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Saturday, April 30, 2005
SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2005
Thomas
The apostle Thomas doubted that Jesus had actually risen from the dead. Rather than punish him for his disbelief, Jesus had compassion, and showed him his wounds, so the story goes. Jesus did not expect him to believe without seeing. He is thought to be one of the most courageous and authentic apostles because he would not believe without evidence.
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Friday, April 29, 2005
FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2005
Tiger
What a week. A new Springsteen album and a new Apple operating system all within the same seven days! Not to mention that "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" opens today.
Apple releases Tiger today - I just got my copy. It's amazing what technologically advanced yet human-friendly power they have packed into this thing. For instance, there's Spotlight, which let's you enter a word and immediately search your entire computer for any files with that word, including songs, pictures, e-mails, and documents. Microsoft has been promising such a feature for over a year now and they stay they still won't have their's out for about a year. Tiger also has simple video conferencing for up to four people at once.
All of this points out something very important. Microsoft is in protect-market-share mode. Apple is in create mode. General Motors is in protect-market-share mode. Toyota is in create mode. When you are trying to protect something your whole mindset is so rigid it is very difficult, if not impossible, to create anything new, let alone anything inspiring. NASA is in protect mode. Scaled Composites, the team that won the X PRIZE, is in create mode. Here's what should really give us pause - America is in protect mode. What does that say about our future? We have to let go of our fears and get into create mode, or the future will be created without us.
Evidence of our malaise, , yesterday the President said we didn't get into our energy problems overnight, and we're not going to fix them overnight. How is that inspiring us to anything great? We need a President who says we are going to fix the problem overnight, relatively speaking - we're going to put the entire force of all of America's ingenuity and creativity into solving this problem on a bold and daring timeline. Imagine if John Kennedy said the moon wasn't created overnight, and we're not going to get there overnight. He said we're going to get there in eight years. And we did. We need a return to that kind of courage, and the creativity that will come with it.
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Thursday, April 28, 2005
THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2005
Airbus 380
This is the new Airbus 380 - now the largest passenger plane in the world, capable of carrying 840 passengers. Yesterday it flew its maiden test voyage successfully. A number of European nations put up a third of the $13 billion needed for development. 30,000 people showed up just to watch the first test flight. It is a measure of how inspiring something is when people get up from their television routine and leave the house to go see it. When is the last time the federal government sparked something that Americans wanted to get out of the house to go and see?
The Airbus falls into the category of a new idea. Imagination. Reaching for a big scary goal. This is the kind of courage it takes to create entire new industries, millions of new jobs, and enthusiasm in a nation's soul - a feeling that it and its people are capable of achieving great things. It measures the best in a nation. You turn on CNN at night and watch Lou Dobbs, and all he ever does is complain about how American textile jobs are going overseas. It's depressing. American textile jobs are going overseas because the labor is cheaper there and the skills necessary to do the work are fairly routine. America needs to stop worrying about protecting old jobs in dying industries and start creating new categories of industry that will bring Americans much higher-paying new jobs that require greater skills for which we educate people.
There is no shortage of great industrial goals upon which the President could call the country to achieve, and help achieve by throwing in a tiny fraction of the money we just spent in Iraq. These include:
- The hydrogen car, and a goal to make the entire U.S. automobile fleet hydrogen in the next ten years;
- The supersonic transport plane, that would go sub-orbital and get you from L.A. to New York in 30 minutes;
- The first hotel in space;
- A magnetic train across the nation;
- A prototype electric monorail public transportation system in a major U.S. city;
- An Apollo-like campaign to cure cancer within the next ten years;
These are the kinds of things Americans will come out of their homes, and out of their despair, to see. And the only thing stopping us is the lack of imagination and courage to get going on these things.
