This morning I had a realization that I must by definition be a public radio geek. In my years of going to concerts and shows, of all the musicians and performers I have seen, the ones that stick out the most for me are the ones I have seen from public radio. That is not to say that I have not enjoyed other shows, it has been fun to see Weird Al the 2 times I have, and seeing They Might Be Giants a couple of years ago was fun, but when I think back to people I have seen that I truly cherish the chance to see they are all public radio people. Scott Simon, and Paula Poundstone (2 times) I not only have seen, but had a chance to spend time with working their events. Ira Glass and Garrison Keillor I have seen once each, and next week, I get to see Garrison Keillor again with Prairie Home Companion. There is a story there in it.
The first time I saw Garrison Keillor, he was coming to town solo. When I first heard that he was going to be here, I bought 2 tickets. I was not dating anyone at the time so it was a bit presumptuous, but I figured that someone would want to come to see him with me. As the days came closer, I realized that it was simply not going to be an awesome date night, so I took a very near and dear friend of mine. It was a cold December evening, but for me, I had to go. For those not familiar with him, Garrison is an older gentleman who hosts a weekly radio program called Prairie Home Companion which has been on the air it seems for as long as I remember. It was something that I think of fondly from my childhood listening on Saturday evenings. I am not a part of the radio generation, so listening to the radio in that way growing up, was different than some people I knew. It was not staying up and playing video games, but rather, on cold winter's nights listening to Garrison Keillor talk about his Mythical hometown of Lake Woebegone, and the way that he told stories reminded me of the way someone would tell a story around a campfire or around the hearth. For me, it was personal. Like you had a friend, who told you stories about where they grew up, or told funny stories and jokes about things. Several years ago, when I decided that I wanted to be an Author (an ambition that I have since given up) his books were something that I enjoyed reading and he was always an idol to me.
When I heard that he was coming to town last time I saw him, I thought that it was incredibly important that I see him, given that I never knew if or when the opportunity would happen again. So to me, it was something that I had to do. Much like the times I have seen so many of the other people or acts I have seen. Sometimes when something that is magical comes within your grasp, you have to reach out and grasp it for a moment holding it in your hands knowing that after it has gone away, you will be able to think back to it and smile knowing that when you had the chance you did what you could to have that experience. When I first saw Garrison, that was what it was for me, A chance to touch something, even if it was in a crowded theater with thousands of other people, even then, to me it was incredibly personal. I was wrong that it is the last time, as I get the chance to see him and his whole crew this time again, but there is something magical in the experience for me.
It is interesting looking back at it all to me. Sometimes life is about grasping those chances holding them close then letting them go knowing that the memory of it, and the experience would always be there with you. It is a magical thing, and I am happy to have a chance to have a new experience again.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Friday, July 5, 2013
Right and wrong
No one sets out thinking they will be on the wrong side of history. So doing things that they believe is wrong simply would not occur to people. If Batman beats up bad guys on the street it is ok. But the second that you become one of those bad guys who are only trying to achieve your objective he is a barrier to that and as such a threat to be neutralized. The problem with sides is that there are always at least 2 of them.
Hitler came into power when Germany had been beaten down by a bad end of a war, the economy was in terrible shape and the people where having a hard time just making due with things the way they were. So what does he do? He finds an out by blaming a minority of the population for the woes of the nation, promotes national unity by coming together against them, and in all of it rebuilds the economy of the nation. I am not saying that he was right, but even the US President and Prime Minister of the UK at first were impressed at what he had accomplished and how he was working to rebuild his country. In his mind, he was doing right, yes people were being killed and hurt, but it was for the sake of the country that it happened, and as such, was justified.
History does not side with him, nor does it side with anyone who lost a cause, as history sides with the victors. Complex issues become simplified for naritaves sake, and when it is written we agree with those who won. The Civil was was not just about slavery, it was as much about states rights, and the rights of self determination, things which to this day we argue about, and feel we must have. Of course since we still argue about self determination, and the ability of a state to determine it's own laws and rules, the simplest solution is to put it on slavery since we tend to agree that slavery is not such a good thing. The North wins the war, the south looses and it becomes not about the fact that Lincoln was elected without the support of nearly half of the nation, but rather it was all about slavery, since we know that slavery is bad.
