Lasting Footprints
SUMMER JUSTICE SERIES
Part 5: Reduce Your Waste
A couple of weeks back, Paul Lawrence saw an air conditioner sitting on a sidewalk in Queens, New York. He decided to grab it since the thing had been left for trash. As Lawrence placed the unit in his car, borrowed from an aunt, a city official from the Department of Sanitation approached him, slapped a $2,000 fine on him, and impounded the car. His 73-year-old aunt was also slapped with a $2,000 fine for allowing him to use the vehicle for such a heinous crime.
One of my childhood heroes actually LIVES in garbage.
This is normally the part where I fight back an aneurysm over civilization-dooming government control but not today. We’re past the halfway post of a series on social justice issues, and this week is about how much waste we create, whether or not it matters, and what should be done about it.
Apparently trash on a city sidewalk is city property, and recycling is a major source of revenueso we’ll leave Mr. Lawrence to the court battle he no doubt has coming. Call me naive, but I never realized how massive the business of garbage is in our country. Government controls are just the tip of a trashy heap of problems connected to our waste.
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We live in a disposable world. According to Julie Clawson–whose book Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of our Daily Choices inspired this series–the average American creates a few pounds of trash everyday. She continues by saying:
“…for every 100 pounds of product we acquire, 3,200 pounds of waste were created in the manufacturing process. This waste adds up…”
I agree that waste adds up (check out the video below), but the impact of that waste is being debated by many different voices.
The first argument against waste is usually the claim that we are filling landfills and running out of space. Then I read articles with statistics saying we have way too much space to even come close to filling it all.
Before long recycling enters the debate. I always thought recycling was a fairly positive thing and had no idea how many problems exist worldwide as a result of saving plastics, metals, and more for reuse. I never thought of recycling as an expensive government venture that costs states millions of dollars. The UK found this out not long ago as entire warehouses were filled with discarded products that were supposed to be used as raw materials for future production. That production isn’t always there so governments have to pay to store garbage. But read a few more articles and you’ll hear how recycling creates jobs while saving the planet!
Finally, I’ve heard that the real problem of disposable things is the pollution it creates in our rivers and oceans while harmful toxins are released into the air. So I’m hearing a lot, but what is true? Read more »
Are Sweatshops A Necessary Evil?
SUMMER JUSTICE SERIES
Part 4: Sweatshop-Free Goods
What do you think of when you hear the word sweatshop? What images enter your mind? Maybe you’re picturing a dark room somewhere on the other side of the world. What type of people are there? What are these individuals doing? Have you formed some kind of scene in your mind?
The ideas that inform our perspective come from many different places. Depending on your personal view you could have envisioned women in Asia, children in Africa, illegal immigrants in the United States, or even poor white folks somewhere in Alabama. Regardless of your view, most people immediately think of negative, perhaps evil, things. Sweatshops are violative places where laws, rights, and sometimes even workers are abused. You don’t need me to tell you what’s wrong with such pratices.
Like the previous issues in this Summer Justice series, most of us would never support systems that promote injustice if we knew what they were and how to disconnect. The problem is that the line we seek is often blurry and gray. That’s why we’re examining the most common ways people around the world are exploited. The existence of sweatshops gets people passionate in a hurry, but the debate includes prominent voices from all sides.
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Sweatshops are most easily defined as places that produce goods while violating labor laws. They are most common in developing countries but still exist in the most powerful nations on the earth. These facilities exist in the largest cities of the world, and that includes New York and Los Angeles. Common violations include child labor, low pay, long hours, and poor working conditions.
One common misconception is that sweatshops have only existed in recent years. They’ve acutally been around since the Industrial Revolution early in the 19th century. Governments have been instituting labor laws since the 1820s and 30s. Some groups (abolitionists) of those times fought to eliminate slavery. Once they accomplished that objective they turned their attention to abusive labor practices. America finally changed laws to end some of the worst of these practices in the early 20th century.
In the past century companies have continued to receive goods, finished and raw, from facilities where the overhead is low enough to increase profits. Everybody talks about “made in China” but you’ll find goods made in Honduras, Bangladesh, Jordan, Taiwan, and beyond. I just saw hacky sacks at the mall made in Guatemala. In America we swim through millions of products made cheaply in a variety of ways in countries all over the world.
