The world is an unsafe place, ever since Adam and Eve sinned their way out of God's perfect protection of Eden. It does not matter how "good" or "wicked" you are, nor what your intentions are behind your deeds, or your motivations behind your thoughts or actions, nor what religion or not that you are, and certainly not how "gifted" or "enlightened" you think you are. The world remains an unsafe place because mishaps and death are a fact of life.
Having said that, the one way to be the safest possible in a physically unsafe world is to use one yardstick, one measure, in all your thoughts and deeds, and even your day to day actions. Do not do anything unless you dedicate your action to the greater glory of God first and foremost. If you do something based on your own pride, you are more vulnerable to mishaps and death.
Pride causes people to take chances that they do not need to risk. Pride causes people to crave money, power and media attention with public adulation. Pride causes companies and governments to not have the correct attention to the correct risks, dangers and problems that they and other people face. Pride causes people to mistrust other people's good advice.
Proverbs 16:18
Proverbs 18:12
If you pause before anything that you do, and ask yourself just very quickly, "Is God glorified in what I am about to do, or am I about to do something based on pride?" I guarantee that while death and mishaps still will occur, one's priorities will be more correct and many mishaps will be avoided.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
Sirach 6:16-18
A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself. My son, from your youth embrace discipline; thus will you find wisdom with graying hair.
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goeth before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 18:12
Before his downfall a man's heart is haughty, but humility goes before honors.
Showing posts with label safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label safety. Show all posts
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Sunday, December 14, 2008
An exercise to help traumatized keep God in their lives
You tend to see three kinds of people with three different reactions to a horrible trauma or loss in their lives. The traumas I am speaking of are things like losing a loved one in an accident, a fire, to illness, or being the victim of a crime or some other form of deeply traumatizing abuse.
The first group are those who have a deep faith in God, and that is not shaken even after the trauma. They may, of course, question why this happened, and the larger meaning within the body of their faith, but they do not diminish their connection to God. Many, actually, feel a stronger attachment to God.
The second group are those who have faith in God, which they may have felt was deep prior to the event, or it may have been a moderate or nominal background belief. Individuals in this group feel anger at God that is beyond the normal "getting back one's bearings" after the trauma and often deny God, blame God and as they often say "no longer believe in God" or have "lost their faith."
The third group are those who are mostly secular in orientation. Thus when they have a trauma they tend to interpret the trauma and their reactions using a philosophical and logical attitude, which may or may not help. For the many that it does help this is because they retain their focus on the facts, which is that a fellow human, or a factual circumstance (mechanics, illness, accident) caused the trauma. For those who find they cannot fully feel better and heal by focusing on personal philosophy and facts, some feel a calling to God (a second chance at life after surviving their trauma), while a small number harden their stance that there must not be a God because a "good" God would not allow these things to happen anyway.
Just in the past week we have seen in the news examples of all three.
Now, this is the point that I wish to make. I want to address those from group two and group three who feel even farther from God after a trauma than before. I have here an analogy, an exercise, to help you to understand that this is not only a matter of faith, but that such a reaction, carried to an extreme, is not rational.
1. Suppose that you have been kidnapped and abused by a gang. Would it be a logical response to no longer believe in the existence of police?
2. Suppose that you have been injured in a car smash and are lying, wounded, in your car, or on the side of the road. Would it be a logical response to no longer believe in the existence of ambulance crews? And if, when the ambulance crew shows up, would you say that your wounds are their fault?
3. Suppose that you are trapped in a building that is on fire. Would you lock the door on the firemen who come to rescue you, saying that you no longer believe in them? Would you say, "Well, you obviously must think that fires are a good thing or you would not have chosen to be firemen in your career?"
4. Suppose that you or a loved one has been sexually abused. If God came to comfort you, would you say to God, "Go away... I'd rather stay here with my living abuser." Rather than accompany God and abandon either the continuing reality or the living memory of the abuse, would you cling even tighter to the ongoing endless loop of the abuse, and refuse to go with God and thus start to leave the abuse reality or the grip of its memory on you?
5. Suppose you saw terrible things done by humans to fellow humans in times of war. Seeing just what humans do to other humans, would you continue to then "cast your lot" with humans alone and remain in their value structure, at their fickle mercies? Why is it a logical decision when repelled and abused by what you witness in a war to remain even firmer in that milieu, and refuse to find refuge in the values of God, which are far, of course, from the evil that humans do to each other?
