Never Too Old to Mosh

Last night a friend and I traveled to Moline, IL to see Korn and Slipknot in concert.  I go to my fair share of concerts, but it's been a long time - a very long time - since I've done a concert like this.  Being a seasoned concert-goer, I'm familiar with the ins and outs of music fans.  Sometimes I'm up front with the die-hard fans, other times, I prefer to hang in the back and absorb the music.  I've even been known to sit in the stadium seats from time to time.  It all depends on my mood (and my budget when I buy the tickets).  For this concert, I purchased floor tickets, and wasn't sure at the time of purchase whether I'd push my way to the front, or choose to hang back.  There were two basic questions... Would I enter the mosh pit?  How hard would I push to get close to the stage?

In the end, I let fate decide.  My friend and I were about 1/3 to 1/2 way back on the floor for Korn.  I figured that if a mosh pit formed around me, I'd mosh for a while, or maybe hang out on the edge of the pit, where there's still some moshing, but you're not in the thick of things.  A pit formed close by, but I wasn't actually in it.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the mosh pit, the best way to explain it is a series of spontaneous dance areas that organically form and disappear throughout the course of the concert, except that you don't really dance in it per se; you slam into one another.  Occasionally fists and elbows fly.  There are only a couple of unwritten guidelines.  One is no blood, no foul.  The other is that if someone goes down, you give them an opportunity to get up and/or help them up.  Other than that, it's pretty much a free for all.  For lack of a better way to phrase it, it's controlled violence.

Korn put on a great performance.  My favorite part was where Jonathan Davis played the bagpipes for the opening of Shoots and Ladders, which is a dark, twisted mash-up of nursery rhymes.  A close second was when they did the bridge from Metallica's "One." The energy at this concert was great.  Lots of aggressive, but friendly testosterone flowing freely.  By the end of Korn's set, we decided to get closer to the stage for Slipknot's performance.

Shortly after Slipknot came on, a mosh pit formed, the crowd pushed forward, and my friend and I were separated.  My friend held his place.  I let the crowd move me, and as a result, I moved closer to the stage throughout the course of the set.  I ended up in the second row.  I was close enough that I could hear the custom percussion without the amplifiers.

For those of you who aren't familiar with hard rock concerts, let me explain something.  Energy flows from the stage.  Generally speaking, the more mellow crowd hangs toward the back.  The closer you get to the stage, the more intense the energy of the crowd.  The front is downright aggressive.  You're packed in like sardines.  It's hot.  Everyone is pumping their fists in the air, screaming the lyrics, and bouncing up and down like pogo sticks.  The front is not for the weak.  Though it's highly unlikely, it's theoretically possible that you can be injured in the front.  The front is also where you're most likely to get souvenirs... guitar picks, drum sticks, etc.  I got a guitar pick from Seven in Slipknot.  He threw the pick into the crowd and it landed squarely on my shoulder.

Maybe it was the energy from the crowd.  Maybe it was the fact that I was a forty-something holding my own, moshing with a crowd young enough to be my children.  But Slipknot was crazy awesome.  I loved hearing Psychosocial and Before I Forget.  It was awesome to actually keep up with fans who are two decades younger than me.  By the way, I got mad props and respect from the youngsters.  Got a lot of high fives and thumbs up from the kids who were impressed that the gray-bearded old guy was holding his own.

I should also point out that I'm really glad I've been working out.  Last time I moshed like this, I was far younger, and I was very sore for the next couple of days.  I woke up this morning a little tired, because I stayed up way past my bedtime, but I'm not sore at all.

So... what did I learn?  I learned that there's still a young metal head inside of this middle-aged body.  I've learned that I've still got some raw aggression inside of me, and it's okay to release it.  I would say that I remembered how much I love concerts, but the fact is, I never forgot.  My main lesson though, is that you're never too old to mosh.

Not Everything is a Miracle

Last week, the pastor at my church delivered a sermon basically saying that we shouldn't spend too much energy focusing on and looking for God's miracles.  His point was that what happens is that you basically get ADD in your relationship with God.  If you go too long without experiencing a miracle, you get distracted and/or frustrated with God, and your long-term relationship with God suffers as a result.

I'd like to go a step further, and posit that people see miracles where no miracle exists.  By definition, a miracle cannot be explained by natural or scientific laws.  This means that the overwhelming majority of events that people call "miraculous" are nothing of the sort.  I'll use my pastor as an example (though he probably won't like it).

We are in the process of moving to a new location.  The first step was to acquire property, which was a difficult, painstaking process.  The pastor, board and large part of the congregation had their heart set on a specific parcel, but it just wasn't meant to be.  Shortly after accepting that the first choice wasn't going to happen, another plot of land became available.  The church ended up acquiring this property, which was in a better location, more land and a better price.  My pastor has repeatedly called this a miracle.  My pastor, however, is wrong.

Again, I am going to refer to my previous statement that a miracle cannot be explained by natural or scientific laws.  Everything that happened in the land purchase was within the realm of natural law.  In fact, this kind of thing happens all the time in real estate.  Assuming that God was involved in this land purchase, it does not qualify as a miracle.  The correct term for this example is providence.  Providence is divine involvement that falls within the boundaries of science or nature.  Far too many people use the terms interchangeably.  The problem is, this cheapens actual miracles, and, quite frankly, makes people who use the term "miracle" too freely look a little nutty.

