If you take a group of people and put them into a meeting and have them talk about something, the opinion of the loudest person or most charismatic person or most assertive person, those are the ones that the group tends to follow.  And yet, researchers have looked at this and found that there is no correlation between being that best talker and having the best ideas.   We are living in a society now that is so overly extroverted.

As we shifted from an agricultural economy to a corporate one, we started to admire people who could be magnetic and charismatic.  These were the qualities that seemed to matter for job interviews and things like that.  In the earlier agricultural economy, our self help books used to have titles like "Character" but then the self help books later on became  books like Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people."  Those were all about teaching us to be more entertaining and more dynamic.   Any trait in human nature has its pros and it has its cons.  For too long we've looked at introversion for its disadvantages and we've looked at extroversion only for its advantages. 

If you look at the birth of Apple Computer, we tend to associate Apple Computer with Steve Jobs who was a dazzling showman.  But the person who really invented the Apple Computer was Steve Wozniak, who was a self identified introvert.  He created this computer by sitting by himself in a cubicle in Hewlett Packard, where he was working at the time, late at night and early in the morning before anyone else was at work.  He worked by himself for months and then produced this amazing technology.  Then he shared this with his friend, Steve Jobs.  Then it was Steve Jobs who said, "We should start a company with this.  This is amazing."  Without Steve Jobs, none of this would have come to pass.  So it was a combination of the solitary person to go off by himself and think in his deep way and then having a partnership between the two.   Introverts and extroverts are really drawn to one another and really need each other. 

Our HR professionals are trained otherwise.  They don't look for who would be the best worker for the company or who could have the most innovative ideas, they look for who can put on the best show or who has the most padded resumé.  In fact, our HR professionals are not experts at reading people or knowing who would benefit the company best.  They at first employ filters to eliminate people they've been trained to deem undesirable.  The application is one of those filtering tools.  Immediately they can judge someone on their penmanship, completion, spelling, where they live, their age, have they ever been arrested, etcetera.  Those who pass that phase are then judged on how they dress, their grooming and their overall health.  Then they are judged on how quickly or effortlessly they can tell you why red is their favorite color or some other question which does not tell the HR person how they can help the company grow or be more profitable.  Fast talkers with good eye contact are favored over those who are deep thinkers and may not be able to articulate an answer to "Tell me about yourself." 

Today, most HR professionals wouldn't hire Steve Wozniak based on his outward appearance and introversion.  They wouldn't even hire Steve Jobs because he didn't have a college degree and most likely reeked of pot. 

Churches are not exempt from prejudice.  When hiring an organist, many will only consider someone who has a degree in music.  Anyone can sit in a classroom for four years but while they were sitting there, someone else may have been honing their performance and technical skills in the real world with real professionals.  Which would better serve the church in a performance position? 

Cameron Carpenter is one of the best organists in the world but a lot of churches would not hire him because he is an atheist, among other things.  Instead, they would rather hire an adequate left footed organist who can tell them what they want to hear or has a higher degree.  That person may not necessarily have the skills to promote growth, inspire participation or minister to the people.  Cameron could fill the church which his dazzling playing every Sunday but churches don't seem to want that.  They don't seem to know what they want.  Of course they want someone who is empathetic and ministerial but you don't learn that by getting a degree and saying you are doesn't make it so.

Churches even run background checks on employees and parishioners to weed out the sinners.  Jesus himself would not be permitted to serve any of today's church for he was a convicted felon, he was often outspoken against the church and he befriended sinners.  Which church would YOU rather belong to, the one Jesus dreamt of or the judgmental one we've created? 

Of course background checks only weed out people who have been caught.  I knew a Roman Catholic priest who used to let his sister use the church credit card because it was tax free.  Of course this holy man never committed a crime because he never got caught so who was he really hurting?  He justified it to me once as "a perk."  Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

I have a friend who is the manager of a private service business and he only hires felons.  He believes strongly in giving people a second chance.  He also recognizes that no one else would hire these people so he is going to get loyal, dedicated, responsible and creative people who would do nothing to jeopardize this rare opportunity.  Sure, he has problems once in a while but, for the most part his employees are unremitting in their labor to return the favor of employment, trust and respect.  He has zero theft, his employees trust him enough to come to him about their problems and they are eager to share ideas to grow and profit the company.

Conversely, I used to volunteer for a service organization and I witnessed many of the paid employees ripping off the company on many occasions.  One person used to come in every day at 9:30 or 10:00 but sign his time sheet at 8:45 or 9:00.  When the supervisor left around 2:00, he would hang out until around 3:00 or 4:00 and sign his sheet for 5:00.  Of course he wasn't physically stealing money so I guess his rationalization was that it was okay.

