so on. I would venture to guess that it has not heightened our level of trust and feelings of security. It has caused me to reassess once again where my faith and trust lies.

I am hopeful that many other Americans are moving past their feelings of unease, fear, anger and contemplating where their cash, 401k and other investements lie in their protection scheme. I use the word protection because isn’t that what our wealth vehicles are selling? AIG has a now infamous slogan of “The Strength to Be There.” I could name myriad other slogans that all read about the same. At the gym I thoroughly inspected an advertisement for Met Life (It was in the bathroom stall. What else do you have to do?) which stated “Guarantees for the IF in Life.” At the bottom of the advertisement was a clarification that their guarantees were dependent upon their ability to pay. We may laugh at AIG’s hubris now, but how many of us are banking (no pun intended) that the US Government / Federal Reserve can solve our problems. For my money, (ok, I intended that one) I believe that we need to reevaluate our need for smooth sailing in this life and substantially devalue our trust in our wealth.

I pray I can be more fully invested in Jesus and his promises and leave you with the words of the apostle Paul.

First Timothy 6:17 - 19
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Author: Joseph Wendel | Permalink | No Comments | Daily Entries

10.02.08
Change I Can Believe In

It seems to me quite ironic that in a year when the polls tell us most Americans want change, a whole lot of change is coming upon us and most of us seem to be either insanely scared and / or utterly confounded. Meanwhile the chasm between theoretical, political change and practical, economic change grows wider with each day. People are angry and they want solutions! The lousy politicians should be working to ensure a better future for us and to fix the mess they created! We also would prefer that they do so at no cost to us, the taxpayers. We are warned that inaction by Congress will hit main street in multiple forms. One, jobs will be lost. (This one isn’t good.) Two, it will become much more difficult to obtain a home mortgage. (Isn’t this part of what got us into this mess?) Three, people won’t be able to finance a brand new automobile with 5% down. (Consumers will no longer be allowed to be upside down on their cars!) Four, credit card limits will decrease. (Consumers will no longer be allowed the privilege of paying 15%+ interest!)

While we decry our political leaders variation of the blame game, we pretend to be wholly ignorant of the fact that we are playing the very same blame game. The current financial “turmoil” that we find ourselves in has plenty of blame to go around. Yes, the gutless politicians have a part, and the greedy Wall Street “fat cats” play a role as well. However, let’s not forget that many Americans signed onto risky mortgages to “live the American dream.” In my view “the American dream” has been hijacked and turned into a consumer culture obsessed with having everything that everyone else has. Or maybe we just need everything that the commercials tell us we should have. Either way, this “American dream” is a very costly endeavor. In fact it is so costly that for the average American it requires a significant amount of debt.

I know that I will sound like I’m from the 1950’s by pointing this out, but any debt you subscribe to means that you are promising your future efforts and/or earnings to someone else. Alas, for many Americans this mountain of debt has already been subscribed to and they are in for a long and difficult deleveraging process. The delcious irony of these indebted Americans asking for help from their government is almost too much for me to bear. The greatly indebted society (on a communal and personal level) views their salvation in becoming more indebted on a grander scale for a longer period of time.

The change that I can believe in is each American resisting the urge to buy the next thing that they don’t have the money to buy.

Author: Joseph Wendel | Permalink | 2 Comments | Daily Entries

05.26.08
What Poetry Means To Me

It struck me as I read a poem to my son, I had never fully explored or expressed what I think is so special about poetry. I’ve written some poems over the last 15 years, and yet I cringe when someone might comment that I am a poet. (Believe me, it doesn’t come up that often.) It is not that I don’t want to be labeled as a poet or that I do not secretly strive to be known as a poet. In a way many would never understand, it is a burning desire of mine. It is simply that I seriously wonder if I am worthy of such a title. I hold true poets in very high esteem. This is not to say that I would put all well known poets into that category. Some well known poets I revere, others I loath, others I take offense at their relative popularity. This is just another of the curiosities related to poetry. Some people get it and some people don’t. Or more accurately, some people get some of it and some people get none of it.

