Cold
54 degrees and rainy tonight. Just got done working--at home. I hate polluting the castle with work but while the booglet and her mother slumber I can be more productive.

Last night, while riding the bike/walking Chester, I noticed across the bay a bright light. At first I thought it was the moon coming out from the clouds, which were already positioned for this steady drenching. Then I realized the moon was setting in the west, behind me. The light was a flare. Not just you average, one shot one spot of light flare. It was an impressive pyrotechnic shower of light that lasted longer than any firework I’ve ever seen. Then I realized it was my tax dollars at work.

Across the bay is a wilderness area used by the military for, well, I guess whatever they want. The land is wild, with deer, rattlesnakes the size of your legs, and black bears. I’ve seen the deer and rattlesnakes; the bears I’m giving the benefit of the doubt. I know survival training goes on over there. I’ve seen parachutes raining down from large, lumbering transports like ellipses in the sky. And bombing, lots of bombing goes on over there. It rumbles across the bay some evenings until late at night like deadly thunder.

I sometimes wonder how terrifying it must be to hear the rumbling of bombing when it’s not an exercise, when you’re not warm and cozy in your house knowing they’re not coming for you. I can’t imagine this fosters any good will toward us. See, we’ve been raised a generation a video gamers, adept at pushing buttons and zapping enemies. What we’ve forgotten is empathy for our fellow man, and tolerance for anything different from our comfort zone. We are the best the world has ever seen at destruction. We’re lousy at lifting up our fellow man, setting aside our differences and working toward a common goal—peace and prosperity for all.

For those who may think I’m a soft liberal who doesn’t understand that there are people out there who want to destroy our way of life, I ask, why? Why would they be so afraid of us? I don’t buy the tripe that they hate our freedom—everyone loves freedom—it’s the innate desire to be left alone. I can’t believe they despise our wealth—almost everyone desires wealth too. And wealth is not a zero sum game. I think there are some in the world who are scared of our military might and our reckless use of it to get our way. It may work until our guns are turned the other way, but then there’s a reckoning to come. You can’t arrest everyone. You can’t shoot everyone. We can’t make enough bullets to force the world to embrace us.

Instead, what if we used our considerable wealth and knowledge to make the world a better place? What if we put as much effort into eradicating diseases, lessening pollution, heck, even making airline food palatable. That would bring about more admiration than the threat of bombs falling. But that is even harder than flying a successful sortie. Still, just like my work tonight, which I had been putting off because it seemed so daunting, once I started it was easier. Like what Bob Dylan said:

“What looks large from a distance,
Close up aint never that big.”