Mostly True Tales

OK. OK. It’s early, but so are they. I’m sorry to start ranting on this already, but it has already come to me, and I’m sick of it.

The Politically Correct.

I guess that makes me a racist. I don’t feel like a racist, I’ll have to ask my friends (who come in all colors) about it.

Every year, you hear Bill O’ Reilly complain about it, and by the end of the year sometimes it’s tiresome. It’s not even Halloween, still well before Thanksgiving. Christmas hasn’t even kicked off yet, and here I am, beginning the rant. And this will probably not be the last time you hear about it.

Tonight as I’m sitting in my office, I hear my 9 nine year old begin to practice for her school choir’s “holiday program.”

Suddenly, I hear her break into , “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” but it wasn’t, it was;

We wish you happy holidays,
We wish you happy holidays,
We wish you happy holidays,
and a happy New Year.

You have to understand, I live in a very Jewish neighborhood. And that’s OK. I choose to live here. I love Jewish people. They believe in the same God I do, and try to live by the same 10 Commandments I do. I don’t have any problem with Jewish people, or any other people that live in a civilized respectful manner, but I don’t hear any Chanukah songs being modified to satisfy the Gentiles.

For me, the modification of this song, is much like, painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. Perhaps a better example would be changing the words to the Star Spangled Banner.

Our country was founded on the basis of several issues, one of which, is freedom of religion. The founding Fathers were extremely generous with the provisions they allowed all citizens (and in this day, non-citizens) of the United States. Provisions and allowances many take for granted today, because they have not been educated in the cost of those freedoms.

There is, as I understand it, only one Catch-22 to the whole freedom of religion thing. Your religious practices must not be against the law, they must fall within the guidlines of our society. The case of Mormon polygamy is an excellent example. There have been a few special exemptions, like the use of Peyote by certain American Indians, but for the most part, accepted religious practices in the United States must fall within the law.

You are welcome to do your thing, as long as it doesn’t break the guidelines we have established to live here. I often think of the Thomas Paine quote,

“Your right to freedom of speech ends, when your fist hits my nose.”

I’d say the same thing applies to religion. This is a country founded with basic Christian fundamentals. Initially, persecuted for religious beliefs, our founders wanted to provide the freedom to worship without persecution, and they did.

You worship Satin? No problem, just don’t break any laws, and that means no human sacrifice, sorry. Oh, and by the way, we aren’t going to change any laws, songs, or basic constitutional beliefs to accommodate you, so if you can live with that, make yourself at home, go ahead and do your thing.

I think that’s pretty generous. I’d like to see you go anywhere and get that kind of freedom.

The problem, is the whole PC thing. We are adapting, apologizing, and attempting to pay a debt that can never be paid. Compromising our values, and the values of the brilliant men that founded our country.

As these subtle little changes occur, like the changes to the Christmas song above, the cement, that holds together the foundation stones of this country, decays and breaks apart, weakening the great and massive stones our fore-Fathers put in place, creating the greatest country in the world.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

I can’t help but wonder, what they will be singing in Camdenton this holiday season.

God bless America, and Merry Christmas.

This story is both surprising and not surprising. St. Louis has been named the most dangerous city in America.

You would think, dead center in the heartland of America, we would be safe, but apparently not! I would have never predicted St. Louis to be more dangerous than New York, Chicago, or Detroit. I wouldn’t even expect it to come in on the Top 10, but according to this story, St. Louis has been in the Top 10 for several years, and has now peaked in the number 1 position.

Two important stats are the murder rate and the overall violent crime rate. St. Louis’ murder rate is almost 4 times the national average, the violent crime rate, nearly 10 times the national average. Why? Why is St. Louis more dangerous than New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Miami and every single other city in the U.S.?

I believe one answer is, an immaturity of sorts. St. Louis isn’t really a big town, but it is bigger than ever and the people that live here don’t know how to handle that growth and still get along.

St. Louis still doesn’t have a practical mass transit system (I’m sorry, I don’t call a train, that you have to drive a car to, effective mass transit). Many people don’t want it. They feel it will allow low income low life’s to travel into our suburbia, and the crime will increase. So instead, the people of St. Louis continue to fight the traffic on outdated roads and highways that are almost continuously under construction. Major construction, like highway on-ramps, interchanges, and bridges.

I moved to St. Louis from the city of Chicago, about 30 years ago. My family moved to a little town in West St. Louis County, called Olivette, about 10 miles from downtown. Ironically, after moving away and living a dozen other places around the world, I live in Olivette now, just 2 tenth’s of a mile from the house my family purchased those 30 years ago.

Down the road about a half mile from my house is an elementary school. My younger Brother went to that school, so did my oldest Daughter and so does my youngest Daughter. The school is located on a residential road most of which has a double yellow line (no passing) and a speed limit of 30 M.P.H., except in front of the school where it’s 20 M.P.H..