Another employee used to play video games all day while another would watch movies on his iPad and yet another would spend most of their time wandering around to other cubicles pretending to be doing work but was just talking to other volunteers and employees.  They all felt they were underpaid; more rationalization.  When caught in the kitchen by a supervisor, the talker would pretend to be cleaning.  When this company was losing their funding and a layoff of the paid staff was imminent, I went in on a Sunday to get a jump on the work that the paid staff was not doing, when one of the paid employees (the video game guy) came in and was surprised to see me.  He went into the back where another volunteer office was and when he left, I was on the phone with my back to the exit.  However, I could see his reflection in my monitor.  He was carrying a painting.  Later I went into the other office to see what was missing and in addition to the painting, I could see there was a clock and a few books removed from the shelf. 

This is the judgement of HR at its best, hiring honest,smooth and extroverted talkers.  I only want to know one thing, who hires these HR people?  It seems they hire anyone. 

I tutor guys at the local library to help them earn their GED's.  All of them are convicted felons arrested for various crimes such as drug use, general thugery, sex offenders and thieves.  Either their parole officers are making them do this or they hope to turn their lives around and get a job.  Until our society "bans the box" that won't likely happen, the economy notwithstanding. 

One of my guys said that his food stamps have been cut (thanks Schumer), he has three children and no income to put food on the table.  I asked him how he provides for them and he said that he "does what it takes."  He said that one of the things he USED to do was go to theater parking lots and look for cars with both a GPS and garage door opener.  He knew the  owner would be at the show for at least two hours and he would break into the car, stealing both the GPS and the door opening.  He would then activate the GPS and if it wasn't locked, would tell it to "go home."  The GPS would lead him straight to the former owner's home and he would park his own car in the garage where he would have about an hour to load it up in the privacy of the garage.  He said he would avoid vehicles with car seats because the generally meant the kids were home with a babysitter.   Although, car seats are valuable on the black market.   He would use Facebook much the same way, to find out when an acquaintance would be out and for how long.

So, things you can do to prevent being a victim of crime:
Write your lawmaker demanding to ban the box.
Write your lawmaker and demand they re-establish the food stamp program.
Ask your employer to give someone a second chance the next time they are hiring.

OR . . .
Don't leave your electronic devices visible in your car.
Enable the lock on your GPS.
Don't set "home" on your GPS to your real home.  Set if for half a mile away or so.
Install an IP camera in your home so that when it detects movement in your house it will email a picture to your phone (although you probably silenced it while in the theater).
Encourage your neighbors to be nosy.
Don't go to the theater.
Have kids but don't take them anywhere.

A new study came out today that said 49% of the drivers on the road text while they drive.  Another study said 4 out of 5 college students text while driving.  Of course, politicians will now want to draft new legislation to increase the penalties on top of the already existing penalties for texting while driving.  Police departments will get additional grant money to purchase more vehicles so they can peer down into your vehicle to see if you are texting in your lap.  Senators will get to appear on TV news spots so they can inform the public of the wonderful job they are doing to protect you.

Texting laws don't actually make our roads more safe, they make them less safe.  If 50% of drivers are texting, which is against the law, making another law isn't going to stop them.   They obviously don't care about the law or they think they can get away with it (those criminals).  When cell phones first came out, I used to see people texting all the time by holding their phone up in front of their steering wheel so they could see both the road and their phone.  Now that it is against the law and they don't want to get caught, they text in their laps where they have to take their eyes off the road.  This is more dangerous than playing with your GPS, radio or cruise control.  The roads were more safe when they held their phones up to the road.  These laws have probably caused more accidents than they prevented.  People who text are not going to stop texting.  Period.  It's against the law to drive drunk, too.  What about marijuana, burglary, and prostitution?  Laws only stop honest people because either they are afraid of getting caught or the are educated by the law.

If our politicians rescinded the texting law and promoted education about the dangers of texting while driving, our roads would be more safe because the people who don't care about their own life or your life will at least be texting back up in the open where they can  maintain partial eye contact with the road.  This way, also, the taxpayer won't have to foot the bill for police departments to purchase new undercover SUV and vans used to catch people texting.  There will also be less arrests, court costs, incarceration, fines, increased insurance rates and the ancillary burden to the pocketbooks of the people who don't break the law.

Our politicians are excellent at creating laws that don't work and cost us more than they save.  Skylar Capo was 11 years old when she rescued a woodpecker who was about to be eaten by a cat.  Since the bird was injured, she wanted to nurse it back to health and she carried it to a local hardware store to get a cage for it.  While there, a USFWS agent issued a $600 ticket to Skylar and informed her that she faced up to one year in prison for violating a federal law against transporting migratory birds. 

Carey Mills procured all the state and local permits to build a camp on his waterfront property.  The day he began clearing for what was to be the foundation, the EPA arrested him for violating the Clean Water Act and he did 21 months in prison despite getting permits from the state. 

Steven Kinder ran a caviar business on the Ohio River which forms the Ohio-Kentucky border.  Mr. Kinder was arrested because he reported that his business was in Kentucky but was seen harvesting from "Ohio waters."  He faced $250,000 in fines and five years in prison.  He took a plea deal for three years probation and a $5,000 fine.