The system is not going to change. Globalization is not going to end. So what are we to do? Some people tell us to stop buying clothing and goods made in sweatshops, but that’s easier said than done when you consider the confusion over the origins of our products and the amount of cheap labor involved in our national marketplace. We’ve already established that we consume too much, but that doesn’t mean we will never consume.
The average person can’t always afford to buy from companies offering a sweatshop-free guarantee. In some ways, you’ll do just as much good buying your goods second-hand. March with me fellow thrift-shoppers and we’ll change the world! Read more »
Blood Chocolate?
SUMMER JUSTICE SERIES
Part 3: Slave-Free Chocolate
How many of us really think about child slavery when we grab a candy bar? Most of us just don’t; that doesn’t make us bad people. What is slave chocolate? I set out to learn if any of my snack money could possibly be going to companies that are operating a business on the backs of children falling victims to human trafficking.
To be honest, I didn’t know very much about the exploitation of people to produce one of our favorite treats, but I’ve been eager to learn more for some time. This issue is one of the main reasons I chose to focus on what is often called social justice for these few short weeks.
In case you’re not sure how this works, chocolate comes from cocoa beans. Most of the world’s chocolate originates from the Cote d’Ivoire or Ivory Coast in Africa. Chocolate became all the rage in Europe by the 1600s after the Spaniards discovered it as a favored treat of Aztec royalty. Moctezuma was a huge fan, a total chocoholic by modern standards.
Although centuries have passed, reports indicate that our basest cruelty instincts persist. Let’s establish two straight-forward aspects here. First, what kind of abuse is reportedly taking place in pursuit of “brown gold” as it’s called around the globe? Secondly, are we supporting companies that offer products tainted by these terrible practices?
“The Bitter Truth”
The involvement of slave labor in chocolate production became a major issue about a decade ago. Since then, international community leaders including the U.S. Congress have been setting threatening deadlines warning the global chocolate industry to avoid all involvement with child slavery.
Nothing pierces the heart like some of the first-hand accounts of young people who have escaped or been rescued from these farms. A recent entry on Tropic Post details a small bit of the experiences of these children, usually boys but sometimes girls between ages 11-16.
“The children work under inhumane conditions and extreme abuse, working with sharp machetes and poisonous sprays, from 6 in the morning, till 6 at night…One ex-child slave said 18 children were locked into a 24 X 20 foot room, sleeping on a wooden plank. A small hole was just big enough to let in some air, but they were forced to urinate in a can.”
The article goes onto say the kids were too afraid to attempt escape after others were caught and brutally beaten for attempting to do so.
At this point, slave chocolate gets a lot more attention in other parts of the world than here in the states. BBC News produced this short video on child cocoa workers in 2007. More recently, Paul Kenyon went undercover for a BBC Panorama investigation called Chocolate: The Bitter Truth. He discovered plenty of injustices still occuring in West Africa. Read more »
Doing “Small Things With Great Love”
SUMMER JUSTICE SERIES
PART 1: Do With Less
Can you do something today that will change the life of someone on the other side of the planet? The choices we make everyday impact people–many of them desperately poor–all over the world. We need to recognize the consequences that result from our decisions. We may be the land of the free, but as Uncle Ben told Peter Parker, ”With great power comes great responsibility.” 
The world is changed one decision at a time. Our focus here is often how to impact lives around us, but what about thousands in far away lands? Many of us in the West see pictures and hear stories of poverty and hunger around the globe but feel helpless to do anything about it. Throughout the summer, this site will look at ways we can help improve the lives of needy men, women, and children across the Earth.
And we can start right now.
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Earlier this year, Relevant Magazine ran a piece by Texan author Julie Clawson which is based on her 2009 book Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices. She has highlighted ways our lifestyles and purchases impact our neighbors around the world.
The focus of this summer series is often called social justice, although I would call it The Golden Rule globalized. Most of us decry suffering when we see it, but it’s easy to feel distanced from far away problems. We may not be directly doing anything wrong or hurting anybody, but we’re often unaware of the price that’s paid elsewhere so that we can have great items at a low-cost. As we’ll see, the cost is often higher than we’ve ever known.
