Open Letter to Arne Duncan

Dear Mr. Duncan,

First of all, Congratulations!

And next, I am not looking for a job, but realize you should have some idea of my background: I have taught (and occasionally administrated) for over 35 years in the USA, Portugal, Syria, Japan and Hong Kong. I am retired.

I have a practical suggestion to assist in the improvement of High School education throughout the country. It is a simple concept but would require some retraining of teachers, and some reeducation of administrators and parents. Consider replacing traditional grading systems with progressive outcome-based systems. I have done this in my classes in my last three positions and have found the results to be unfailingly excellent. The effect on all students has been measurable improvement. Parents have appreciated and approved the informative and supportive nature of the system and administrators have often asked me to teach the system to other teachers.

This sort of grading is not new. In essence most grammar schools use a form of it. It is likely that many high-school teachers and administrators will resist it at first, as it requires an initial expenditure of time and effort and challenges tradition. However, the costs are small, consisting of some professional development and a tweak to existing programs.

It is a system that requires more attention not only to how we teach but what and how we genuinely measure the results. It results in genuine assessment, greater student motivation, less time spent negotiating grades with parents and students, greater parental awareness of their child’s educational needs and more efficient and effective teaching and learning.

Here is an overview.

The Current Cumulative System - Student’s grades are averaged over a semester and a final grade assigned that does not reflect the actual learning or final skill level.
In this system an above average student enters a class working above grade level in most skill areas and achieves “A” on early assessments. This student continues to receive “A” throughout and ends with an “A” for the term reflecting no growth and no challenge.
A below average student enters working below grade level and receives “D” or “F” on most early assessments. Hopefully, by the end of the term the student is consistently achieving “B” and gets a B+ on the final reflecting both growth and improved skill levels. This student ends with a “C-” for the term that does not reflect their true growth and is not an accurate indicator of the student’s current abilities. .
Worse, because the reporting system focus is entirely on the numbers with no reflection of what those numbers truly mean other than the student got a “50” on a test, parents ask, “what happened?” or “Why did he get a low grade?” and the students beg for another few points (or tenths of a point) to achieve a higher class standing rather than look at what the grade may be indicating. Students tend to see the system as one of arbitrary reward and punishment. No one is entirely certain, at the start of the next school year, what the student’s actual strengths and weaknesses are.

The Progressive Outcome-based System - Students are assessed by determining initial levels in specifically defined areas and individualized assessments are based on these. No more “I got an “A’ on my math test, but I got an “A” in formulae but a “C” in computation. Grades grow with the student’s demonstrated growth in each area. In other words, if a student is achieving a “D” level on basic math computations but eventually masters these at a “B” level, the final grade will be a “B” in that area. Final grades are a genuine reflection of improvement and actual skill levels.
In this system, an above average student enters the class and is determined to be working above grade level in most skill areas. The teacher uses testing to determine where weakness may lie and focuses ongoing assessment on those areas, while setting higher standards where appropriate. This student may find themselves receiving less than the usual “A” at first but is motivated to improve weaknesses and learn new skills
The below average student who has entered with weaker skills still has low grades at first but is motivated by the knowledge that real improvement will lead to substantially better grades and a greater awareness of what those grades mean. Also, this sort of grading can easily include non-subject specific skills such as organization, scheduling, listening skills, etc. leading to motivated improvement in study skills, conduct and effort.
This system makes it much more difficult for a student to focus only on the number of points that make up a particular test or the final grade and will shift the attention from numbers to what the numbers actually mean. Both the student and the teacher know exactly what skills and content a specific assignment is evaluating.
This system makes it easier to create and apply consistent rubrics to every assignment - indeed it demands it. Thus the expectations are always clearer and the means to achieve them as well.
It goes a long way to answering those pesky parental questions, “What is this Grade based on?” “What can my child do to improve?” “Is this an objective Grade?” “Is teacher #1’s teaching consistent with teacher #2”
While it requires a large effort to set up it ultimately makes assessing most assignments quicker and easier.


Since this system is evidently so much better why haven’t more schools and teachers adopted it already?
It clearly takes a great deal of extra time to set up a new system and adapt it to each teacher’s specific assessment tools
It requires changing hearts and minds about traditional grading.
It only works when specific skills and levels of expectations for each subject have been identified and rubrics developed.
It requires adaptation of the way in which grade books or computer based grading systems are set up and grades are reported.
It requires more time spent on revision process and individuation of assessment goals.

Finally, I understand that this proposal is for only one aspect of a wide-ranging change that needs to take place in the way our schools perceive what they do and ultimately requires a whole system change that focuses on actual ability to accomplish genuine tasks. However, I strongly believe it is the best starting point. I have been through many years of “school improvement” committee meetings, curriculum writing and rewriting, benchmark identification, vertical alignment, cross curriculum goals and objectives and so on. All of these have value but without a clear method to assess what we are trying to accomplish they all too often appear to teachers as just another new way of doing what we have always done. However, if we begin with what it is we truly expect and how it is we measure that, the rest seems to make more sense.

Sincerely, Ted Guhl

The Coming Year

Proposal to Replace The American Eagle

With a much more graceful and prolific bird.

One Voter's Moment of Pride

My first election was in 1964 when Lyndon B. Johnson was elected in a landslide. Since then I have voted in all but one of the presidential elections. While I am essentially liberal and a Democrat, I have occasionally voted Republican and once for a 3rd party candidate. There have been times when I left the polling booth with a sense of hope and other times when I felt I was voting for the lesser of two evils. There have even been a few times when I left feeling despair.
Today I voted for Barack Obama and admit that, for the first time, I feel deeply proud of my vote. Some of this is because my nation has grown up enough to have a choice to vote for someone other than a white European. Some of my feelings stem from the belief that he will win and set us, finally, on a course back towards an honest concern for the other fellow, no matter what his color, race or creed.
But most all I feel proud because of the hope that he will, as did my name sake, Teddy Roosevelt, honor his words and guide us in an attempt to stem the unrelenting greed and growth of the huge corporations that are strangling all that is decent and compassionate in our nation.
Yes we can!!!

HEY EVERYONE, I THINK I MAY HAVE FOUND A POSSIBLE ANSWER TO LIFE’S DIFFICULT AND COMPLEX QUESTIONS!

If you are one of those folks (as I am) who want simple elegant answers to seemly complex and difficult questions, I have a possibility for you. It is to avoid certainty.

The very idea that anyone can possibly know enough about something to be absolutely certain that they have the “Truth” is the root of our difficulty. Even my certainty in stating this could be dangerous and misguiding. After all, perhaps someone, somewhere really does know for certain that the sun will rise tomorrow or that God is in his heaven and all is right with the world.

However, I would caution that person was certain of those things to remember that the earth is a planet revolving around the sun according to physical laws and its seemly fixed 24 hour day could easily be radically altered by a collision with an asteroid and that if God is all powerful and he decided at any given moment to leave his heaven or make things all wrong with the world, he could.

This is not to suggest that nothing can be planned or that no one can possibly make assumptions about the likely nature of anything. I can plan my day tomorrow based on the assumption that the sun will rise, in fact, I had better do that if I wish to get something specific accomplished. And I can say a prayer for an ailing friend or ask God to watch over someone who has just died, if I believe it will alleviate suffering, or even simply to give myself comfort in my grief. Nothing wrong with all that.