Lisa Snyder was a say-at-home mom and as a favor to her Michigan neighbors, would watch the local children for 15 minutes every morning until they caught the bus - because the bus stop was in front of her house.  When the police caught wind of this, she was threatened with 90 days in jail for operating a daycare and offering "babysitting services" without a license. 

Jeff Counceller and his wife found an injured baby deer and nursed it back to health.  Jeff was charged with possession of a deer and the animal was to be euthanized per state law.  Fortunately it "escaped."  The greater lesson is not to post pictures to Facebook.

Eddie Anderson of Idaho took his son camping where they found an "Indian" arrowhead.  He found himself facing two years in prison for theft of archaeological resources and  a $1,500 fine but took a plea deal for one year of probation.  The greater lesson is not to post these finds to Facebook.

Nancy Black operates a whale watching business and had videotape of a crew member whistling at whales to get them to stay near the boat.  After viewing the footage, NOAA burst into her home demanding the unedited tapes of the day in question.  She is facing 20 years in prison for withholding evidence.  The greater lesson is not to post your life to Facebook.

Ashley Warden was fined $2,500 after her three year old son Dillan pulled down his pants to urinate in his front yard.  A police officer spotted him committing this crime of exposure and he was facing charges and being put on the sex offender registry. 

Ann videotaped her husband changing their grandson's diaper.  Grandpa tickled the boy's "new-no" as he wriggled with glee and laughter. After posting pictures on their Facebook page, Ann was charged with distribution of child pornography and her husband did five years for molestation.  They are now registered sex offenders and were forced to move from their home of 40 years due to residency restrictions.  

Gary Harrington dug three ponds on his property to control rain water and snow runoff.  Gary was sentenced to 30 days in jail for collecting rainwater without a permit, which is against the law in Oregon.  He is now forced to continually drain his ponds.

Abner Schoenwetter of Florida shipped some marginally small lobsters in plastic bags to prevent leakage.  By law, lobster can only be transported in cardboard.  Abner was sentenced to eight years in prison because he didn't know of this regulation. 

Wallerstein and Wylie conducted a study of 3,000 New Yorkers who have never been arrested and found that 91% of them have "innocently" committed felonies but were not caught.  100% of them committed a misdemeanor of some type.  The next time you go out in public, know this, you are most likely walking among criminals. 

What can you do to reverse the orvercriminalization caused by politicians who feel they have to do SOMEthing in order to justify their high salaries?  Sign up for email updates from Heritage.org, NACDL.org, RightOnCrime.com, ACLJ.org, JusticeFellowship.org, ACLU.org, ALEC.org, FAMM.org.  Share your concerns with your elected representatives.  Demand that they focus on rescinding laws rather than pyramiding more laws on top of more laws.

It has been a sad day today.  First, Nelson Mandela died.  However a bigger story on my local news is the sentencing of a 23 year old man to five to fifteen years in prison.  A year ago he was driving while intoxicated and crashed into another car carrying four teenagers.  Two of them died. 

What is very sad is that the family and news media are outraged that the 23 year old (I'll refrain from using his name) did not get more time.  They were quite angry and demanded that the Governor increase the prison penalty for those convicted of DWI and manslaughter. 

What saddens me is the degree of hate and revenge the family and friends had at the news conference following the sentencing.  One of them said that they hope that the hell this 23 year old will face in prison is a foretaste to the hell he will face in eternity.  The only thing this press conference was doing was making things worse, fueling anger and stressing one another even more making the old adage "misery loves company" all the more true. 

Nelson Mandela once said "Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies."   When someone can't let go, when they hold onto anger and dedicate their life to revenge, it changes everything;  It changes their relationships, their attitudes and everything they do in life.  There is much to lose when you hate.  You don't lose a thing when you forgive because it is not a sign of weakness to forgive someone who hurts you, it's a sign of strength, in fact, you'll have much to gain.   Now this does not mean you have to become best friends with the person who hurt you, it simply means that you will no longer be caught in a downward spiral of anger and hurt which you may take out on other people such as family and friends.

Anger, bitterness and hate is more than a negative outlook on life.  It is a destructive and self destructive power like a cancerous cell or dangerous mold that thrives in the darkness of the heart.   It can be physically and emotionally damaging.  As the great Buddha once said, "He who opts for revenge should dig two graves." 

I don't know the young man convicted nor his remorse, rehabilitation or guilt, but in refusing to lay aside hatred, the family and friends are continuing to let him exert his influence over them.  Meanwhile he will spend the next five or ten years oblivious to their pain, in his state imposed Ashram, exercising, making new friends, studying at the school for crime, and learning to hate society for hating him.  When he gets out he will most likely be worse than when he went in and a continued burden to tax payers.  Under house arrest, he and his family would bear the burden for the cost of incarceration.  In prison, the taxpayer will be forking over about $30,000 per year to punish him.  Nobody wins. 

