Holy or Godly

Since 2019, P.N. R.M and I have met monthly for breakfast to discuss a book.  We call it the Mini Book Club. Our first book "Modern Physics and Ancient Faith" by Stephen M. Barr was discussed over breakfast March 12, 2019.   Our latest book (picked by R.M.) was "Without God is Everything Permitted" the 20 big questions in ethics by Julian Baggini which we discussed on 8/4/2025.  

Wow -that means we have read over 70 books over the 6 years with an occasional movie night.  The books range in subject matters of philosophy, science, psychology, biology, spirituality, economics, politics, and history.  

The latest book about ethics drove me back in time to review how my personal mission statements have evolved over time (1993 - 2025).  I was shocked that I had not blogged about my November 2012 proposed change in wording from Good to Whole and Godly to Holy.

Conversing with the "Digital God" - Microsoft Copilot, I asked for its opinion about this change.  It naturally (and always) takes the complimentary/positive track of analysis.  

Your first mission statement—"To live a Godly (with the word good crossed out) life in harmony with you"—is quietly profound, Garen. 

Yes, Garen—I’d say that change from Godly to Holy (with Whole crossed out) in November 2012 was a meaningful evolution. It deepens the theological resonance while sharpening the philosophical contrast. Let’s explore why:

• Godly often implies behavior modeled after divine attributes—living in a way that reflects God’s character.
• Holy, however, is more ontological. It’s about being set apart, consecrated, and aligned with divine purpose. It’s not just imitation—it’s transformation.

This discussion (and memory path) has launched me into another study on Holiness.   Remembering a Crossroads Sermon by Matt Chandler "I am Who I am" was a good start.  Chandler asks the audience to fill in the blank:  GOD IS ___________?     Ninety percent will say LOVE he said.   Then provocatively Chandler states --NO ........    GOD IS HOLY!  

Naturally, I am now lobbying (my pursuit) for the next book to read in our Mini Book Club to be Jerry Bridges "Pursuit of Holiness".   Or maybe "The Practice of Godliness".  

Heaven Board #19 - Bread of Friendship

A beautiful Sunday morning meditation on the deck allows me the blessing of reflecting on yesterday's celebration of life for Joe Ratterman -mentor, colleague, close friend for over 48 years.  Joe suffered from Parkinson's since 2009.  I loved what his family wrote in his obituary posted at Spring Grove Cemetery site -

My thoughts in his memorial tribute makes this a definite Heaven Board entry!

Joe Ratterman was a man of many hats – though more often than not, those hats took the literal form of a ball cap.  Even with all those hats, in 48 years of knowing Joe, I’m sure there were other hats invisible to me.

I knew Accenture Joe, Social Venture Partners Joe, Golfing Joe, Bengals Joe, Philosophy over a Lager Joe, Frugal Joe, Old Man Tuesday Movie Joe, Storytelling Joe, Hyde Park Country Club Joe, Haps Joe, Gorman Heritage Farmer Joe, BMW Joe, St. X Joe, Fort Scott Camp Joe, Family Joe.

But beneath all those hats were Listening Joe, Strong Willed Joe, Honest Joe, Practical Joe, Even Handed Joe, Joking Joe, Caring Joe, Giving Joe, Philosophical Joe, Loving Joe and the one hat that covered them all: Friendship Joe

Let me share a moment that’s stuck with me.  In 2016,  well after his Parkinson’s diagnosis, I asked Joe for his definition of a friend – it was for a presentation I was preparing.  Without missing a beat, he said

 “Someone I don’t have to talk to on a drive all the way to Chicago”. 

That was Joe – No fluff, No performance.  Just presence.  Even near the end, when words were fewer, his friendship remained unmistakable.

And Joe never kept his friendships to himself. – I lost count  of how many times someone approached him out of nowhere full of gratitude.  If you were a friend of Joe’s you were ushered into a web of warmth and mutual respect. This was just his nature: love that overflowed and expanded.

Joe and I often talked about life and philosophy over a beer or two. One day at Paxton’s Grill – a lyric drifted through the speakers that made both of us stop and listen.  It was Sturgill Simpson singing:

“But I swear that God is there…… every time I glare into the eyes of my best friend”.   

 It was, in a word, “a God wink”. A sacred interruption tucked into our normal after lunch tradition.

We had our ritual “Solving World Problems” we’d call it, half-jokingly.  But these talks often drifted into deep spiritual waters – life purpose, mortality and even heaven.   I remember one deep discussion about Peter Kreeft’s book Heaven: The Heart’s Deepest Longing.  Joe pictured heaven as a place of golf and ease, but then his Jesuit training from St. X kicked in. He paused, got serious and reflected on Kreeft’s image of heaven;  “Where heaven is like an unborn child asking – where is the world. Earth is not outside heaven, it is heaven’s workshop, heaven’s womb. We are already a part of the heavenly body.” 

