Be Nice

I watched the evening news the other night.  This is not something I normally do, but it's election season, and I wanted to see what everyone has been talking about.  that included the ads, which I had been mostly spared from.

Well.  The news had the usual election coverage.  One story in particular focused on negative ads, and highlighted California's governor and senate races.  The story played clips of some of the ads, but since I happen to live in California, I got to see the same ads in their entirety when the news broke for commercials.

My, what a bunch of name-calling!  Defaming your opponents character seems to be the primary qualification to run for office these days.

The news program returned, and described a scufle among supporters that took place outside a building where two candidates were debating.  One supporter -- a member of one of the candidate's campaign team, I believe -- actually stomped on the head of one of the other candidate's supporters.

Another commercial break.  More name-calling, put-downs, and downright nastiness.

Back to the news program, for the final story of the broadcast.  It described the findings of a new study which showed that a surprisingly high number of our nation's youth have bullied others or have been the victims of bullying.

Gee, I wonder where they learned how to behave like that....

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Be nice.  It sounds so trite, so hackneyes, to say that.  English teachers tell their students to avoid using the word "nice."  They say that it's so overused and non-specific that it doesn't mean anything.

OK.  Here are some alternative ways to say it:  Be curteous.  Be friendly.  Be civil.  Be respectful.

Those of us in the church might even say:  Be loving.  Be a good neighbor.

Why?  Because our bullying and rudeness are killing people.  Teen suicides in the news have been described as the result of bullying.  (Many of these suicides were committed by youth who were gay or perceived to be gay.)  And weren't many of those who have carried out school shootings, like the one at Columbine High School, picked on and made to feel as outcasts?

I say it again:  be nice.

It's Almost Halloween...

... just beware of witches and poison apples!

Wasting the Gift

It's a pet peeve of mine when natural resources are wasted. I don't mind so much when they are used wisely, but far too often they are just wasted.

Yesterday morning, I was walking my kids to school, when we passed a house where the sprinklers were on, watering a lawn that had just received a large amount of rain the evening before: well over half an inch, more than enough to quench any lawn's thirst. Under cloudy skies that signaled the possibility of more showers yet to come, my kids and I just stared at the water, running across the already saturated lawn and flowing into the street, and contemplated the absurdity of it.

Perhaps it wouldn't have been so absurd if we had water to spare, but we don't. If you look back at the photos I post on this blog (and keep in mind that I frequently choose photos that were taken near water or in the rainy season) you will quickly realize that this is a dry climate. Much of the water we use in our homes and on our lawns is imported from hundreds of miles away, from places like the Owens Valley (there used to be a lake there), Lake Mead (where the water level is at an all-time low) and the California Delta (which is one earthquake away from falling apart).

I will try not to judge the residents of that house too harshly. As a friend of mine said to me, it's likely that their gardener sets the sprinkler timer, and they don't even know how to operate it. Although we've had some days with drizzle and sprinkles, this is the first significant rain we've received here in Long Beach this year, so they certainly deserve some grace. The rainy season is just beginning.

A number of the houses we walk by in our community have gotten rid of their lawns, and replaced them with gardens of native plants, something I've mentioned here before. Over the past several months, my sons and I have noticed several houses that have covered their lawns with black plastic in an effort to kill the grass and weeds, which is often the first step to planting a native garden. What a wise way to preserve that precious resource, water! And it comes with the visual beauty of poppies and other native flowers, as well as the aroma of sage, one of the most wonderful scents on the planet.

One of those houses removed their black plastic this week, and we anxiously awaited to see what would happen next. Today we noticed that they had planted ... grass. My son's reaction: "Well, that sucks!" (This is the same son who, when he was just a toddler riding in a shopping cart at WalMart, asked in a loud voice: "Daddy, is this the 'yucky W' store?" I've got him trained well!)

Water is a precious gift from God, especially here in southern California. To waste it is an act of ingratitude toward God. Wasting water, letting it run into the street and down the storm drain, is like receiving a gift of precious pearls, then walking down the street, tossing the pearls into the gutter one by one. I can't imagine what the giver of that gift thinks about how the gift is wasted.