Someone once said that life is ten percent what happens to you, and ninety percent what you do with it.  Imagine if all the hate and energy being put toward destruction and lobbying for more laws was put into restorative justice, education and awareness.  These are not the last two teens who are going to be killed by a drunk driver and all the hate in the world directed at the 23 year old isn't going to save them.  Education and awareness of the evils of alcohol may.  But it seems these people wish to take revenge - on themselves because that is what hatred does.  Forgiving someone who hurts is us hard but everything is hard until you do it, then it becomes easy.  Then we will be inspired to do something - something good.  Maybe that is the scary part, it is easy to be angry and get other people to do something.  Bad things will always happen, but a bad thing can be a blessing in disguise to those brave enough to forgive and do something.   

For those of you who are religious, millions of people will recite the Lord’s Prayer in church this weekend.   They will pray, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  I often wonder whether we really mean what we say when we repeat these words, and whether we sufficiently consider their meaning.   What do you think God thinks of us when we don't hold up our end of the bargain?  And we wonder why atheists think the church is full of hypocrites. 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us not only to love our enemies, but even to “bless” those who persecute us.   While on the cross, he prayed for those who prosecuted and sentenced him, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” So did Stephen who prayed the same thing as he was being stoned to death: “Father, do not hold this against them.”

Loving and forgiving those who hurt us is the key to the solution for the problems in our world.  Hate begets hate.  Darkness doesn't drive out darkness.  Only light can do that.  Love is the only force capable of turning an enemy into a friend.  Hate destroys and tears down but by its very nature, love creates and builds up. Love transforms.  The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook and to forgive.

I once came home to discover that my dog pooped on the floor.  I yelled at her and she cowered in the corner.  I then realized that I was the one who left her alone in the house for ten hours so in my baby voice I called her over to me.  She was hesitant but her tail was wagging.  When she reached me, I petted her and she danced around me and kissed me.  All was forgiving from both of us.  I cleaned up her mess as she watched with a sideways glance.  Then we went outside for a nice run.  Nelson also once said that action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.

I haven't blogged in a while because I've been busy but, recently an event that happened which perturbed me enough to pick up my sententious and pugilistic pen.  The 20 year old son of a friend was recently arrested with drugs.  Drugs are scary.  Just as a drunk driver can hurt or kill themselves or others, drugs can hurt and kill.  Well, most drug users use them in the privacy of their own home and are less likely to harm others but, they do run the risk of damaging their own bodies and creating issues in their normal day to day living.  If someone has a drug problem, arresting them does nothing to assuage their addiction.  It will be far from mollifying but intensifying any problem they may have.  Punishment takes away his life.  Only treatment and support from family, friends and the community will help unencumber him from the appetite of chemical dependency.  People with support, mercy, compassion and purpose are more amenable to discipline and healing. 

Take the scary and often moniker-ed "gateway drug" marijuana.  Most everyone I know uses it or has used it and I bet that most everyone you know falls into the same category - or they're lying.  So why isn't most of our population drug addicts?  Because they don't have that addiction gene?  I have alcohol in my house and I rarely consume it.  I do drink but I don't have to.  I have no need or strong desire to imbibe in it.  I'm not a drinker but I enjoy the product on occasion with friends.

I have several fiends who admit to doing cocaine, heroin or ecstasy in their pasts (I work in the church.  I run across these people a lot.  What is the church for if not for sinners?).  Once they got the fad of drug experimentation out of their systems, they went on to lead productive and professional lives, raising families and leaving drugs behind them.  Would they like to indulge again once in a while?  I'm sure but, they "grew up" and recognized that it affects their productivity and living a real life. 

Many of our politicians and technological geniuses have indulged in temporary drug use: Clinton, Bush, Obama, Steve Jobs.  If any of those men were ever caught and thrown into prison, none of them would be the men they are today for they would be convicted felons and not eligible to work in the professions they have chosen.  Can you imagine what our world would be like if Steve Jobs was given a forty year prison sentence instead of freely practicing his craft in pursuit of genius and perfection? 

Assemblyman Steve Katz (R) who is an outspoken state assemblyman who serves on the chamber's Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee — and had the effrontery to vote against medical marijuana — was recently busted for possessing pot.  He was pulled over on the state Thruway for going 80 miles an hour  in a 65 mph zone when a trooper detected a palpable odor redolent of pot wafting from his car.  Katz was on his way to Albany to vote on legislation while under the influence, BTW.  All charges were dropped against him.  Hmmph.  Membership has its privileges. 

