What I Would Like To Say To My Granddaughters

I don't get to see my granddaughters these days.  But if I could have a serious conversation with them, there are a few things I would want to say to them.  Here they are:

I love you.  I have loved you since your were born and I will not quit loving you.
Remember the reality of the times we have had together.
Remember that "opinions" are not the same thing as data, as facts.

Then I would like to expound on the last statement a bit.
Reality:  when you visited us you were in our house.
Opinion:  it was a good house.  it was a bad house.
  Distinguish between the FACT:  we lived in a house and the OPINION: it was a good or bad or something else house.

Reality:  We drove you around in a minivan, and then in a small car.
Opinion:  The minivan was a good minivan, or an evil minivan, or an ugly minivan.
Opinion:  You liked the minivan, or you hated the minivan, or you thought the minivan was the wrong color or the right color.

I want all my relatives, all my friends, and even all my enemies to learn to think critically.  To distinguish between fact (objective, you-can-measure-it, take-a-picture-t-it, confirm-it data) and opinion and perception.  I would especially like that for people who make a difference.

Perhaps the most astute, competent boss I every had used to say:  "Perception is all."

That's about the only thing I disagreed with her about.  Perception may be "all" when it comes to people making decisions that affect the rest of us, but perception may perceive incorrectly.   If a person sees a bull elk and says, "That's a nice cow," and then tries to milk the bull elk, surprising events are coming.  The bull elk will be a real bull elk, and not a gentle milk cow.  Perception may be real, but the bull elk is even more real.

The same thing is true when we label another human person.  We can take one dimension of a person, and say "She is beautiful" and not capture the essence of that person at all.  We simply have a perception.  We don't know the fact:  she is human.  We don't know the fact:  she is five feet, three inches in height.  We don't know the fact:  she manages to pay her bills on time every month.  Truly, we don't know any facts if all we know is your perception, "She is beautiful."  Someone from a different background might say, "She is too skinny.  She is ugly."

It is important to learn to think using data, speaking to data, and accurately labeling our opinions just that:  opinions.

What do you think?  Leave a comment below and let us know.

The Death Penalty

What is my opinion on the death penalty?

I was asked that a day or two ago.  Here is my answer:

 Well, in theory I am against it.
In reality, the way our justice system works, it is much too expensive.
I do think there is a "sort of" place for it.

•   Not as revenge
•   Not as punishment
•   Not as a sop to please the hating masses

However, if a system could be devised to sort out the totally sociopathic people who prey on the weak like children, women sleeping in their beds at home, etc, to try them, convict them, give them one appeal -- and then euthanize them quickly and humanely, I would be for it. 

Why, I wonder, does society foot the bill for 99 year sentences, or 164 year sentences, when there is zero hope of a reversal of the finding of guilt, and zero hope that the person will change for the better?


So, I guess I have a mixed answer to that, as to many things. 
In an imperfect world, however, with imperfect people serving on juries and imperfect, even bigoted people, serving at the discretion of the wealthy, I am against the death penalty.

The Short and the Long of It

Given the rapid change in the past century or two, it's hard to take the long view of anything.  In my father's lifetime he shifted from sailing ships to steam ships powered by coal to steam ships powered by oil.  He saw the invention of the airplane and rode on noisy airplanes during World War II.  He may even have learned to fly.  Earning money as a boy guidng eight horse and sixteen horse threshing teams, he saw the rise of relatively inexpensive farm tractors, bulldozers, and rototillers.

In my lifetime we left a depression, moved from a 42 party phone line to private lines and later to cell phones and smart phones.  As a boy I could get radio reception (AM only) part of the time, and sometimes I had to put my hand on the radio to assist the antenna to draw in the signals.  Today we take satellite radio for granted as well as HDTV.

Trade unions were essential to prevent the country from civil war in the years just before I was born, and then trade unions became as monopolistic as the greedy corporations they served to correct.  I heard today of a union complaint to a manager who didn't respond to an email of an employee in a timely fashion, although the employee himself seldom answered his email.

As I wonder about it, how does one "think long" in such a fast changing lifetime?

So far I think this way:

Long range values matter.  Honesty, trustworthiness, a good work ethic, respecting others, sharing, and practicing the so-called Golden Rule have counted throughout all the changes in my father's life and in mine.  Cheating employees and cheating employers are still nasty, and being either of them is worth avoiding.  Looking past the color of skin, the sexual orientation of another are the economic status of anyone to see the actual person brings positive dividends.  [Side note:  a sexual predator, whether poor or rich, dirty or clean, is still scum worth scrubbing off the surface of the tub we all bathe in -- earth.]
Any other kind of predator as well, actually.

The Long View involves positive values.  The short view is merely about adapting to surface changes.

What can we do to help the young, the middle aged and even the elderly take the long view?

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.