Taking Things Slower Has Benefits

Often it seems that life is fast-paced. Traveling quickly by jet aircraft and preparing food in a microwave oven are two examples of things getting done much quicker, at a faster pace, than was true long ago. But, I think taking things slower has benefits in at least some ways.

Travel
Recently I traveled from Lexington, Kentucky to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and back on a Greyhound bus. Most persons probably would have flown. But the prices and limited travel times (at least for budget airlines) led me to go via the bus.

I found the bus trip relaxing in some ways. I met many nice, interesting persons, enjoyed seeing the scenery, took time to read, did some editing work to revise a book I'd published shortly before the trip, etc. I doubt that I would have enjoyed a flight as much. I even slept a significant amount on the approximately 20 hours each way trip, though not as much as I'd planned.

I honesty think that, assuming I didn't get seasick, I might even enjoy devoting a few days to traveling on a ship across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. Centuries ago, before steamships, when folks like Benjamin Franklin were on ships with sails, it might have taken a month or longer to sail across the ocean. I can visualize persons reading, meeting new friends, writing articles or books, and engaging in deep thoughts to gain new insights, as well as enjoying some nice relaxation, among many other activities.

Yes, I am confident there can be big advantages sometimes to taking travel a bit slower. I know I can see and enjoy my neighborhood, city, etc., more when I am walking or bicycling than when I am traveling in a car or on a bus.

Food Preparation
I love my microwave oven, which can prepare a lot of tasty food quickly. It likely even does some foods better than "conventional" cooking. I would not want to go back to the days when someone may have devoted a big part of a day to preparing food for a family, doing things like baking bread from scratch. But I am confident that old-fashioned cooking is better in many ways.

Forgive me for being nostalgic, but I have fond memories of enjoying a potato baked by my great grandmother in the coals of a fireplace. I remember the various homemade "delicacies" that my mom and grandmother prepared from scratch. And I myself still frequently soak pinto beans overnight; then, I devote a couple of hours to cooking them on the stove, while I busy myself doing reading, writing, browsing the Internet, sorting papers, etc., as they cook.

Multitasking
Many persons today seem to carry a cell phone with them almost everywhere and seem the majority of the time to be conversing with someone on it or playing games on it, etc. At the same time, they may be shopping, driving, baby-sitting children, etc. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the huge amount of multitasking that takes place in modern society is a contributing factor toward many headaches, ulcers, and other illnesses.

Personally, I try to take things slower. I rarely carry my cellphone with me, and I seldom use it when I do. I try to do one thing at a time and to focus on it, rather than multitasking, with some exceptions such as cooking beans as I mentioned earlier, which aren't really a distraction as long as I set a timer for them (and set the timer near the door, so I can put them out of mind, relatively confident I won't go out and forget them).

Of course, I am single and not a parent. It may be impossible to be a parent and not multitask. Even I do a significant amount of multitasking. But I think that if most of us reduce the quantity of our multitasking, when reasonably feasible, our lives would improve.

Concluding Thoughts
Persons such as the Mennonites and Amish who have strong morals, good work ethics, and avoid using many modern inventions may have the right idea in some ways. A lot of people seem to go deeply into debt, then get stressed out working two or three jobs to pay for labor-saving devices or a second home or a boat.

And if we go slower, taking more time to talk to others and to listen to them, maybe we would do a better job of getting along with others. Personally, I am confident that we could resolve all (or at least most) conflicts much more fairly and peacefully if we took time to communicate openly and honestly and to sincerely listen to the points of view of others, to try to understand their side(s) of the issue(s), and to seek the right solution.

Maybe we all could sincerely be conscientious objectors. On the Philadelphia trip I mentioned earlier, a Mennonite ministering in Philadelphia on a Saturday handed me a CD (I was a bit surprised he had a CD.) with a sermon message titled "A True Conscientious Objector Today," apparently delivered by a person named Melvin Burkholder. I am basically a pacifist myself and enjoyed listening to it. Maybe we all could be conscientious objectors if through the grace of God we all sincerely followed the Holy Spirit's leading in treating all persons fairly. 

I don't claim to always take things slower, but I do only rent a car a few times a year, taking time to walk, bicycle, and ride the bus much more frequently. And I live in a studio efficiency apartment that helps me limit how much stuff I acquire (though I found that one can fit several bookcases full of books even in a studio efficiency).

Furthermore, I am happy remaining single, which may be a simpler life than marriage. I do remain open to the possibility of.marriage if I meet the right person at the right time in the right way and develop a relationship slowly, but I think I may be called to be single and celibate.

I respect the right of persons to choose a fast-paced life, and at times I do, too. But in general, I think most of us, here in the United States anyway, can benefit by slowing down our pace of life, acquiring fewer possessions, and enjoying the simple pleasures of life more.

Cincinnati Zoo Killing a Gorilla Named Harambe: Was It Justified?

Many (maybe most) of you readers probably have read about the Cincinnati Zoo shooting a gorilla named Harambe on Saturday, May 28, 2016, after a three or four-year-old boy fell into its enclosure. Numerous news sources reported about it, including the Daily Mail, CNN, WLWT, and the Cincinnati Enquirer website.

You may not be interested in my opinion about it based on my very limited information. If so, please stop reading this article now.

First, I am confident that zoo officials who stated that a tranquilizer would not have killed an agitated gorilla fast enough to prevent it from doing harm know more about tranquilizers than most (if not all) of the persons criticizing them. I do support developing better tranquilizers, though.

Second, I am confident that zoo officials know better than most others that if the gorilla intended to kill the boy it could have done so easily during the perhaps ten minutes the boy was in the enclosure with Harambe, and that the gorilla at least part of the time was seeking to protect the boy.

Third, I am confident that zoo officials know better than most that it was necessary to get the boy out quickly and safely. I like to think that there was someone at the zoo that knew the gorilla well enough and that the gorilla knew well enough that the person could have entered the enclosure and coaxed the gorilla into allowing the boy to be removed. But if someone else had entered the enclosure and the gorilla had attacked and injured that person (in a misguided attempt to protect the boy?) or the gorilla had attacked and possibly killed the boy, the zoo may have faced criminal charges. I am trying very hard not to second guess the decision made by persons more knowledgeable than me about the situation.

Fourth, it may not be possible to make every zoo exhibit child proof, but I hope that this incident leads to improvements in safety. And if they give the animals more room to move around, I'd love that, too. 

Last, we often focus on one interesting or unusual story at the expense of all the other news. I hope that the care and compassion shown for this boy and this gorilla help lead us to perhaps see the bigger picture and show more compassion for all God's creatures.

I began writing this article on Memorial Day and am posting it the day after Memorial Day. Maybe reading about this gorilla and boy will give us more incentive to find alternatives to war and violence. Let's all seek to treat everyone and everything with love and compassion.

NOTE: Minor editing was done on this article on May 31, 2016, less than a day after its original posting.

The Christian Restoration Movement and Restoration 200 in Lexington, Kentucky May 15, 2016

This afternoon (May 15, 2016) I attended an event in Lexington, Kentucky called Restoration 200, celebrating 200 years since the first Restoration Movement church congregation that was located in Lexington formed in 1816. The Restoration Movement itself began some years earlier, with the exact year depending on how one defines the movement. But the Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky in 1801 was a key event.    

I love the concept of "restoration." Today's event included music, prayer, communion, booths for various organizations, food truck vendors, and short messages from three ministers.

The three ministers spoke on "unity," "liberty," and "love," in that order. First, Jon Weece from Southland Christian Church where thousands worship spoke on "Unity." Then Barrett Coffman from Southside Church of Christ an acapella congregation near my apartment and the University of Kentucky that has a successful college ministry spoke on "Liberty." The third minister, David Shirey from Central Christian Church which has a significant ministy in downtown Lexington, spoke on "Love." The photos below were taken of the three as they spoke today (from top to bottom, Jon Weece, Barrett Coffman, and David Shirey, in the same order in which they spoke).

Ideally all Christians would seek to obey God perfectly and would be joined together as one large congregation working together toward this goal. Unfortunately, in actual practice all Christians fall short of perfectly obeying God, and Christians are divided into numerous groups that meet in various buildings in various congregations in various denominations with various beliefs.

In my opinion, one of the key movements that has sought to try to restore unity within the Christian faith is what is often called the Christian Restoration Movement, which is what the group that met today in Lexington from 3 p.m. till 5 p.m. is part of. The Restoration Movement, also sometimes called the Stone-Campbell Movement in honor of two men instrumental in its early success, has sought to unite the Christian faith in its basic beliefs.

Alas, after over two centuries of work not only has the Restoration Movement failed to restore unity within the Christian church as a whole, the movement itself has split into three factions, one group being Christian Churches known as Disciples of Christ Christian Churches, a second group known as nondenominational Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, and a third group known as acapella Churches of Christ. This permits illustrates the difficulty of uniting the Christian faith.

I have no illusions that today's event in Lexington will bring together the three factions that split. But I hope that the few hundred persons who gathered together today are part of a group of Christians committed to coming closer to obeying God's perfect guidance. I hope, pray, and trust that as Christians seek to unite together to do good things in accordance with God's desires, good things happen for Christians individually and for Christians collectively. Maybe somehow, in some way, today's event helps in that regard.

U.S. 2015 Bombing of Hospital, War, and Need for Alternatives

Please forgive me for pontificating on one of my hot-button issues. Perhaps it is because I grew up during the Vietnam War era, but I despise war.

I read in an April 29, 2016 New York Times website article that sixteen U.S. military officials are being administratively disciplined due to the prolonged accidental bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in 2015.

I understand that under stressful wartime conditions accidents happen, that decisions often must be made quickly with limited information, etc. But I think that makes it even more crucial to find alternatives to war.

What if instead of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan, one in the U.S. had been hit? What type of discipline would the United States government have sought for the offending country? In 1898 the U.S. went to war with Spain, and a primary reason was an explosion on the U.S. military vessel Maine that apparently was caused by a fire that led to an accidental ammunition explosion, as stated by a History.com piece, among others. How would the U.S. government have felt about an accidental hospital bombing in the U.S.? What about all the accidental bombings of civilians, including wedding parties, in other countries by the U.S. military?

I think the U.S. military is creating more terrorists than it kills by its military actions. Personally, I am tired of the war-mongering American military. As a March 27, 2016 Los Angeles Times website article  noted, "Syrian militias armed by" the FBI and others armed by the CIA "have repeatedly shot at each other."

If the U.S. had not been involved in major military actions in Iraq and Syria, I think that ISIL would not have risen to power. Most persons in Iraq were probably happier and better off before the U.S. overthrew Hussein than they are now. Iraqis had more freedom of religion, and probably more dependable electrical power, water supplies, and experienced fewer violent deaths.

The U.S. has provided arms to a huge number of countries, often to oppressive leaders who used their weaponry to abuse their own people. Our nation even provided aid that helped Osama Bin Laden. He was called a "freedom fighter" and "sponsored by the CIA" according to an opinion piece on DefenceJournal.com article. Numerous other sources note U.S. military aid benefiting Bin Laden in his fight against Russia. Other U.S. military aid helped Saddam Hussein in his earlier years. And the U.S. currently supports an oppressive Saudi Arabian government, among others.

Even in our own country the abuse of Native American Indians and African-Americans has been horrendous. And we fought a horrible Civil War; that war led to the end to legal slavery in the United States. But many countries around the world abolished slavery without fighting a war to do it. Why didn't or couldn't we? I think we could have with better leaders.

Long before the Civil War, some leaders sought to abolish slavery in the U.S. For example, although Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, he apparently strongly disliked slavery and even condemned slavery in at least one early draft of the Declaration of Independence. If that segment had not been deleted, would slavery have been abolished earlier in the U.S.? Maybe our country would have remained part of England, never seceded, and the Revolutionary War averted. Jefferson in 1784 again sought to end slavery in a proposal that was narrowly defeated in the Continental Congress.

Concluding Thoughts
Somehow we must learn to solve problems peacefully. Sadly, those of us in the United States often do not know about abuses committed by U.S. military forces overseas. Even in the horrendous Abu Ghraib tragedies, the government denied them until photographic evidence emerged. And I think the first person that was prosecuted was the person who took the photographs.

Let's seek to love even our enemies as Jesus taught. Let's seek to "be good and do good" as Buddha advocated, as stated in approximate translations of his words into English on various websites. I think treating people fairly will help make this country and this world a much better place and greatly reduce the violence. You may think I am naive. Maybe I am. And if you have a better alternative, I'd love to read or hear about it. Thanks for taking time to read this diatribe.

Mining Remains Important Despite Recent Job Losses

Many materials mined around the world (coal, limestone, copper, gold, silver, iron ore, etc.) have a wide variety of uses. These uses include building and highway construction, cell phones, cooking utensils, and even solar panels and wind turbines.

Steve Gardner (2015 SME President) spoke today (April 21, 2016) in Lexington, Kentucky about the importance of mining and the current situation of mining around the world. Among other things, Gardner noted that drops in commodity prices, environmental regulations, etc., have cost hundreds of thousands of jobs around the world although mining is important and will continue.

According to a January 8, 2016 Mining.com piece over 100,000 mining/mining support jobs were lost in the U.S. alone in 2015.

Coal Mining
Coal mining may be especially impacted as most folks in Kentucky where I live probably know due to the number of mines shut and miners put out of work in recent years, and as a February 1, 2016 Kentucky.com article noted. Furthermore, a February 22, 2016 Reuters article stated that China (the world's largest coal consumer) plans to close over 1,000 of its own coal mines this year.

Coal mining will continue. However, as I see it, coal mining may never rebound to its levels of a few years ago. It's unfortunate for miners though that its decline has happened so fast with environmental regulations, cheaper natural gas, lower oil prices, and renewable fuels, along with a recession all impacting it negatively.
 
Concluding Thoughts
Though I strongly favor reasonable environmental regulations and am glad for many major improvements made that reduce pollution from coal-fired plants in the U.S., automobile exhaust, etc., let's not forget that mining and materials mined fueled the Industrial Revolution and remain important now and will in the foreseeable future.

I am impressed with worldwide efforts to improve safety and environmental standards and to explore alternatives to fossil fuels. It's also great to reduce unnecessary energy consumption and to avoid buying or making unnecessary products. But try to think a bit about all the products that you (or others) own and use daily and think about how many materials had to be mined to produce them.

Let's try to keep things in perspective. Mining is important and will remain so for many years to come as I see it.

Disclosure: Although I am not a practicing mining engineer, I do hold a mining engineering degree from the University of Kentucky, worked two summers in the mining industry during college, and some of my relatives worked in the mining industry, including both my father and paternal grandfather who worked as mining engineers. I wrote this article after hearing Steve Gardner speak this evening. Though I didn't hear all of his talk, I got there in time to hear most of it, and this article is based on my own knowledge and research as well as his talk.

Is Global Warming Occurring?--If Not Let's Still Take Action

I am not convinced that global warming will be a problem in the upcoming decades and centuries. Still, I think it makes sense to take many actions that a lot of environmentalists advocate. Please let me explain.

First, Is Global Warming Really a Problem?

I want to make it clear that a lot of the talk about global warming may be hyperbole.

Scientists claim that the Earth is over four billion years old (a claim I dispute, but that's another story). Furthermore, scientists believe that we are in an ice age, with current temperatures significantly lower than the average temperature over Earth's lifetime. These are well documented facts (according to scientists) that you can find in various articles.

The trend toward warmer temperatures is very short term compared to the planet's supposed lifetime of a few billion years. When I was in high school in the 1970s, after a few years of cooler than average temperatures, scientists warned about coming colder temperatures. Probably the best known of numerous articles about this is an April 28, 1975 Newsweek article titled "The Cooling World."

