Monday marked the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Those over thirty are likely to remember the highly televised event. Those a bit older may even remember President Reagan’s famous plea, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” President Reagan spoke these words just two years before a frenzied crowd of ad hoc demolitionists carried away the Wall in chunks as souvenirs on November 9th, 1989. Oh, how we hated walls then.
For those, like myself, who know the Vietnam War only as history and not as a current event, the Fall of the Wall stands out as the first memorable political event of our generation. I can still see the footage of people sitting on top of the Wall and breaking it down. The networks played it over and over. I remember one specific version that had Ronald Reagan’s sonorous voice repeating in the background. In the euphoria of the aftermath, the movie-actor-turned-president became an instant video star—his prescient quote taking on the quality of a rap refrain. It was a wonder every wall in America was not torn down in effigy. (Read more)
October 30, 2009
Plastics
By Deacon Patrick Moynihan
More than a decade and a half before Mr. McGuire uttered the word plastics to the directionless Ben Braddock in The Graduate, my dad was getting his PhD in polymer science. He followed that with thirty plus years perfecting plastic for Du Pont—a successful career that paid for all eight of his children's educations. I even joined him for a summer at the plant, as a recipe mixer for test batches of new compounds. In the style of full disclosure, I have to admit I am from a plastics family. Since my teen years, I have refused to wear Dacron/cotton blends, but I was and still am a user.
However, today it is getting harder and harder to stay on the fix. There is no doubt that plastics have made our lives better, even saved it in some cases. One of the plastics my dad helped develop is the inner-layer in the windshield that holds a shattered pieces of glass together during an accident. This innovation has lessened frontal impact fatalities for decades. There are also important surgical procedures that require plastic parts and other every day applications, like PVC piping, that have contributed positively to our lives. However, the sea of waste created by the overuse and improper disposal of plastics is enough to make a person want to quit cold turkey (Read more)
If we were in our 500s, the term America would mean something wholly different to us. It would conjure up thoughts of the entire New World—not just one large country within it. It may be time to return to this broader, hemispheric perspective. Weakened by this latest economic crash, we may need to consider strengthening our partnerships in our own neighborhood to ensure the great American experiment continues. Otherwise, we may end up sold to the Chinese like a dilapidated theme park with Chavistas to run the rides.
How is it that our region broke into such divided parts in the first place? Unequal success is more to blame than language and culture barriers. British colonies had stronger governmental structures in place than the colonies of France, Spain and Portugal. Even though the Thirteen Colonies were younger than many South American and Caribbean colonies, they had better developed local governments at the time they won their independence. Subsequently, our government has operated continuously from day one, never experiencing a complete meltdown. Unfortunately, the reverse has been the norm in the region. The uneven starts and experiments with alternatives to democracy were the first factors to divide the hemisphere.
The United States had the additional advantage of being an early participant in the industrial boom. This created a second source for producing national wealth, in addition to agriculture. U.S. industry attracted investment and immigrants from all over the world. This allowed the U.S. to grow faster than other new nations in the region which relied more on agriculture. This singular success catapulted the U.S. forward into the world. (Read more)
October 16, 2009
Homesick
By Deacon Patrick Moynihan
My first experience with homesickness occurred during my high school years on my trips back to Culver Military Academy each semester. For dramatic purposes, I wish I could claim to have been sent away to military school by my parents against my will. The truth is, I asked to go. My parents had to make quite an exception to send their last child to an expensive boarding school after raising seven others through local parochial schools and public high schools. So, I have to admit, my first experience with homesickness was self-induced—but it was still intense.
A couple of times, I made the trek back to school from Marietta, Ohio to Culver, Indiana by bus. Even though these trips took several hours, the feeling of missing home, oddly, did not hit until the bus arrived. After the first time, I was prepared. I made sure I had a good book to read the first night back. I would get into bed and read myself asleep. By morning, the old routine of morning ranks and breakfast would dispel the feeling of homesickness. (Read more)
The youngest of eight, I was quick witted before I was mature enough to know better than to say whatever satirical or ironic thought that came to mind. Being clever with words was a survival skill in a big family. It took me a long time to learn that every well-turned phrase does not merit utterance. I learned this lesson the hard way—not so much from embarrassment as from the realization that words arranged just right can do a lot of harm. Some things are just too uncivil to say.