So why is poetry so special to me? I am going to think out loud here and hope that it creates mildly interesting reading. First and foremost in my mind, poetry on average should be a powerfully packed, condensed version of an idea, feeling or thought. It should be pithy. I really mean pithy. Stop right now and look up the meaning of pithy! A relatively early poem of mine was incredibly brief, and yet, I think very fondly of it. It goes like this.

Write what you see the shortest way,
Or words may be all that you say.

I imagine this is a thought that has occurred millions of times. Yet I think there may be a chance that these 15 words have never been strung together in such a fashion. (I just checked it in Google so that I wouldn’t look like a complete fool. Whew! I am safe for now.) Not one of these 15 words is a fancy, rare word. My first grader knows them all. Yet somehow throwing them together in such an arrangement expresses an idea (if I were bold I would say truth) in a way that is appealing to the ear and unique. To me that is amazing. (You might guess from this standard that I am not a tremendous fan of epic poems.)

My second essential component of poetry is that it must be derived from a passionate soul and seep with meaning that truly is fully understood by only one. Others may gain a glimpse of the meaning, but it should be felt most deeply by the writer. I am indebted to a previous poet for expressing this ideal in a more powerful and lovely way.

The Fourth Stanza of The Poet by William Cullen Bryant

The secret wouldst thou know
To touch the heart or fire the blood at will?
Let thine own eyes o’erflow;
Let thy lips quiver with the passionate thrill;
Seize the great thought, ere yet its power be past,
And bind, in words, the fleet emotion fast.

My third essential component of poetry is that it must have some meter and a rhythmic pattern. I am not a stickler for any type of meter or for meter that must stay the same. In fact I often appreciate it more if the meter varies in the poem. Sometimes a varied meter can be an effective technique for controlling the tempo of the poem. With my apologies to free verse, I do believe that a poem should rhyme. Let me take that back, I don’t apologize to free verse. If anything it owes me an apology. I give extra points for creative or unusual rhymes. This to me ensures an essential component of a well crafted poem. A well crafted poem has an abundance of painstakingly chosen words. To the writer it must have many words where no other word would do. In particular, I marvel at well chosen and obscure words which work within the overall structure and intent of a poem. Let me share one of my favorite, exquisitely obscure and well chosen lines from a poem.

Siam’s gonna be the witness to the ultimate test of cerebral fitness.

If you don’t recognize this as a legendary line from a poem of renown, I completely understand. But the use of an archaic term for Thailand coupled with an alternative pronunciation of the highly unusable poetic word cerebral leaves me breathless. I will leave it to you to discover where this line originated. Hint: It’s from an 80’s song.

I imagine there are many other angles that I could attack to explain why I hold poetry in high regard, but I figure that this rambling post can only go on for so long. One final thought, I wish I understood Hebrew so I could marvel at the Psalms as they were originally crafted.

Author: admin | Permalink | No Comments | Daily Entries

05.11.08
The Lesson of Hadamar

It has been a while since I have written, but settle in as this may be a long one. Let me first admit that this post has been inspired by the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Clearly this movie is a propoganda instrument. Furthermore, I can completely understand the revulsion any evolutionist or Darwinist might feel when ideas are propogated as a result of it. However, with that disclaimer and admitting a bias on my part I feel compelled to write about one small part of the movie which has stoked deep emotion and indignation in my heart.

So what is Hadamar?

Hadamar is a German town home to the Hadamar Clinic psychiatric hospital. The Hadamar Clinic was used by the Nazis as the site of their T-4 Euthanasia Program, which performed mass sterilizations and mass murder of “undesirable” members of Nazi society, specifically the physically and mentally handicapped. In the first phase of the killing operations (January to August 1941), Hadamar personnel murdered around 10,000 German patients by asphyxiating them with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber made to look like a shower room. From August 1942 to March 24, 1945, around 4,000 victims died at Hadamar by lethal injection.