The difficult comes when I begin to behave with certainty of the sun. When I do that, I might quickly begin to take it for granted, to assume I am entitled to sunshine tomorrow. And I might get very angry and confused if the sun doesn’t rise. It is even worse when I assume to know God’s will and intention for us all. Now I might not only feel superior to my fellows, I might begin tell them where they are “wrong” and “sinful” and how they should behave. I could tell them what God’s plan is for them and expect them to follow me in it. I might tell them what God wants them to do and when. All because of my certainty that I know God, that I have the “right” God, the “right” message, the “right” way of living and worshipping.

When you think about it, it seems as if most of the problems in this world arise from someone being certain about something. Consider the following:

• Recently, most Americans seemed certain that Iraq was building WMDs.
• Most Islamic terrorists seem certain that God is leading them to blow themselves and others up. In fact, most fundamentalist seem quite certain that they are “good” and the others are “evil.”
• Most Zionists seem certain that this piece of land is theirs by God given right and that Palestinians belong somewhere else. Most Palestinians seem to believe that piece is theirs for the same reasons.
• Most politicians seem certain that they are helping citizens by helping corporations get rich.
• Most corporations seem certain that their form of unchecked capitalism is raising standards of living around the world, even as the poor get poorer, starvation spreads and they get richer. What is even more astonishing is that they seem certain that unlimited growth is possible forever.
• Most medical companies seem certain that their drugs will eventually cure man’s physical ills even as those ills (or new ones) seem to increase with the use of many of their drugs.
• Most artists and writers seem certain that their creations advance man’s aesthetic and spiritual nature even as ugly, violent and demeaning images grow rampant.
• Most adults seem certain that they are being good parents even as their children smother and grow fat and lazy under the massive assault of material products and distractions. heaped upon them.
• Most educators seem certain they are encouraging curiosity and self-directed learning even as they hand out an “F” to this one and an “A” to that one – judging each child’s understanding and skill by the same imperfect test.
• Most bankers seem certain that the purpose of a bank is to give credit and make a profit.
• Most western workers seem certain that a “good life” is measured by how many material things they can have and that it doesn't matter if they have them by borrowing from others.
• Most eastern workers seem certain that western materialism makes people happy.
• Most starving people seem certain that they are powerless to do anything about it. Most wealthy people seem certain of the same thing.

I suspect you can find your own examples.

Well, that is my simple answer to all those complex and overwhelming problems. Perhaps if we could all give up certainty, we just might find many problems disappear. Or if not, we might be able to see some new, even simpler answers. I don’t know this for certain, of course.

An Ignorant Man Asks For Help

Time to demonstrate my ignorance. Put it all right out there. Lay it on the line and show what an absolutely uneducated, misguided, ignorant fool I am about matters financial.
I don’t understand.
I don’t understand why it is OK to give 700 billion dollars to banks, mortgage and credit card companies who have grown obscenely wealthy from providing credit to those who only needed it because there was no other way to buy a house, get groceries and medicine, send a child to college or pay their medical bills?
I don’t understand why they call it free market capitalism when the people who actually provide the goods and services benefit so little from their labor that they have had to rely on debt to maintain a fairly simple middle-class life, or in many cases, a life of obvious poverty - while those who supposedly use those services and sell those goods have lived lives of extraordinary luxury and have taken away obscene amounts of wealth?
I don’t understand how a bank can take the money I deposit and make billions from investing it and then charge me a fee. I don’t understand that when they loan me money I pay 12% interest plus fees but when I loan them money I get 2% minus fees.
I don’t understand why so many working people have believed that this form of capitalism has benefited them? Is it because they have a computer, car and house to live in that doesn’t really belong to them? Do people really think they own that SUV when they still owe $20,000 on it? And by the time they do own it, what do they think it will be worth?
I don’t understand why Americans, who work the longest hours in the world, have the highest debt and lowest savings in the world?
I don’t understand how our government can stand before us and tell us that their policies are designed help us by restoring this credit-based economy before the “real” economy suffers more? Hasn’t the “real” economy always suffered from the fact that the debt side of the credit-based economy has always been ours and the profit side always been theirs?
I don’t understand how they can keep a straight face and tell us that, for our own good, we must give these bankers more money so that we can borrow more for our homes, jobs and education?
I don’t understand why people listen to and follow the advice and philosophies of corporate CEOs, Bankers, Stock Brokers, Senators, and other Masters of the Universe who have always taken the results of our labors and turned them into gigantic profits for themselves and let trickle back down to the rest of us just enough to allow us to buy on credit whatever new fad they can conceive of?
I don’t understand how Joe the Plumber can think his small business will ever really be his when he needs to be in constant debt to these financiers just to stay afloat? Doesn’t he realize that the reason he needs to borrow to pay for basics to run his company is because he does not get a fair and equitable price for his labor? That for every dollar his company generates, 80 cents goes to someone else?
I don’t understand why my fellow citizens believe this system is either fair or, in the long run, good for anyone but the very wealthy? Where does he think the CEOs get their million dollars a week? Where does he think the hundreds of millions of dollars it takes to elect a bunch of senators and presidents come from? Where does he think the media sales empires, multinational corporations, drug companies, arms merchants and international financiers get their funds? Does he think that IAC CEO works so hard in one day that he personally creates $1,000,000 more in real value? I cannot comprehend that this guy who sells me cheap goods on TV makes $1,000,000 a day? How does he do that selling cameras that cost $19.95? And how much did he pay the guys who made that camera? Or the ones who worked in the mines digging up the raw materials?
I don’t understand how we can tell ourselves that we are good people who give our wealth (and our children) to bring freedom and prosperity to Iraq when we know that most of the Billions we are borrowing from China is going to benefit the Executives and stock-holders of banks who move the funds and corporations who supply the arms and sell the oil? And that none of that debt (in money or flesh) will ever be paid by those who reap the rewards?
I really don’t understand.
I don’t get it. Isn’t debt what you owe someone else? If I work hard and earn $500 a week and the cost of my home, food, clothes, transportation, insurance, education, taxes and so is $800 a week, aren’t I living beyond my means? And if my boss makes $180,000 a week and his costs come to $8,000 a week, isn’t he taking beyond his means?
I don’t understand why you call me a socialist or a communist when all I want is a fair deal? I don’t want to stop anyone from getting ahead; I simply want him not to get ahead by enslaving me with debt. I want fair value for my efforts. If you gave your child two dollars for mowing the lawn and the guy at the local stored took it all for a soda that cost him 15 cents and told your child to bring back another $1.25 tomorrow to pay what he still owed, wouldn’t you get angry? Or, would you say, “Hey, that’s free market economics. Good for all of us?” I don’t get it, it sounds like theft to me.
So, will someone please explain it to me?
Really.
I don’t understand!

Now this is an Ad!

The CEO and The Oil Man

(With sincere apologies to Lewis Carroll)












The Brokers were smiling on Wall Street,
Smiling with all their might:
They did their very best to make
The market seem smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

The President was hiding sulkily,
Because he thought that Paulson
Had got no business to be there
After the trading day was done--
"It's very rude of him," he said,
"To come and spoil my fun!"

Banks were as cold as cold could be,
Their loans had all run dry.
You could not see a rising stock, because
No stock could rise:
No analysts were predicting crash
“There was no crash,” they lied.

The CEO and Oil Man
Were walking hand in hand;
They wept like anything to see
Their unregulated market end:
"If this were only cleared away,"
They said, "it would still be grand!"