It is important to be sympathetic to reasonable faith being reasonably shaken in horrible circumstances.
However, it is not helpful to enable illogical thinking. If one is horrified by what humans do to fellow humans, why would you reject being more of the values of God and less of humans as a result? By any measure that does not make sense, and that does not promote healing.
This is why I have developed this exercise for you to think about when you experience a trauma, or have already done so, or read about one in the papers, or hear about it on the news. Think of the trauma and the factual human/mechanics/biological cause (taking a leaf from the wise people of group three). Then think about how for every trauma there are fellow humans who try to prevent it, even if their numbers are few and their voices not heard. This helps you to recall that trauma is a human/human situation.
Then contemplate how illogical it would be for the trauma sufferer to further "endorse" the existing situation by rejecting the only alternative to human failures, which is God's realm, where there is no death, or suffering, or betrayal by loved ones. Why would you draw strength by only believing in the half of life where there was such a dismal failure or tragedy?
I do understand the pain and I hope that this helps.
The first group are those who have a deep faith in God, and that is not shaken even after the trauma. They may, of course, question why this happened, and the larger meaning within the body of their faith, but they do not diminish their connection to God. Many, actually, feel a stronger attachment to God.
The second group are those who have faith in God, which they may have felt was deep prior to the event, or it may have been a moderate or nominal background belief. Individuals in this group feel anger at God that is beyond the normal "getting back one's bearings" after the trauma and often deny God, blame God and as they often say "no longer believe in God" or have "lost their faith."
The third group are those who are mostly secular in orientation. Thus when they have a trauma they tend to interpret the trauma and their reactions using a philosophical and logical attitude, which may or may not help. For the many that it does help this is because they retain their focus on the facts, which is that a fellow human, or a factual circumstance (mechanics, illness, accident) caused the trauma. For those who find they cannot fully feel better and heal by focusing on personal philosophy and facts, some feel a calling to God (a second chance at life after surviving their trauma), while a small number harden their stance that there must not be a God because a "good" God would not allow these things to happen anyway.
Just in the past week we have seen in the news examples of all three.
Now, this is the point that I wish to make. I want to address those from group two and group three who feel even farther from God after a trauma than before. I have here an analogy, an exercise, to help you to understand that this is not only a matter of faith, but that such a reaction, carried to an extreme, is not rational.
1. Suppose that you have been kidnapped and abused by a gang. Would it be a logical response to no longer believe in the existence of police?
2. Suppose that you have been injured in a car smash and are lying, wounded, in your car, or on the side of the road. Would it be a logical response to no longer believe in the existence of ambulance crews? And if, when the ambulance crew shows up, would you say that your wounds are their fault?
3. Suppose that you are trapped in a building that is on fire. Would you lock the door on the firemen who come to rescue you, saying that you no longer believe in them? Would you say, "Well, you obviously must think that fires are a good thing or you would not have chosen to be firemen in your career?"
4. Suppose that you or a loved one has been sexually abused. If God came to comfort you, would you say to God, "Go away... I'd rather stay here with my living abuser." Rather than accompany God and abandon either the continuing reality or the living memory of the abuse, would you cling even tighter to the ongoing endless loop of the abuse, and refuse to go with God and thus start to leave the abuse reality or the grip of its memory on you?
5. Suppose you saw terrible things done by humans to fellow humans in times of war. Seeing just what humans do to other humans, would you continue to then "cast your lot" with humans alone and remain in their value structure, at their fickle mercies? Why is it a logical decision when repelled and abused by what you witness in a war to remain even firmer in that milieu, and refuse to find refuge in the values of God, which are far, of course, from the evil that humans do to each other?
It is important to be sympathetic to reasonable faith being reasonably shaken in horrible circumstances.
However, it is not helpful to enable illogical thinking. If one is horrified by what humans do to fellow humans, why would you reject being more of the values of God and less of humans as a result? By any measure that does not make sense, and that does not promote healing.
This is why I have developed this exercise for you to think about when you experience a trauma, or have already done so, or read about one in the papers, or hear about it on the news. Think of the trauma and the factual human/mechanics/biological cause (taking a leaf from the wise people of group three). Then think about how for every trauma there are fellow humans who try to prevent it, even if their numbers are few and their voices not heard. This helps you to recall that trauma is a human/human situation.
Then contemplate how illogical it would be for the trauma sufferer to further "endorse" the existing situation by rejecting the only alternative to human failures, which is God's realm, where there is no death, or suffering, or betrayal by loved ones. Why would you draw strength by only believing in the half of life where there was such a dismal failure or tragedy?