Thick smoke billowed over Hadamar in the summer of 1941 while the staff celebrated the cremation of their 10,000th patient with beer and wine served in the crematorium. Despite precautions to cover up the T-4 program, the local population knew of the operation. The people killed in the Hadamar hospital would arrive by train or bus and ostensibly vanish behind the site’s fence. Furthermore, since the crematorium ovens were usually fed with two corpses instead of one, the cremation process was faulty. This often resulted in a cloud of stinking smoke hanging over the town. In the local schools, students would often taunt each other by saying “You’ll end up in the Hadamar ovens!”

The Background of the Action T-4

The idea of enforcing “racial hygiene” had been an essential element of Hitler’s ideology from its earliest days. Hitler seems to have had a lifelong horror of mental illness and physical deformity. In his discussions with Bouhler and the head of the Reich Chancellery, Hans Lammers, Hitler referred to people who “perpetually dirtied themselves” and who “put their own excrement in their mouths.” More generally, Hitler frequently used medical metaphors for those he sought to remove from the German “racial community” – he referred to the Jews as a bacillus which must be killed or a cancer which must be excised. Likewise, he saw the disabled as a “diseased element” in the German racial body. In the minds of Hitler and other Nazis, the need to “cleanse” the German race was inseparable from the rest of the Nazi project.

In his book Mein Kampf (1924), Hitler wrote:

He who is bodily and mentally not sound and deserving may not perpetuate this misfortune in the bodies of his children. The völkische [racial] state has to perform the most gigantic rearing-task here. One day, however, it will appear as a deed greater than the most victorious wars of our present bourgeois era.

The Nazi regime began to implement “racial hygienist” policies as soon as it came to power. The July 1933 “Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring” prescribed compulsory sterilisation for people with a range of conditions thought to be hereditary such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, Huntington’s chorea and “imbecility”. Sterilisation was also mandated for chronic alcoholism and other forms of social deviance. This law was administered by the Interior Ministry under Wilhelm Frick through special Hereditary Health Courts (Erbgesundheitsgerichte), which examined the inmates of nursing homes, asylums, prisons, aged care homes and special schools to select those to be sterilised.

It is estimated that 360,000 people were sterilised under this law between 1933 and 1939. The law was used punitively in some cases, against women convicted of prostitution, for example (although the regime may have been concerned with eliminating congenital syphilis). Some people with non-hereditary disabilities were also affected; this policy may have been supported by the assumption that the affected people would not serve society as well as non-affected people. There were some suggestions that the program should be extended to people with physical disabilities, but such ideas had to be expressed carefully given that one of the most powerful figures of the regime, Joseph Goebbels, suffered from congenital club foot. Philipp Bouhler himself was mobility impaired as a result of war wounds to his legs. After 1937 the acute shortage of labour in Germany arising from the crash rearmament program meant that anyone capable of work was deemed to be “useful” and was exempted from the law, and the rate of sterilisation declined.

It may be noted that racial hygienist ideas were far from unique to the Nazi movement, although Hitler expressed them in an extreme form. The ideas of social Darwinism were widespread in all western countries in the early 20th century, and the eugenics movement had many followers among educated people, being particularly strong in the United States. The idea of sterilising those carrying hereditary defects or exhibiting what was thought to be hereditary anti-social behaviour was widely accepted, and was put into law in the United States, Sweden, Switzerland and other countries. Between 1935 and 1975, for example, 63,000 people were sterilised on eugenicist grounds in Sweden.

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I am sure you have a pretty good guess where I am going with this, but never the less I will go there.

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The Theories and Origins of Social Darwinism

Despite the fact that social Darwinism bears Darwin’s name and his works were widely read by social Darwinists, the theory also draws from the work of many other authors, including Herbert Spencer, Thomas Malthus, and Francis Galton, the founder of eugenics. Darwin himself gave serious consideration to Galton’s work, but thought the ideas of “hereditary improvement” impractical. Aware of weaknesses in his own family, he was sure that families would naturally refuse such selection and wreck the scheme. He thought that even if compulsory registration was the only way to improve the human race, this illiberal idea would be unacceptable, and it would be better to publicize the “principle of inheritance” and let people decide for themselves. In The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex of 1882 he described how medical advances meant that the weaker were able to survive and have families, and commented on the effects of this, while cautioning that hard reason should not override sympathy, and considering how other factors might reduce the effect. The following is an extended quote from Darwin:

Thus the weak members of civilised societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.