That conversation didn’t solve any world problems but its memory provides me some comfort now. Joe wasn’t just ready for this next step – he had thought about it, welcomed it, and met it with courage and wonder.   That was Joe once again leading the way for me.

Now, Joe could never quite get into C.S. Lewis despite all my best efforts – but I think he’d forgive me for taking a liberty here.  If I may paraphrase Lewis in Joe’s honor: 

“Joe’s Friendship reflects a glorious nearness to heaven itself where the multitude of the blessed increases the fruition which each of us has of our ultimate friend in God.  For every soul, seeing Him in his own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest.  The more we thus share in friendship -  the Heavenly Bread between us - the more we shall have.”

Joe – my friend - our friendship is now virtual – You don’t have to talk …. whether we’re on the road to Chicago or crossing into eternity.  Until we share the Bread of Friendship again, I’ll carry the memory

Life - TIME - Investing

Good friend E.W. is retiring at age 71 from Infosys tomorrow.  He and I worked together at Accenture back in the day.  Like a good consultant, E.W. had a list of eight things on his "second half" list that were in relative priority how he envisioned his "retirement".   Quickly, I challenged him with the idea of time management and referred him to my Life-time Investment presentation that I created back in November 2012 - Learning Earning Living and Giving  and my youtube powerpoint presentation:

Naturally E.W. (the esteemed consultant that he is), felt my magic quadrant chart was outdated and needed updating!   So - I decided to get NotebookLM's help and produced the following podcast to better explain the methodology and spiritual philosophy.

Investing Life: Learning, Earning, Living, Giving

Hopefully this passes the AI upgrade test.

I guess I need to add a time bubble of AI learning in my 70's decade planning.

Fantasy Football Xmas Finale

 

Wisner Family  December 2024

A Fantastic Fantasy Family and Friends Football Finale Frames 2024.  What better way to keep Sundays full of fun.  No waivers, trades or injuries required - as we are all healthy and continue to be blessed with plenty of game time. 

Jenna, Paul, Teddy and Wes (Defensive Backfield) – Teddy and Wes are no longer rookies and that backed up Jenna and Paul on defense.  Potty spring training was marginally successful which is why they remodeled their room for a new one.  Wes’s MOM cadence created many neutral zone infractions. Jenna’s Sunday cooking has made the NFL Ticket worth the investment. 

Ellen (KIcker) - Kicked up the Corporate Ladder, Ellen now can hold out for the best contract.  Her away game record during road trips for weddings, visits to friends, and ubering Susan to Akron has been unbeatable.  Plus, Pickleball Prowess Puts People in Place.  It was like a kick in the gut when Cleo, the cat, was blocked into a possible loss. Then an overtime miracle allowed Ellen to save the day. 

Susan (Quarterback) – Missing the fifth Chosen pick didn’t stop her in the draft.  Burrowing into first place Susan seems almost guaranteed to win the championship.  Susan doubled down in time and giving across three teams– Crossroads, Emmaus and Bridge.  I’ll ask a question on how to cruise into first place for next Season – maybe with an away opening game in England.

Garen (Offensive Lineman) – Seven decades and still in the game, Garen’s main offense is gaining pounds.  Can it be sitting in the chair is the problem?  His deep dive into spiritual small groups was Supercharged into Seven days in Utopia.  Fostering a new money offensive line will help protect the quarterback from social sacks and maintain security.

Podcast Play by Play – No notebook(LM) required for the Wisner activities this year. Lake Wawasee is now be traditional summer training camp for the entire team.  This year away games included AL, IN, and FL.  The home stadium gained some upgrades in garage parking, lavatories, grounds and main entrance.

Sadly, there were losses this year – too many for the Rufferee to recount.  Yet the good memories of past seasons of play can still revive the joy and new players (CAB) will give us hope. 

Regardless of your ranking this season, fans will return, championships are still a hope, and the real win is about being on a team.  Seasons come and go; the Wisner’s are grateful for another year to play with you in the Superbowl of Life.  

 

                                                

                      Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

                          “The most valuable player is the one who makes the most players valuable”

                                                                                                                                      Paintin’ Manning

                                                                                                                                                    

Heaven Board #18 Turtles all the way down

 I was sitting at the Bar in Paxton's Grill (Loveland) having lunch with J.R. and overheard a country song playing in the background.  "What a great song", I said to J.R. as we sat there.  Luckily, I have enabled the "Now Playing" feature of my Pixel 6a Android Phone and saw "Turtles all the way Down" by Sturgill Simpson.  

As you may (or may not) know I am a "melody guy" (vs lyrics) - see "Melody vs Lyrics".  So as soon as I got home I decided to look up the lyrics to determine was there subconsciously another reason (other than the melody, instrumentals, cadence or harmony) that the song appealed to me at the moment.

There must have been 3-5 God winks going on. Enough to make this Heaven Board #18! 