Clawson covers some important issues. Each week I’m going to expand on one of these. If we can change the lives of people who are hurting by simply altering our daily habits yet don’t, do we become complicit in the suffering of others? Knowledge is power but must be unleashed through action. What can you do for “the least of these?” There’s only one place to begin. Read more »
To The Class of 2010 (and Helen Thomas)
I was recently surprised to learn that Helen Thomas was still alive. The great irony here is that I learned this as she was killing her career. No, I’m not making crass zombie jokes. Wh
en I think of a trailblazing woman who became White House Press Corps royalty and covered over 10 presidents, the name that comes to mind is Sarah McClendon (read her book Mr. President, Mr. President! ).
But alas, we’ve been stuck with Helen Thomas, front and center on the seating chart but oh-so-left otherwise, in recent years at presidential press conferences. Until now. Thomas went too far last week.
In case you didn’t know or care, Thomas–the so-called “dean” of reporters–destroyed her career by providing a succinct, anti-Semitic soundbite in front of a recording camera. She feels that Israelis should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go back to Germany or Poland or America. You know, places where they should be. Matter of fact, why did the Jews even leave in the first place? Ooh…
Robert Byrd: Available but call soon
But this article is about students not Thomas who was dumped from giving a commencement address at Walt Whitman High in Maryland this month. I have been working with teenagers for years and have no clue what 18-year-old would want to hear a speech from the curmudgeony 89-year-old Thomas. Those graduating seniors can let out a big sigh because the replacement has been chosen and it’s, ooh…, Bob Schieffer of CBS who comes in at a spry 73 years of age and was five years into AARP membership when these kids were born. Good Lord! Was Robert Byrd unavailable? Sorry gang.
Here’s what I can do for you. It’s not much but how about a few words of encouragement right here? It’s short notice, but at least I come within 9 generations of you, and my face and cheeks actually move when I smile. Right then, here goes. Ahem…
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Dear Attention Behold! Yo Seniors of the class of 2010:
Today, as you reflect on days gone by we look to the future. Congratulations on your achievements. You have survived clueless parents, spotty cell phone service, and the American public education system, even at a school that actually wanted Helen Thomas to be here speaking to you tonight. Read more »
Memorial Day: Honoring Sacrifice
Some lives are lost, and some lives are taken. Others are given. This weekend we pause our schedules as a nation to remember and honor the sacrifice of those who decided to commit their lives to our freedom, our future, our way of life.
These heroes, never to be forgotten, left classrooms and workplaces and loved ones to get on buses and planes. They arrived in camps to be transformed through grueling training. Millions of those soldiers then landed in unknown combat zones halfway around the world where conditions were often so horrendous they could only be described as hell on earth, realities terrifying enough that some anticipated death as a release.
Since the opening of the American Revolution, over 1 million have been mortally wounded in service to our country. More than that have survived wounds. The stories of these men and women may often go unrealized but are impossible to ignore once they are encountered. As time rolls on we lose many of these accounts to the vacuum of history. Yet new conflicts unfold, and new heroes rise up, leaders willing to stand in the gap between freedom and tyranny for you and me.
In the 21st century, phrases like Medal of Honor and call of duty often bring to mind hi-tech video games. The appeal of these games is the intensity of the action, the conviction that there are bad guys battling for evil, and the desire to be a hero. Gamers inherently understand these things, but screen graphics are enjoyable and pose no threat. The true stories that captivate and stir us are borne of pain and love.
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The highest tribute a soldier can receive is the Medal of Honor. Recipients of this exclusive recognition perform feats summed up this way by their nation.
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.”
That specific language has evolved since George Washington began awarding a Badge of Military Merit in 1782. You may have recently seen the HBO series The Pacific. I’m fascinated by the events of that dreadful theater and the sacrifices of so many. I often wonder who in our time is continuing this proud legacy of heroism. Who will be portrayed in movies about Iraq and the War on Terrorism decades from now?