Even our best athletes in the world have smoked weed.  "Disgraced U.S. Olympian Nick Delpopolo " is what the headlines read last summer after he failed a drug test. Why is he disgraced when so many other people use the drug with impunity? The Bureau of Statistics doesn't even research marijuana deaths each year because the number is so insignificant. Our government has lied and frightened the public for decades about this safe, natural medicine. Nobody beats their wife or kids, loses their job, gets in accidents, rapes or murders, or blows their paycheck on pot.  Alcohol?  That's a different story.  Nick's life, career and dream of greatness in service to our country through sports is now ruined by societal prejudice due to the unjust prohibition laws of cannabis.

Here are just a few of the many highly motivated athletes who have used drugs:
* Usain Bolt, the 2008 World Record holder of the 100 and 200 meter sprint.
* Michael Phelps, the most decorated swimmer ever with 14 Olympic gold medals.
* Tim Lincecum, the National League baseball’s Cy Young Award winner for 2009.
* Santonio Holmes, the Super Bowl XLII’s MVP.
* Mark Stepnoski, two-time Super Bowl champion. "I'd rather smoke than take painkillers."
* Randy Moss, NFL single season touchdown reception record (23, set in 2007), and the NFL  single-season touchdown reception record for a rookie (17, in 1998). Moss has founded, and  financed many charitable endeavors including the the Links for Learning foundation, formed in  2008.
* Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's all-time leader in points scored (38,387), games played,  minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots and defensive rebounds.  During his career with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to  1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season MVP  Awards. He has a prescription to smoke marijuana in California, which he says he uses to  control nausea and migraine headaches. He has been arrested twice for marijuana possession.
* "Most of the players in the league use marijuana and I have and do  partake in smoking weed in the off season" - Josh Howard, forward for the Dallas Mavericks.  Howard admitted to smoking marijuana on Michel Irvin's ESPN show.
* "You got guys out there playing high every night. You got 60% of your league on marijuana.  What can you do?" - Charles Oakley (Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors,  Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets)
* "I personally know boxers, body builders, cyclists, runners and athletes from all walks of life  that train and compete with the assistance of marijuana," —WWE wrestler Rob Van Dam
* Some of the best cricket players of all time, like Phil Tufnell and Sir Ian Botham, have  admitted to regularly using marijuana to deal with stress and muscle aches. In 2001, half of  South Africa's cricket team was caught smoking marijuana with the team physiotherapist. They were celebrating a championship victory in the Caribbean.

Where would any of those un-convicted criminals be today had they been caught and arrested before they achieved greatness?  Yes, drugs are bad and I would not encourage anyone to take or abuse them.  However, are they as bad as we have been led to beleive or are we just not able to make money off of them as well as say, alcohol which kills tens of thousands of people each year?  Are those deaths acceptable to our predominately Christic society? 

My biggest complaint here is not drugs.  It is the arrest of this twenty year old.   Millions of people before him, right now and in the future will do drugs and not get caught.  They will then go on to lead normal and productive lives without incident.  They either lead a life so boring that they are easily enchanted or they lead a life so full of stimulus that are are easily bored so, drugs were a temporary experiment.  This twenty year old will most likely become a convicted felon, do prison time, have the stigma of a conviction on his record, have difficulty procuring housing because of background checks and drug registries, endure numerous desultory attempts at finding a job, he'll have zero credit and he will most likely live off the largess of the social services and the taxpayer's dime.  He will be judged differently from normal, phantasmagorical good people with a prepossessing Christian artifice.  He will be labeled with the delineating modifier of "criminal" and his productivity to society will be a patent waste.  His life will be larded with more problems than an algebra textbook.  Most likely he is no different than anyone else.  He just got caught.

Nobody is the worse thing that they've ever done.  A conviction and doing prison time will not help this kid if he has a problem.  It will certainly not help him when he gets out and tries to put his life back in order.  If he has a drug problem, then he should be treated for it, not punished.  Our entire justice system is designed for punishment and profit.  Prisons should be for people who are a threat to others and not a warehouse for politicians, judges, DA's and law enforcement people to win elections and win grant money.

A story I often like to tell is about a friend who as a teen would ensconce himself on a bridge and throw pumpkins onto a highway below.  Fortunately he never hit a car and he was never caught.  Had he been caught or had he hurt anyone, he would have done many years in prison.  He wasn't caught, he went on to college, got married, became very active in his church, had kids and now works for corporate America as a manager of a nationally recognized chain.  Should he have been punished?  I don't know.  Had he been caught, his life would be drastically different today.  With a felony conviction on his record, he wouldn't have gone to college, probably not be married and his kids wouldn't exist.  He does more good for society today than society would have gotten out of him by punishing him. 

Winston Churchill once said that “One of the most unfailing tests of a civilization is how a country treats its criminals.”  Most criminals return to the streets in a worse state than when they were arrested.  Prison turns good people bad and bad people worse.  A better solution for crime would be a restorative justice approach. 