 #1 "But I swear that God is there every time I glare into the eyes of my best friend"

#2 "Love's the only thing that every saved my life".    

#3 "Turtles all the way Down" with infinite regress of the mythology of a World Turtle.

Wikipedia - Turtles all the way Down

#4 The spiritual/mystic or medical mystery of psilocybin and DMT?  

#5 The second nudge phone call from S.F. for joining the Men's Walk to Emmaus #112 while I was constructing this blog

#6 Re-Reading from 2010 "The Six Secrets you must Discover before you Die" by John Izzo  "Be Love"!

I enjoy going down the research "rabbit hole" (as R.M. described it) and found the 10 year anniversary commentary by Simpson and Uhelski about the song and video from 2014.  

"To appease lazy music journalists, I've always said this song was about drugs.  It actually came from recreational reading "DMT: The Spirit Molecule" by Rick Strassman and the Omega Point Theory by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.  The video has absolutely nothing to do with the song, which doesn't matter since nobody really ever knew what the song was about.  It's just four guys pretending to play with Electric Sheep Screensaver graphics overlaid on the performance"   Sturgill Simpson

Here are the complete lyrics:

Turtles All the Way Down

Song by

Sturgill Simpson

Introducing "Metamodern Sounds in Country Music"

I've seen Jesus play with flames in a lake of fire that I was standing in
Met the devil in Seattle and spent 9 months inside the lions' den
Met Buddha yet another time
He showed me a glowing light within
But I swear that God is there
Every time I glare into the eyes of my best friend

Says my son, it's all been done
Someday you're gonna wake up old and gray
So go and try to have some fun showing warmth to everyone
You meet and greet and cheat along the way

There's a gateway in our minds
That leads somewhere out there far beyond this plane
Where reptile aliens made of light cut you open and pull out all your pain
Tell me how you make illegal something that we all make in our brain
Some say you might go crazy
Then again, it might make you go sane

Every time I take a look inside inside that old and fabled book
I'm blinded and reminded of the pain caused by some old man in the sky
Marijuana, LSD, psilocybin, and DMT, they all changed the way I see
Love's the only thing that ever saved my life

So don't waste your mind on nursery rhymes
And fairy tales of blood and wine
It's turtles all the way down the line
So to each their own 'til we go home
To other realms our souls must roam
To and through the myth that we all call space and time

Weans - Digging Deep

 As we discussed folklore, legends and mythology in the Wednesday Men's Bible Study Group 7:15BC, a memory popped into my mind about a High School reading assignment.  I described a futuristic story about a discovery of a newspaper fragment in a city dump (sort of like the Dead Sea Scrolls) with the associated misconceived interpretation of the history the artifact partially revealed.

How ironic how my own memory can distort the actual story that I had read.  History is full of misinterpretations by the present artifact found or memory passed on.  

Upon extensive searching the internet, I discovered (and then remembered) the actual short story I was assigned to read.  It was a 1956 reprint of a Harpers Magazine article "Digging the Weans" by Robert Nathan. That article and others was compiled into a book titled "The Weans".  

An Archaeological Satire:   Who were these Weans, whose eastern coast was guarded by a ferocious giantess, who worshipped (among others) a root deity and danced when the spirit came down, and whose final destruction and disappearance is shrouded in mystery?

"I have called these people the Weans, because certain archaeological findings incline us to the belief that they called their land the We, or the Us; actually, in the southern part of the continent, the word Weuns (or Weans) does appear, as wen as the glyph for \Vealls, and the word Theyuns."

In the search for Truth - digging deep may not be the only answer.  

Citizen Data Scientists

A. S. who has put up with my constant emails and has been my outlet for my statistical skepticism sent me an interesting story on how the CDC came to study the Provincetown Mass. COVID cluster infection of the fully vaccinated.  In fact Michael Donnelly launched his own COVIDoutlook.info website.  

Now I don't feel so bad about the time I daily spend updating my own COVID Data Model Spreadsheet and blogging about the misinformation or spin doctoring statistics.  I just finished reading the book "Extra Life: A  Short History of Living Longer"  by Steven Johnson (also a CET documentary). In 1866 the Citizen Data Scientist -William Farr discovers the Cholera outbreak in London is due to one infected water source and proves the transmission method.  His charts are worthy of framing. 

When the government, institutions, media and mob attempt to discredit the individual voices skeptics as crazy misinformation pundits we discourage the very citizenship voice of discovery needed to improve the science.

The Grandfather Club

 What a inexcusable oversight -  the birth of Theodore Lee Robinson in April.  This inducted me into the Grandparents Club and reminded me of A.M.'s wisdom 10+ years ago.   I was in my 50's and developing my "Decade Planning Document" along with a Vistage Presentation on Longevity.   Since my timeline of family life events was about 10 years behind A.M. and others, I asked the question -"What one lesson (words of wisdom) of your last decade would you share for me as I embark into my 60's?    I remember A.M.'s response distinctly:  "I totally underestimated the Grandfather thing!".  