What about the future? In another ten, fifty, or one hundred years currently unknown factors may result in cooler temperatures again. I am not convinced of the accuracy of scientists' long term forecasts based on short term data.

Second, Let's Take Action Regardless

However, point number two, my other main point, is that regardless of whether or not global warming is occurring, many of the actions that persons advocate taking to combat global warming are worthy to do.

For example, reducing our use of fossil fuels is a wise move. I grew up in southeastern Kentucky and know firsthand that the production, transportation, and consumption of coal involve health risks. We need to at least gradually progress toward cleaner alternatives to coal.

And, for better or worse, a lot of people living in coal mining areas need to find new jobs, even if it means relocating. Sadly, the fact is that due to mechanization, limited coal reserves that are easily and cheaply minable, etc., the mining industry in Kentucky will never again employ as many people as it did when I was a child in the 1960s and 1970s or even a few years ago.      

But, remember that coal is just one of the fossil fuels. Gasoline is another polluter. I have bicycled down Lexington's Nicholasville Road during rush hour (rarely thankfully) and strongly disliked breathing the automobile exhaust from a long line of cars—cars that often were moving slower than I was on my bicycle. I advocate for persons to drive less, drive more fuel efficient vehicles, carpool more, use mass transit more, bicycle more, walk more, etc.

Furthermore, global warming supposedly will lead to ocean levels rising enough to flood many islands and coastal areas. Even if such horrible flooding does not occur, it makes sense to build a bit away from the ocean, as I see it. This helps protect against hurricanes, if nothing else. We don't need millions of people living near ports or other coastal areas, especially in the age of jet aircraft travel. Let's reduce construction in such areas and gradually relocate many who currently live there.

It also makes sense to build smaller houses and apartments that require less energy to heat and cool. Most of us have more space than we need.

Common sense actions can improve our lives much, whether or not global warming actually turns out to be a big problem. And those of us who don't believe much in predictions about the horrors of global warming may need to take the leadership role in this, because many who speak so strongly about the horrors of global warming seem to choose to drive SUVs and live in large houses.

Please, let's all seek to take actions to help improve conditions in our world. If we do, we may live happier, healthier, longer lives.

The Importance of Truth and Love

This evening (February 24, 2016) I heard Ravi Zacharias give a lecture followed by a question and answer session at the University of Kentucky's Memorial Coliseum before what I estimated to be a crowd of about 8,000 people. For me, the highlight was Mr. Zacharias quoting a statement from Martin Luther King, Jr., that we need "unarmed truth and unconditional love."

Zacharias followed that up by adding that "truth is the most powerful weapon in the world," a statement which I found afterward (via an online search) in an editorial in the August 14, 1944 LIFE Magazine, which may have been his source. Then he added that love is the "most supreme ethic in the world." I feel there is a lot of wisdom in the simple but profound words in the three quotes I just cited. 

Zacharias has spoken to many audiences around the world, in addition to writing and editing numerous books. You can read more about him on the website of his organization, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

As I see it (my words, not Zacharias's), if we all sought to find the truth and to implement it in a loving way, we could perhaps eventually attain world peace and unite all the diverse religions in the world. Obviously, when the various religions of the world disagree with one another, at best only one can be right. Even within the Christian faith there are a huge number of denominations with various views about the Trinity, methods of baptism, alcoholic beverage consumption, speaking in tongues, how literally to interpret the Bible, etc.

Far too many who claim to be Christians disobey Jesus' teaching to love even one's enemies, seeking to go to war or fight others for selfish reasons. Furthermore, far too many who claim to be Christians (or Muslims, or followers of another faith, or of no faith) deliberately teach false doctrines to defend their particular denomination, church, some religion other than Christianity, or another group.

If we could just all seek to unselfishly seek what is the best, what is the truth, what is right, in a loving way, I am confident that as a whole we could live happier, healthier, longer lives and make our world a better place. I hope and pray that we will seek to do so.