May 6 - Other People are Not Like Us.

The people who live in the U.S. and similar countries have been brainwashed to some extent. Conditioned, at any rate. The whole concept of "all men are created equal" that permeates our culture has lead us to believe that, except for the pretty differences of our various cultures, all humans are fundamentally the same. That the only difference between a Mulsim and a Christian are the Burka, the language and the place of worship, or things to that effect. This just is not so. The differences are not merely trappings.

In North America and most of Western Europe we have come to think that urbane civilization is just about within reach. We value life very highly and believe that is a characteristic of most people. We often project the idea that this applies to the world as a whole and that if we only treat others in a civilized way, they will reciprocate. We still seem to believe this. We learned nothing from the nationalistic collapse of Yugoslavia. We flatly refuse to acknowledge that Hamas and Hezbollah might actually have less than noble intent even in the face of ample evidence. When Muslim extremists chop off another head, it is not unusual for some people to justify this by pointing out Christian behavior during the inquisition as if actions 500 years ago in any way are indicative of western behavior today.

But these are old arguments. Today we have some new ones for how cultures differ in fundamentally different ways that speak directly to the value of human life. Not too many weeks ago we we worried about our pet food. It appears that some melamine made it's way in to gluten that was for use in manufacturing the foods. I imagine that most of use saw this as an issue of contamination... an accident or an anomaly like the Tylenol scare of a few decades ago. It is actually an indicator of that which I write. A fundamental difference how two cultures value life.

That gluten came from China. This is a country that maybe doesn't have the best controls on manufacturing quality. It turns out that it is not all than uncommon for melamine to be used as a filler in animal feeds there. Yep, you read that right. Melamine is a less expensive "substitute" for gluten. When you figure that out, and then figure out that we use gluten sourced from China for people food too, you quickly realize that there were a lot of panicked executives a few weeks ago. I can just imagine the conversations in the Lay's boardroom.

It seems that no contaminated gluten made into our food, just fido's. Hot on the heals of that catastrophe, though, comes new that the Chinese has another "substitute" used in food products, this time that has made it into people food, tragically. diethylene glycol, it turns out, is sufficiently similar to glycerin and sufficiently less expensive, to make it an attractive substitute. Diethylene glycol is similar to the stuff you put in your car's radiator and is a poison.

At least 100 children in Panama have fallen victim to this poison, recently, from consuming medicine prepared with what was supposed to be food grade glycerin shipped from China. Accidents can happen in this country. People do, in fact, make actuarial decisions about the value of life in this country. People do not make decisions that directly lead to guaranteed loss of life in this country, especially of children. That is a fundamental cultural difference and one that does not change overnight.

We live in an uncivilized world where life has vastly less value than we place on it. To think otherwise will certainly lead to calamity.

February 11 - Dragonflies and Children

When I was a kid, I remember quite clearly catching dragonflies and examining them. I don't know why I feel compelled to write, but while I probably did once or twice, I wasn't generally the sort to rip their wings off. I also remember catching butterflies. I haven't been able to catch either as an adult, at least not with my bare fingers. Kids aren't normally known for their patience, but they must have tremendously greater patience and concentration to be able to catch dragonflies. Along with their energy, it would be nice to figure out how to re-capture that, as an adult.

Yep, that's all. What? You think all of these are going to be like yesterday?