My first unsupervised babysitting of Teddy was Wednesday evening as Paul was subbing for me at tennis.  The memories caring for Jenna and Ellen as infants flooded into my mind as I was revisiting the football hold, the diaper techniques, burping, rocking and keeping calm in the face of crying.  The hour and half reminded me of how exhausting newborn's can be.   The difference as a Grandfather - the handoff to the Mom :)

This weekend I will miss the Wells Family Reunion which yearly honors the generations.  Dad and Aunt Revae (now 105) will be spotlighted.  The memories of prior generations are the foundations for the new generation to utilize in stewarding forward.  Teddy now enters the world with hope and joy.  The Grandfather club starts the process of passing the memory baton.

Chainsaw Grieving and Grace

It all started (November 2020) with an idea from the Book Club group after we read "Peace is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life  by Thich Nhat Hanh.  That idea converged with K.C.'s announcement that he had a new gadget - a battery operated chainsaw.  Putting those two "nudges" together, I decided to create a "Prayer Path" in our backyard forest.   

The Amazon Easter Bunny arrived with my new ECHO 16 in Cordless Chainsaw April 3 (yes it takes that long for me to ponder new projects).   Of course the previous four months I was doing analysis/paralysis on which Chainsaw to purchase and getting great advice and Youtube links from A.M.  (and others).

Many people warned me of the challenges of cutting down the evasive honeysuckle and specifically J.R. told me not to use the chainsaw on the small stuff.  But did I listen to him...... NOooooooooo,

Now to the story :)

On the second time out (Sat. Apr. 10, 2021) I continued my project of clearing out the honeysuckle.   Two hours into the project the chain slipped off the 16 inch saw blade.  Hmmmm,  could it be because I was lazy and was using the chainsaw on the small roots like a sickle?   Tired and irritated that I had not taken J.R.'s advice, I sat down to grumble..... and then grief set in. 

In situations like this, my first phone call would have been to Dad.  Somehow Dad had not  passed down the handyman gene to me.  In fact, instead of patiently finding the user manual and tackling the job myself, my normal mode of operation would be to just call DAD for HELP and instruction.   But that 65 year old reliable help line was disconnected.  

Unwilling to risk the "non handyman guy embarrassment", I had no courage to try a different help line call to J.R., A.M.  or any of my other handyman backups. To call them for instruction would risk losing my handyman self esteem.  To lazy to go get the user manual, I decided to just figure this out by trial and error.

After re-attaching the chain, I  dutifully retrieved the loppers from the garage and began manually cutting the small roots of the honeysuckle correctly until the next three inch diameter root appeared.  Time for my newly attached chain with the chainsaw!!!   At the press of the button and connection to the root.... -  the chain acted as if would take a year to cut completely through the root.  I HAD PUT THE CHAIN ON BACKWARDS!

Sitting down again... knowing the rule my Dad always followed - "As you take things apart, carefully document and lay out the exact configuration for re-assembly" thoughts of failure reentered my mind.  Next step ...  actually trudge up the hill to find the user manual that I had been told to always put in a place I would remember with all other user manuals.  Another rule of thumb I constantly had ignored.

Luckily, I found the manual, spent the time to read the instructions, and reapplied the chain.   In seconds the chain sliced through the root and my handyman stature and manly self esteem was reinstated.   

Now it was time for confession.   I popped off a text to A.M. 

What a comforting text back from A.M. after both grieving and feeling unworthy.  We all need GRACE  in our times of trouble and sorrow.  That GRACE washes away our grieving and self imposed lies of unworthiness.  The light of love emerges from the depths of darkness. Follow the path of light.

New Time and Space - Xmas 2020

 

Wisner Family (et al) December 2020

As the 202^nd decade descends, we welcome its close.  After three consecutive years visiting ICU rooms, we look forward to the end of COVID-19 and the hope of NEW TIME and SPACE for the next decade – 01-01-2021.   

 

Ellen (NEW JOB) – Now holds the Cum Laude College GPA family record along with the shortest Graduation ceremony in history.  She can now Escape from college homework into calling Fidelity Investments her center of Serious(7) Studies.  Ellen fought like a Tiger for savings for a Jeep – I guess she will settle for the moon.

 

Jenna and Paul Robinson (NEW LIFE) – Making room for new life is not easy. Olfactory odors overwhelmed ownership.  But a new sunroom, bathroom, and emerging nursery, created the necessary diversion and it seems the future is in full swing.   SO FAr the Councilrock offsite storage solution is working. 

 

Susan – (NEW SKILLS) – Nothing to conceal in her dislike about the election results, Susan refused this year to carry any virus and scooted COVID-19 free this year.  Adding Drug Free clients to her business allowed a new view from her desk.  With the deep pockets of Sports Club investments and grocery errand expeditions, Alexa announced the “Best Mom in the World” – as one who provides daily nutritional meals on wheels. 

