The People's Gas

Socialism is alive and now counts Somerset, Kentucky as one address. Apparently the small town has felt the “pinch at the pump” of high gas prices for years, and decided to take action. Action in this case involved taking taxpayer money and establishing a gas-only filling station for the expressed purpose of lowering the price of gas in the area.

The mayor insists the city isn’t “out to make a profit.” That’s one promise the politician will have no problem keeping. The gas station itself may break even on its own sales, but it can’t help but reduce the income of other private businesses in the area, the ones that pay federal, state, and local taxes which, among other things, will be used to keep the gas-only station pumping away.

The locals that did not work at gas stations or for gas or oil companies seemed quite happy about the new gas station. One remarked that they were tired of seeing business leave town to go to other locations where gas tended to be cheaper. I have to wonder how happy people will continue to be as the observations continue. Suppose that business starts leaving town because the hotel rooms are cheaper a few miles down the road, or the groceries, or the food at the diner? There could be a lot of places where the government could step in to help keep the business in town. The only ones who would lose out are the businesses.

Then again, there’s no real need for the government to start from scratch as they did with the gas station. All they would have to do is set price controls for the local businesses, and that would accomplish the same thing. If you are too young to remember the hour long waits to fill up your car in the 70’s, the principle applies to just about anything. Think about going to the county fair on “wristband” day. Price controls result in shortages and rationing. The only real question is how long it takes for the situation to get really ugly.

I remember reading a particularly gruesome scene from a book a long time ago: A group of people was out on a fishing boat when they came on a group of small sharks. The man who owned the boat caught one of the sharks, and slit the animal’s belly with a sharp knife. The animal did not die right away, but began to bleed. The man then threw the shark back into the water. True to their nature, the other sharks homed in on the blood, and started to attack their comrade. As they did, little bits and pieces of him got loose and began to drift just from all of the activity. The original shark, the one with the slit belly, went after those. Even though it was being attacked and killed, it couldn’t overcome its primary instinct which was to feed, even if that meant eating itself.

The town of Somerset, Kentucky has decided to eat itself. It may not be quick, but unless they change course, it will happen, and it will be ugly. The only real question is how many others will come to feed as it’s going down.

Ultimate Ninja Symbolism

I was watching NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” the other night as Kacy Catanzaro became the first woman to complete the qualifying course. It was an impressive run for an impressive young woman. She’s a great competitor, and a fine athlete. And, as I believe I commented to my daughter at the time, she has “pluck.” All in all, there’s a lot to admire about the lady. Despite that, I still found myself getting progressively more annoyed with her in the run up to her qualifying run.

Being the first woman to make it through the pre-qualifier, there was a lot of hype centered on her appearance. There were a lot of interviews done prior to the show, with clips played throughout. As I watched, a common theme was apparent: Kacy wants to show women they can do anything. Constant, always, ad nauseum. And while I noticed it more in Kacy’s clips because they were coming one right after another, it’s not as though she is unique in this regard. A lot the contestants seem to want to emphasize that they are there to show, to demonstrate, to represent. And to inspire. We must never forget inspire.

I’m sure that I’m making too much of this. It’s not as though the athletes edit and assemble their own clips for the show (at least, they don’t as far as I know), but that just shifts the question: Why does the network or producer or whoever is in charge feel the need, the compulsion to turn everyone who walks onto the course as a symbol for some sort of cause? Can’t all of the women and girls out there watching see that Kacy is a woman and draw the conclusion that a woman can complete the course? Or a diabetic? An engineer? A father? I understand that it helps build interest in the sport to give some background about the contestants, but do they really have to try to shove us into groups, like grading cattle, in this? Can’t we just look at the field and pick our own favorites?

I think the reason that I really find this annoying is that the American Ninja course is at its heart a test of the individual. There are no groups up there going through the course. It’s one at a time. And as much as I admire young Kacy’s effort, when she says that her getting through the qualifying course proves that women can do it, she’s wrong. She did it. She worked like crazy to do it, as did every other athlete that’s made it through and a good many others that have failed. I’m hoping that in the future, she gets a lot more credit for that success as a person rather than a symbol.

Skirting the Apology "Gap"

On the way home today, I was informed there is a newly recognized gap in the forever-tilting battle of men against women: The apology gap. The recognition was spurred by a segment from the Fox News program "Outnumbered." The reference they cited was a public service commercial from Pantene, the hair-care products company. (I'm sure they make other things as well; that's just what I know them for.)

The gist of the commercial was that women apologize too much for the wrong things, and they should stop it. The rationale is that it can make the woman both appear weak in front of others, and feel less confident about herself. One example from the commercial includes a setting on the job, where a woman says that she is "sorry" for interrupting someone else at the office to ask a question. Frankly, it's the kind of thing that I might say on the job, which doesn't prove anything one way or another.

