The Silencing of the Lambs

As a sequel to my last musing, "When Rattlesnakes Don't Rattle Anymore", (Nov. 2015, one year before the 2016 election)  the metaphor  derived from that last missive has struck a much louder chord to me now more than ever  as we witness the great division in a country  once touted as the great universal example of what happens when people unite and so well deserved to inhabit a nation called The United States. This is not to disparage or condemn one or the other even as each is so well entrenched in opposing sides of the political track, but as a cautionary herald to all. The danger is that we may find ourselves not wanting to cross the tracks any longer as time goes on as to forget that there used to be a much greater bond and an indestructible link between all people beyond pettiness and trivial squabbles.

The risk of a political and societal journey that each side may take that has no return ticket is so grave that this country may find itself passing the point of no return. All in so short a period of time compared to the over two and half centuries  of history, only to potentially become historical footnotes no different from those that describe empires of long ago - gone and forgotten except as mere reminders of what could happen when the strength and stamina of a nation are sapped from within.

Going back to the biological narrative described from that last musing:

"Now then, when do rattlesnakes no longer rattle?  The story may surprise you.  Naturalists just recently discovered that in places where rattlers are heavily hunted, i.e. for the round up, there was eerie silence instead of the familiar sounds that typically betray the presence of the snakes.  Needless to say, the pickings were slim at these places but there was evidence that rattle snakes were present.  What rattle snakes they caught by sight had fused rattlers that no longer rattle.  The rattles are ring-like keratin tissues (similar material like finger nails or claws) that develop at their tails every time the snake sheds its skin. The rings are connected loosely to each other and when the snake shakes its tail we would hear the familiar rattle.  Some of the rattlers have these appendage atrophied because of a genetic mutation.  The snakes that do not rattle escape detection from the hunters and collectors and there lies the multiplying effect.  As the loud rattlers get caught the silent ones thrive and go on to pass their genes that are inherited by subsequent generations.  Soon we have silent venomous snakes".

Now we have a moral lesson – a metaphor of a sort in social and political discourse.  One of democracy’s most important attribute is freedom of speech.  It is because a democracy works when all sides are heard, discussed and decided upon by the people.  

The irony about all of these is that once one side is silenced the victory achieved by the other is a hollow one. Whatever the means to silence one voice - be it through the media, social media in particular, or by acclimation from the loudest of voices over the silent ones, the muffling effect is real: either by over-rattling one point  of view, shouting down opposing opinions or flat out shutting off the pipeline of alternative views from those they do not agree with. Worse of all is the rush to release news that later turned out to be untrue or flat out made up. The waiting period to verify sources or check out the veracity of an event or quotation has been shortened to the briefest amount of time possible. The time honored rule of reporting the news has been subjugated by changing the role of reporters from fair reporting to influence peddling and hyping news stories for commercial values instead of disbursing the truth.

"La plume est plus forte que l'epee."

Though popularly attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, (quotation in French notwithstanding), "The pen is mightier than the sword"  was actually written in a play by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839. Perhaps, and I am speculating here, the reason the quote is not attributed to Bulwer-Lytton is because this author is more well known for what is considered in English literature the worst opening line in a novel, "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain came in torrents.. Rightly or wrongly, that quote has not only become the cautionary example to would be writers on how not to begin a written piece, but also as a warning that the country may indeed be facing a "dark and stormy night".

Society should be careful when conditions become so dire that the cure every one wants to pursue is to silence one side in favor of another. The silencing of opposing views is akin to fusing the snake's rattlers.

The benefit of a one-sided media is at best temporary, worse is the boomerang effect. It will come back in a manner that is impossible to predict. 

What should be emphasized here is that a group that is silenced will only go underground; undetectable by polls. Democracy works when all points of views are heard because an informed citizenry will make informed choices that determine the kind of government it chooses. When one major group is silenced only one monolithic voice emerges.  That becomes the gateway to oligarchy where only one class of people exercises authority over others. The silencing of the lambs means that one majority group may no longer speak or express their minds. Their silence can be claimed by the oligarchy as victory but only for so long.

