Enough is Enough

I watched "Lord of War" last night. The movie starring Nicholas Cage where he is an arms dealer with a knack for trafficing illegal arms to impoverished nations. The story at the end states it is based upon actual events which means something happened similar to what the movie portrays but of course was edited to meet movie standards of entertainment.
None the less I lay awake last night thinking about all the impoverished nations in Africa and the arms dealers who traffic their merchandise to them all for the sake of profit. The natural progression of thought then went to Darfur and the families who are caught in a war between government and rebel forces. The forces kidnap children to fight in their war. One of the statements made in the movie by an evil dictator rang true. He said (paraphrase) that a bullet shot by a 10 year old child can still kill as well as a bullet shot by a 40 year old man. What kind of human would put a gun in the hands of a child and then tell him to go kill with it? Well, the word that I kept hearing in my mind was ENOUGH! Enough of the UN and it's "Super Powers" countries who refuse to do anything substantial to end the conflicts in places where their leaders act like spoiled children and get away with it. ENOUGH talk of sending in a "Peace Keeping force" to stop the carnage. ENOUGH talk, political posturing, diplomatic stagnation, and back room dealings that do not do anything. It's time the countries of the world who are supposed to be leading by example to say ENOUGH. Let's go kick some gun toting, genocidal, immature, power hungry, evil dictator ass! What are we afraid of? If Britain, France, America, Spain, Australia, and any other freedom loving nation decided to send in a battalion or two of well armed, well supplied and well supported military personnel with instructions to stop the armed conflict, protect the unarmed, and destroy any threatening force it meets, do you think the genocide would last for more than 1 month? Where is the morality? Where is the backbone to stand up for what is right? Do you think this initiative would be condemned by other nations except for the ones that are committing this evil? For once I'd like to see the countries that are supposed to be leaders in this world stand up and do what is morally right, not politically prudent. The UN is a worthless entity. It is merely a forum for countries to play tug-a-war with no results. It a money laundering business disguised as a political assembly of nations. How could it gain credibility again? Organize and deploy a multinational force to stop the killing. What do we have to lose? I don't know, but I do know we have an opportunity to save. Save the men, women and children of a country that doesn't care for it's own.

Bad day for Air Travel

I seldom talk about my work life in my blog. It's one of those things where I don't want to risk saying anything that would be taken the wrong way by the company I work for. I like my company. Not because they pay me well, or provide security and benefits, but because I like what I do. This is a rarity in the airline business. With so many carriers cutting pay and benefits it's hard to find a company that is thriving. I'm one of the lucky ones. I've worked for 2 other airlines. The first was bought out and stopped flying to the airport I worked at. The second went bankrupt. My Dad worked 34 years at an airline and then was laid off when they went bankrupt and closed down. That is never far from my mind when I think about where I work. He loved his airline too.
Last week was a rough week for the traveling public in the Northeastern part of the US. Hundreds of flights were canceled and flights were delayed. Passengers misconnected, flights were rerouted, airports were snowed under and havoc rippled across the system. Try as we may to accommodate everyone, it became an impossible task. Later flights were already full with other passengers so we were forced to move forward and try and get the system back to normal as quickly as possible to keep from impacting passengers traveling later in the week. I read about passengers stuck on aircraft for 9-10 hours. I'm sure it was horrible to be on one of those flights. I assume the airline was trying everything it could to remedy the situation, but that wouldn't matter to those on board. I'm thankful none of our flights were in that position. I do know that we worked our butts off to try and get people to where they were going. I spent hours trying to reroute 40 Customers going to Tampa knowing that they had vacation plans they probably made weeks ago. I found a way to get them there that same day but it was a long day for them. I hope they were able to enjoy the rest of their vacation. We had to cancel flights into several airports for the day due to weather conditions. Anyone on those flights would most likely have to refund their tickets. Hopefully they understand and could see for themselves why we couldn't operate. Two days later our system has recovered. Those 3 days were taxing for everyone who worked to take care of the Customers and flights. This happens a few times a year. Hurricanes, snow storms, and fog all force airports to close down or flights to cancel. It's a part of the airline business. What I think makes my airline special is that we really do empathize with the customers we fail to get to their destinations, and we try our best to get them there when we can. Even if it's an all day affair, at least the option is there for our customers when possible.

