Have "they" won?

About two years ago I wrote a post about the experience of being racially profiled.  I don't know if I was actually racially profiled, but that was what it felt like.  The post was really about whether I was willing to undergo that kind of treatment in return for the "heightened" security that it would supposedly bring.  Two years later I'm reconsidering my position.  

In the last few weeks I have read two articles that have made me really think about what it means to be terrorized.  I have never been afraid to fly.  I wasn't afraid to fly before September 11th, I wasn't afraid to fly one month after the attacks, and I wasn't afraid nearly 10 years after the attacks.  After reading about one woman's ordeal on a flight this year on September 11th I realized that while I haven't been afraid of an attack what I am afraid of is being profiled and the aftermath of that.  The aftermath of being wrongfully profiled is that you are in the system and this will be on your record.  This is does not just go on your record, but it also has the potential to affect your family.  Another story about the mall cops at the Mall of America in Minneapolis profiling those who are behaving suspiciously mentioned that though innocent the 11 page report on 'suspects' will remain in the "records for decades".  

In the wake of September 11th many of stated that the fear that paralyzes Americans from traveling is a sign that the terrorists won.  I don't agree.  What scares me more is the potential to end up having my life turned upside down, my wife and parents having their lives turned upside down, and all for nothing after which we are for the rest of our lives "persons of interest".  What is the solution to dispelling this fear?  Better intelligence?  A rational thought process before assuming that three random brown people sitting next to each other on a plane are suspicious?  At what point does rationality give way to complacency?  Does the evidence guide the suspicion or is the instinct the guide?  I don't know the answers to these questions, but what I do know is that now as a young(ish) brown man I have second thoughts about flying and IT IS NOT because of terrorists, but rather because of the climate of fear perpetuated by the media, the government, and the misguided assumptions of fellow citizens.

The Voice of Westwood One

If you listen to sports radio or the standard album rock station in any major city chances are you've heard "The Voice".  On sports radio The Voice does the voiceover imaging for the NFL on Westwood One.  On album rock stations The Voice does voiceover work for most major monster truck shows.  In other places around the country there are other promos that you'll find The Voice, but these are the most prominent ones that I can think of.  The Voice has the deepest most unnatural sounding voice I have ever heard.  Clearly The Voice undergoes extensive processing to make this completely bizarre voice.  I first noticed The Voice last year during the start of March Madness and thought about how odd it was to use.  My speculation on the marketing director's thinking is that the deep unnatural voice works with big manly sports like football or monster trucks.  The funny part is that today I heard a promo with The Voice for a show dedicated to fantasy football picks.  My disdain for fantasy football is something for another post, but using The Voice seems like beyond overkill.  Why does there need to be an overly deep voice talking about how to pick starters for fantasy football?  Maybe I should get The Voice to do my voicemail.

10 years later

How the world has changed in ten years.  Ten years ago one could go to an airport gate and watch loved ones arrive and depart.  Today dropping or picking someone up at the airport amounts to little more than a drive through.  Ten years ago terms such as TSA, Homeland Security, and threat level did not exist in the minds of the majority of the population.  Today these words affect everyone who travels anywhere by plane.  Ten years ago we the major effect on the global economy was the technology bubble bursting.  Today the technology bubble is but a figment of our imagination as the real estate bubble burst, the banking crisis, the European debt crisis, the American debt crisis, and the general economic decline all dominate the conversation.  Ten years ago the last war of memory was a short lived one in the early 90s, Desert Storm, brought by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.  Today a whole generation has grown up in the shadow of the War on Terrorism, the War in Afghanistan, and the War in Iraq.  Ten years ago if your skin was brown it wasn't of much distinction.  Today if your skin is brown you might hear comments such as, "are you one of those Iraqis?"  Or, "do you know any terrorists?"  Ten years ago families lost loved ones, friends lost each other, and a generation lost it's innocence.  Today many have moved on and many are trying to move on.  

External monotony tempered by internal evolution

The HyWy and I were exchanging some emails the other day and we got on the topic of monotony in our daily lives.  Interestingly as a working professional one of the things we most rely on is routine, but at the same time it is one of our greatest enemies in the fight to enjoy what we do.  For example, we often rely on routines to ensure that we do everything that needs doing from chores to tasks at work, because it makes our lives easier and more organized.  Conversely if we submit to the routine so much our lives feel boring and bland.  "All I do is go to work, come home, eat, and go to bed.  My life is so boring."  To break up the routine we will take classes, hang out with friends, go out, go on vacations, go to the movies, etc.  I just spoke with someone after a long time and they told me that nothing is going on in their just typical family life and the family routine.  The weariness was evident in their voice.  This made me think about what is stagnant in our lives: our external circumstances or our internal evolution? 

My parents are going to an abbey in Europe for a day and that got me thinking about the monastic life.  Arguably the monastic life is the most externally boring lifestyle, especially from the perspective of a fast paced city living corporate type.  After all the monastic life from the physical standpoint is not very different from the corporate drone working, eating, and sleeping.  The major difference is the presence of internal evolution.  The corporate drone doesn't feel this and attributes it's absence to the monotony in their life.  Knowing that there are spiritual giants out there that live equally if not more mundane lives than me makes me realize that the thing I fear most is not daily monotony, but internal stagnancy.  To that end I think the way to promote internal evolution is through cultural experiences, continued education, and new experiences.  The obvious question being if we use these opportunities for individual growth then how does a monastic grow considering they are often not afforded these opportunities.  I would argue that they don't need opportunities for growth, but that they grow by being.  Ultimately reaching that state would be my goal in this lifetime or the next.

The mindful pedestrian

The other day while driving with the HyWy I noticed something that really annoys me and the HyWy suggested that I blog it.  As I write this I feel like I have written about it before, but I can't find the post.  Anyways I can't stand it when a pedestrian runs to cross at a crosswalk, but then walks at the critical moment.  For example you are stopped at a red light and the crosswalk timer is running out.  Approximately 2-3 seconds from running out a pedestrian runs to the intersection.  In this example the road is say 2 lanes each side and a median so it will take about 10 seconds to cross.  Once in the intersection the pedestrian strolls on through the intersection ignoring the fact that the light has turned green and now cars are waiting to move on.  The pedestrian ran to start crossing the street, but then walked at the critical moment (when the cars were waiting).  Naturally there are plenty of exceptions to this (elderly or disabled people moving slowly through an intersection), but there are a number of situations where this happens just as I have described.  An addendum to this that I see all the time is when a car is waiting to turn right and a pedestrian crosses half the crosswalk in a straight line and then the other half walks diagonally such that they reach a point farther down the sidewalk than if they had continued in a straight line.  I have done this, but try to avoid doing this if there is a car waiting on me so I understand why one would do it.  However, when there is a car waiting the pedestrian is essentially taking the longest route to the sidewalk so the car has to wait the longest time possible. 

Now by no mean am I saying that drivers are always in the right or for that matter that I'm always doing the right thing as a pedestrian or driver.  These are just two situations I encounter regularly enough that they make me pause and think.  They make me think enough that I try to be mindful of the drivers when I'm a pedestrian keeping in mind the things that annoy me.