Consider what these modern heroes have done and how their actions powerfully match the meaning of the Medal of Honor description. Read more »
Young America, Job Hunting, & Desperation
ARE COLLEGE DEGREES WORTHLESS?
Hey there college crowd, raise your hand if you’ve earned a bachelor’s degree. Now put your hand down if you’ve found a position in the career you were shooting for. According to an article on Bloomberg Businessweek yesterday, more and more of you still have your arm raised and may be throwing both hands up in total desperation.
What’s going on? I’m an optimist but also a realist, and truthfulness demands taking a hard look at some tough facts lest we bury our heads like the ostrich who finally looked up only to see the rest of the pack had moved on.
THE SITUATION
The youth unemployment rate is nearing a whopping 20% these days. That’s the highest number since the Department of Labor began compiling the data in 1948. I said 1948! Let’s clear up two quick points here. First, the age bracket for youth unemployment is generally considered 16-24 years old. Second, the 20% figure is unemployment which means people trying to find work yet unable to do so. The number of 16-24 year olds without jobs is way higher, somewhere over 50% in recent weeks. We haven’t seen this many young Americans without jobs since World War II.
THE CAUSE
An estimated 7 million jobs worked by young people have disappeared during the current economic downturn. Basic economics explains much of this shortage of opportunities, but there’s another factor that can’t be ignored. We have never seen this type of competition for entry-level jobs between young and older workers in America.
Older Americans are themselves facing a jobs crisis. Pensions have been devastated, securities threatened. More folks over the age of 55 are working now than before the recession as spousal incomes and home values decline. When these workers get laid off they enter the same race for work already packed with so many young job seekers.
Another challenge is increasing competition among cohorts of recent graduating classes. The current class is competing with grads from ’09, ’08, and so on.
THE OUTLOOK
Let me submit to you three major impacts we’ll likely see from this trend.
1. Tougher future.
Future job and earning prospects are hurt by this current downturn. The Bloomberg article notes that two recessions in the early 80s created wage losses for the next 15 years for those who entered that bad job market. Their initial entry positions were lowered, their wages less, their skills slower developing. We are hovering around that same unemployment level now, so the future may not be as bright for new workers as it was 5 or 10 years ago.
Put simply, the quicker you get out of the gate the better, and right now the gate is jammed for a lot of entry-level seekers.
2. Deeper Debt.
There’s no end in sight to our skyrocketing debt (personal and national) in an age of continued consumption. The average college debt is now over $23,ooo up from around $18,000 in the mid-late 90s. Incomes are down, living and education costs are up, and financial discipline disappeared somewhere back there behind that broken starting gate.
Overall credit card debt in the United States increased around 18% in 2009 with some states seeing a rise as much as 30%! The plastic cards are double-edged swords indeed. Plenty of those charges go towards living expenses, but you know many of the purchases are for non-essential items. Too often being broke and out of work is no longer an excuse to deprive ourselves of what we just gotta have. After all, we deserve it right? Read more »
Meaning Amidst The Violence
Today is the anniversary of one of the most shocking events of my lifetime. On this day in 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out their sickening assault at Columbine High School. Last year, upon the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the massacre, President Bill Clinton said the events at that school in Colorado “changed us forever.” 
I wonder what that change has looked like for us. There are plenty of different perspectives after an event of this magnitude. Some people are closer than others, some always seem to see things more clearly, and some are perpetually clueless. Now that eleven years have passed, there’s a large segment of the population who weren’t old enough to notice the worst public school shooting in American history.
Change comes in a lot of forms. The harshest form reshaped the lives of the families of the 15 people who died, two dozen wounded, and countless others in that devastated community. Some folks used the shootings to pump up the gun control debate. A lot of people threw their hands in the air and saw no hope. Many more, especially those inspired by the character of Cassie Bernall and Rachel Scott, found light in the midst of darkness, meaning amidst the monstrous.
I think if we’re honest, a lot of us hear about these hellish tragedies and thank God that it didn’t happen to us. Then we go on with our lives hoping that nothing like that ever will.
We always want everything to make sense, but sometimes life just doesn’t. So what do you do with a story like this? How are we supposed to commemorate what took place in Littleton, Colorado? The short answer is that we live purposefully, intending to make a positive difference in the world around us ev
eryday.