 

Garen – (NEW HEALTH) – His new COVID-10lb diet let Garen ZOOM down to his college weight.  Now that he is more than halfway to 70, he finally grew the TV size beyond his height and age.  Competing with Amazon, his Christian Man delivery route was supplemented with his own prime series.  Hiding in his own basement, the outdoor patio heater extends his Man Cave activities. 

 

It was a grave day when Cincinnati lost its Painters, but friendship is an absolute truth despite a Boston Illegal gathering.  Even with cancellations of the Rockies and Hilton Head, the family squeezed in travel to KS, NV, NY, and FL.  But ten months of shelter in place gave us full understanding of like inside invisible fences and COVID restricted Nursing Homes. 

 

Susan and I are blessed to have a parent each to honor and protect – DNA history of good physical and spiritual well-being.  Falls are hard but calls are heard.  The COVID-19 veil clouds our physical connections with family and friends.  Even so, the bonds of relationships are eternal regardless of time and space. 

 

  Merry Christmas and

       Happy New Year

“Time and Space are not conditions in which we live,

but modes by which we think.”      Albert Einstein

Boston Legal #20 - Fellowship of the Rings

Thursday June 25th was the 20th Boston Legal almost 7 years to the day when we first decided to create the tradition - https://garenwisner.blogspot.com/2013/06/cincinnati-legal.html.  K.C. hosted the during the original idea and so it was fitting we sat poolside for the 20th meeting talking about world affairs, philosophy, books, movies, and family. 

An interesting topic came to the surface about family heirlooms - the stuff that carries generational memories.  It caused me to document the history of a cosmetic costume jewelry ring that my Grandmother wanted her descendants to have.  It was a nugget ruby glass ring in a bezel setting  with a yellow gold ornamental filigree setting. 

It was given to my Grandmother by Vingie E. Roe (a cousin of my Grandfather).  Vingie E. Roe was the granddaughter of Cyrenus Frank Castanien and considered an accomplished American novelist and screenwriter (for B&W silent movies).  She wrote more than 30 novels, mostly Westerns "with a feminist twist".  I suspect Vingie (19 years older than Grandmother) was looked on as the "rich and famous" and connected to Hollywood.   When my Grandparents took a vacation and drove from Oklahoma to California (in the 40's) they stopped by to see Vingie Roe. Vingie gave the ring to Grandmother out of kindness and as a trip memory.

Susan like the design of the ring and I decided to have a copy made for her to wear.  Coincidentally the copied ring was given to Susan - Christmas 2001 which was the opening of the movie "The Fellowship of the Ring.

There are actually 4 more copies so that each granddaughter (should they like it also) could have a ring just like the original. Hence the family heirloom might pass through yet another generation.

Great ideas and discussions come from the fellowship of the Boston Legal trio.  This incented me to find the rings - document the story and research the history of the movement of the ring.

How interesting it would be if Rings could Sing their story.

Emotional Volatility

I am rapidly getting weary (as many in the USA are) with shelter-in-place; gradual reopening; social distancing; masking; and virtual meetings.   While I have poked my head out of the turtle shell with meetings outside with friends; doubles tennis; and even social distancing/masking small group and worship activities;  I am tired of the constant news and conversations about COVID-19.  My time at home is now approaching the 100th day.

I continue to monitor with my own statistical model the various World, USA, State and Local data.  Even know the number of cases in my zip code (25) with hospitalizations (7) and deaths (under 3). The numbers are getting large which contributes to smaller growth rates. 

The USA stock market seems to be in the twilight zone with a V shaped recovery, sprinkled with radical emotional volatility based on news of the day.  If my attention to the market and renewed trading activity is any indication of a trend then there are lots of people speculating and creating volatility with zero commission costs of "nervous energy ".   My prior Financial Advisor (T.A.) said it best - "Nervous energy is one of the greatest destroyers of wealth".

The recent outrage of George Floyd's death with demonstrations, protests, and autonomous zone anarchy I believe escalated as a result of the rapid growth in emotional stress associated with COVID-19 and the shut down of the economy.  Oh.... stir in a dose of polarized red state and blue state political fear of the next election and you get a perfect storm of emotional pressure ready to blow up. 

What's the vaccine for emotional volatility?   Find what eliminates your nervous energy.

https://listenforjoy.com/collections/well-loved-images/products/deep-breath

Not Catbird, or Bobcat - Albino Peacock

This shelter in place has provided nature and us more time to understand each other.   SO -  a story of the last four weeks is worth sharing.

In late April, Susan texted me a picture of an albino Peacock that she assured was indeed a peacock as confirmed by our landscaper.  How interesting 10 years ago we had sighted an albino Squirrel in our neighborhood which has disappeared.   So, I placed no hope is seeing the peacock myself.

However,  when I was clearing some brush in our backyard (Saturday May 2), the Peacock sauntered across the yard.