My personal opinion is that, while God loves us, he does not perform genuinely miracles very frequently.  In fact, I tend to think that most incidents of "providence" are probably just coincidences.  I believe that God loves us, and watches us, but it's precisely because of this love that he keeps his hands off, allowing nature -- the nature He created -- take his course.  I suspect that he subtly intervenes occasionally (providence) and on the rare occasion performs genuine miracles.

This doesn't diminish the thankfulness that we should feel and express toward God.  While God doesn't necessarily intervene as frequently as we would like, and as frequently as we give Him credit, that shouldn't impact our thankfulness.  After all, He created this wonderful world, where we can forge loving relationships, and experience all that life has to offer.  If God never performs a miracle in our lifetime, that doesn't mean He doesn't love us.  It doesn't mean that we shouldn't be thankful for what we have.

We shouldn't spend so much time proclaiming miracles.  We shouldn't spend so much energy looking for miracles.  We should, however, continue to be thankful for the bounty that we have received.

No Thanks Necessary

Like many Veterans, I was greeted with many thanks and well wishes today.  I had a free meal at Applebee's.  It's been a good day.  I want you to know that I very much appreciate the sentiments expressed by so many of my family, friends and even strangers.

With that said though, I would like to say that, for me, the thanks aren't necessary.  Don't get me wrong.  I really do appreciate it.  It's just not necessary.  As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't a sacrifice to become a Marine and serve my country.  It was an honor.  It was a privilege.  Yes, I was deployed in two foreign conflicts.  Yes, I was in harm's way.  But I came back whole.  My fellow servicemen and my countrymen stood behind me.

Besides, it's not as if I didn't get anything in return.  I received the opportunity to get out of a small town in the Midwest, where I knew I'd waste away if I didn't leave.  I made lifelong friends.  I received an education.  I received discipline.  I traveled the world and experienced different cultures.  I met the mother of my children while I was in the Marine Corps.  I learned that that the Midwest actually had a lot to offer.  I learned loyalty, commitment and camaraderie.  In short, my enlistment gave me as much as I gave my country.

I always appreciate when people thank me for my service.    Like I said though, becoming a Marine wasn't really a hardship.  It was something I did with pride.  When I receive the kudos, I just say thank you in return.  It's a lot easier to say thank you than to explain that thanks aren't necessary.

An Open Note to Politicians Everywhere

Dear Politicians,

The election is over.  The Democrats are licking their wounds, and the Republicans are doing their happy victory dance.  (For those of you not familiar with this dance, the Democrats and Republicans both do it when their party gains power, and it looks a lot like the Elaine dance.)

I have two things to say about the elections, and these comments go to both parties.  First, your so-called commercials sucked!  I really wish that the lot of you would just grow up and quit trash talking each other.  It's worse than middle school!

The second comment is really directed toward the Republicans.  Though you gained a lot of seats this election period, it does NOT necessarily mean that America is endorsing your party, and it is NOT necessarily a repudiation of the Democratic platform.  The reason that Republicans gained seats is because the public is tired of business as usual in Congress.  Please take that lesson to heart.

Sincerely,

A (Still) Disgruntled Constituent

I'm Just the Messsenger

 

I don't know who God is speaking to in this message.  I don't even know if I've ever met the intended recipient(s) of this message.  I know that I'm not a prophet and I'm not a holy man.  I'm certainly not better than you.  I'm just the messenger.

Answering My Own Question

In my last post, I asked what you'd do to fix our broken economy; not just fix it for now, but fix it permanently.  Realizing it's not really fair to ask the question without proposing my own solution, here's what I'd do.  The crux of my policy is short term pain for everyone, with the goal of long term gain for everyone.

I'd raise taxes on the rich.  When I say "rich," I will concede that I don't have a specific number to define rich.  After all, $1,000,000 in New York is significantly different than $1,000,000 in Kentucky.  Maybe I'd tie the term "rich" to your geographical location.  I would definitely tie the term "rich" to inflation, to make sure that it stays relevant.

When I say "raise taxes on the rich," it wouldn't necessarily be an outright tax.  I would close loopholes in the tax law.  Capital gain, for example, would be taxed the same as income.  There would be no tax breaks for purchasing second homes.  In fact, I would consider capping or eliminating mortgage interest deductions.

I'd cut entitlement programs.  I probably wouldn't make much of a change to Medicaid eligibility, but I would reduce food stamp payouts, reduce welfare cash assistance, and make it more difficult to qualify for cash assistance.  I'd probably limit the amount of time you could receive cash assistance as well.  I'd limit the number of dependents who are eligible for welfare too.  If you want to have one or two kids, fine, we'll help you out.  But if you want to have ten kids, you're doing that on your own dime, not the public's.