In The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace, Jack Kornfield describes an African forgiveness ritual: "In the Babemba tribe of South Africa, when a person acts irresponsibly or unjustly, he is placed in the center of the village, alone and unfettered. All work ceases, and every man, woman, and child in the village gathers in a large circle around the accused individual. Then each person in the tribe speaks to the accused, one at a time, each recalling the good things the person in the center of the circle has done in his lifetime. Every incident, every experience that can be recalled with any detail and accuracy, is recounted. All his positive attributes, good deeds, strengths, and kindnesses are recited carefully and at length. This tribal ceremony often lasts for several days. At the end, the tribal circle is broken, a joyous celebration takes place, and the person is symbolically and literally welcomed back into the tribe."

Too bad for those of us who profess to be Christians, that Jesus didn't show us another way.  Maybe those of us with eyes to see and ears to hear, know that way.  But, not to act is to act. 

-Malcolm Kogut.

A man on the street was bent over searching for something on the ground when a passerby approached and asked him what he was doing;
"Looking for my car keys."
the slumped seeker sighed.
"Where did you lose them?"
the passerby piqued.
The hunched over man replied with a dismissive head gesture,
"Across the Street."
"Then why are you looking over here?"
the passerby queried.
The car key seeker said,
"The light is better over here."

That is what a lot of the laws which congress passes are like.  They are useless feel good legislation which don't really do anything.  They seek solutions to problems and issues but in the wrong place.  It does however make the sponsors of the light-seeking-law look good when it comes time for re-election  but that's about it.  Governor Cuomo (D) of NY recently came under fire from Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long because Cuomo passed a gun law which does nothing to protect people but does further his political career.  A lot of these laws bring in barrels of money via fines and tickets and police departments may even receive grant money for new toys, computers and staff - which is all good for the town coffers.

The city of Troy in NY purchased a computerized gun shot triangulation system to pinpoint the approximate location of where a gun is fired from anywhere in the city.  They discovered that a 911 call does the same.  This system was paid for through grant money and tax payers.  It hasn't deterred crime.  It only taught the criminal that they need to leave the scene faster.  That system is now for sale.  I bet you can buy it from them cheap.

Murder is against the law but people still do it.  Smoking marijuana is against the law but people still do it.  Cheating on taxes is against the law but people still do it.  Eighteen year old adult high school senior students who have sex with their sixteen year old infant high school sweethearts is against the law but these hormone enraged pedophiles still do it.  Drinking and driving is against the law but people still do it.  Texting while driving is against the law but people still do it.  The no-texting law is one such law which I beleive has made society and our roads less safe - because people still do it - only now, less safe.  

A friend asked me to ride with her to the mall because she needed help getting supplies for a birthday party she was hosting.  While driving, she rummaged through her purse and pulled out her cell phone, placed it on her knee, then began typing one letter at a time.  I asked her what she was doing and she said that she was posting a status update on Facebook to let everyone know where she was.  I told her that texting while driving was against the law but she said that she would be careful.  We eventually got there and made it safely home in one piece despite two more texts and the attendant reading of the replies which began filtering in almost immediately.  I thought to myself - what are these people doing reading Facebook?  Why aren't they out living REAL life for themselves?

When I used to text while driving, I would hold my phone up over the steering wheel so that I could see both the road and the phone at the same time.  This was even more safe than using a GPS which was positioned less in my line of vision, or even more safe than looking down to change a radio station.  Texting laws are making our roads less safe because people don't want to risk getting a ticket so, they are texting in their lap rather than texting more safely in sight of the road.

Of course texting while driving is not safe at all and people should employ common sense and respect for other drivers by NOT DOING IT.  I'm not worried about me getting in an accident, I'm more worried about the other driver getting me into an accident.  Surely, any text that is so important that it must be fired off at that particular moment is worth pulling over to do properly and safely.  You don't want your last Facebook update to be "Traffic is horrendous tod . . ."  

Programming the GPS, adjusting the raido, putting on makeup, flossing teeth, eating or even talking to someone in the passenger seat can be equally distracting.  It all really depends on each individual and their multi-tasking skills but even so, if the law isn't doing anything but making the roads more dangerous, what can be done?  Pass more laws?  Increase the prison time for Facebook updaters?  Ban Facebook?  Make it a law that you have to text in front of the steering wheel?

Enter WRGB, channel six;  Each morning during the news they run PSA's about texting and how dangerous it can be.  They list the statistics of how many deaths there have been during the past year because of texting; How many accidents; How many feet you will not be in control of your vehicle should you look down for a moment; How many children were killed because of texting parents; How much it costs the insurance companies which is then passed down to everyone else.  

The greatest public service WRGB has provided is that they have asked viewers to take a "No Texting Pledge" at the WRGB website.  I haven't formally taken the pledge but their ads have awakened me into being a more safe driver.  I bet their announcements, ads and pledge campaign have prevented more accidents than the laws have.  I'm also willing to bet that the law has caused more accidents from people trying not to get caught and ticketed because they are texting more surreptitiously and dangerously in their laps.  