Photo of Lake Mead taken from Pacific Swell, the environmental blog of southern California Public Radio.

9000 Feet Up

On Saturday, Boy Scout Troop 29 of Long Beach hiked to the top of Mt. Baden-Powell.  This is one of my favorite mountain hikes, and I've done it about four or five times.  At about 9000 feet up, a number of large lodgepole pines frame views of the Mojave Desert beyond.  It's perhaps my favorite spot on the hike, although the 360-degree view from the top is certainly amazing, too.

This view of the Mojave Desert is looking northwest.  To the south, one can look down (from the summit) upon the San Gabriel Valley and the Los Angeles Basin ... except that on this particular day, low clouds covered the basin like a white, fluffy blanket.  We enjoyed sunshine and blue skies, while the millions of people living in L.A. spent the day in a dreary drizzle.  It's good to head up to the mountains now and then!

Blog Action Day: Water

Today is Blog Action Day, a day when thousands of bloggers blog about one single topic.  This year's topic is water.

Thirteen inches.  That's how much precipitation falls here in Long Beach.  Most of it comes during the months of November-March.  Very little rain falls the rest of the year.  Case in point:  this past May 18, 0.05 inches of rain fell; it was a record amount of precipitation for that date.  And it hasn't rained much since.

So whether or not folks around here pay attention to water, they should. While some water comes from underground aquifers, a large percentage of it comes from the Sierra Nevada, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, or the Colorado River, all of which are hundreds of miles away.

We are fortunate in that our society has the resources to bring water to us.  Many people around the world are not so lucky.  I've mentioned on this blog before that several million children die each year because they do not have access to clean drinking water.  That's one child every fifteen seconds.  Probably two or three have died just in the time it's taken you to read to this point on my blog.

One dollar will provide drinking water to one child for one year.  One dollar can save a life.  (My church's Global Ministries digs wells and welcomes donations, if you are interested. Also, you are invited to sign a petition for clean water by clicking the button to the right.)

In this dry land that I live in, many residents are converting their front lawns into gardens of drought-tolerant native plants.  Personally, I think these gardens are beautiful.  I'm tempted to take pictures of them, but it feels weird to stand in front of a stranger's home and snap photos.  So I've included pictures I've taken elsewhere in southern California, showcasing some of the beautiful native plants we have; plants that require very little water.

It seems to me to be only a matter of time before lush green lawns become obsolete in southern California.  Already, most communities limit watering to two or three days per week. (If you have a lawn in southern California, you have to water it.)  Using that much water will eventually become unsustainable for the 20 million-plus people who live in southern California.

And why should we spend so much money on massive water projects to satiate our thirsty front lawns when people are dying for lack of a cup of water?

How cool it would be if we all planted native gardens.  Then, when the savings show up on our water bills, we can easily send a dollar to an organization that provides water for children in developing countries.

Stay Tuned...

Today's blog post is being delayed by one day until tomorrow in order to coincide with Blog Action Day. 

Waiting for the Rain to Come

Many trees in southern California keep their leaves year-round, but others do change color and drop their leaves in the fall.  Meanwhile, some smaller shrubs lose their leaves in summer in order to conserve water, with the leaves returning in the fall once the rains return. 

The above photo was taken last fall in upper Sycamore Canyon, which is located in Point Mugu State Park.  You can see the leaves of the Sycamore tree getting ready to drop, while the grasses and shrubs eagerly await the return of winter rain.  (You can contrast the brown hills in this photo with the green hills in the header picture at the top of the page, which was taken in the winter after the rains arrived.  That top photo was taken in Topanga Canyon State Park, not too far from Point Mugu.)

Because of southern California's unique climate, the plants here have a unique relationship to water.  People do, too, something I'll probably discuss later this week on Blog Action Day.