I do understand the pain and I hope that this helps.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Severe scolding for cops parents citizens officials
Here is another example of how the freak show society of the past twenty to thirty years has totally missed investing in the good, and has instead invested in the bad.
Several days ago, in a town not too far from where I now reside, a star senior year high school football player died in the doorway of his car, of a shot from his own hunting shot gun. He had been pulled over by a policeman in a patrol car, and according to events as they have been reported thus far, the police officer was in his or her car running on his computer a check of the car he had just pulled over. Therefore, we are given to understand, the officer did not see what happened until he or she heard the gun shot and found the young man dead under the gun. These circumstances suggest either suicide, which the family finds painfully difficult to believe, obviously, or an accident. The young man was apparently an avid hunter, owned the shotgun and carried it in his car, often went hunting before school classes each day, and apparently had been hunting that day. The local police have kept a distance from the family, including when they first heard the young man had been shot, and have turned the investigation of what happened over to the state police. Now, here is my point.
None of this would be as mysterious and painful if the police car had a forward pointing dash board camera that records all events that take place in front of the police car, and thus in the direction of the action whenever the police car pulls another car over. These cameras have a proven track record of protecting via recording the truth of events both the police and the general public.
I am astonished that every police car in the country that is involved in patrol does not have one of these cameras already and, in fact, should have had those years ago. But no, what has society invested in? It seems every teenager, rich or poor, has cell phone cameras so that they can take naked pictures of themselves and their neighbors, plus lead lives of cyborgs and robots by constantly “texting” their friends. The same towns, cities and rural areas that fill the hands of their children with cell phone cameras somehow didn’t think of outfitting law enforcement cars with cameras to protect both the honest police and the public from the dishonest police. How much more stupid can this society get?
This is hardly surprising when one considers the geniuses who designed the American space vehicle known as the space shuttle. Billions have been poured into that vehicle, and for decades it flew without any of the engineering geniuses ever planning for cameras to monitor and inspect the accident prone and vulnerable exterior. They probably have cameras filming the astronauts take a crap, but it never occurred to them to have exterior cameras to ensure the integrity of the outer skin surface of the vehicle until, you guessed, not one but two space shuttles were destroyed and their crews killed, due to ignorance of routine launch damage to the craft’s tiles from striking debris. Wow, suddenly the geniuses decide to put cameras on the shuttle (and repair kits), only after a generation of children have already had "cams" and on line cameras on their computers so they can transmit every word of wisdom and sex act to their friends on the Internet.
I cannot understand a society that invests in the “new, hot technology” to loosen morals of their children (such as they are) and distract them from being children (you know, studying) yet is too plain ignorant to first outfit the adults in services, such as law enforcement, with dashboard cameras. Ironically employers have already leaped to record for “safety” purposes just about every move that employees make on company premises, but the police do not all have dashboard cameras and the adult public has not insisted on it? Then again, this is a society that did not really invest in bullet proof vests for police officers until Yoko Ono donated money for that cause after her husband John Lennon was killed. Where are the priorities? Where are the geniuses in this society? What do they do with themselves when they are not counting their piles of money, and donating to “good causes” like of course the “performing arts” or combating disease in foreign lands?
The family of the young man who died in this nearby town should never have had a moment of question about what happened because every patrol car, including the one in this tragic incident, should already have had a running and operating dashboard camera. There should be nothing hidden and unknown; it should all have been on a dashboard camera. It is a disgrace that there is even one police car without a dashboard camera in this country, to say nothing of the thousands that roam around, doing good and sometimes doing mischief, unmonitored. Everyone goes like morons to go see Batman drive his high technology bat mobile, but they are too foolish to insist that their local police have dashboard cameras in their not so glamorous but far more important and real cars.
And, by the way parents, I have some advice. There is no such thing as “privacy rights” for minors who live at home with you. If you can afford a car for your teenage child you have the right to insist on certain safety rules and you certainly should look into the dashboard cameras that are for monitoring teenage use of cars. If you think that in the good old days teenagers took off on the family horse to have “privacy” and “freedom” you are sadly delusional. In the good old days no child or teenager did anything without a bevy of adult chaperons and community extended family observing their every move, since children and teenagers simply do not have good judgment as yet. The same, by the way, applied to using the family sword or firearm. In the good old days teenagers did not go trucking around with the family gun, or worse, their own gun, without being with adults. Even if this young man was the most responsible gun owner in the world, look at what happened: an accident. Every parent who has a live at home teenager with a car should seriously consider installing monitoring devices to ensure mature and wise behavior. If your teenager objects they obviously have something to hide. Like I said, there is no such thing as “privacy rights” for minority children who lack the maturity to exercise such rights.