My Brother walked to that school for years, we would walk everywhere, or ride our bikes. My kids don’t. They can’t, they’ll get run over! The traffic running down this quiet little residential street is now quite different, denser, faster, crazier. There is a 4-way stop not 500 feet from my house, where any cop could issue a hundred tickets a day.

The people are different too. They are in a hurry, and they are in more of a hurry than you! They are in a hurry to do something that is also, more important than what you are on your way to do. In fact, it’s so important, the rules do not apply. There is no speed limit, there are no stop signs, there isn’t a crossing walk with children in the middle of the road. The one-way, drive-thru parking lot for the school, is now a passing lane. Anything goes. Courtesy is out the window, so is respect, so is integrity.

I believe society has rules for a reason, and a world without rules is certainly chaos. The problem is, these people are angry, they’re late, and their business is more important than anything. More important than laws, common courtesy, and safety. They are more important. Once a person gets to that point, they ARE dangerous, or more likely, in danger.

Hostility breeds hostility. When I see some guy in a convertible sports car, wearing a business suit, come up behind me while I’m on the way to pickup my daughter from school, pass me and snake through a stop sign with traffic on all sides, a crossing guard, and children in the street, then turn into the one-way school parking lot going the wrong way to pass traffic, I know how I feel. I want, at the very least, to send that guy to the hospital. I’m pretty sure, it would fall under the violent crime category.

But I don’t, or at least, I haven’t yet. I haven’t because, I try to maintain self-control, courtesy, and integrity. I try, to live in tolerance. But, there are certainly people with less tolerance, less self-control, and less courtesy. And I believe, that’s how a lot of violent crimes happen. When these basic moral values break down.

We battle to get here and there. We arrive late, angry, and stressed. We are weaker, more irritable, less tolerant.

I believe it. I believe that right now, I am living, in the most dangerous city in America.

And I blame it on the traffic.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061030/ap_on_re_us/city_crime_list

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Originally uploaded by amazingbrian.

Today was another remarkable fall day in St. Louis. Early this afternoon I had an uncontrollable urge to return to Forest Park and the Art Museum. I wanted to identify some of the paintings I shot on the last visit.

Forest Park is such a wonderful place. It is astounding to me that the Museums and Zoo are free.

The Art Museum’s collection is fantastic and primarily funded by philanthropist’s. The museum actually owns many, many fantastic works, such as Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, a work that took 10 year to complete.

There is a lot to see and I suspect a heavy percentage of the Museum’s collection is unseen.

Today I took my voice recorder to take notes and a bean bag pillow to rest my camera on.

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Originally uploaded by amazingbrian.

It was a great game and a great day for a soccer. Sarah and her team remain undefeated. In contrast to last Saturday and the cold, windy, wet weather we have had this week, today was beautiful with temperatures in the 60’s and an abundance of sunshine.

The Girls played great and finished the game 4-2.

I was excited about the opportunity to practice, and hopefully improve, my sports photography. Plenty of light meant I could shoot at considerably faster shutter speeds and I was hoping for better results.

Still, as I walked up and down the sidelines shooting, I somehow began to feel, I was having an off day. Either the shot wasn’t there or I missed it. Rather than the usual 700 pictures I shoot for an event like this, I shot a mere 120.

Ironically, later in the day, I overheard Sarah talking to Marcia, “It wasn’t my best game. I think I was having an off day.”

Scary, isn’t it? I hadn’t even thought about it until that moment, but she didn’t score a goal this game, which is quite unusual for my little warrior. She almost did, but not quite. It didn’t matter. I was the proudest Father in the park today as I watched my 9 year old take control of that ball and move it half the field to within a yard of the goal.

As always, you can view the complete sequence on my flickr page, or simply by clicking on the photo above.

Holy Cow! What a great game! The St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series!

I must say, I feel, I have a fairly unique perspective of the whole thing. I rarely watch TV and don’t follow any organized sport, so I guess you could call me a “fair weather fan,” although I dislike that term.

Here is an example. Tonight, my Mother-In-Law calls to check on the household. My Wife talks with her about what everyone in St. Louis is talking about, the Cardinals. My wife mentions that I went to the game Thursday night. My Mother-In-Law’s responds was, “I didn’t know he was that big of a fan.”

My reaction was, “Do I have to be?”

No, I’m not a die hard baseball fan. So my perspective is fresh.

Tonight Jeff Weaver pitched 8 innings and did a fantastic job. I have to admit, I didn’t even know who he was. I was blown away with this guys ability and performance. Certainly a hero of the Series. I know who he is now.

I especially admire Tony LaRussa. What a poker face. A true gentleman.

10 Time World Champions

Great job Cardinals!