Exaggerated Claims

It seems that a lot of people lately have been lying or making misleading statements in order to justify their views on things.  (If that introductory sentence gives the impression that the tone of today's blog post is going to be a little different than normal, and you don't like it, then you might want to visit some other blog today.)  I appreciate hearing from people with differences of opinion; conversations that include various viewpoints are, I've found, quite helpful.  But when the participants in those conversations lie, distort the truth, or deliberately mislead their listeners, it goes beyond annoying.  It makes me fear for the future.

One example:  I have before talked on this blog about those who insist that all Muslims are terrorists.  Well, this week I've noticed a video making the rounds on facebook and other internet sites which proclaims that all Muslims are advocates of violence, and will do anything to force Islam upon all people everywhere.  Even Muslims who claim to be advocates of peace, the video claims, are simply lying in order to achieve their goals.

Yikes!  The video is so blatantly hateful and prejudiced that I don't know where to begin.  The makers of the video have obviously used their own fears to paint a picture of Islam that is completely false.  In their effort to get people to view all Muslims according to their own distorted vision, they have become advocates of the type of hatred and even terror that they purport to criticize.

I wasn't going to talk about Islam in this post, since I've talked about it previously on this blog, but the shock of seeing such a hateful video trumped what I had previously planned to talk about.  What was on my mind originally was the misleading claims of politicians in this election season.  Politicians of all parties and ideologies employ half-truths and misleading statements in an effort to distinguish them from their competitors, but one I noticed this week seems particularly misleading. 

Candidates here in California (and, I suspect, elsewhere in the country) are talking about the "largest tax increase in history" that will take place in 2011 unless they are able to beat out their political opponent in history.  The phrase "largest tax increase in history" is attention-grabbing, and startled me enough to investigate whether the claim is true.

According to factcheck.org, the "tax increase" that is scheduled to go into effect is the result of the expiration of tax cuts that are currently in effect.  A vast majority of those in office today are committed to preserving those tax cuts for everyone except for families making over $250,000 a year, which means that for families that make less than $250,000, there will be no tax increase.

For the richest Americans, there might be a tax increase, but some politicians (Republicans mostly, but also a number of Democrats) are working to keep the cuts for even the wealthiest Americans.  Let's say, though, that the tax cuts are allowed to expire for the wealthy.  How does that compare historically?

The current tax rate for the wealthiest Americans is 35%.  If the tax cuts are allowed to expire, then that tax rate would rise to 39.6%.  Jim Wallis, in his book "Rediscovering Values," puts that in perspective.  He points out that "under Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower, the top tax bracket was at 91%.  Democratic president John F. Kennedy cut that to 70%."  Further reductions since have brought that down to 35%.

Now, if you think 39.6% is too much to tax the wealthiest Americans, fine.  But any claim that this amounts to the "biggest tax increase in history" must be put into historical context.  I don't know whether or not it is the biggest increase in history or not, but it is clear that it will not result in the highest taxes in history, which I think is what many people assume after hearing the claim.

Finally, I should point out that my own views on this are biased.  I admit it: I am biased by the faith I claim and the scripture that guides me in faith.   In scripture (as Jim Wallis points out), when the inequality of wealth grew too great -- when the rich grew too rich and the poor too poor -- God sent prophets to speak out against society's injustice.  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Micah ... all of the biblical prophets lived in times of great inequality of wealth.

On the other hand, when things were relatively equal -- when the rich weren't too rich, and the poor weren't too poor -- there were no prophets.

The first decade of the 21st century has been a period of extreme inequality of wealth.  The income gap between rich and poor is greater than it has been at any time in history since the 1920s.  The income gap of the 1920s is, according to many economists, one of the causes of the Great Depression that followed.

This, too, is part of the "history" that should be considered in this political season.  Perhaps, in this election season, what we need is fewer politicians, and more prophets.

Weather Whiplash

The truth of the matter is I can't find the cord that connects my camera to my computer, which means I can only post an older picture today.  It was cold and drizzly yesterday (the temperature a full 50 degrees cooler than a week ago), so here's my all-time favorite rainy day picture.