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Wednesday, April 27, 2005
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2005
Devils & Dust
A new Springsteen album is a rare event in life - about as frequent as a Presidential election. I can remember specifically the way in which I first listened to each one. Devils & Dust came out yesterday -full of heartbreaking stories of people trying to keep hold of some piece of themselves and of their dreams as they journey this difficult road called life. Boxers, hookers, impoverished migrants dying in the rivers that stand between them and their dreams, losers , sinners, misfits and the rest of society's rejects. Every one of 'em carrying some piece of you that you relate to down in the very depths of your being. Relief that someone's finally given voice to that little piece of you.
A new Springsteen album is like a full canteen for your soul. Your soul's dry thirsty for it, and you want to suck it all down before your horse takes his first step, but you know its a long journey through the desert before you ever see another one, so you better sip slowly. I'm gonna die of dehydration, because I just keep listening to it over and over again, filling my soul up. I'll have those digital files worn down to nothing by next week. No matter, better to feel alive again and die than to never feel that you've lived.
I don't know much. I don't know where my future's taking me. I don't know whether pacifism is the answer or if it's totally without merit. I don't know whether there's a place for being flexible about principle. I don't know whether Ayn Rand's answers are better than Thomas Merton's. But I know one thing. I know that I love Bruce Springsteen.
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Tuesday, April 26, 2005
TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2005
Tiny Raspberry Blossom
There is a tiny tiny raspberry blossom outside my window. No bigger than a shirt button. It doesn't seem to care if anyone notices it. It doesn't know how many hits it gets a day. Beauty for beauty's sake. We could learn a lot from a tiny little raspberry blossom. Beauty for beauty's sake. Courage for the sake of courage. Honor for the sake of honor. Integrity for the sake of integrity. Whether anyone notices or not.
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Monday, April 25, 2005
MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2005
Imagine This
Imagine, just for a moment what a transformation it would bring about if the new Pope announced sweeping new reforms for the church. Imagine if he said that, as of this moment, the priesthood is open to women, priests may marry, the church opens its arms to its gay and lesbian parishioners, and the church recognizes the legitimacy of all the world's major religions. What joy it would bring about in the world. The divinity schools would be flooded with new candidates, the churches would be overwhelmed with new priests - and good ones, inspiring ones - passionate ones. Women all over the world would feel a new sense of belonging and pride. Gays and lesbians all over the world would get behind the church, instead of standing against it. Other faiths around the world would be immediately able to drop their defenses, and new dialogues would begin that would open the most unbelievable possibilities of global cooperation. It would send a message to governments and people of faith all over the world that the dawn of a new era is here. The church could use its authority to spread love and understanding, just as Jesus did, instead of fear and division, just as Herod did.
So often the things we fear are the opposite of the things we should fear. Right now the church fears the disintegration of morality, and its own irrelevance, so it holds on tightly, becomes more rigid and less understanding. This very rigidity drives people away from the church and creates the very thing against which the church is protecting.
The way for the church to blossom is for it to let go of its own fear and love. This is the very essence of the message that Jesus taught. What would Jesus regard as the greater evil, women as priests, or the wholesale loss of the church's great potential to transform the world?
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Sunday, April 24, 2005
SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2005
The Duck
Several years ago I bought this very potentially transformative electric car. Made by Corbin Motors (now out of business) in California, the concept was simple - create a one-person electric vehicle that people can use to commute short distances back and forth to work. It was based on research that the average person travels 18 miles back and forth to work each day, alone. If you could provide a low-cost vehicle that would fill that need, you could save billions in fossil fuel costs. "The Duck," as I call it, goes about 50 miles on a single charge. I have had it on the freeway at speeds up to 75 miles and hour. You plug it into a regular 110 outlet in your house - no need for any complicated hook-ups. It has a heater, a stereo, windshield wipers, and a hatchback. It costs less than 75 cents a day to operate. We need a President, and Senators and Congressmen and women who are willing to put their rear ends on the line to fully develop technologies like this. A company called Myers Motors is planning to re-introduce these vehicles, called, actually, "Sparrows."
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