"If seven Democrats with seven votes
Taxed us for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Oil Man said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the CEO,
And shed a bitter tear.

"O Tax Payers, come and walk with us!"
The Oil Man did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along your town’s main street:
We cannot employ you anymore,
Nor give Medicare to each."

The eldest worker looked at him,
But could only mouth a moan:
The eldest worker winked his eye,
And his head dropped in his palm
Because he knew he could not afford
To keep his mortgaged home.

But four young Workers hurried up,
Eagerly clapping hands;
Their ties were red, their buttons said,
“We love our fellow man.”
And this was odd, because, you know,
They voted Republican.

Four other Workers followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more--
These were the ranks of Evangelists,
All born again for sure.

The CEO and Oil Man
Walked on a mile or so,
And then checked into a top hotel
A penthouse, don’t you know?
And all the little Republicans stood
On the street below.

"The time has come," the Oil Man said,
"To talk of our investments:
Of arms--and gas--and Swiss accounts--
Of yachts--and retirements--
And why the good old days are gone--
And how to get the last few cents."

"But wait a bit," the Workers cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For most of us are out of cash,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the CEO.
They thanked him much for that.

"A piece of cake," the Oil Man said,
"Is what you chiefly need:
Some salt and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed--
Now say, “Goodbye” Workers dear,
We’ll now take our leave."

"But not of us!" the Workers cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After fighting your wars, that would be
A greedy thing to do!"
"The night is fine," the Oil Man said.
"Do you admire the view?

"It was so kind of you to work for us!
So very hard and long!"
The CEO said nothing but
"I think I’ll fly to Bali, want to come along?”
I’ve bought a mansion on the beach,
I got it for a song!"

"It seems a shame," the Oilman said,
"To play them such a trick,
Tell them it was right to buy and buy,
And patriotic to be in debt!"
The CEO said nothing but
"Social programs make me sick!"

"I agree with you," the Oil Man said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sent a memo,
“Fire everyone in sight!”
Then held his pocket-handkerchief
Before his gleaming eyes.

"O Workers," said the CEO,
"You've had a pleasant run!
I don’t suppose you’d like to buy?'
One more Hummer, son?
But no one answered him, of course,
For they’d ruined every one.

Some things never change....

A copybook was a lined pad used in schools supposedly to practice penmanship. One made hand written copies of sayings or proverbs such as "A penny saved is a penny earned." In the following poem, Kipling captures perfectly how the "Gods of the Market Place" seem able to fool us all time and again. The Gods of the Copybook Headings by Rudyard Kipling AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race, I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place. Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all. We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn: But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind, So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind. We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace, Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place, But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome. With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch, They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch; They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings; So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things. When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace. They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease. But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know." On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life (Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife) Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death." In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die." Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more. As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man There are only four things certain since Social Progress began. That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire, And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire; And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

A Liberal’s Letter to Sarah Palin (and Other Christian Fundamentalists)

Dear Sarah,

YOU are the apparatus of evil. Got that?

You, with your smug certainty that Jesus, a radical middle-eastern Semite who died 2000 years ago, is your personal white american savior and that your particular English version of a book originally written in a language you wouldn’t recognize the sound of, let alone be able to translate, contains the literal word of some anthropomorphic super being who created everything 6000 years ago and whose primary concern is with homosexuals getting married and with protecting the cesspool of your local parish from the evils of liberalism, art and humanist education; who almost certainly cannot follow the construction of this oratory because it contains multiple phrases, semicolons, dependent clauses, polysyllabic words and is longer than the mind numbing utterances of Rush Limbaugh; who sit in your church on Sunday listening to the sermons of often sexually deviant, witch-hunting pastors, pontificating the certainty of their particular brands of racism, prejudice, fear and loathing.
You are the tool of the evil that you believe is “out there.”

You make me sick to my very soul and here is why specifically:

You send your son off to fight against the “Satan of Islamic Fundamentalism” without the slightest awareness that what you believe is precisely what they believe, that the face of your religion is perfectly mirrored in the face of theirs.

You support a neo-conservative, republican platform on the grounds that it somehow embodies the important values of your christian faith; accepting without question that unrelenting greed, materialism, war-mongering, dishonesty, racism and fake patriotism are all minor sins compared to not electing judges who will legislate your particular brand of certainty that aborting a collection of fetal cells is a greater sin than bombing a Middle-eastern country full of living, breathing, thinking, loving children who have the same hunger for food, knowledge and respect as your own. And for believing that selling gas and oil has nothing to do with it.

You indoctrinate your own children with the belief that any form of sexual love other than that expressed between a Christian married man and woman is dirty and evil; that humanistic values and the appreciation of the finest poetry, art and literature produced by mankind is misguided and full of sinful temptations; that the honest struggle of science to comprehend the shape, size, origin and fate of the universe and our place in it is misguided nonsense compared to your local pastor’s particular interpretation of a single book composed by a handful of tribal Jews and arrogant Latin potentates in grand cathedrals who believed the earth was flat and the sun revolved around it and that God, in his heaven just above the clouds, approved of their (and your) tribal or feudalistic religious world view.

You effectively shut the door on the curiosity, open-mindedness and love of the self-discovered truth that is genuine education and willfully imprisoned your children’s intelligence in a cage of fundamentalist ignorance and certainty.

You call yourself “conservative” but snowmobile or fly around the Alaskan wilderness shooting animals for “sport.” You support businesses who misuse the workers of the poorest parts of the world and use massive quantities of fossil fuels to produce and distribute cheap goods to the USA and Europe, seemingly unaware of increasingly limited resources and the polluting effects this has on earth's magnificent self-healing nature. You deny global warming is man-made and is increasing at a rate that will lead to a devastation that matches the biblical account of the great flood and will insure the eventual death of most of the species your fairytale story had Noah save in his ark.


You deride liberals as weaklings and intellectually effete, as if they had not fought in every truly good cause this country has ever led and had not given their lives and wealth to bring about a better existence for those less fortunate; had not stood their ground against every form of fascism (right and left) and the unrelenting greed of the empire builders; had not sacrificed for equality of life, liberty and happiness for those of different color, sex and cultural origin here and around the world. (And yes, while some of them have occasionally been as dishonest, greedy and prejudiced as you are, I would suggest that history shows them to be a tad less hypocritical about it and a lot less certain of their god-given right to racial, spiritual and cultural superiority.)

You speak of America as the “shining beacon on the hill” and claim the traditions and values of the founding fathers without any awareness that Jefferson and Franklin were humanists who tried their best to write into our constitution protections against the very form of religious zealotry you practice.

Your (and John McCain’s) campaign rhetoric is a model of lies, disinformation, slander and not so subtle racial and cultural prejudice. For example, suggesting Barrack Obama is a Muslim by emphasizing his middle name and suggesting that he is aligned with terrorists.

Finally, and perhaps most to the point of this personal oratory, you have been woefully ignorant of the very real evils facing all of us. And you revel in your ignorance. You have been and continue to be the willing tool of the actual “evil forces” walking this earth: the CEOs who rape the coffers of their companies while their workers are left bereft of the compensations they rightfully earned with their life long labors; the movers and shakers of the multinational arms, drug and oil corporations who promote world-wide violence, intolerance, addiction, poverty and rampant materialism in order to add to their “bottom line” and for whom many of you work; and the fawning politicians, corrupt intelligence agencies and distracting media moguls who have pulled the extraordinary card trick of getting you to believe that unregulated capitalism, torture and the attempted abrogation of inalienable human rights is somehow equivalent to democracy, freedom and the American Dream.