The Valentines Date

This year my wife Robin had the idea of taking the kids out for Valentines day to the bowling alley for some family fun. I wasn't exactly on board with the idea, but since I couldn't come up with a reasonable alternative I decided to go with it. What a great time we had! The place we went to had a kids option so when it was their turn to bowl, little gates popped up on the sides of the alley so the ball wouldn't go into the gutter. The place was under a blacklight so any white clothing seemed to glow. Little did I know that my wife can bowl pretty well. Well enough to smoke me in the first game. Sara would take the ball (with our help) walk up to the line, and give it a little toss that was more like a "drop with intent". The ball would take about 2 minutes to reach the pins and I thought on more than one occasion that it may just hit the pin and stop.
On the turns I helped her we would both crouch down after releasing the ball and help the ball down the alley by blowing as hard as we could. She loved the game and actually got 2 strikes. On one strike the pins fell so slowly the machine didn't register the strike (of course we corrected the score for her). Connor was getting better and better every time. He would switch from the lighter ball he shared with Sara to using Robin's ball because he wanted to be like us.
After the ball was on it's way down the alley he would dance and jump around. We played for 2 hours and the date was a great time for all. As for me, the date was a great time sharing the Day of Love with those I Love.

What to say?

A friend of mine recently emailed me inquiring about my next post. I was somewhat honored (translation=surprised) that he regularly checks my blog for new additions. I know he often doesn't agree with my point of view (99% of the time), but his readership is a nice thing to have. The problem is, what do I do when I can't think of anything to say? Life's been pretty hectic lately so I could always blame the lapse of blogging on lack of time, but how can I say I couldn't find 30 minutes to type something? I always have things to say, but after filtering them through my "blog worthy" processes sometimes I'm at a loss. There is always a lot going on in the world. My world is busy also, but not much different than most others and yet how can I not find something to articulate to the world? It all comes down to feeling. Sometimes I just don't feel like putting anything down into print. Sometimes I don't feel like I have anything worthy to say. Sometimes I can't choose between several items so I write nothing at all. Where's Barry Manilow when you need a song sung... feeelings..ohhhhh feelings. Anyway, readership is a valuable commodity so I'll do my best to find a new topic worthy of blogging soon. In the meantime, here's an appetizer to munch on and Thanks for reading.

Hey

When did the word "Hey" replace the word "Hi"? I've been doing it for years. Has the greeting been upgraded or downgraded? When you see someone, is the use of the word "Hey" meant as a more familiar style of greeting or a "passing through the moment and have to say something" type of statement? When was the last time you actually said "Hi"? Is it a lazy way to greet someone or is it the way to show the person you are greeting that they are in your familiar circle and as such formalities are not necessary?

Perhaps it's both? Either way, what the hey?

Purity of Heart

As I sit in my car awaiting time to go into my kids school for their Christmas parties, I watched the kids playing in the playground. At one point my eye caught a little boy crying. I don't know why he was crying, but he sat apart from the group except for 2 other boys. The thing that was unusual was that the 2 other boys were standing there. They didn't cause the distress from what I saw, but the amazing thing was they stayed with the crying boy. At this age they didn't know what to say or do but they provided this boy with comfort by being there. They cared. While all the other kids were spending their precious playground time running and jumping, these 2 boys were showing support for their friend in need. Eventually the teacher came over and cared for the boy by telling him something to sooth his sorrow and they all went back to the table with all the other teachers. So I ask you, is compassion inherent or taught? I don't know, but I do know those 2 boys acted better than many grown ups I've seen.

Half way gone or halfway there?

I'm 41. According to statistics I'm halfway through my lifetime. Last night as I lay in bed I starting thinking about my first half of life, pre-family, and thinking of all the things I did throughout the years. I've had my share of good times and bad. The things that seem to stay fresh in my mind are the lessons I've learned and the times when I felt I was living to the fullest. A canoe trip down Rifle River with several of my friends, driving through Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky with a friend after high school, taking a trip to the west coast and visiting wine country and meeting up with school mates in California. These are some of my most vivid memories of my earlier life. I remember going to obscure places and late night Taco Bell drive through runs. Working at a 2nd run theater and having Thursday after hours pizza and beer while we preview the new movies. Barbecuing out behind a friends house with a bon-fire. These are a few of the things I remember well. I've had a lot of good times. Some bad times. Luckily for me the former vastly outnumbers the latter in my recollections.
Now I think of all the years I hopefully have ahead of me and with the lessons I've learned I endeavor to make them more memorable than my previous ones. One thing is for sure, with my kids and wife, I have plenty of help to make that happen.