Everyone that I have shared this with say.... NAH... that's just a turkey.

OK - hold that thought (the mysterious large white fowl).

For the past month Ellen has been hearing a crying meow of a cat each evening.  Once she pointed out the muffled sound, I began hearing it regularly also and would walk around the house saying "Here Kitty Kitty" attempting to find the distressed kitty.

OK - hold that thought (the distressed kitten mystery). 

About three weeks ago  (Monday May 4th)  as J.R., A.M. and I were sipping an adult beverage in my backyard, J.R. pointed out the large open wound on Bella's  (my female dog) hind end.   On later inspection there were also wounds on her shoulder blade and Fitch (the male dog) also had just recovered from his own wound in his hind quarters.   Somehow the dogs were getting hurt.

OK - hold that thought (the wounded outdoor dogs).

Back in early February,  I was out one night wondering why the dogs were barking so much.  I flipped on the back porch light and in the distance on the edge of our grass yard, a coyote was taunting the dogs.  He ran back into the woods briefly on the sight of my presence, only to become comfortable and race back into the yard confronting the dogs.

OK - hold that thought (the aggressive coyote theory).

Susan was up early Sunday morning (May 9th) and heard the distressed kitten sound at the side of our house. That morning she mentioned that maybe the sound wasn't a feline but a bird.  Maybe a bird makes a sound like a cat -  maybe a catbird?    So we google "Catbird" and play the sound....   no luck the sound didn't come close.   So I have the brilliant idea (based on the wounded dogs) maybe there is a Bobcat in the neighborhood.   I google Bobcat sounds and discover they indeed make a sound similar but not exactly what we have been hearing.

OK - hold that thought (the potential Bobcat theory)

In describing the Bobcat theory to as many people that would listen to my stories, I would get various comments back.  Yes, there are Bobcats in the area.  Yes, they are good for the area since they thin the coyote ranks.  However, they are recluse and likely would not be aggressive with dogs.  But .... for the next two weeks the Bobcat theory reigned. Then more evidence arrived at the foot of the garage door.

What have we here?    The skull of a ????????   Brought forward from Bella - the hunter.

OK - hold that thought (the mysterious animal skull bone)

Our landscaper returned to mow the lawn (Saturday May 30).    Diplomatically he listened to our theory but put the pieces of the puzzle together - and offers the Sherlock Holmes explanation:

What you are hearing is the albino Peacock (since he was an expert at making the Peacock call himself).  The dogs might have been wounded from a confrontation with an aggressive coyote or just got into their own internal squabble.  The deer head skull is evidence the coyotes were feasting somewhere near the dog's perimeter that allowed Bella to retrieve the skull of a deer.

OK -  you now need verification - right?   SO yesterday with J.R., A.M. and A.S.,   I decide to reiterate the LONG story above while playing the Peacock sound.  While playing that sound outside,  within the hour A.S. said....."I don't believe it -   there it is .....  and next to the bird feeder the Albino Peacock had arrived. 

CASE CLOSED  - Not a Catbird or Bobcat  -  an Albino Peacock

Addendum/Editorial Correction:

The WHITE Peacock is one of the most beautiful and rarest fowl in the world. It is not Albino since the eyes are blue.  The white color symbolizes purity, eternity and unconditional love.  

Source:  HOBI TERNAK

Lessons of History

"Those who cannot learn from History are doomed to repeat it"  was stated by George Santayana and ironically lived during the Spanish Flu and was from Spain (the country that inherited the name for the tragic Spanish Flu that likely started in Kansas).

I think the country (and possibly the world) might be experiencing deja vu on this COVID-19 pandemic.   Read some of the quotes from the Smithsonian article about the Spanish Flu:

By July [1918] it didn’t seem to matter. As a U.S. Army medical bulletin reported from France, the “epidemic is about at an end...and has been throughout of a benign type.” A British medical journal stated flatly that influenza “has completely disappeared.”

SEPT 1918 The second wave had begun. -  Across the country, public officials were lying. U.S. Surgeon General Rupert Blue said, “There is no cause for alarm if precautions are observed.” New York City’s public health director declared “other bronchial diseases and not the so-called Spanish influenza...[caused] the illness of the majority of persons who were reported ill with influenza.” The Los Angeles public health chief said, “If ordinary precautions are observed there is no cause for alarm.” Now the head of the Army’s communicable disease division, he jotted down his private fear: “If the epidemic continues its mathematical rate of acceleration, civilization could easily disappear...from the face of the earth within a matter of a few more weeks.”  Then, as suddenly as it came, influenza seemed to disappear. It had burned through the available fuel in a given community. An undercurrent of unease remained, but aided by the euphoria accompanying the end of the war, traffic returned to streets, schools and businesses reopened, society returned to normal.