I'd raise the retirement age and decrease Social Security benefits.  I would phase this in.  People close to retirement would be unaffected.  If you're ten or more years away from retirement, you'd better plan on getting Social Security later in life.  If you're fifteen or more years away from retirement, you will need to plan to save more for retirement, because the government isn't going to completely finance your retirement unless you plan to live a very simple life.

I'd close tax loopholes for big business.  This is one area where I agree with the free enterprise folks.  Let's cut subsidies for (insert industry here) and let them compete in the global marketplace on their own merits.

I'd enact tort reform to reduce superfluous lawsuits, but increase fines to make sure that business feels the sting when they do stupid things.  The idea here is balance.  The problem with the status quo is that Jane Freeloader can sue McDonalds for coffee that's too hot and get a 10 million payday.  With tort reform, let's say that she could get her medical bills and lost wages covered, with a little bit for her inconvenience.  At the same time, this could lead Chevy to quit worrying about making an unsafe car.  In that case, a family that was horrendously injured in a car accident could still sue Chevy to recoup their losses, but any punitive fines would go to the government.  This would ensure that Chevy would still need to worry about keeping their cars safe.  By the way, any punitive fines would be earmarked for public improvement... building roads, toxic dump cleanups, etc.


I'd implement sunset clauses on all legislation.  This would help make sure that all legislation passed by congress remains relevant... no more suing based on some anachronistic law from 1845.  It would also force them to work together, otherwise there would be absolutely no law whatsoever.  It would also help prevent them from passing stupid bullshit laws and resolutions.

While we're on the subject of congress, I'd make the government subject to the same laws as the rest of us. I'd end congressional retirement packages.

I'd implement term limits for all public officials.  I'd probably go with 12 years.  That would be 3 terms for the President, 2 terms for Senators and 6 terms for House Representatives.  I would allow a person to serve in more than one capacity.  For example, you could move from the House, to the Senate, to President and serve 36 years.  This would only apply to Federal legislators, in order to preserve states' rights.

I would enact campaign contribution limits.  Money corrupts government.

I would prevent former legislators from becoming lobbyists.

I would  take a Libertarian view on personal freedoms.  I would end the war on drugs, decriminalize prostitution, and lift sin taxes on alcohol and tobacco.  If people are going to be adults, then they should be treated as such.  I would simply enforce other laws, such as burglary, assault, slavery and so forth.  This way, if a person wants to destroy their own life, that's fine.  But taking their family and neighbors down is where I'd draw the line.

White collar crimes would have stiffer penalties.  Why should a ponzi schemer get to spend 18 months in a veritable resort while a convenience store robber gets 10 years?  Nope.

I'd enforce this basic policy for a minimum of five years.  After that, I would tweak the policy based on what works and what doesn't.

I'd consolidate government agencies to reduce fraud, waste, duplication and abuse.

I'd make sure that we have a budget surplus each year, to pay off our national debt.  My goal would be to pay off the debt in 30 years.  The only exception to this would be national emergency.

I would reduce or eliminate foreign aid.  Our friends would understand that we need to take care of ourselves first. If they're not our friend, then they don't deserve our money anyway.

How Would You Handle Our Social and Economic Problems?

I read a friend's Facebook post recently, where he pointed to a statistic saying that about 1/3 of the public is on some sort of welfare.  Welfare, for the sake of this article, includes cash assistance, food stamps and Medicaid for sure.  It may include other payments, but I'm not sure exactly what constitutes "welfare" in the articl.  My friend, understandably and justifiably, got a bit irate at this, and said that there's just too much disincentive to work.  I partially agree with this.  There are a lot of people who will just sit back and take free money, without contributing anything to society in return.  This, however, presented a larger question to me.  How do we fix this?

Once upon a time, Iowa had a law that basically said that you can only get welfare for a certain period of time during your lifetime.  I believe it was five years, but it may have been ten.  I'm also not sure if this law still exists.  I think this time limit counted only toward cash assistance.  I don't think the time limit applies to food assistance or medical assistance.  I think this goes a long way toward addressing the immediate problem, but doesn't deal with the root problem... making sure that all Americans are able to earn a decent wage.

There are several problems here that kind of all tie in together...

-Medical costs are too high.

-The cost of education is too high.

-There aren't enough decent paying jobs.

-There aren't enough full time jobs with benefits.

-There is too large of a pay gap between the highest paid and lowest paid individuals.

-Our expectations are too high.  We don't all need 5 bedroom houses.  We don't all need cell phones, and our 12 year old children certainly don't need them.  We don't need a TV in every room of the house.  We don't need multiple game consoles for our entertainment.

Some people say that we need to remove government regulation, which would increase innovation and spur economic growth.  That's partially true, but it's simplistic.  While it would increase innovation, removing government regulation, in my opinion, would also lead to the end of the 40 hour work week, more pollution and more chaos in the financial sector.

Other people believe that we need increased government regulation, such as increasing minimum wage and forcing business to offer benefits.  This is also true but simplistic.  Increasing minimum wage tends to cause layoffs in entry level positions and contributes to inflation, which, over the long haul, tends to wipe out the short-term gains of increases in minimum wage.

So, my question to you, is this:  If you could single-handedly implement a complete economic policy, what would you do?