It was the summer we walked on the moon

Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin

There are events in our lives that are so sensational that we often identify that point in time by the event as much as the actual date or period of time. Those of us that were older than about 5 years old in 1969 will always remember the summer of 1969 as "the summer we walked on the moon." I would bet that Americans older than 55 vividly remember where they were when they heard the news that President Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas, TX. The turbulent 1960's were also years we witnessed the tragic assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Younger Americans remember where they were on that fateful day in September of 2001 when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Brave passengers of a fourth airliner, Flight 93, stormed the cockpit preventing a similar result as that of the other three flights commandeered by terrorists. Those brave passengers sacrificed themselves to save the lives of countless others. We will remember September 11 for the rest of our lives.

July 20, 1969 was an historic date in human achievement. That was the day that the outrageously bold challenge offered by President John Kennedy was fulfilled. On May 25, 1961 Kennedy said, in a speech to a joint session of Congress, "First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth." Only 20 days earlier, Alan B. Shepard aboard Freedom 7 had finally become the first American in space. His time in space had lasted all of 14.8 minutes. Now Kennedy says we need to go to the moon. What an amazing challenge.

The "space race" was an integral part of America's goal of achieving superiority over the Soviet Union, our Cold War nemesis. Our desire to show that the American way of life...free enterprise, capitalism and democracy was better than the Soviet Unions's iron-fisted socialist, communist state was embodied in the space program. While the Soviets had beaten us into space and beaten us with the first man in space, and even were the first to land (crash is more accurate) a spacecraft on the moon, we were determined that the first man to set foot on the moon would be wearing the stars and stripes on his space suit.

America began manned space flight with Project Mercury which consisted of seven total flights. Maybe you've seen the movie "The Right Stuff." That was followed by the Gemini program which consisted of ten 2-man flights. The Mercury and Gemini programs were geared to prepare us for moon landings under the Apollo program. Apollo 8 and 10 were missions that orbited the moon.

Apollo 11 lifted off from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969 with its Saturn V rocket boosters generating 7.5 million pounds of thrust. The journey to the moon would encompass 240,250 one-way miles. Its crew consisted of Michael Collins, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, all three being NASA veterans who had previous space flight experience in the Gemini program.

On a black and white TV, watching anxiously in our living room in Berwick, Maine, I, along with millions of other people, were frighteningly mesmerized as we watched the lunar module touch down on the moon at 4:18pm our time. About six hours later, Neil Armstrong made his way down the ladder of Eagle and became the first human to set foot on the moon. Aldrin followed and the two spent about 2 hours on the lunar surface. An American flag purchased from Sears Roebuck was planted at Tranquility Base and Americans swelled with pride. People all over the world (well maybe not in the USSR) cheered this great human achievement.

Two days ago, Neil Armstrong died 20 days after his 82nd birthday. For an American kid coming of age in the 1960's, the astronauts of NASA were, and still are, genuine national heroes of mine. The bravery they exhibited in the quest for space is nothing short of amazing. Relying on technology that was still in its relative infancy guided by computer systems that didn't have the computing power of an iPhone, these men strapped themselves on top of ballistic missiles and left the earth behind. There was no guarantee that the lunar module that landed Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon would even be able to lift off from the moon's surface and return home. I heard on the radio today that then US President Richard Nixon had a speech prepared just in case he had to deliver tragic news. There was no plan B if the Eagle's rockets failed to get them back off the moon's surface. Michael Collins, who remained in the command module Columbia orbiting the moon, would have had no choice but to return home, leaving Armstrong and Aldrin to remain forever on the moon. Neil Armstrong and the summer of 1969 will always be a part of my life journey. I will always remember the summer we walked on the moon. Godspeed Neil Armstrong.

You can just go pound sand

Go pound sand. You know there are plenty of interesting phrases in the American lexicon. I have to admit...I know what this euphemism means when I hear it but, I wasn't really sure of this one's origin. In my investigation, I also discovered there are some pretty coarse variations of the phrase but, those won't add much value to the point I will try to make so, no need to elaborate.

Go pound sand. Take a hike. Get lost. Go play in the traffic. Go fly a kite. Go away. Get over it. Too bad. Tough luck. Go jump in a lake. Stick it in your ear. Drop dead. I will leave out the more graphic phrases that express the same basic sentiment.

As an adult, have you ever been told something like this? Have you ever been summarily dismissed by someone when you were trying to engage in a discussion? Or when you were expressing your opinion? Basically when things like this are said, you are being told "get away from me, I have no interest in your opinion or what you have to say."