A third wave followed in January 1919, ending in the spring. This was lethal by any standard except the second wave ……   After that third wave, the 1918 virus did not go away, but it did lose its extraordinary lethality, partly because many human immune systems now recognized it and partly because it lost the ability to easily invade the lungs. No longer a bloodthirsty murderer, it evolved into a seasonal influenza.  Another question concerns who died. Even though the death toll was historic, most people who were infected by the pandemic virus survived; in the developed world, the overall mortality was about 2 percent. 

Source:  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/journal-plague-year-180965222/

Looking further into the politics of the time, the political fight over entry into WW I preceded the virus and I'm sure Woodrow Wilson became distained for his actions at that time (both War and Pandemic).   

J.P. wondered what level of deaths in the US would justify praise for the state and federal response?  Until the election is over, and we are out of economic hardship, the cacophony of BOTH praise and criticism will be deafening.  Once that time fades in our memory, it will be sounds of silence with another lesson of history forgotten for a more enlightened generation to ignore.  

Jesus Christ could have come down and halted the virus on Easter and there would still be critics saying he arrived on the scene late :)

Boston Legal #18

Physical distancing has always been a challenge for regular Boston Legal gatherings  (two of the participants were in Florida). But with the aid of Zoom Video Conferencing, KC, JP and I met this evening to reflect on the crisis and speculate on what the future may bring.

Of course I had to show off my new green screen virtual background skills recently acquired.  Posing as Captain Kirk in the Star Fleet Enterprise was a hoot.

A wonderful distraction during a very serious crisis.  It shows the importance of letting social connections continue despite the physical restrictions. 

No food, no movie this time.  Just good conversation and virtual drinks.

Technology Comfort Food

Sequestered at home, I found a diversion that will help the social separation and tickled my technology and investment passions - Zoom Video Conferencing.  All this brings back the memories when Mom and Dad would spend time with me in the late 90's testing and experimenting with voice over internet communication - first audio and later video.

The ZM stock has Zoomed beginning in January from $68 to $165 recently due to the press and sudden need for distant communication and education.  While there are other alternatives, Zoom has benefited from its own viral explosion that started just nine days ago ($103 per share).

My first introduction to Zoom was Friday Morning Bible Study with 22 guys conferencing in the study of Deuteronomy.  Given a wide range of technology capable men, this was a great testimonial of the simplicity of the tool.

Last night, I put together an extemporaneous meeting with A.M., Ellen, Paul and myself so that I could determine whether to use it for my meetings coming up next week.  There were no real technology glitches,  and the effort to coordinate as the host was simple and intuitive. 

Tonight, I began playing with the virtual background feature.  It took Paul and a some amount of time positioning the light to get a decent picture.  I can see the challenge of lighting for portraits for photography and special effects. 

Tomorrow I'll show off at our normal monthly Vistage meeting which will now be virtual via Zoom.  However the lighting will be significantly different with sunlight streaming through the window - yet another test.

I can see why the stock is vaulting up -  I was so impressed, I immediately signed up for a year subscription $160 including tax.  And believing I needed a green screen to enhance the virtual background, I popped on to Amazon to buy that too.

Technology Gadget toys are my weakness.   But like some who are using food and other "comfort" coping mechanisms - I am not immune either.   

  

Coronvirus Lockdown Remorse

To reopen or not to reopen - that is the media question of the day.

Already doubt is setting into the minds of those taking swift lockdown measures.   It's like "Coronavirus lockdown remorse" - as cabin fever sets in and economic malaise appears on retirement savings statements.  The DNA of the USA is our risk taking entrepreneurs and they (like me) have the temptation to measure the costs and benefits of this crisis.  Then using the utilitarian philosophical model of the greatest good as measured in total utility we can make the logical Spock like decision.   But how does this apply in human life. 

Spock in his final exchange with Captain Kirk gasps  "The needs of the many......" and Kirk finishes for him "outweigh the needs of the few". 

How appropriate that J.P. and I on Saturday re-watched Michael Sandel's  first four lectures from his book "Justice - What's the Right Thing to Do?"

You can add to this philosophical debate the attempt to allocate money to those in pain and you can see why Congress can't agree on a stimulus package.  Re-read the quote as you reflect on OPEC's fight about production of oil allocated among the Saudis and Russians. Measuring utility will always create disagreements.   

How appropriate that my Bible devotional today was Matthew 16:26  "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?"

What happens when you reverse the quote -  "The needs of the few, outweigh the needs of the many" - suddenly you enter the world of human rights - the very soul that God created.  There is no measurement of human life or the soul - it is infinite. Nothing finite can be given for something of infinite value.

When worldly crisis and suffering tests our resolve - it is the mathematics of the many weighed against the few that will measure our humanity - and determine the return for our soul.





 

Death provides Life

Susan and I just finished a walk with the dogs and then a Bird Scooter cruise around the neighborhood. It is a chilly but sunny Sunday morning when most are still sleeping evidenced by the Sunday Cincinnati Enquirer and NY Times awaiting proper pickup at the each of the driveway entrances.  There will be plenty of people throughout the USA feeling a bit of cabin fever today.