If you could, would you reach out to one of the parents whose child was slaughtered while they were at school? Most of you would. Then who is around you today, even right now maybe, and hurting? What person in your life needs a soft word of encouragement or a few minutes of your time?
What about those victims? Would you love to go back in time and tell them what was coming? I think we all wish we could go back and prevent some terrible things that have happened. Of course we can’t, but the future is coming. How much of it do you have left? What if tomorrow is your day? What if it’s today? Are you ready? None of us want to face that reality right now, but could you if you had to? Cassie and Rachel did.
The last one is toughest of all. What about those two young guys who planned the rampage and never looked back? Why did they hate? What did they need? We’ll never have all the answers, but wouldn’t you like to go back to the point in their lives when they ran so far from the main path? I wonder if maybe they were pushed a little from that path, from the crowd. I bet they were pushed a lot. Read more »
A Year Of EduClaytion: The Extravaganza!
This months marks the 1st anniversary of EduClaytion. The world hasn’t disappointed on the interesting happenings front and neither have you. Together we’ve laid out some strange angles on triumphs, tragedies, and everything in between. We’ve watched America become an Obama nation while surviving threats from Scientologists and swine. You’ll find no shortage of pop culture references here either, be it Kevin Bacon, Braveheart, or the Breakfast Club. Shoot, even the animal kingdom’s been involved from victorious Penguins to a gay, Polish elephant.
I’ve enjoyed watching certain topics take off while others crashed and burned. After one year, the results are in on what you, the readers, have pointed and clicked on more than anything else. Even more amazing are some of the actual things people have been searching for in order to arrive here. Finally, the judges are ready to announce the article of the year near the end of this gala. So, let’s see what we can learn about our net-surfing selves by reshredding the cyberwaves of thi
s past year.
MOST READ TOPIC / ARTICLE
One particular article beat out all the rest and it wasn’t even close. We continue to find terrorism too relevant to resist. With three times more views than any other topic, the most read piece by a mile was What Does A Terrorist Look Like? which appeared last May after I took a plane trip to Florida. This one didn’t generate the most on-site discussion, but the comments section did get a little frightening a bit later.
MOST POPULAR ARTICLE: RUNNERS UP
From first to second we go from serious to ridiculous. The next two most clicked selections were pop culture conglomerations that attempted to link a few different well-known phenoms. The first was Braveheart, Weird Science, and Kevin Bacon–not exactly NBC Nightly News stuff but fun and apparently appealing. Close on the heels of Robert the Bruce and Co. was Chuck, Fletch, and Quantum Leap, a nifty write-up that combined three of my faves. I guess folks just like Chevy Chase and really want a Quantum Leap movie. Fletch too.
HONORABLE MENTION
Another strange split 
here near the top. Rounding out the top five are Smoke ‘Em If You Got ’Em and Monster Cereals and The Aliens Of “V” or Childhood In The 80s, which also has to be the longest title since the 18th century. Some days you want hard-hitting, investigative journalism; some days you want to talk about The Greatest Cartoons of All-Time.
MOST POLARIZING ARTICLE
Without a doubt, the most outspoken comments followed Worry About Your Own Sin. The thread at the end of the article was only the beginning. That one was difficult to write as far as hitting an appropriate balance. No matter where I’m speaking, the topic always gets people going.
ARTICLE THAT RECEIVED A SURPRISINGLY CALM RESPONSE
That would have to be Hating On Hate Crimes. Sometimes you know what you are saying is not offensive, but that it won’t matter. That’s when you close your eyes and hit the submit button.
MOST POPULAR SEARCH TOPICS THAT LED READERS HERE
No surprise that “terrorist” or some form of it led the most people here. You may be surprised at the second most popular fetcher though. Miss California Carrie Prejean got a ton of hits. Something tells me you all were more interested in finding dirty pictures than hearing her views on Jesus.
STRANGEST SEARCH TERMS TO LEAD READERS HERE
You don’t want to know. To be fair though, there was at least one article here about dead bodies and sex. Read more »
Open Ended Questions & Pregnant Bowlers
During the holiday break, I’ve discovered another way that Google makes life better. Well, more interesting an
yway.