Yes, you are the willing tools of the evil you profess to hate. Your hypocrisies and certainty of belief in earthly absurdities in the name of heavenly fairytales is breathtaking in its ignorance and devastating in its consequence for all of us on this paradise we call earth.

I can only pray you find the light of true humility before your darkness of certainty and arrogance destroys us all.

Ted Guhl

Sarah Palin, utarbetade kvinnors hämnd!

From Anneli's Blog

Sarah Palin, drafted the women's revenge! To read American newspapers are pretty tough. It is hard to find someone who is really objective. I think the English media of choice is bad, so I try to actually find some new angles. A good newspaper, which I think is the Swiss' Tage Anzeiger. " It can be a little introspective, but have not necessarily always a European view of things. Here, I have done a little free translation of an analysis written by a culture critic named Naomi Wolf: The nomination of Sarah Palin as John McCain's candidate for Vice President, hit like lightning from the clear sky in the U.S.. It is important to understand Palin attraction for a certain group of voters, and we must respect the anger that is found here. Behind Palin attraction is class issue. White arbetarkvinnor has been used in the United States since the nation was formed. When rich white women or people with a first class education - such as Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright and Condolezza Rice penetrates the glass ceiling in American society, we see white arbetarkvinnor this ascent with understandable resentment. Their wealthier peers of the same sex as those employing women to do the dirtier work. Indeed, they must survive on minimum wages stagnated in typical female occupations. Election after election they are ignored by politicians. Even skin color is a factor. White women from working class often perceived coexistence between blacks and whites as hostile. They feel that the black in the class often receive government subsidies and grants, which they themselves will be refused. The more well-paying, low-wage jobs are under threat from a prosperous economy in developing countries. Then turn someone like Sarah Palin up on the big stage and is as a symbolic fantasy of revenge for many of these tired factory workers and secretaries. To a white woman can be a "heartbeat" from becoming U.S. president, seen as a huge success. Almost all women who do not come from privileged circumstances, those who have small children at home and who have long been condemned to silence, they applaud the first woman on the throne! However, declining results from surveys show that U.S. arbetarkvinnor in no way is stupid. The notice is slowly and surely, that Palin is shown up as a model of a MOTOR. The media may take pictures but they may not ask any questions! While ekonimin collapses look to the Palin policy is increasingly threatening the more it takes shape. She is surrounded now by McCain's campaign veterans from the Bush-Cheney clan, such as Karl Rove and his supporters. There are those who write her speech. She also believes that God has established a political career for her, and in terms of foreign policy, she has no more experience than traditional TV viewers. How long live John McCain? In the center is another unspoken problem. Dermatologists confirm that the people in McCain's age, treated by the same type of cancer, has a statistical survival of two to four years. So, an alarmingly long presidency of Palin may also white arbetarkvinnor to feel concern. What we learn when the Palin short-lived bubble? Well, the next time a great leader to be elected, then we should remember not to overlook women's big dreams for change. Their voices deserve sympathy. And if we overlook them, then maybe they put their votes on a substitute, who in eight years of plundering state coffers and sends additional 4000 brave young men and women, or more, into the death of a war, a war built on a lie! Created: 30.09.2008, at 06:31

Translated from Swedish by Google

Conversations with God about his Decalogue

The Tenth Commandment

“God! God! God Bless it!” It just slipped out while I was watching the news about the financial meltdown and all of the people who had lost or were likely to lose their homes, jobs – everything. I sure didn’t expect to be answered.
God: You called? What do you want me to bless?
ME: Holy Shit! Ah, oops. I mean, you scared the living Je… I mean, I didn’t expect you to answer.
GOD: Why not.
ME: Well, I haven’t heard you from you for almost two months. I’d almost forgotten you were there.
GOD: Time is such a problem for you humans.
ME: Ah, yes, it is.
GOD: Well?
ME: Oh, I was just reacting to this latest news.
GOD: What news is that?
ME: You haven’t heard? America’s financial institutions are failing left and right. And our government (left and right) is a panic to save them.
GOD: Why is this news?
ME: I see your point. It does get me thinking about your final commandment. Why do people covet?
GOD: You are a person. Why do you covet?
ME: Hmmm. I don’t think I do anymore. At least not very much. Most of the time, I am astounded at how much I have. I guess the last coveting I recall was a few years ago. I wanted a better computer and my neighbor’s wife.
GOD: Why?
ME: Well, the computer seemed so sophisticated and full of games and other diversions. It downloaded stuff and handled heavy programs like Photoshop so quickly. And my neighbor’s wife was so pretty and charming and compassionate. Very sexy also.
GOD: What happened?
ME: I eventually bought the computer and had a long talk with myself about letting go of this silly attachment to owning women.
GOD: So, you have answered the question, then?
ME: Yep, I guess I have. At least as far as these desires are concerned. But I have never wanted to own and control billions of dollars.
GOD: What’s the difference?
ME: You know, you are a strange God. Sometimes I think you visit me just to make me reflect and feel. Anyway. The difference is that while some people hold billions of dollars in their greedy little fists, there are children starving, people without a place to live or hope for tomorrow. I know the arguments. That someone has to use all that money to keep things running. That they use their wealth to improve lives in general and keep goods flowing. That without them, the world would be much worse. I just don’t believe that excuse. Sure many of them spend some portion on others – perhaps even as much as a billion or two on “charity.” It still doesn’t feel right. A billion for others, which is a drop in the bucket for the vast numbers of the poor, and a 100 billion for myself. A loaf of bread, a pencil or some medicine for them and a pacific island and a jet liner for myself. And, least I forget, a million or two I PAC money for the congressman I wish to own.
GOD: Are you sure you don’t covet this wealth?
ME: I have wealth of the only kind that means anything to me. Believe me, if I had that kind of money I would get rid of most of it.
GOD: You sound like a communist.
ME: Name-calling? From you? Call me what you like, I know that money is the biggest illusion of all. Greed is the belief that this illusion we call wealth somehow protects one from the pain of living. I can sit on my island, drinking martinis and never see the fellow in town who goes to the trash dumpster and eats what I left from last’s night dinner. And I surely can’t sit and enjoy communing with him. I am sick from the corruption of my government and the greed of these multinational finance, oil and arms merchants. I want you to damn them.
GOD: OK
ME: What?
GOD: I said, OK. Do you think I made these commandments as entertainment?
ME: I don’t see it happening.
GOD: What?
ME: Retribution. Oh, sure, some few will lose control of a company here and there. May find themselves losing power and position. But most of those will walk away with huge sums of personal wealth and will no longer even have to pretend to be doing something worthwhile.
GOD: So, you think that the only retribution possible is to lose money?
ME: It would feel like some balance to me.
GOD: What if it meant that everyone would lose so much that all would starve?
ME: I don’t want that to happen. But so many are starving now that it might just mean that we shared the pain more equitably.
GOD: Do you believe that?
ME: I am not certain. I surely do not wish life to become more difficult for those who are on the edge now. I guess my view is warped a bit by the extraordinary standard of living here in the developed countries. I have been to Calcutta and Jakarta and seen the alternative – real, widespread, wrenching poverty. I wouldn’t wish to add to that. It is difficult though. I need help here, God. How does your retribution work? Do you really punish people with hell after death? Are they reborn as worms? I have always longed for and believed that we create our own hell in this life.
GOD: Can you verify that?
ME: I know that when I have been so unbalanced as to live far from the commandments, I have suffered in my heart and sometimes in my body. When I lay awake nights wanting my neighbor’s wife and imagining having a new computer or worrying that I might lose the little money I had saved for tomorrow, I was in a kind of hell right here. I felt sick, lost and without joy. I’d like to think that these financial moguls feel such suffering equal to the vast amount of wealth they hoard. But it doesn’t make sense. Why would they covet anything when they can have whatever they want? They can even relieve themselves of the awareness of the terrible poverty around them by giving a million here or there.
GOD: So, you want to know if hell exists on earth or later?
ME: No. If you have a hell waiting for anyone, I really don’t want to know it.
GOD: Why not?
ME: It would make you like them.
GOD: How?
ME: It would make you worse than them. You created all of this, including their greedy natures. For you to create this, even as a potential, even as a test or gift of free will, then torture those who were not strong or wise enough to resist the temptation would be the act of a sadistic tyrant.
GOD: Another Job. Can you make the great whale?
ME: No. I can love it, however.
GOD: Can you love the arms merchant?
ME: (long pause) Yes. But I can also wish him to become compassionate. To follow these all of these commandment as closely as humanly possible.
GOD: If you can be thus, can I be less?
ME: I guess this is what is meant by faith, right?
GOD: Amen.