When given the choice between educating people so that they change their habits or, passing a law which many people will try to evade for whatever reason, I am sure that more people would say that education is a more powerful tool.  But then, if not passing feel-good-legislation, what would our elected officials do with their free time?

"Tell me a fact, and I'll learn. Tell me a truth, and I'll believe. But tell me a story, and it will live in my heart forever."
- Steve Sabol, President of NFL Films.

One of the most difficult questions someone once asked me was about what I planned to do in the future to further improve or educate myself musically.  I knew the answer existed but I could not then delineate it.  A second difficult question was "How do I learn to play with soul?"

About ten years ago a convergence of events and opportunities presented themselves to me.  I was musically stuck and I thought I achieved all I could achieve.  I was energized for growth but seemed to lack the tools, colleagues and inspiration thereof.  I started looking for a new job.  I was also working for a cleric who was not a very good human being on so many levels.  When we were converting the rectory basement to a youth meeting room the contractor found decaying asbestos hanging from the pipes and he wouldn't take the job.  A new contractor was found for the job and he surprisingly didn't find any asbestos.  Hmmph.  Then when we purchased a building to expand our parking lot, there was asbestos found in the basement and the bid to remove the asbestos and demolish the structure was $80,000.  The bid from a second contractor who didn't find any asbestos was only $30,000.  Praise Jesus the church didn't incur any additional expense for apocryphal asbestos removal and, in sixty years when our children develop lung cancer, well, there will probably be a cure.  Praise Jesus again. So, who is the greater monster; someone who is, for instance on the sex offender registry for urinating in public (that pervert) or a cleric who discernibly hurt no one?  To think major industrial companies got away with these activities for decades.

I was at the height of my then musical skill yet at the lowest in inspiration, I continued working and going through the motions but still did not sense growth.  I didn't know why.  I still did my job to the best of my abilities and even have a letter from the Bishop's office stating that I had the best music program in the whole diocese.  Something was still missing.  It was then when I gave up my pursuit of music that I began to grow.  I had another "cease and desist" about five years later, another about a year after that and I am ascending the precipice of one right now.  The less I did in search of soul through discipline and structure, the more I found it.  I played the Broadway Tour production of "Les Miserables" and there was an inspirational line sung by the unholy trio of Jean Valjean the convict, Fantine the prostitute and the lying Bishop: "To love another person is to see the face of God."  

When you go to college and immerse yourself in books, lectures and study, you come out with knowledge, inspiration, drive, energy and maybe even technique.  Much of that is rooted in academia and, it is good.

I then started volunteering answering two suicide hotlines. I would spend hours listening to a caller's struggle with drug abuse, addiction, homelessness, joblessness, arrest, domestic and sexual abuse.  Many of my callers were feeling lost, alone, forsaken, abandoned or ostracized.  I quickly realized that these were normal, ordinary people all of us would encounter on the streets, in our homes, in our churches, our neighborhoods or in the stores on an everyday basis.  When a caller was reticent to allow me to steer them into their pain, I could keep them on the line and safe from harming themselves by talking about music, hiking, religion or travel; Anything we had in common.  It was easy for me to let go of all that pain and stress when I hung up.  I would also go home and practice the piano, go to a rehearsal, or study the Gospel readings for Sunday.  I would sometimes talk about the pain in the world to my music friends, church friends or hiking buddies while on a trail.  It was my form of debriefing and, I would play the piano with the life of others on my mind.

While keeping vigil at a homeless shelter for men, I would sometimes talk to the guys late at night and discover that many of them were once professionals, family men and dreamers.  Some of these peripatetics were running from a past, a future, a crime or just wandering hoping for a break.  Interestingly, many of them were very spiritual. We would talk of hiking, travel, music, religion, carpentry or plumbing.  One once sat at the piano and ripped off some ragtime.  Another 20 year old sat in a corner with his guitar, composing a tune.  I would then go to my church the next morning to prepare for my weekly recital where I would spend the day alone in the church with music - pondering the many wonderful stories I just heard and shared.

I taught GED classes for about two years.  Many of the students were in their early 20's and dropped out of school because of drugs, gangs, arrest, to be providers to their baby's momma, or they had unstable family lives and were kicked out of their homes.  Most all of them were very smart - such as the drug dealers and gang members and not only in the street sense.  Their math skills surpassed mine, especially in the metric system (how drugs are measured).  The women who gave birth in their teens had a tenacity, ferociousness, courage and work ethic which could only have been borne out of being thrust into adulthood at an early age, like gold tested in fire.  There is an earthy difference between one of those moms as opposed to someone who went to college, started a career, then planned and prepared to have a baby and start a family.  A common denominator for all these people was the copiousness of music.  It was sinuously networked throughout their life from listening, jamming on a stoop, in a car, in an alley or dancing in the street.  They could recite thousands of lyrics because it was how they communicated and communed.