People apologize for all kinds of things, and for all kinds of reasons. I would not be surprised to find out that, on average, women apologize more often than men, particularly on the job. Considering, however, that all of life is not spent on the job, I would also not be surprised if it were demonstrated than men apologize more overall when you throw in relationships, families, etc. Honestly, it doesn't matter to me. While my life is average in many ways, I don't live in an average. I am unconcerned over which sex apologizes more. My concern is how appropriate are the apologies, and what affect they are having on society.

A decade ago, I would not have cared, period. The idea that there could be "too many" apologies floating around would have seemed like a non-issue to me. If an apology was given when warranted, that was simply common courtesy, and no cause for alarm. If an apology was given though not warranted, so I reasoned, then excessive courtesy had been rendered, and there was still no cause for alarm.  A review of society has led to a change in that attitude.

Part of the change in my attitude is due to a more thorough look at myself, and how I use speech. My look has shown me that any type of speech will tend to lose meaning when overused. This can apply to anything from a parent that shouts over every infraction, large or small, their children commit to the perfunctory "good morning" we hand out to passers by on the way to school. We say it, but there is seldom any real meaning attached. It's just one more check on our list of things to do for the day. Verbally polite? Check. Moving on...

The larger part of my shift in thought leans more on societal attitudes. What people receive often, they come to expect, and even demand. I have heard this referred to by various names. Hygiene Factor is one term. Entitlement Mentality is another. Whatever you call it, the phenomena applies as well to apologies as anything else. We see it every time a public figure makes some kind of statement that offends a group or individual, and is hauled before the court of public opinion to apologize. It's reflected in the ultra-sensitive attitude that demands ever increasing bans on words, phrases, attitudes, or even basic freedoms that might offend, or at least enable someone to claim offense. The focus is shifted from reconciliation to accusation. The apology, the action meant to help bring us together, instead becomes the fulcrum used to pry us further apart. And giving the apology is no longer the glue that holds us together, but simply evidence of how broken we are, how terrible our relationships really are, whether between male and female, husband and wife, rich and poor, black and brown and white.

The irony is crisp and biting. We now have to be more guarded about our apologies, and yet I seldom recall the world in a more "sorry" state. I believe that Pantene sponsored the commercial with fine intentions, and I believe it will achieve nothing of significant value. It's just one more attempt, thankfully softer than most, at fine-tuning societal attitudes from those above "who know better." The track record on such attempts is not encouraging. What generally happens in cases like this is that the matter starts to get attention, stirs up controversy, and then conflict escalates through groups of varying influence. Not of that does or even can have a whole lot of positive effect on public attitudes. If you find my attitude on the subject a bit jaded or cynical, well, I'm sorry.

The First Father's Day Letter

Dear Dad,

I’ve been on my own for a while now, and I wanted to take a moment to stay in touch. Though we are far apart, you at home and me here, I needed to say that you are still important to me. I can’t see you all the time now, but I think of you every day, and the distance between us doesn’t change the love and respect I have for you. I owe you so much.

Things are rough out here. This isn’t like home. Some days I let that surprise or upset me more than I should. You taught me from my youth how things were away from the family. You also taught me that this was where I needed to be. You taught that there were so many people here that didn’t even know where to look for hope or peace or love, much less find it, that it was up to our family to come and point the way. It was up to us to follow your example. Mostly, it was up to me.

I’m thankful for all that you taught growing up, things like persistence, hard work, honesty. They have helped me to make a living and keep going in good times and bad. And I thank you for the care packages you send, the provisions that arrive just when I need them the most. You always know.

I know that I haven’t always been a good son to you. Sometimes I’ve tried, and failed. Sometimes I haven’t really tried. That’s the worst of it. No, the worst of it is I know in my heart that you know the truth of all those times and let me deal with it in the hopes that I would learn. My hope is that I do learn, Dad, that I learn each day to be more like you. I need your help, though.

As I said, things are rough out here. I’m hanging on the best way I know how, but there are some days that I just don’t know how I’m going to make it. And I keep thinking that it would be so easy to take a few “shortcuts” here and there, just until things lighten up a bit. And in the back of my mind, or deep in my heart, I can hear you whispering a gentle warning “No, not that way,” and I know you’re right but it’s just really hard sometimes.

I’m asking you to help me out, Dad. I know that you’ve got people working everywhere in jobs I can’t even imagine. I know the time is past for you to treat me like a child and make all of my decisions. I guess that I am just praying that you’ll have some workers in the right place to help me avoid some of the worst mistakes I might make, kind of keep me on the path, shepherd me through the low points.

I’m asking for help in getting past the worst of me, so I can be more like You. I’m asking for that because no one has ever shown me anything better than that. I can’t think of anything better than that, and I don’t think I ever will.

All my love,

Your son