Trickle Down

Conversations with God about His Decalogue

The Ninth Commandment

Sometimes I wonder if God is in my head and/or heart all of the time. Even though so much time passes between these conversations, I often feel as if He is that quiet impulse that seems to come forward whenever I need to do something right. And thus, I have concluded that I am being somewhat self-indulgent in waiting for him to actually come back and help me think through these commandments. It seems as if he has given me the courage to go on without direct conversation, knowing that, if I go astray, he will let me know.

The fear I face in this is - that in holding a monolog, I am merely arriving at a conclusion I already am biased towards. That, in fact, I will simply be holding forth as a self-designated “expert” on what can only be known to God.

Well, then a disclaimer – I do not “know” the answers. I can only ask the questions and explore possibilities until one feels “right” to me.

In that spirit, let me consider number nine. It has always been one of my favorites. I like the sense of fairness and honesty it demands. And it is an unequivocal basis for law. Not the kind of law practiced by business lawyers and special interests but the kind of law that says all people deserve the same rights as all others. The kind of law that is applied to the rich as well as the poor, the powerful as well as the weak. The kind of law our constitution was meant to ensure.

And it seems so easy to follow, with less grey area, and more in tune with human nature. In fact, it would seem to be the most obviously essential commandment in order for any society of people to live together.

So, why is it so rarely applied?

For example, so many people are so convinced that either Saddam Hussein was so evil we had the right to invade Iraq and remove him or that he was a little bit evil but not enough to be removed, or that he was a good man and was martyred. The fact that almost all of these people are so convinced of the rightness of their judgments about the man that they will say so on the radio, in the news, in the classroom, on the bus and to their neighbor astounds me. How can they bear witness about someone they have never meet and about actions they have never observed directly? Is it not likely that only those Iraqis who suffered directly can bear witness?

I know, I know. What about evidence. Well, how many have seen the evidence first hand? And what is the nature of that evidence. For most Americans who supported the war, the evidence came from watching the Twin Towers fall and from listening to members of our government and news media who insisted that Saddam was involved. OK. We tend to trust these witnesses assuming that they have some first hand knowledge. And I suppose we must, until it becomes evident that they don’t. But must we also then bear witness ourselves as if we had such knowledge?

God damn it!

(Long anxious pause)

Sorry about that, Lord. I get so angry sometimes. I should find another way of expressing it.

Arrrg!

That’s better, if not as satisfying.

What kind of world would this be if everyone followed this commandment. Wow!

 Imagine the ramifications of a world in which people did not express certainty of judgment without direct and personal evidence. Imagine you are driving down the street and someone suddenly pulls out in front of you. You slam on the brakes and then, in reaction, you turn to your friend, riding in the passenger seat and curse the other driver, accusing him or her of trying to kill you. As they pull away, you want to chase after them and beat the crap out of them, or turn them into the police for reckless driving. When you get home, you rail to the family about the way in which some people purposely endanger others just for the thrill of it.  

How do you know?

How do you know that the driver of that other car hadn’t just learned that a member of his family lay dying in the hospital and was understandably distraught and distracted as they hurried to reach them before they died? How do you know that the other driver wasn’t running from an abusive spouse?

You don’t, do you?

False witness.

I do it all the time. So do you.

I did it when I discovered that Cheney, Bush and Powell had lied to us about evidence for the invasion of Iraq. I accused them to friends of doing it for personal wealth and personal power. I still believe that, although I have no personal proof, no direct evidence. Thus I am guilty of false witness. I guess it is a result of human frailty, just as much as asking God to damn them. However, I can’t help feeling it would be better if I didn’t do that.

It is often necessary to exercise judgment and to rightfully act against what one judges to be wrong. Thus, I will do all I properly can to see that the men who support the war are defeated. I will vote for Obama. I will make my desires to see a more democratic, liberal, constitutional representation come into being in my government. But I will not bear false witness, if I can help it. I do not know that John McCain is “in the pocket” of the multinational arms and oil merchants. I only suspect it and thus will vote against him. I do not “know” that George Bush and Dick Cheney sent our young men to die so that these same multinational arms and oil merchants could make greater profits. If I did have direct evidence, I believe the actions I would be called to perform would go beyond voting against them. Perhaps far beyond. If I had direct and irrefutable evidence, I would bear witness (and perhaps even bear arms) against them.

But I shall not bear false witness, shall not say I know for certain when I only judge from the secondary evidence presented to me.

Gosh.

I wonder if I would have expressed that if God were here responding? I wonder what he thinks about this?

Goodness! Talk about wonders – the sun just splashed though the window onto my desktop!