Indeed, words can be as violent as any other weapon. I first observed this on a political level when I was a freshman in college. During a very tense confrontation between fraternity supporters on one side and feminist and gay rights activists on the other, someone started the chant “How do you know your parents are straight?” Although the university had justifiably stopped one of the fraternities from hanging a female mannequin in effigy to express their frustration with being reviewed for dismissal, nothing was done to stop this chant engineered purposely to disturb and provoke a response. The intent of this goading chant was to threaten and unnerve the opposition every bit as much as the hanging mannequin. It was a violent, uncivil thing to say the least, yet it went unchecked by the institution. (Read more)
September 25, 2009
Snapshots
By Deacon Patrick Moynihan
At any moment, we can see something so intense and clear that we absorb it without really viewing it in the usual sense. We do not take in what we see by scanning the details from left to right. Instead, the image just burns itself wholesale into our optic memory like a snapshot. These snapshots are identified by four qualities. They often return spontaneously. They stay with us for a very long time, sometimes for a lifetime. When we take one in, we catch ourselves saying, "Did I just see that?" Above all, they remind us that no matter how long we live, we will never be able to say that we have seen it all.
These snapshots stay with us because they either explain something we have been pondering for awhile or provide new understanding in a moment of enhanced comprehension. They are epiphanies. They become moments of new and deeper understanding. Unfortunately, they are difficult to share with others even if we pick the best thousand words to describe them. They are like dreams: still clear to us after we wake, but almost impossible to relate to others. (Read more)
Sometimes it is important to establish what you’re not saying before you say what you are saying, lest bad feelings set in before understanding. This is especially true in delicate matters and tough times—both of which apply here. After religion and politics, there is nothing more sensitive to discuss than the economy, especially when so many are suffering.
I do not mean to imply by what follows that unemployment is good. In fact, I bristle at economists who suggest that the economy is healthier with less than full employment. I understand the theory, but the concept of feeling more at ease when a few people are unemployed seems mean-spirited. I am also not suggesting making lemonade out of lemons. Being out of work is more serious than a momentary disappointment that can be easily turned into gladness with a good attitude. (Read more)
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford can probably claim with conviction, “I know Rod Blagojevich and I am no Rod Blagojevich.” But, does one have to be as bad as the disgraced former governor of Illinois to be impeached?
Governor Sanford hopes so. He recently pointed out in his own defense that his misbehavior does not compare with the “heinous” criminal actions that resulted in the impeachment and removal of eight U.S. governors since 1871. The beleaguered governor has a point. His actions do not include the alleged attempt to sell a U.S. Senate seat or the misappropriation of public funds to make real estate investments. On the other hand, his behavior does bare a certain resemblance to one of the two presidents who have been impeached in our short history. (Read more)
I had a horse. I attended high school at a private boarding school. I paid for less of my relatively expensive college education than any of my seven siblings. Throughout college, I was taken out to dinner by those siblings and borrowed their cars. I not only had a silver spoon in my mouth, I had collection of them as a kid. Oddly enough, all of this is why I am a missionary today. I was spoiled good.
I am not alone in this category. There are plenty of examples of famous people who received much or even too much as children and gave it up to serve others. Before we delve into that pile, let me be clear that I do not equate myself with their level of heroics or depth of saintliness. I only mention these scions of reversal of fortune to support the theory that receiving is a strong motivator for giving. (Read more)
What a troubling world we live in! On our side of the globe, a politician can submerge his family in public embarrassment and not suffer even as much as an official slap on the wrist. Worse, lacking court adjudicated punishment, some of the fallen choose to inflict their own punishment, meting it out in periodic, public self-admonishments that cause us to suffer more than they. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a Muslim woman, having audaciously consumed a beer in a bar, awaits six whacks with rattan rod for her perceived indecency. Having been awfully wet once, it is a wonder that the world has not been lost again.
The best the Malaysian government can offer on behalf of our "gone mad" world to suggest at least an inkling of mercy is that the caning will be delayed until after Ramadan, the holy month of fasting observed by followers of Islam. If this does not turn out to be a tactic to delay the beating until it can be forgotten all together, then it is really not evidence of mercy, but another indictment of the human race. Hopefully, some government official will be struck by the irony of waiting for a religious holiday to end before caning a woman and commute the sentence once and for all. (Read more)