No one picks a cause that they do not agree with and stays with it, otherwise how could you fight for it when it really mattered. If you did not believe in a cause and it came down to dying for it, or leaving the cause, if you did not believe in it, would you stay and fight for a cause which you were only half heartedly invested in. No one does what they think is wrong unless it has some value. Even a person who steals or robs a bank, even though they know that it is frowned upon or is wrong in the eyes of society, sees it as having some good for them, elsewise they would not do it. The shoplifter believes that his own good is more important or valuable than that of the corporation, or employees, and though it is wrong, it is still justified and he is still doing something that is in a way right for him.
Much of this is primal. We do what we do without thought of morals or what is right and wrong. When a person flips a light switch, they are not thinking about the damage the power the light will use is doing on the native species of the river system in which the damn his electrical power company gets the power to give him that electricity, Much the same way that if a person thought of the global impact of mining the natural gas to heat his home, instead, when it is cold, he turns up the heat, no further thought needed. He may be doing wrong, but not because he is thinking that in turning up the heat he will force the gas company to mine more, thus impacting the flora and fauna of the surrounding area. If he did think about it all, the larger implications of all of his actions, it is so that a man would simply not do anything, as no matter what he does he could be doing wrong against someone else or something else.
So we drive our cars, feeling like it is ok to do so regardless of the pollution it gives off. We power our homes and our machines while exploiting many natural resources that will never be reclaimed. We do this, because we think that it is right, whether time judges us as so or not. No body does wrong because they believe that not only is it wrong, but that there is no redeeming value in it. Even a person who hates their job, disagrees with what the company does or how they treat employees or each other will admit that it provides them with a source of income and thus for them the bad is trumped by the value they get out of it. They may not be right, but the ends make the means, whether right or wrong, justified.
Hitler came into power when Germany had been beaten down by a bad end of a war, the economy was in terrible shape and the people where having a hard time just making due with things the way they were. So what does he do? He finds an out by blaming a minority of the population for the woes of the nation, promotes national unity by coming together against them, and in all of it rebuilds the economy of the nation. I am not saying that he was right, but even the US President and Prime Minister of the UK at first were impressed at what he had accomplished and how he was working to rebuild his country. In his mind, he was doing right, yes people were being killed and hurt, but it was for the sake of the country that it happened, and as such, was justified.
History does not side with him, nor does it side with anyone who lost a cause, as history sides with the victors. Complex issues become simplified for naritaves sake, and when it is written we agree with those who won. The Civil was was not just about slavery, it was as much about states rights, and the rights of self determination, things which to this day we argue about, and feel we must have. Of course since we still argue about self determination, and the ability of a state to determine it's own laws and rules, the simplest solution is to put it on slavery since we tend to agree that slavery is not such a good thing. The North wins the war, the south looses and it becomes not about the fact that Lincoln was elected without the support of nearly half of the nation, but rather it was all about slavery, since we know that slavery is bad.
No one picks a cause that they do not agree with and stays with it, otherwise how could you fight for it when it really mattered. If you did not believe in a cause and it came down to dying for it, or leaving the cause, if you did not believe in it, would you stay and fight for a cause which you were only half heartedly invested in. No one does what they think is wrong unless it has some value. Even a person who steals or robs a bank, even though they know that it is frowned upon or is wrong in the eyes of society, sees it as having some good for them, elsewise they would not do it. The shoplifter believes that his own good is more important or valuable than that of the corporation, or employees, and though it is wrong, it is still justified and he is still doing something that is in a way right for him.
Much of this is primal. We do what we do without thought of morals or what is right and wrong. When a person flips a light switch, they are not thinking about the damage the power the light will use is doing on the native species of the river system in which the damn his electrical power company gets the power to give him that electricity, Much the same way that if a person thought of the global impact of mining the natural gas to heat his home, instead, when it is cold, he turns up the heat, no further thought needed. He may be doing wrong, but not because he is thinking that in turning up the heat he will force the gas company to mine more, thus impacting the flora and fauna of the surrounding area. If he did think about it all, the larger implications of all of his actions, it is so that a man would simply not do anything, as no matter what he does he could be doing wrong against someone else or something else.
So we drive our cars, feeling like it is ok to do so regardless of the pollution it gives off. We power our homes and our machines while exploiting many natural resources that will never be reclaimed. We do this, because we think that it is right, whether time judges us as so or not. No body does wrong because they believe that not only is it wrong, but that there is no redeeming value in it. Even a person who hates their job, disagrees with what the company does or how they treat employees or each other will admit that it provides them with a source of income and thus for them the bad is trumped by the value they get out of it. They may not be right, but the ends make the means, whether right or wrong, justified.
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