Vermont waterfall

The Woods in Vermont

Conversations with God about his Decalogue

The Eighth Commandment

Having moved back to the USA and having had more than a month pass by without so much as an email, I had decided that God wasn’t interested in this conversation any longer. I didn’t think I had offended him; I sure hoped not. I was sitting in my kitchen contemplating the heat, 92 degree Fahrenheit at 10 am, and trying to get up the energy to do something constructive with the rest of the day. I have a small bird feeder outside my window and all morning a couple of chickadees had been coming and going. Imagine my surprise when a large Blue Jay lit on the sill and chirped “howdy!”
ME: Hi.
GOD: (Fluffing his feathers) Feeling a bit better?
ME: God?
GOD: You were expecting George Burns maybe?
ME: It’s been a while.
GOD: Has it?
ME: Yes.
GOD: I guess some time has passed for you?
ME: Over a month.
GOD: You missed me. How sweet.
ME: I guess I did.
GOD: Break any commandments while I was away?
ME: You don’t know?
GOD: Oh. A bit testy, huh?
ME: Sorry. I don’t think so.
GOD: Good lad. What have you considered about number eight?
ME: Well, this is one that has always seemed to me to make simple common sense. I do believe that it is wrong to take something that belongs to someone else just because you want it. I sure don’t like it when people steal from me. Until I start thinking about the terrible inequities of wealth in this world. Why should a person starve to death while someone else in the same city is eating fois gras and Kobe beef.
GOD: Why indeed.
ME: It is the one of the first conundrums I faced as a young man - reading Charles Dickens and asking myself how stealing a loaf of bread to feed your starving child could be a sin. It wasn’t long after that that I began to realize that my world was as bad or worse. And I can remember how embarrassed I was at 6 years old when I had to go to the local store to “buy” bread and milk on credit. It was during WWII and my father was overseas in the navy. We had moved to the navy housing in Key West, Florida from New London, Connecticut; the navy pay department had lost track of us somehow and my mother hadn’t gotten a check in three months. She had been charging food at this local store for two months and was ashamed to ask for more credit. So she sent me. I guess she thought I wouldn’t understand that we were asking for handouts of a sort. But I did. I could feel the shopkeeper’s pity and I was ashamed too. I don’t exactly know why but it felt like stealing, even though my mother did intend to pay for it eventually. It gave me a sense of what it must be like to not have any resources and be so hungry all the time. If I had had a chance to steal some money to pay for those groceries, I think I might have done it. In fact, if I needed to steal today to keep myself or some other person alive, I probably would. So, I guess, as with all these commandments, there are some relative considerations. Particularly when they conflict with one another. If I have more than enough and someone else I could give to is dying from too little, aren’t I committing murder, if only indirectly?
GOD: I’d say so.
ME: Then, you are a socialist or a communist.
GOD: (Laughing and strutting back and forth on the window sill) What about the eighth commandment?
ME: Right. The heart of capitalism, I suppose. So, property and ownership and wealth are all in line with your plan?
GOD: Plan?
ME: I assumed that God has a plan for everything. Right?
GOD: All is known.
ME: Oh boy. Here it comes. The BIG QUESTION. If you know everything that will happen, then it is all preordained and I have no free will. So, why even have commandments?
GOD: (Lifting off for a moment and then settling back down and giving me the bird’s eye) You have had some very wise people instruct you in this. What have you learned from them and your own experience?
ME: I have come to the conclusion that I feel as if the decisions I make sometimes determine the outcomes in my life. But, as Hamlet says, “There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we may.” In other words, I assume I have the power to decide in the moment how to behave, what to do, but I cannot really control what will happen to or around me.
GOD: Well put. See, you always seem to find an answer if you try. Why is that?
ME: I’m not sure. I guess I was made in your image.
GOD: (giving a loud, blue jay "Caw") So, how do you resolve the eighth commandment, personally?
ME: Well, I never steal because I seem to have all I need most of the time; not all I would like to have, but all I need. On the other hand, I occasionally refuse to pay for or provide what others demand if I feel they are not entitled to it. Even if the law seems to be on their side. For instance, I recently had to go to the hospital emergency room for an allergic reaction. I spent about 30 minutes there, saw a young intern who prescribed some medicine and sent me home. Two weeks later, I got a bill for $1100.00! I was stunned. It felt like theft to me. I am on a fixed income and that would be almost my entire month’s budget! So, I refused. I sent a payment that I felt the service I had gotten was worth, an amount that wouldn’t require me to go without. Of course, the hospital turned the account over to a collection agency and they are calling me, trying to get more and to make me feel like a thief. But I don’t. In fact, it seems to me I would be contributing to theft if I paid them the full amount. You know, I also try to give to others, even though it means going without sometimes. If I have a little extra, I help someone else. I feel in balance most of the time this way. Hmmm... I guess I am a socialist. Good grief! But I also expect to be paid when I do work and spend some of the money I make on myself and try to save enough to have an occasional dinner out or take a trip. I don’t feel bad that I have a car and computer and a decent place to live and food everyday. I feel bad that others do not have medical help when they need it or food or a place to live. So, I am a part time socialist. But not as a political affiliation, rather as a matter of conscience. Your son was too, wasn’t he?
GOD: Well, not by affiliation but when you put it that way, I suppose he was. I will ask you to remember this - to take more than you deserve is to create a world where stealing is endemic. To keep from any person what I have given to all people is theft.
ME: So, if I take the corn a farmer grows in Iowa and transport it to NYC to sell at a profit, I am stealing? That doesn’t seem right. If I didn’t transport the corn, someone might not have enough food to eat in NYC. And the profit is what benefits me personally for my labor.
GOD: True.
ME: The problem is with the amount of profit, isn’t it? If I take too much, the corn becomes expensive and some people will starve because they can’t afford it. In that sense, greed and the accumulation of excessive wealth are the roots of the worst kind of theft. I don’t need socialism or any other kind of economic/political theory, simply a sense of proportion and a willingness to limit my desire for greater and greater wealth. I fear this commandment will prove impossible for mankind to ever follow. And the Corporate owners will absolutely hate it.
GOD: Do you follow it?
ME: Yes. Yes, I guess I do. And so do some others I know. But not most. Most, even the poor seem to want to accumulate beyond what is needed to live in decency. I think this may be a great commandment but doomed more than any other to be ignored.
GOD: Time, as you know it, will reveal all.
ME: Will it be another month before I hear from you again.
GOD: Time, as you know it, will reveal that as well. (And so, he flew off)

While waiting for God to decide to continue, I decided to stock up on some cooking essentials.

Conversations with God about his Decalogue

An Intermission (I hope)

I think God is ignoring me at the moment; no word for days. I suppose this worry comes from my poor, limited mortal's view of time. Hope He gets in touch soon.

Conversations with God about his Decalogue

The Seventh Commandment

I have to tell you, having a conversation with God is never easy! There I was, walking down the street when suddenly this loud “voice” in my head asked me if I was ‘ready to tackle seven and eight?’ I almost tripped over my own feet.
When I finally found a little balance I whispered that I was on the street and that people could ‘hear me!’
Did this stop God? Ha!