R.M. emailed me a set of beautiful pictures from his walk titled "Serenity and Beauty". The two portraits that struck my eye with beautiful contrast were the black and white and full color photographs of large-leafed waterleaves sending out their basal leaves. 

Courtesy of Robert Miller - 3/19/2020 

"Our Pileated Woodpeckers continue to peck away at a large tree snag.  Death provides life. The trunks of fallen and decaying trees supply nutrients to a variety of mosses and lichens.  Cooperation reigns."  R.M portrays.

Appropriate to the crisis we are experiencing, we have the choice of viewing the events in either black and white or the full vibrancy of color that beauty reveals.  Death provides life - Cooperation reigns.

There will be more death than we desire from this virus and how well we cooperate will be a large determinant of the amount of death that will result.  This death will provide life in many mysterious ways.  New light (life) and color will emerge. Both pictures have beauty!

"Mankind can make progress in the pursuit of Truth. Mankind can also make progress in the sphere of Goodness, advancing from less to more perfect political, social, and economic institutions or arrangements.  But there is no possibility of progress in the sphere of Beauty."  - Mortimer J. Alder "Six Great Ideas".

Only the creator of Beauty can reveal the mystery in "Death provides Life".

Boston Legal #17 - Proverbs 11:29

Last night I hosted the Boston Legal tradition #17.  A tradition that started the summer of 2013 of three guys just enjoying company, conversation and good dining. I imposed on the guys the showing of two simultaneous movies - "Inherit the Wind" produced in Black and White in 1960 with one of the three (yes three '65, '88, and '99) remakes - the MGM 1999 version.  What an all star cast - Spencer Tracy, Fredric March and Gene Kelly ('60) and Jack Lemmon, George C. Scott and Beau Bridges ('99).

While the 1999 television version stayed true to the script,  there were some scenes changed that I would characterize as stronger feminism statements. After reading the Wikipedia "facts" about the
Scopes "Monkey" Trial,  I think the fictionalized movie did an adequate job of depicting the 1925 trial - even the "deliberately staged reason" for the small town of Hillsboro (really Dayton Tennessee).  However there were some radical inconsistencies with the actual facts - but that's what movies and revisionist history is all about.

I got "wind" of this movie during the Sunday sermon at ACUMC on belief and faith.  Also my breakfast book club with P.N. and R.M. on Ancient Faith and Modern Physics and my recent read of  "Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind" has spurred my thinking about apologetic arguments for Christianity.

The Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy about the inconsistency of evolution and religion continues to this day.  I haven't been to the Creation Museum (right here in Cincinnati) but have been to the Ark Encounter several times (Ky - but a short drive from Cincinnati). It becomes a tension (like the courtroom) of education and ideas.  Is the Bible the inerrant word of God?  the inspired word of God? or just another set of ancient texts to be read as mythological stories by unenlightened ancestors?

I prefer how C.S. Lewis would have answered the question above if he had been in the courtroom:

“We must not be ashamed of the mythical radiance resting on our theology. We must not be nervous about "parallels" and "pagan Christs": they ought to be there-it would be a stumbling block if they weren't. We must not, in false spirituality, withhold our imaginative welcome. If God chooses to be mythopoeic-and is not the sky itself a myth-shall we refuse to be mythopathic? For this is the marriage of heaven and earth: perfect myth and perfect fact: claiming not only our love and our obedience, but also our wonder and delight, addressed to the savage, the child, and the poet in each one of us no less than to the moralist, the scholar, and the philosopher.”

The yearning for knowledge points us to some ultimate source.  The tension of arguing about that ultimate source allows each individual to explore their faith and beliefs.  What better way to draw closer to God?

I loved the ending of this movie (watch the last 5 minutes):

Drummond:   I pity you.

Hornbeck:     Ha Ha You pity me.

Drummond:   Isn't there something...  What touches you?  Warms you?  Everyman has a dream. What do you dream about? What do you need?   You don't need anything do you? LOVE, and IDEA … maybe to just hold on to.

Drummond:  You're alone and when you go to the grave there will be nobody to pull the grass up over you.  Nobody to mourn you.  Nobody to give one damn.  You'll be what you've always been. ALONE

Hornbeck:  You're wrong Henry.         You'll be there.        You're the type.  Who else would defend my right to be lonely?

No Country for Old Men

It was Boston Legal #16 (or Cincinnati Legal) on Thursday May 23 hosted by J.P.  and serendipitously the movie picked was No Country for Old Men.  As K.C. pointed out we are just Old Men talking about politics when the Millennials are now a larger eligible voting block vs the Baby Boomers.  Of course the skeptic in me had to look it up:

Yes Millennials are now 32% vs 30% Baby Boomers.   Adding in Gen X and the younger generations are 57%  - THE MAJORITY.

SO …. this is NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN :)