Everything Special in the World

Happy Holidays Space Travelers. It's a special time of the year, no really. I'm not a Christian, but goddamn I love Christmas. In such a special time, I thought I'd take the time to talk about how special we are, and how sad I am that we abuse our gifts.

In the mid 90's, MTV aired a very odd show. It set a group of 7 individuals together in a house and had them live and work out their differences. It was the Real World, and so was born reality television. The world would never really be the same. Some may argue that reality television had much earlier roots, but I believe very few would deny the RW's mass appeal and huge audience made it a special case. Remember Pedro, the very likeable and friendly homosexual being brought into American households across the USA? For some it made things like HIV/AIDS a real thing, and something close and tragic. When he died, even then President Clinton spoke about it. Reality TV was more than entertainment, it was a vehicle for social awareness.

Mind you, this was prior to the explosion of the internet. For some, this was a window into the USA's many sub-cultures and personalities. Perhaps it is hard to think of a time where the ability to talk to a stranger in a different state was harder than just logging into a social networking site or forum. I can remember staying the night at a friends house and he said he was talking to someone in Australia. I asked the first question that came to mind: "how much does it cost?"

Can you blame my naivety? My wonder was simple. How amazing to talk to someone so far away! Now I'm grown, and much more worldly. I speak other languages, and I've met many people from many places. I've been exposed to many beliefs, and seen how many people express themselves in different ways. But I digress...

I'm not the only thing that has changed since then. Reality TV has changed too. And while I've become more worldly and broadened my horizons, reality TV has become more and more narrow. Today, what passes for reality TV is quite surreal, but perhaps more sad is what it costs in my opinion.

When I see the latest commercial for "sing off," a new show about acapella groups competing, I am very troubled. While it is certainly wonderful to see such amazing talents, why must we make everything some sort of contest? Would we appreciate these amazing things any less if we didn't have a winner?

Even love is a contest. So many reality shows about dating or marriage. Is there anything that could be considered more special? It makes me sad.

Space Travelers, I'd like to offer more than moral outrage here, so I guess I should make a suggestion. Share what you do. If you sing, sing for someone you know. If you write, share it with a friend. If you dance, go move your feet. We have lots of special things to share, and it seems we always wait to have an excuse to share them. I'm no different, but I want to be.

Egad!

Jesus in toast? Pshaw. Einstein in frost! Science!

clipped from www.soulpancake.com

Single Thought #7

When I think about all the things about myself that have changed, I think the most significant is that I no longer fantasize about living forever. I don't want or need eternity. Let me have 80 years, and let them be filled with family and friendship. Let me have just one blink of the eye; a cosmic wink with a smirk and I'll be satisfied.

Bumper Stickers

Be well (John Spartan) Space Travelers. I was driving home today from work and I saw a bumper sticker, and its $3.00 message shook a thought loose in my head. The sticker read:

Teach Peace

I think it was meant to be understood to mean we should teach people HOW to be peaceful. I however took it differently. I thought about the way we teach history. I though about my middle school and high school history courses. The only way I can remember learning about two (or more) countries being in a related topic was in the context of war. sure the treaties at the end get a footnote at the end of the chapter, but overall, I think the focus of our history education has been about our struggles with each other, and not necessarily how we resolved them peacefully. I believe that what we choose to teach says something about what we value. Why not have coursework that examines the periods of our history in which we were more than just not fighting, but cooperating (for something other than war)? Do we think there is nothing to learn from those experiences? Can that history get a book too?

How we got along: A brief history

When does war get to go in the cliff notes? When does it stop being a casual topic? At what point, is it not spoken of in a matter-of-fact way? Why is it that peace is what creates "shock and awe?"

Today the Nobel Peace Prize was announced, and it went to President Obama. That's not what this post is about, but it's thematically relevant, so I might as well mention it. Some people are mad. Some people are very concerned with other people knowing how mad they are. How about this Space Travelers: Today, take 1 minute to think about a moment in your life where you rejected conflict and embraced a peaceful resolve.

Teach Peace, learn peace. Peace.