God: So, don’t talk, just think.
Me: (Thinking to myself) Right. You can hear my thoughts. This is weird though. How am I going to concentrate on thinking this conversation and thinking about the topic and staying aware of where I am walking all at the same time?
God: Feeling limited? Can’t split your awareness, walk and talk at the same time? How are you at chewing gum and walking? (Laughter)
Me: Ok, ok. I’ll see what I can do. But I am going to stop and have a coffee while we do this.
God: OK.
Me: (Having sat down at a nice little café by the town square and ordered a mei de leite) OK. I guess I am not sure why number seven is a commandment. Is it that consensual sex without the approval of the state or religion is a sin?
God: Why would I care if the state or some religion approves?
Me: Hey, that’s my question.
God: No.
Me: Well, then it must be because marriage is a sacred relationship? Not a contract by the state or a religious ceremony, right?
God: Essentially you are on the right track. What do you think makes it a sacred relationship?
Me: The vows?
God: OK.
Me: But the vows people make can vary quite a bit. Let’s see, they generally agree to love each other. And, I guess, to protect and care for. Some ask to obey the other. Many suggest that the woman belongs to the man.
God: I know. Actually, you just scratched the surface of some of the things people vow when they get married.
Me: Do any actually vow to be monogamous?
God: Actually, a very rare few come close but most do not actually address sexual behavior directly.
Me: Yeah. Well, what is the essence? Loving and caring for?
God: Yes, that is good.
Me: So, somehow, having an affair would be not loving or not caring for? That doesn’t necessarily seem true. Wait a minute. Before we get into adultery, do you really want people to obey each other and for wives to be the husband’s property?
God: No. Definitely not.
Me: I am glad to hear that. Now, (Pause while I drink) I don’t get it. I am single. If I have sex with a married woman am I committing adultery? I mean, I know she is but am I?
God: Probably. Are you sure you are single?
Me: Hmmm. I am divorced. I consider myself single.
God: I see. And what about the vows you made.
Me: I tried, I really did. It seemed, still seems, to me that I was hurting her without meaning to. It seemed as if I could not take those vows seriously. And she seemed incapable of it as well.
God: So, the vows were not realistic?
Me: Right. I doubt if either of us could have kept them and remained true to our own natures.
God: You believe the problem was with the vows not yourself.
Me: Well, I guess I feel it was both.
God: Good. Did you commit adultery?
Me: Yes.
God: By breaking your vows?
Me: Yes… Well, maybe not entirely. I felt bad about the lying. I didn’t actually feel bad about having sex with someone else. You know, I don’t think I ever swore to be monogamous.
God: So, what was the lie?
Me: What is this, psychoanalysis?
God: Do you want to find a couch to lie on?
Me: Very funny. OK. The lie was… It was… about something unstated, I guess. You know, I was brought up to feel guilty about sex all the time. Even in marriage it made me feel a little guilty in those days. Like I was doing something “dirty.” Sex isn’t a sin, is it? It isn’t suppose to make us feel guilty, is it? I mean, just where do you stand in all this, anyway!
God: Why are you angry?
Me: I… I am angry because I feel betrayed. I feel like you gave me this ability to enjoy a wonderful, intimate, highly pleasurable action and then made me feel bad about it. It feels, felt, as if I almost had no choice about doing it. I felt driven by my body and emotions to make love with a woman and then I felt as if I was suppose to control it or deny it. It felt like a trap. Surely, that isn’t what you intended?
God: No, it isn’t.
Me: Sex is necessary. The way you set it up. If not for sex we wouldn’t have children, wouldn’t be here?
God: Right.
Me: So, what is all this crap about marriage? What use does it serve? Why is it important to be monogamous?
God: Why not drink a some of that coffee and take a deep breath. (I do both) Let us reason together. You have a great deal of life experience. What reasonable purpose do you suppose having one man and one woman come together in a union?
Me: To raise children, certainly. And, to provide comfort and aid to one another in times of difficulty. To give friendship and unconditional emotional support. I have experienced that, occasionally.
God: Good.
Me: But isn’t it possible to give that to another without also being exclusively monogamous?
God: What do you think?
Me: I think it is but I guess it is rare. I tried to do it in my second marriage and mostly succeeded but in the end it didn’t work. She left me mostly because she wanted sex with someone else and couldn’t have that and stay in the marriage. I tried to tell her I didn’t care if she had sex, as long as she loved me. She felt that meant I didn’t love her, I think. And I, well, I also didn’t feel I could fill her needs sexually. Oh, my. This is no fun at all. I feel awful trying to work this out.
God: I know. Why?
Me: It hurts.
God: Why?
Me: I did love her. And I feel like I was inadequate to…
God: To what?
Me: Sort out what I felt was real from illusion. See, this issue seems to me at the heart of the most horrible aspects of the human condition. I sometimes think it is behind war and greed and sadism and all sorts of awful human behaviors. I think most people are driven to most of what they do by messed up sexual desires.
God: Go on.
Me: It seems to me that most of the harm I personally have caused in this life can be traced to my sexual drive. And most of the suffering I have felt came from it. Wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t have so many emotions and desires and rules about it… Well, if we could just treat it like other natural instincts like eating and sleeping? Wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t call it ‘making love?’
God: Yes. It would.
Me: What?
God: I Agree, it would.
Me: Than why do we have this commandment?
God: Because adultery is a betrayal of love.
Me: You mean marriage?
God: I mean love!
Me: So, marriage isn’t a contract or a ceremony, it is a loving relationship between a man and woman?
God: That’s pretty good.
Me: So, what has monogamy got to do with it?
God: Not much.
Me: What! Isn’t that the definition of adultery – sex outside of marriage? Isn’t marriage only between one man and one woman? Or do you mean those Mormons have it right?
God: Not what I said.
Me: Hmmm. I think I’ll have another cup of coffee. (I get the waiter’s attention and order again. Then I laugh) I wonder what he’d think if he could hear this conversation?
God: I wouldn’t share it with him if I were you.
Me: No. I guess not. What is marriage anyway?
God: It is a sacred love pairing.
Me: Hmmm. Say, can a person be married, by your definition and not have sex?
God: Of course.
Me: I got it! It isn’t about sex necessarily?
God: Good.
Me: Then why the commandment about adultery?
God: Sort of pleased with yourself, aren’t you? What happened to that wonderful humility you were exhibiting last time?
Me: Ah, right. I am sorry. But I don’t get it. Why forbid adultery if marriage isn’t about sex?
God: Good question. Should I tell you?
Me: No, that’s ok, let me try to figure it out. (While I am thinking, my second coffee comes and I take a sip) Let’s see. Adultery is a ‘betrayal of love.’ Hmmm.. Is there some other way to commit adultery than having sex? You betray love by purposely hurting the other. If I lie to my wife or treat her with disrespect or do something with someone else that causes them to disrespect her… That’s betrayal. Is all that adultery? Is it?
God: It can be.
Me: Ok. I haven’t quite got it yet. But I am close, right?
God: Yes.
Me: It must come down to how we define love? If we define love as sex, then having sex with someone else is betrayal? No. That can’t be it. If we define love as monogamous sex then it is. Wait. This sounds more like a contract than a loving pairing.
God: You need to stop thinking like a lawyer.
Me: Right. Get simple. I betray love with my ‘sacred other’ when I don’t behave lovingly. That seems right.
God: Yes.
Me: So, it really doesn’t have to do with sex, unless my having sex with someone else is unloving?
God: Good.
Me: In fact, having sex with my ‘sacred other’ in an unloving way would be a kind of adultery also!
God: Very good!
Me: In fact, doing anything that betrays our love is a kind of adultery?
God: You shall not commit adultery.
Me: I think this one may need some re-writing.
God: I am listening.
Me: I need to think about this some more.
God: You do.
Me: (Finishing my coffee) I’m not sure I am up to discussing stealing right now. Although, I think it may very well be related to adultery in some meaningful way. Can we do it later? (Long pause) Hello? God?

To George Carlin

We note the death of George Carlin. A man who knew he couldn't take his "stuff" with him.

Conversations with God about his Decalogue

The Fifth and Sixth Commandments

The ways of God cannot be understood by mere mortals.
I woke this morning to find him sitting on the edge of my bed. I gasped. He laughed and told me to sit up. I slowly worked my aging bones up into a sitting position with my back to the wall. Suddenly a lap table materialized over my legs with a bowl of Muesli, fresh bananas, strawberries, whole milk and a large room-temperature glass of freshly squeezed mixed orange and tangerine juice.
As I began to eat, He asked me if I thought the next commandment was unclear. I started to reach for the tape recorder on the bed stand however a huge yawn made me stop to put my hand over my mouth.