I recently "purchased" through a donation to PBS  the complete five disc set of the Ed Sullivan Show and three discs containing footage from the original Woodstock concert.  The musicians were young kids, uneducated in music theory, harmony and technique. However, they were musicians with talent and confidence most of us could only dream of achieving in a lifetime.  Why is that?  Because music was the fabric of their lives.  They ate it, drank it and slept it (and smoked it).  Music was part of their social landscape. They made music on stoops, in fields, in cars, living rooms, basements, garages, jail cells and to escape their parents.  Then one day someone would say "Let's start a band" and the rest is history.  Music wasn't their goal in life, it was the inspiration thereof.  They didn't have time to study it because they were living it.  Their teachers were not professors in a classroom, but practitioners who were doing it. Music then became a tool to educate others about the evils of legislation, war, poverty, persecution, prejudice, dumping of pollutants (like asbestos) . . . every struggle in life which created, BTW, good music.  They suffered oppression, suppression and arrest, then they sang about it.  A great example would be Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant."

The early African slaves sang in the field to pass time, to keep time, to remember stories from time long ago, to pray for salvation and to surreptitiously speak in code right under the noses of their white masters.  Early Jews and Christians sang songs around campfires to remember history, impart lessons and share stories of the wonderful deeds of God such as the parting of the Reed Sea and saving the oppressed, the story of Adam and Eve and original sin, The Christmas Story and the death of the Holy Innocents, Noah and the great flood which eradicated evil from the earth, etcetera.  

My most favorite church service of the entire year is the Easter Vigil Mass, starting with the magnificent Exultet extolling the power of God, all sung by firelight.  Then there are several more stories accompanied by songs again, all by firelight.  Done properly and in its entirety, this service could take up to four hours.  Most churches cut it down to one and a half to two.  Praise Jesus - but not for four hours.  WWJD.

At this stage in my life I don't need to study music as I did in my youth.  Despite continuing to do so because there is much I want to do but can't, I found that there are other things which can improve my "soul."   The music is already in me and around me, under rocks and in the wood. I need to work at being a conduit between instrument, God and people.  A trinity within the thin-spaces.  It is not enough to study music, to make music or to share music.  Music is an expression of life and that is where its growth lies: in the pain, struggle, joy, excitement and transformation of one another.  For, out of what we live and we believe, our lives become the music that we weave.

Stone was another convicted felon I tutored for the procurement of the elusive GED.  He actually graduated from high school but illegally managed to change his name and identity so he consequently had no record of receiving his diploma.  He was of high rank within a formidable gang and for whatever reason, wanted his GED.  Most likely it would simply serve as another form of identification which he could use down the road with one of his many identities.  He was also a very funny guy with a big heart and I loved spending time with him and hearing his stories.   His body was riddled with tattoos, most likely to obfuscate the important ones which delineated rank and meaning within the gang culture.  Despite having endured horrors as a child, his current estate was happy, fun loving and very respectful.

Stone told me about how he was in collusion with a jewelry store owner and Stone was to rob the owner's store.  Stone would get the goods, the store owner would get the insurance money, then five years later, Stone would sell the jewelry back to the owner at a discount and the shop owner would resell the merchandise under the table.  Stone of course would get a commission.  The plan went off without a hitch except Stone was arrested on some unrelated and fake charge because the police knew they didn't have any evidence regarding the jewelry store robbery but, they wanted him off the street at any cost, even if they had to arrest him on a fake charge with phony evidence planted on him.  He was sentenced to prison for ten years.  He chuckled and said that nobody believed him when he professed to be innocent.  

After two years, he was granted parole but he suspected that it was because the police were hoping that he would lead them to the stolen merchandise. Stone said that he could patiently wait out the eight years of parole or have someone else retrieve the booty from its hiding spot.  He then jokingly asked me if I wanted to make twenty thousand.  I held my fingers up in a cross formation and said “Get behind me, Satan.”  Despite having millions of dollars at his disposal, he patiently took advantage of all the social services, shelters, welfare stamps and food pantries he could in order to keep up the appearance that he had no money.  

A somewhat humorous story that Stone told me was about another big heist they made.  Their getaway van had the shocks removed so that the vehicle would ride low to the ground.  They also took out a small section of the floor.  They were being chased by the police when they stopped the van in the middle of the road.  The police surrounded the van and barked instructions through a bullhorn to give up and step out of the vehicle.  Little did the police know, the van was parked over a manhole and Stone's gang removed the cover from inside the van and escaped through the sewers.  A few years later some mob type movie used the exact same scenario for the antagonist's escape plot.  Taking full credit, Stone was ecstatic that his idea made it into a movie.  He bought out a movie theater and invited all his friends to attend a showing.  At the aforementioned escape scene, the theater erupted into thunderous applause.  The few people who were actual patrons to the showing were probably very confused.  

Stone aced the GED on his first try.