Have you ever began typing a search question only to have random phrases suggested to help you complete your query? These phrases are based on real searches done by real people, and they are fascinating. I’m amazed at how many people go directly to the Google box with life’s largest dilemmas, but apparently they do. You really should try it out.
You can start simple enough. For example, type in a basic open ender like “how do I” and see what pops up. My personal favorite is “how do I know if I’m pregnant.” Sorry honey, anyone who could potentially create life should at least be equipped enough to figure out that little mystery without Google. Maybe she should chat with all the people asking “how do I get pregnant.”
Here’s some other tasty little chest
nuts from the search monster. They are as interesting as they are indicative of how insane our society has become. All you have to do is begin to suggest something like…
Why would anyone…
Hits under this opener range from “why would anyone believe in God” to “why would anyone name a cleanser Ajax.” What the? You can also explore why anyone would get married, buy a Mac, or play Russian roulette. My favorite has to be ”why would anyone want to be led by you.”
What should I…
This one’s good for figuring out that Halloween costume or the right Christmas gift for your boyfriend, but my personal favorite is the blunt “what should I do with my life.” Your in luck though. Looks like there’s even a quiz to find the answer.
What will… Read more »
Boob Jobs and The End Of The World
Tragedies come in many forms, even heart-shaped butts. The deadly risks of cosmetic surgery appeared in headlines again last week after the death of Solange Magnano, a former Miss Argentina, on November 29th. The model suffered a pulmonary emb
olism after a gluteoplasty to get a firmer butt. You may recall a similar story about the mother of Kanye West a couple of years ago. She also died from complications resulting from plastic surgery. I’d be understating the matter to call Magnano’s death needless. Did I mention she was a mom? Well, she was also a fool.
Fools by definition are people who lack good judgment. This group would include the majority of our elected officials, cult members, and generally everyone ever at some point in their life. You’ve probably had one of those “What was I thinking?” moments. We all lack good judgment from time to time, but most of us don’t lose our lives over it. I just have a hard time thinking of many reasons that could be more idiotic to die for than a tight butt.
Someone who drinks until they’re hammered and drives around town is also a fool, the only difference is that they might take the lives of others. There’s a lot of power in recklessness. I’m not talking about calculating criminals but rather self-serving seekers trying to control the uncontrollable. This recklessness just confirms my theory that we all hide private longings, those secret somethings that make special people less than speci
al when you see them behind the curtain. Just ask Tiger Woods. Like Henry David Thoreau said, most of us lead lives of quiet desperation.
That quiet desperation leads folks to do some pretty stupid things. We’re aware that no one will understand because the reality is that we are often wrong in our hidden desires and we know it. We keep selfish versions of the life we want to ourselves. In the process we pile up regrets until one day deciding that we’ve suffered enough and that we deserve whatever it is that self-appointed martyrs claim as their deathright. Lost along the way are all the blessings we’re too blind to see and all the people who suffer from our mistakes.
At some point during childhood, my sister Shannon told me that people want what they can’t have. Turns out that’s one of the truest and most lasting lessons I’ve learned. We want it all. We want. Tell the ugly duckling to understand a beauty queen unhappy with her posterior. Tell a barren wife to understand a mother who gets trashed with kids in the backseat. Try to understand anytime someone else throws away the very life you’ve long dreamed of.
Two decades later, that same sister just called to wish me a happy birthday. She asked how it felt to turn another year older. I asked her if guys could use eye cream for wrinkles without being laughed at. Her fiance laughed at me. Such is the cost of vanity. Sometimes it’s higher. Read more »
Veterans Day 2009
Thank you for your service. We don’t just say it because it sounds good, and you don’t serve just because it looks good. This site is about truth, and there can be nowhere on earth where the truth is as real and powerful as in war. Many men and women have served and are serving away from battlegrounds. They sacrifice so we can be safe. They are ready when we aren’t. They lose while we live.
Thank you.
“What’s My Destiny Momma?”