In my former career, I was involved in doing customer satisfaction surveying. You know... you ask customers to rate your product or service as well as rate their experience dealing with your company. You may also provide a place for customers to comment or make suggestions. Here is something I know. If you have no intention of actually responding to or seriously considering any of the customer's suggestions...then don't ask them. As a customer I would rather you never ask my opinion than asking it then ignoring me. If you do that, you are effectively telling me to "pound sand."

One of the major sticking points regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is that a majority of Americans disagree with the way it was passed as well as several parts of the legislation. But, the Democrat Party ignored the wishes of the citizenry. You may recall, prior to the legislation passing,  town hall meetings took place across the country on the subject. Many participants were outraged with the way they were ignored or pilloried by their Congressional representatives. This was a classic case of being told "we don't care what you think...we know better...go pound sand."

In the sleepy, southern town of Augusta, Georgia, there are two universities that have been ordered to consolidate by the Georgia University Board of Regents. The Medical College of Georgia (which was recently renamed Georgia Health Sciences University) is being consolidated with Augusta State University (known as Augusta College when I went there.) There will much work to do combining a medical university with a liberal arts university. One of the items needing consideration was what to call the new, consolidated entity. So, a team was put together to consider possible names for the new school. Many names were suggested and that list of names was pared down a few times until there was a manageable number of potential monikers. Some of the names that were considered were quite interesting, even if they were a bit unappealing.

There was even an in-state and national survey done (at a cost of about $45,000) to get opinions of the names that made it to the short list. Locally, many Augustans wanted the new name to include "Augusta." University of Augusta, Augusta University...hey, even keeping it Augusta State University. In fact, University of Augusta received the highest rating from both the in-state respondents to the survey as well as the national respondents. Guess what? Dr. Azziz, the president of the medical university (who will preside over the consolidated school) apparently isn't impressed with the name of the city in which he currently lives...and also doesn't want it to be a part of the new university's name. So, the Board of Regents (with some purported arm twisting by Dr. Azziz) chose to name the school after itself- Georgia Regents University (a name that finished 4th in the $45,000 survey.)

Hey, survey respondents- go pound sand. Hey, Augusta residents- go pound sand. How does it feel to be totally ignored...your opinion and input essentially disregarded?

Not so good.

What do the Olympics teach us?

Sweet

I've never competed in the Olympics. At least not THE Olympics. You want to know why? Because my athletic prowess, even in my prime, did not measure up to the best in the world. In fact, I wasn't even the best in my school or neighborhood. I competed in my share of sports growing up...baseball, football, and track as well as playing several others just for fun. I have (or had) a few trophies and ribbons but no bronze, silver or gold medals.

Why is this? Why do some people get to be Olympic athletes and most others not? Bill Toomey won the decathlon in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Despite sharing the same last name, I am not related to Bill Toomey so his athletic ability did not get passed down to me.

I love the Olympics because it is raw competition. In the case of team sports, if you lose enough games...you're out...no chance for a medal. If you compete in an individual event and don't qualify in the preliminary heats, it's over. You don't even get to run or swim (or whatever) in the final race for the medal. You're done.

Why does Michael Phelps swim so fast? He won 4 gold medals and 2 silvers in these Olympics. How does Usain Bolt outrun everyone he goes up against? He won a gold medal in all 3 events in which he competed. On the other hand,  Lolo Jones finished 4th in the 100m hurdles. You know what you get for 4th place? Nothing. She didn't win a medal. We all saw Jordyn Wieber in tears when she did not qualify for the women's gymnastics all-around finals because she scored lower than her teammates Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman. Oh, Jordyn had the 4th best score of all competitors in the preliminaries but the rules say only 2 people from each country can compete in the finals. This is a strange rule and I believe one of the few in the Olympics like this. In almost every other case, the top scoring people in the preliminaries or qualifying heats advance to the finals regardless of what country they represent. In fact, the US women (team A) played the US women (team B) in the beach volleyball final for the gold medal. Pretty much assured that the US wins the gold and silver medal.

Competition. There is something about (most of) us that loves to watch people compete athletically. I read today that NBC's coverage of the 2012 Olympics was the most-watched event in television history. We definitely tuned in.

Some are uncomfortable with all this competition. Winners...losers. Sounds pretty harsh. Is it fair that some athletes won and others didn't? The obvious answer is "yes" but, still, it gets some people squirming a little.

When I was a young guy and played sports, there were often trophies awarded to individual, standout players. If your team won, the entire team got a trophy. Runners-up sometimes got trophies too but, they were always smaller. Today, some youth leagues give trophies to everyone that "participates." What is that all about? I can get a trophy simply by participating? How meaningful is that? Is this something that you display with pride on your dresser at home? I think not.

I remember when you were invited to a birthday party as a kid, you brought a present for the birthday boy or girl because it was HIS or HER birthday...not yours. Today, it is often the case that everyone that comes to the party gets some small gift. When did this practice begin? If it is your birthday and someone throws a party for you, aren't you supposed to be the center of attention? I mean, it's only 1 day a year. Are we so concerned that the other kids there may feel left out that we give everyone a present?

Awards and ribbons and medals and trophies should be earned. You shouldn't get one just for showing up. I dare say that the Usain Bolts and Michael Phelpses and Gabby Douglases worked countless hours honing their skills. They sacrificed when others were out enjoying their free time. They were committed to achieving something special and they did what was necessary to become the best they could be in their sport. There is no doubt that some of these athletes have been blessed with amazing physical abilities that they received from Mom's and Dad's DNA. It's no coincidence that the sons of the former great quarterback Archie Manning are both standout NFL quarterbacks. But, I bet both Peyton and Eli spent hours and hours throwing footballs in the backyard with Dad.

Back to my own athletic journey. Did I have the same opportunity as Usain Bolt to earn an Olympic gold medal in track? Yes. (Montreal in 1976 and Moscow in 1980 would have been MY Olympics...of course , Jimmy Carter boycotted the 1980 Olympics.) When I was in high school I ran the mile, 2-mile and I pole vaulted. I was pretty good....only pretty good. I finished first in a few meets but, I was not the best runner/ vaulter on my team... I won no state championships... no regional championships. Why not? I didn't work as hard as other athletes I competed against. Sure, some were better physical specimens than I but, that's not the primary reason I didn't excel.

Competitive sports can teach us a lot. We learn that being the best requires sacrifice and hard work and that applies regardless of whether you are trying to be the best gymnast or be successful in your career. Just showing up does not typically result in great success. But some folks want the same rewards regardless of the effort required for those rewards. We see people pointing fingers at others that are successful and say NOT FAIR! Just like in the Olympics sometimes you get only one real shot at winning the prize. Don't miss those opportunities. Why not, when you see a successful athlete or a successful business person or a successful married couple, not allow it to make you jealous or envious but, rather, allow it to motivate you to be the best you can be at whatever you pursue. That's gold right there. And let's stop with the participation trophies!

Nations, races and denominations

If you are watching the XXX London England 2012 Olympic Games, you must have noticed that there are many nations represented. I think the number is 204. 204 flags, 204 national anthems, 204 sets of uniforms and insignia/logos. During the opening ceremonies, each of the delegations from the participating countries paraded through the Olympic Stadium with their respective fans and countrymen cheering with great pride. National pride. It seems these days that, aside from sports, embracing your national heritage is so 19th/20th century. I mean, we have entities like the United Nations, NATO, World Trade Organization, the European Union, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations,) and the signatories of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) to name just a few of the cross-national groups/ affiliations. There are many that advocate minimizing the significance of national borders and national sovereignty. But, national pride is alive and well at the Olympics. But also, look at what happened after the downfall of the Soviet Union. Just as an example...the former Yugoslavia, which was roughly the size of Oregon is now Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia. How did that happen? While there is an ethnic element to the restoration of these countries after the fall of communism, nationalism was a major factor. A look at the very complex Israeli- Palestinian conflict shows the desire for people to have a national identity and geography. Many years ago we began to hear about a movement towards a "one world government." I'm not so sure about there being an underground conspiracy to migrate to "one government." I am confident that there are many people that would find that appealing since many are critical of the whole idea of nationalism as we know it today.

If you have ever filled out a US government form that included demographic data, you likely had to indicate your racial identity. A 2005 government form gave the following choices (but it said check as many as apply??)

American Indian or Alaskan Native
Asian
Black or African-American
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
White

That list didn't seem to be very exhaustive. Some of those "races" sounded more like colors than races. White? Didn't this used to be called Caucasian? Sixty years ago, "Black or African-American would have been labeled "Negro" (Spanish word that means black.) That being the case, why weren't "whites" described as "Blanco." Hmmm.

The 2010 US Census expanded the racial labels:
White
Black, African-American, Negro
American Indian or Alaska Native
Asian Indian
Chinese
Filipino
Japanese
Korean
Vietnamese
Other Asian (it lists some examples)
Native Hawaiian
Guamanian or Chamorro (I had to Google this one)
Samoan
Other Pacific Islander (once again some examples are offered)

Then, I love this last category (which is a fill-in-the-blank):

"Some other race"  ...yes, that's what is says on the form..then you write something in.

Hey, Mom, what race am I? "Some other race" she says. That will leave you beaming with pride.

But, there is such a thing as racial pride. Thankfully, we see people of all persuasions showing pride in their racial heritage. Even "whites" who have the least exciting racial identifier (sounds more like a setting on the washing machine than a race) have some pride (I like to embrace my Irish roots.) As more and more children are born to parents from different races, these racial identifiers become a bit more complicated. Tiger Woods' ethnicity is pretty diverse. Even our president has some hyphens in his racial identity. Is race something we should take pride in? Some think not. Ethnic or racial pride can be misconstrued as racism...a feeling of superiority by virtue of race alone. This same feeling of exceptionalism or superiority based on national identification does not typically generate the same type of reaction. We hear shouts of "USA, USA, USA" at the Olympics but we would cringe more than a bit if we heard loud chants of  "White, White, White."  Some would say that there is a history of oppression that is based solely on race so that's why there is sensitivity. Nations oppressing other nations isn't really a historical issue so it's OK for the British to chant "UK, UK, UK" when playing against the team from India. Really? Hey, I'm just asking the question.

So, let's tackle the issue of religious denominations. In the US, we have many religions...Catholicism, Protestantism (more on this), Judaism, Islam, Wiccan/Pagan/Druidism, Unitarian Universalism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Baha'ism, New Age, Scientology, Taoism  and many, many more. The Protestants can be broken down to include Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist/Wesleyan, Baptist (more on this), Episcopalian/Anglican, Church of Christ, Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist, Congregational, Jehovah's Witnesses, Latter Day Saints/ Mormon, Assemblies of God and a few more.

Baptist. Do you mean American Baptists, Southern Baptists, Evangelical Free Baptists, Full Gospel Baptists, Alliance of Baptists, American Baptists USA, Reformed Baptists, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Primitive Baptists??? (There are too many to list...you may get where I'm going) Is there some pride involved in what religion (or no religion) you may identify with? You think? Just watch the River Street Methodist Church play the First Baptist Church in a church league softball or basketball game. You'd think you were at the World Cup final. I can hear the chants of "FBC, FBC, FBC." And don't forget the occasional sniping that you might hear in the respective pulpits. Unfortunately we do see and hear Christian churches/groups "attacking" or mocking other Christian churches/groups. I thought that Jesus established THE church...HIS church. Look what we've done to it. Looks more like a softball league now with fans shouting across the field at each other. Is there a place for different denominations in the church of Jesus Christ? I'll have to dive deeper on that one in another blog.

204 countries participating in the Olympics representing dozens of racial groups that may or may not identify with what could be one of hundreds of different religious denominations. What I love about the Olympics is that we get to shout and show the pride we have for our favorite country, our favorite sport (sorry, badminton does not count), our family athlete favorite and, at the end of the day, genuine respect and sportsmanship almost always prevails. We are who we are. It should be OK to shout that out boldly.

If the athletes in London can get this right, why can't we? Can we show pride in our nations, our racial/ ethnicity and our religions without fear of being perceived wrongly and/or generating ill will with people that have different backgrounds? It does take some responsibility on our part. We shouldn't exhibit that pride with feelings of being "better than" anyone that does not have the same identification. We can be better AT something (like swimming and basketball) without thinking we are better than somebody. There is a difference.

So, who are you? I am thankful to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ who expresses my faith in the Baptist tradition...I'm a white guy that is mostly Irish and French Canadian, who is an American (and I love the Georgia Bulldogs.) Somehow I need to come up with a chant that includes "JESUS", "Erin go bragh" USA, and Go Dawgs! I'll work on that one.

I wrote an earlier blog about labels. You might find that article interesting to read if you found this one worth your time.

Could we please ratchet it down a notch?

Wow...it was an interesting time in the franchise restaurant world this past week. Thousands of people descended upon their local Chick-fil-A restaurant on Wednesday in response to Mike Huckabee's declaration of August 1st being Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. You know the story. Dan Cathy's controversial comments about his views on marriage coupled with his personal donations to several organizations that are pro-traditional marriage (or anti-gay, hate organizations depending on your point of view) sparked responses by many people including some high ranking government officials who promised to do everything they could to prevent Chick-fil-A from opening restaurants in their cities/ districts. People didn't like that. Thought this was using government power in an illegal way. Then the LGBTQ (I may have this acronym wrong but I think it is correct...the Q, I believe, stands for "questioning") community suggested that folks go to Chick-fil-A on Friday and have a same-sex "kiss-in" to protest and show their resolve and solidarity.