GOD: You won´t need that. You will remember every word perfectly when you write this later.
TED: OK. Do you mind if I eat while we talk?
GOD: I mind if you don´t.
TED: (Eating) I feel as if I died and went to heaven.
GOD: How little you know!
TED: Right. Ah, so then, I think the fifth commandment is pretty clearly stated but I do have some reservations.
GOD: Why honor such imperfect beings, right?
TED: Well, I mean that most parents are probably deserving of honor from their children most of the time. I guess mine were. But what about those Fathers and Mothers who abuse, torture, even kill their young?
GOD: Suppose we avoid a long philosophical/ ethical discussion by defining a parent as one who not only sires or gives birth but who also nutures, raises and protects.
TED: So, we only honor those who are parents in practice as well as by biology? (God nods) Perfect. I think we can leave this one alone. Unless, perhaps we could add just a little descriptive such as, “Honor your loving Father and Mother.”
GOD: Not bad! Your feeling for poetry is improving.
TED: (Drinking the last of the juice) Thanks. Now comes the hard part, right?
GOD: Really?
TED: (A pungently steaming cup of fresh coffee with cream appeared on my lap table.) Whew. I must have done something right?
GOD: Because I am not capable of unconditional generosity?
TED: Well, it isn´t your most obvious trait in the testaments.
GOD: Have you read Book 1, Chapter 1?
TED: Of course! We owe it all to you, don´t we? I guess I am not fully awake yet.
GOD: Some excuse for being ungrateful.
TED: Right, right. I am sorry, truly.
GOD: You meant that so I accept your apology. Now, have you distracted yourself from the `hard part` long enough?
TED: (Sipping my coffee) Yeah. OK. So, it sounds simple, “You shall not kill” but what constitutes killing.
GOD: Taking a life.
TED: Under any circumstances?
GOD: Yes. It is that simple.
TED: So, how do I eat? Even plants are alive.
GOD: Thou shall not kill.
TED: But then I kill myself by not eating. So, I am damned either way.
GOD: Thou shall not kill.
TED: Hmmm… I must be missing something. I know it is killing to murder another person. I take his life. But when I eat a carrot, I take its life. I can´t quite see that both aren´t killing.
GOD: Is there no difference at all between eating a carrot and murdering a person?
TED: Well, I suppose a person could be said to be sentient and there is little evidence that a carrot is.
GOD: Aren´t you quibbling?
TED: Yeah. Ok, how about this. When I kill a carrot, I do it in order to sustain my life. So, by eating what I have killed, it sort of balances out, right? But if I kill a lion or shoot a person, it doesn´t balance because I don´t eat them.
GOD: Are you suggesting that I would approve of canabalism?
TED: Sheesh! This is difficult.
GOD: Want a hint?
TED: No! (Long pause as I finish my coffee which then disappears along with the bedtable.) OK. (Getting out of bed and starting to dress.) I´ll try a different approach. One step at a time.
GOD: Twenty Questions?
TED: Sort of. So, it isn´t any loss of life that constitutes killing. If I am playing baseball and run into another player who falls and hits his head on a rock, You don´t consider that killing, right? So, accidents aren´t killing? Even if a person is directly involved. Right?
GOD: OK.
TED: You sound uncertain. (Looking up at him as I slip my socks on. He shakes his head, `No`) Hmm... So, I also assume that you don´t consider it killing when I eat that carrot?
GOD: That´s right.
TED: And therefore, while I am intentionally taking another life, not by an accident, it isn´t… it´s… it’s… (Frustrated) Damn! Oops, sorry, sorry!
GOD: Try deep breathing.
TED: (Taking a couple of even deep breaths.) OK. Let´s come at it from the other side. If I intentionally shoot a man it is murder, that’s clear, I think. And if I kill a lion? (Pause) And put its head on my wall? Murder?
GOD: You bet.
TED: How about if the man or lion is trying to kill me? (Putting on a shirt) Then if I intentionally shoot it, that is not murder?
GOD: Sometimes.
TED: What!!! What the…
GOD: Breathe.
TED: Sometimes? Sometimes? Oh boy! And you said it was simple.
GOD: Yes. Thou shall not kill. Simple.
TED: If I can´t define kill, how can it be simple? It is like saying ´thou shall not boobeedoo.´
GOD: You believe I speak nonsense?
TED: No. No, of course not. I really don´t.
GOD: No. I know you don´t.
TED: Let me try again. Sometimes it can be killing to shoot a lion that is attacking me and sometimes it isn´t. Is that right?
GOD: Yep.
TED: So, what variable are there? My reason? No. I am doing it to protect myself. The circumstances? Hmmm… the circumstances. My responsibility for the event? It has something to do with my responsibility! Right?
GOD: (Smiling) Simple?
TED: Let´s see. If I was hunting the lion and he attacked me, then I am responsible for the killing! If I was simply out looking for berries to eat and he attacked then I was not responsible? Even if I knew he might attack, if my intention was simply to gather berries then it is not killing. Except… Oh no. What if I am hunting a rabbit and the lion attacks? I didn´t intend to kill a lion, so that isn´t my responsibility, but what about the rabbit. Wait! My intention is to eat the rabbit. Oh, sugar! I am back to suggesting canabalism would excuse killing.
GOD: Shall we go for a walk?
TED: Yes. Good idea. I am stuck.
At this point we left the house and walked down the narrow alley beside my building toward the little town square which sits directly along the ocean. As we came into the warm morning sunshine that filled the square I felt a profound sense of peace. Why not, after all, look at who was out for a stroll with me!
TED: Perhaps I am making this too difficult. You did say it was simple?
GOD: Thou shall not kill.
TED: Yeah. And I don´t think I ever have. Except, maybe that one time. I was about ten years old and my Dad gave me a twenty-two rifle for my birthday. He told me it was a great responsibility. A tool not a toy. It should only be used to hunt for food or for serious practice. Never for play. (Sitting on a stone wall edging the sea.) I did practice a little. I set up cans in the woods and shot at them. Then a few days later, I decided to go hunting. I quietly stalked through the woods and nearby meadows all afternoon. Then, around dusk, I saw a rabbit. I took very careful and quiet aim and shot it. I can´t explain how I felt. It was a mix of fear, excitement and something else? Horror, maybe? Yeah, something like that. Well, I brught it home and when I showed my Father, he said, “OK. Now skin it, so your Mom can cook it.” I couldn´t believe it. I got my scout knife and took the skin off. My hands were all bloody. I felt sick. Later, when my Mother put the cooked rabbit on the table I took a small piece but couldn´t eat more than one bite. Then I had to leave the table. I had bad dreams that night. Even today, I can still feel like I killed something that I shouldn´t have. But why? I have since fished many times and eaten them without any qualms at all. Maybe, maybe I should just trust that feeling. Actually, I don´t fish much anymore. Mainly because I don´t like to eat fish that often. And it still bothers me to pull a hook from the mouth of a trout and put it back in the stream all bloody.
GOD: Thou shall not kill. (At which point he actually put a hand on my shoulder! And I started crying.)
TED: What is this? Why am I crying?
GOD: Never apologise for feeling remorse. Maybe that should be one of the new commandments.
TED: What if…
GOD: Go on.
TED: What if someone doesn´t feel so… isn´t as sensitive about it?
GOD: We are each according to our nature. (Long pause)
TED: I think I get it. It is pretty simple.
Suddenly, I was alone on the wall looking out at a calm blue sea under a sky with a few small very white clouds. I cried for a little longer. Then I took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants and went wading.