The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. … We must therefore bear the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind; but there appears to be at least one check in steady action, namely that the weaker and inferior members of society do not marry so freely as the sound; and this check might be indefinitely increased by the weak in body or mind refraining from marriage, though this is more to be hoped for than expected.

Note: The above passages were pulled directly from wikipedia and I am not sure if I would prefer if they be true or untrue.

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With this as a rather massive prelude, I have an abundance of questions. Is the human race impeding the effectiveness of natural selection? It seems to me that clearly our “sympathy” does impede natural selection in the human race. The originator of the premise certainly concurred in this assessment and it is statistically difficult to argue that the most intelligent in our world have the greatest progeny. Would not the logical conclusion of such a statistical fact indicate that our species is destined for a long term decline? Also, considering the supposed long term benefits of natural selection, must we begin to be suspicious of chimpanzees as a species soon (soon in evolutionary terms, of course, let’s say 1 billion years) to surpass our own? Alas, recent studies have shown that Chimpanzees engage in apparently altruistic behavior. It seems that they may already be infected with a “sympathy” similar to that of our own. Perhaps their “social instincts” are getting the better of them! While we are on the subject, the appearance of “social instincts” raises a broader question of how did these come about, what was their impetus and why are they so thoroughly entrenched in our species? These questions and many more that I could ask cause an unravelling of a logically tidy premise into a practically messy concept with ill defined terms throughout.

But before I get lost in a host of what I believe to be truly unknowable questions (in a logical sense), let’s return to the lesson of Hadamar. At this point, I have lived almost 35 years. I am ashamed to say that for the vast majority of those years I lived in the confident assessment that I was in the near perfect category of my species. Oh, I know I wasn’t perfect, but I certainly aspired to be and compared to so many I was close. I was certainly much closer than average. If I would have learned about Action T-4 I would have certainly been bothered by what transpired. I would have believed that this was a violation of basic human rights. Human rights that I believed were written on my heart by my Creator. However, there would have been a logical side of me that understood where they were coming from, and feeling confident of my status as near perfect, I ashamedly confess I might have had the slightest sympathy toward the aims of Action T-4.

This former person was not around as I wept bitterly when contemplating the individuals who were euthanized or sterilized with the intention of preventing hereditarily diseased offspring. I wept because I now know I am now one of them. I no longer have the delusion of near perfection at my side. I wept because I believe that my sons deserve a chance to live and other sons were not given this opportunity. I now know that I contain a possibly genetic disposition to a possible future of physical challenges and / or mental impairment. Let me reiterate that all I am dealing with is the possibility of an uncertain future. Now that I know this, I find it a tremendous challenge to see the world in the same way. And yet logically I know that each and every one of us faces the possibility of an uncertain future.

The lesson of Hadamar is that any assessment of relative human value is exceedingly dangerous. Once it has begun there is no solid rationale as to where in particular it should end. If you are in agreement with me on this concept, I believe it becomes exceedingly difficult to espouse the views of many Darwinian concepts. I believe the old saying of “the devil is in the details” could rarely be more appropriately used than when discussing Darwin and the logical extensions of his propositions. The thought that Darwin is held as a demi-god in the scientific community without any mention of the moral delimmas that his propositions create is unconscionable in my eyes and leaves our society prone to future Hadamar’s.

Author: Joseph Wendel | Permalink | 1 Comment | Daily Entries

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John 14:6

The American Way vs. The Way

Jay Dean Harper’s American Dream

The Socialism Debate

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And in the end…

All the Fed’s Horses and All the Fed’s Men…

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Change I Can Believe In

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The Lesson of Hadamar

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