Suppressing the voice of one group, specially one overwhelming one as was the case in Tsarists Russia during the reign of the Romanov Dynasty gave birth to Communism when at last the silent lambs turned into wolves of revolutionaries. Ironically, the Communists did exactly the same thing when it started to suppress the opposition voices once they took power. By 1991 the Soviet Union broke up. Keep in mind it was less than a century since it was created. Today, not having learned the lesson, the Russian government is back to silencing the lambs once again. Another lesson is that of Mao's China. The last of imperial China ended with the Qing or the Manchu Dynasty whose rule stopped in 1912. But after WWII, Mao rose to power that culminated in the Cultural Revolution of the 60's. But again, suppression of alternative voices held the people in check. Although China's communism today is Communism in name only (CINO) its economic power is shaky if only for one reason: it conducts its business like a capitalist but rules its people like silenced lambs.

If one side succeeds in silencing the other, there will soon be an eerie silence but that will be short lived. The temporary dominant voice must understand that it is easier when opposing voices are heard – not just for the logical reasons – because that is the best way to understand and know them and perchance to work with them (one can only wish).  Worse than hearing the opposition is the silence that percolates underneath.  History teaches us that political power changes hands, dictatorships are toppled and ideologies change or evolve   even amidst every effort to silence the opposition.  Worse than hearing too much out of the political and sociological discourse is when one side no longer rattles.

The 130th Tournament of Roses Parade

As bucket lists go this was my wife's dream. Like many of those who had been watching this yearly spectacle, my wife had been wishing that one day, perhaps, she will get to witness it live. So together with close to a million others we descended upon the City of Los Angeles just a day or so before the New Year. Included with the temporary influx are those whose main purpose is to be at the much awaited college Rose Ball game between the Washington Huskies and Ohio State Buckeyes the following day on Jan. 2, 2019,  that the 130th Rose Parade (also known as The Tournament of Roses) helps to usher in.

The tour that we were part of celebrated a New Year's Gala the evening of the 31st of December 2018. The celebration went by New York time, which was 9:00 p.m. California time, so we can get enough sleep before the parade the following morning. By the way, if January 1st falls on a Sunday the parade will have  been held the following day as set by  the parade committee rules that prohibits the parade to take place on a Sunday. This year was the parade's 130-year anniversary.

The LA Grand Hotel where we stayed opened its breakfast hall at 4:00 in the morning  to the 280 people who were part of this tour (six coaches in all). The buses had to leave at 6:00 a.m. to get to the designated parking lots half an hour away in Pasadena. It was still a  brisk walk from the parking area in 45 degree (F) morning weather to get to the designated viewing stands and onto our assigned bench seats. This was itself a spectacle indeed but the following day we will get to see the floats up close at a park designated to display them so that we can literally "smell the roses".

We thought we were early. The viewing stands were already 80% filled by the time we got there. Note: The parade route is about 5 miles long so we were merely  a very thin slice of it.

This year's   parade was sponsored by Honda. As we can imagine, the cost for the parade is something only deep pocket corporations can bear.

Obviously we took lots of photos but only a handful any reader can  justifiably endure, but why photos of horses and their riders? And there were a bunch of them. Well, what parade has no horses or horse-driven carriages; horses are pretty much part of the American West; and the third photo below (read the caption) shows why I put these up front. 

These volunteers always had the biggest applause as they came by. They were the "pooper scoopers" - picking up and cleaning up after every lump of horse dropping. This shows the world how Americans love the underdog.  There were several of them, each group behind every section of the parading horses. These volunteer underdogs had developed their own individual routines on scooping and cleaning up, making it look like fun.

It was nice to see Texas represented by Texas A&M Corps of Cadets and their own equine variety. Their band participated as well.

Roses naturally dominate flower content of each float but any other flowers may be included, and plant parts like seeds, tree barks,  leaves and fruit and vegetables make up the rest. Close up photos show many of those varieties that were used.

The Rose Queen and princesses of the Rose Bowl are always featured with special designations but this year the Queen for the first time wore glasses. Why that had to be mentioned perplexed some critics but, be that as it may, she is a well accomplished high school senior. Currently conducting (already) cancer research at Charles Drew University, her space biology research has been funded by NASA and she is to choose whether to attend Johns Hopkins U., or Tufts, or U. of Chicago to major in cellular and molecular biology.

There were almost as many bands as there were floats and it is a privilege to be chosen. 

Military bands were always a hit. This Marine Corps band followed the veterans horse drawn carriage.

Did I already mention how cold it was?  Hawaii participated, and Hawaiians came in their traditional attire and I can't tell if the cold bothered them because they were always smiling. There were also a handful of the youth participants who seemed to not be bothered by the 45 degree cold. The 5-mile march apparently helped.

We were closed to the floats from the viewing stand but there was nothing like to be around within arms length of the very same floats the following day. There was a separate entrance for that - a mere 10% of what the ticket cost was to have a seat at the viewing stand. They parked the floats at a park nearby. We didn't get to even a fourth of the floats since the walk would have been too much for my wife.

This is a telephoto I took. Viewed from the ground, this looked so very real.

This made the day for my wife who had her picture taken with one of the float volunteer decorator/ designers.

There are a lot more facts about the Tournament of Roses, too many to list here, but they can easily be looked up online to whet one's appetite for those thinking about going in the future. It was very well worth it.

The whole tour included the Los Angeles City Tour, Sta. Monica and its boardwalk, the Ronald Reagan Library, a peek into the Dolby Theater and walkway for the stars during the Oscars. After the close up visit with the floats the coach took us all the way to San Diego with a lunch stop at Irvine. San Diego, though we've visited it before, is still a worthy part of the tour that included the guided tour of the aircraft carrier Midway. That will be for another show and tell. 

The Do Over

Of all life's luxuries, the do-over is likely the most sought after. There is much wish for life's Mulligans and we long to have a few of them because they are worth a thousand fortunes in our lives than in golf. 

Just imagine if we can do-over everything we've ever done or will ever do in the future? We will all have 20/20 lives, won't we? What a perfect way to live. What a world we will have. The idea of heaven may not measure up. Why? You see, in the popular idea of heaven, everything is laid out for every resident to live a blissful life, free of everything that can ever go wrong. To some, that might be too restrictive. A life that allows no one to veer away from the prescribed path is a life devoid of initiatives or, worse, an existence of very little freedom. Especially to those with an incurable proclivity to  color outside the lines.  

There lies the conundrum for would-be armchair creators or dreamers of a perfect world. The Creator, to those who believe in the Divine Power of an omniscient Being, has not allowed us ordinary mortals even a little peek into the workings of an infinitely unfathomable wisdom. So, we make up something to yearn for perfection. And, imperfect as we are, we will ask the question anyhow. Wouldn't it be better if every human being is allowed to do a do-over? Wouldn't it be a perfect world in the end if we can change some of the things we did  after finding out it was wrong or "sinful"?  Indeed, why not?

It had been established, whether we subscribe to it or not, that uncertainty rules almost everything that is laid out in front of our present moment; i.e. until such time that an event had occurred or  that we acted on a decision to do something, everything was a mere probability. Let's assume certainty as indeed the dictum in a perfect heavenly life, isn't the do-over the perfect icing on an even more perfect cake that we can have? And eat it too?

Many years ago, there was an ad in the Wall Street Journal that ran like this. A company was looking for foreign-born naturalized U.S. citizens currently employed in the oil industry. Anyone interested was to send their resume to a P.O. Box number. It was like a beacon directed right at me.  The P.O. Box number was a turn-off, yes for sure, but it was The Wall Street Journal, I told myself. So I sent my resume.

After a little less than three weeks, a nondescript white envelope came with a one-page cover letter and a two-page form to fill out. It was some sort of search firm, based on the letterhead, that actually replied.  It explained that since the job involved working with (it didn't say, "for") the Federal Government, would I agree to a background check as that was a requirement. I filled out the form, answering some questions and providing additional information, and sent it back? 

Almost three months later, in the early evening after coming home from work, the phone at the kitchen rang as I was watching the evening news. A mild mannered voice that sounded like a man  of early to late middle age came on, looking for me. It was about the job application I sent a while back. Looking at the clock I assumed the caller had to be from the west coast, like California maybe, since all east coast offices, or even the local ones, would have been closed by then. After I confirmed who I was,  he informed me that he was calling from Langley, Virginia. I've never felt my legs turned so rubbery. I begged to sit down by the kitchen table, to which he  agreed was a good idea. I knew then that he knew that I knew what was going to come next. Wasting no time he confirmed my worst fear. He was calling from the office of personnel at the Central Intelligence Agency. He apologized for the delay in getting back to me on my application but it was due to the time it took to do a complete background check (talking to our neighbors maybe, my employer, my financial stability, etc?). Even as he may already have formed a good idea about my total trepidation - he worked at Human Resiurces of the CIA, after all - he went on to explain what the job was about, if I wanted to hear it.  The job was about economic intelligence gathering and analysis that will require foreign assignments. If I were hired, I was to go through a 2-3 year training in the U.S. depending on my progress on language proficiency of the assigned country or region. He added quickly that I should immediately remove from my head the James Bondish fantasies about the job.  I will not be involved in that kind of stuff. Now, almost nonchalantly but just as quickly he added that there will be some other training he could not get into but, yes, there will be some small firearms training but that was standard protocol on intelligence gathering training but the odds I was ever going to use it is zero. And I must not worry too much about that, or even be slightly concerned. I asked if the countries I was going to be involved with were located in the Far East or South Asia. Not necessarily, he answered.

The conversation which lasted for about half an hour felt longer than that and never have I wished  for it to be over so quickly right at about the moment  small firearms training was broached. Compensation, to begin with, was underwhelming to say the least. For the two to three year training period I would get the same salary I was then getting at the oil company I worked for. Obviously, my then current salary range was top dollar in the government sector. But, once I got a foreign assignment my compensation was going to be much better. I will have had employment with a real private corporation operating abroad with allowances, per diem, housing, etc. taken care of. Our two children will likely go to an American School or some international school system.

I thought it was worth going through all of that narrative to show just how things could have been, albeit all within the framework of mere probabilities, keeping in mind too that I was not yet offered the job.  There were going to be more interviews and psychological tests I probably had to go through and there was still the possibility after all that that I could have failed the training courses. Be that as it may, but allowing for the possibility of the "what could have been" would I actually yearn for a do-over? Even if only as a matter of an imagined life, the do over was not worth even a brief moment of contemplation - I concluded that a long time ago. I never told anyone that story for a very long while and when I did, a co-worker teased within earshot of others saying, "How do we know you didn't take that job since you are working for a foreign-owned oil company right now? This is convenient, isn't it". It had a good laugh and fortunately was never taken too seriously by anyone. (Note: By the way the CIA had since advertised want ads openly, at least for certain jobs)

Of course, every life lived fully has all kinds of room for do-over wishful thinking, from the run-of-the-mill mundanity to the sublime and life changing decisions. One may dismiss those to the bins of "neither here nor there" to "yeah, I'd like a do-over". We all have those moments but should we take such ruminations seriously?

Let's say, one is allowed to do-over his or her choice for a spouse after finding out it wasn't working. Well, if we consider the one-person point of view, it is as simple  as withdrawing a move in chess or checkers, it would seem wouldn't it? But what of the other person? And, if there were children, what of them? Now we know why do-overs will not work no matter how noble the purpose. Spectacular permutations aside, we know it will, as the saying goes, merely open "a can of worms" that would be impossible to sort out. But this never stops anyone from imagining, even questioning, in a profound way, "What if I had this instead of that? or "What could my life have been had I married so and so or taken that job instead of the one I'm stuck in right now?" In one sense or another, by bemoaning current circumstances so one can set them  aside is a temporary preoccupation of the mind scripted in a day dream. For most of us, and this  is a good thing, these ruminations barely linger or even taken to heart. For some, it could become a burden - as heavily laden as living in the past.

There is a never ending trove of scenarios we can quickly cite where a perfect situation could have been achieved had we been given a chance to do certain things differently. Yes, but it only begets a host of other things that affect other people and if they too had the same options, the scale at which many changes can occur become fundamentally impossible to  predict or account for because perhaps we live  in a universe of probabilities. It is a world where a scaffolding of probabilities keep being built in front of us, collapsing with each passage of time to become the reality in a lightning-quick present that immediately becomes part of our past - unchanging and unrecoverable. Such is the world we have where once passed all we have is the future. The  lessons  learned from the past are about all we have to perhaps make do-overs either unnecessary or unimportant. That is all we can hope for.