OK....are we done with Chick-fil-A as a battleground? Can we let them get back to their cow commercials and let Dan Cathy have his own opinion and spend his personal money as he sees fit regardless of how much you dislike his positions?

Sure, many, if not most, of the people on Wednesday were there in support of free speech. I am 100% in your corner. Unfortunately, on Wednesday there were also plenty of people there that wanted to shake their fist at the gay community and with the strength of numbers and its resulting anonymity, by their presence, shout that [choose one or more] gays are pushy, gays are horrible, gays are evil, gays should just crawl into a hole somewhere and die. Because this is and was the case, I had no intention of showing up at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday. That doesn't mean my heart was in the right place. If you were there on Wednesday, I hope in retrospect that you have looked at your motives in a very honest way. And I also made no plans to show up on Friday to somehow be present to let the gay folks there know that I do not hate them. Those that were there wouldn't have believed me anyway.

Now that we have these publicity stunts over with for now, can we get back to behaving like respectful adults?

You know, the majority of people, regardless of their sexuality, are nice, respectful people who are just trying to live their lives the best they can. But what we seem to hear the most are the most obnoxious, folks on both sides of this conversation (and I sure wish it could be a conversation, not a shouting match.) Both sides in this debate seem to be characterized by the worst of the bunch. Roseanne Barr wished cancer on people that eat at Chick-fil-A (she renamed it) and are against gay marriage. Don't get me started on Westboro Baptist Church whose website contains "godhatesfags" in the url. Don't tell me your "side" is behaving appropriately, whichever side you are on.

Some "straight" people do not like gay people. Some people even hate gay people. I just have to say, I find this incredulous. They call them names and say terrible things about them (usually in the form of gay jokes to their heterosexual friends.) Oh, I don't think these people know a specific gay person that they do not like or even hate...they just feel this way generally because, of course, all gay people are alike. You know...gays are sinful, disgusting people.

Then there the holy ones that are making sure that they are personally going to wield God's judgement hammer and crusade against these people of the abomination (POTA) and they have the scripture verses to back it up. You know what I call these holy folks? ...sinful, disgusting people.

Some ugly, nasty people showed up on Wednesday and some ugly, nasty people showed up on Friday. In the aftermath, I have heard all the cogent arguments about why what happened those days was justifiable and right. But in the attempt to prove a point, we saw the worst of people.

A guy named Adam Smith (CFO for a large company) was downright nasty to a young lady in the drive-thru (said encounter which he chose to video and upload on You Tube) and thought he was going to prove his point that Chick-fil-A was evil. He ended up looking like a very small, mean-spirited person. So bad, in fact, that his company fired him and put out a press release condemning his actions. They wanted to ensure that everyone knows that he didn't speak on behalf of that organization.

Then there were the Christians that showed up to lock arms with fellow Christian Dan Cathy as a sign of solidarity. Others made statements to the news media, logged Facebook updates and tweeted about the sinfulness of homosexuality and God's condemnation on them that was sure to follow. (I do find it interesting that the one behavior mentioned in the Bible that most Christians are not tempted to do is the one that some focus the most attention on and condemn the most...just a coincidence I'm sure.) Adam Smith got fired because he embarrassed his boss. There are some Christians that, if God ran His world like bosses run their companies, should be fired for embarrassing their Boss.

Fortunately, God is so much greater and higher than His Creation. He does not judge like we judge. His judgement is out of perfect love. He doesn't fire us either for embarrassing Him. If He did, we would all have the employment status that Adam Smith has today. Standing up for our convictions is a good thing...most of the time. But, if standing up for our convictions causes us to break the commandment that Jesus Christ gave us (and he only gave us 2) then maybe we need to reconsider what we are doing and what is going on in our hearts. By the way, I believe that if we break Jesus' second commandment, then we are technically breaking the first one along with it.

I am a sinner. You are a sinner. God loves me. God loves you (and by you, I mean everyone other than me.)

I hope as many Christians that showed up at Chick-fil-A this week to support their cause show up tomorrow morning to worship the One we say we love and serve. And may God's grace and mercy rain down on us and change us...not to what we want to be but what He wants us to be.

UPDATE TO MY BLOG POSTING- I am encouraged by recent events since all the noise in August 2012. Read this!