Do you believe in destiny? In 1994, Forrest Gump asked his dying mother a powerful question: ”What’s my destiny Momma?” Did she have the answer? Do you? Is her response any good? If you believe the movie, perhaps not.
It’s been 15 years since that film came out (and in the process made nearly $700 million). Paramount’s been kicking around the idea of a sequel for years. Producers would now like to get the movie out sometime in the next couple of years, but it takes an awful lot to get such projects going and completed even though a script’s been in place for years. Some complications have held the thing up. Most of all, will Tom Hanks reclaim the role he mastered? If he doesn’t, would you be interested? Me neither probably.
You may not recognize the name of the movie’s screenwriter Eric Roth, but you’ve probably heard of a couple of his films like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Good Shepherd, Munich, Ali, and more. Yeah, he’s pretty good and has probably made more money than Gump & Co., the title of the planned sequel to his 1994 masterpiece.
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It’s almost as if Winston Groom, author of the original 1986 novel, listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man and then created Forrest. So much of the simple
ton’s story can be summed up in the first verse of that song.
“Take your time… dont live too fast,
Troubles will come and they will pass.
Go find a woman and you’ll find love,
And dont forget son,
There is someone up above.”
Someone said Forrest believes in God, Momma, and Jenny, and “everything else has to be filtered through those three things.”
He encounters one character after another with bigtime dreams. Jenny seeks fame; Bubba wants to run a shrimpin’ business; Lt. Dan longs to fulfill his military destiny. None of them achieve the success they long for, yet Forrest attains all those things and more without ever 
realizing what he has. He just want to make his mama proud and be loved by Jenny.
People think he’s a genius, a brave hero, an inspiration, and more. Forrest accomplished all this stuff without trying, but as far as he was concerned, he didn’t achieve much. Those things didn’t matter to him, and after Jenny left he felt so alone and empty that he literally ran for years. He thought a lot about the people who’d impacted his life, but mostly he thought about Jenny. Like many of us, he was obsessed with that one thing he couldn’t have, life’s biggest regret.
He just knew that “Momma always said you gotta put the past behind you before you can move on.” That’s what his run was all about. Everyone wants to know the reason he runs or does anything. The answer is often the simplest possible explanation.
We want to believe that we too can maintain our innocence despite all the terrible realities around us. We’re drawn to themes of heartfelt innocence and simplicity because the more we understand, the harder life is to digest. Read more »
G20 Summit The Sequel: Land Of The Lost
The day felt ominous as I drove into town to see firsthand what this international summit would do to my hometown. I had never driven past the neighborhoods of my life and parked at my college knowing that in a few minutes I would be surrounded by the most powerful leaders of the world and thousands
of protestors, some armed with pooh bombs and water guns filled with urine, poised for confrontation. I hoped my investigative journey would be excrement free. As I discovered, things could get so much worse.
I arrived a loner, critical of both protestors and leaders. I wasn’t after any kind of useful message, only an interesting experience. I was going to get an early start to my day but then realized most of the protestors probably wouldn’t be awake before noon. Just kidding radical friends of mine. I figured things would heat up closer to the president’s arrival, so I parked my car and began hoofing it into town as Obama exited his plane at Pittsburgh International.
I decided to operate under an alias, KB4. The name sounded subversive and radical enough; although the initials stood for Kenjamin Bradford IV, epitome of the privileged establishment.
Flashing, emergency lights and militaristic personnel greeted me at every turn. Camouflage Humvees were parked where roadside vendors normally set up shop. An overwhelming quietness rested on the whole town, but swells of the storm beyond rose in shouts every few minutes. The warnings I’d heard the day before crept in. Things could get serious for anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time. I took a breath and moved for the commotion. This is it, I thought, into the belly of the beast. Read more »
Welcome To Here
In The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo he can take the blue pill and go on believing whatever he wants to believe. Or he can take the red pill to stay in Wonderland and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.
This is a red pill type site with a weekly column (and some extras in between) that provides information in an entertaining way. It’s about clear thinking and good writing. It’s about truth.
I’m a writer/speaker who teaches history and political science at a local college by day. Where is local, you say? Well, that would be Wonderland of course.
From pop culture to pop politics, this is my column.
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