Just ask the many traumatized family members whose children have, through speed or inexperience, been killed driving their cars just to school, often loaded with family members such as sibling children or peer group friends. Teenagers have very poorly developed driving skills; it is just a fact of judgment and lack of months or years of experience. Monitoring ensures such basics as driving at the speed limit, and not “blowing away” stop signs and so forth. You are doing your child a favor, and yourself, if you not only teach but demand responsible behavior, and invest in tools to monitor his or her driving rather than paying for a car and a cell phone so they can film each other’s genitals and broadcast them on the Internet, and then speed to their next school event. I am sick and tired of seeing grieving parents, broken bodies of children and teenagers, and lawsuits and finger pointing when good and firm parenting, including understanding the mental and emotional limitations of minority children, including mature seeming teenagers, could have avoided much of this. “Why does God allow this to happen?” God wants everyone to be freaking mature and responsible people who invest in the good and not the bad. Lord Almighty, how moronic he thinks all of you are, when you ask him how he can “allow” such tragedy, but you pay for naked buttock picture taking by teenagers but not for safety features to monitor their use in their own cars and also in the patrol cars of those who are supposedly protecting the community. But then again, it took two space shuttles with their full crews to blow up and kill them all before the engineering geniuses thought of putting monitoring cameras on them, so I guess God is expecting too much of the “average Joe.”
Several days ago, in a town not too far from where I now reside, a star senior year high school football player died in the doorway of his car, of a shot from his own hunting shot gun. He had been pulled over by a policeman in a patrol car, and according to events as they have been reported thus far, the police officer was in his or her car running on his computer a check of the car he had just pulled over. Therefore, we are given to understand, the officer did not see what happened until he or she heard the gun shot and found the young man dead under the gun. These circumstances suggest either suicide, which the family finds painfully difficult to believe, obviously, or an accident. The young man was apparently an avid hunter, owned the shotgun and carried it in his car, often went hunting before school classes each day, and apparently had been hunting that day. The local police have kept a distance from the family, including when they first heard the young man had been shot, and have turned the investigation of what happened over to the state police. Now, here is my point.
None of this would be as mysterious and painful if the police car had a forward pointing dash board camera that records all events that take place in front of the police car, and thus in the direction of the action whenever the police car pulls another car over. These cameras have a proven track record of protecting via recording the truth of events both the police and the general public.
I am astonished that every police car in the country that is involved in patrol does not have one of these cameras already and, in fact, should have had those years ago. But no, what has society invested in? It seems every teenager, rich or poor, has cell phone cameras so that they can take naked pictures of themselves and their neighbors, plus lead lives of cyborgs and robots by constantly “texting” their friends. The same towns, cities and rural areas that fill the hands of their children with cell phone cameras somehow didn’t think of outfitting law enforcement cars with cameras to protect both the honest police and the public from the dishonest police. How much more stupid can this society get?
This is hardly surprising when one considers the geniuses who designed the American space vehicle known as the space shuttle. Billions have been poured into that vehicle, and for decades it flew without any of the engineering geniuses ever planning for cameras to monitor and inspect the accident prone and vulnerable exterior. They probably have cameras filming the astronauts take a crap, but it never occurred to them to have exterior cameras to ensure the integrity of the outer skin surface of the vehicle until, you guessed, not one but two space shuttles were destroyed and their crews killed, due to ignorance of routine launch damage to the craft’s tiles from striking debris. Wow, suddenly the geniuses decide to put cameras on the shuttle (and repair kits), only after a generation of children have already had "cams" and on line cameras on their computers so they can transmit every word of wisdom and sex act to their friends on the Internet.
I cannot understand a society that invests in the “new, hot technology” to loosen morals of their children (such as they are) and distract them from being children (you know, studying) yet is too plain ignorant to first outfit the adults in services, such as law enforcement, with dashboard cameras. Ironically employers have already leaped to record for “safety” purposes just about every move that employees make on company premises, but the police do not all have dashboard cameras and the adult public has not insisted on it? Then again, this is a society that did not really invest in bullet proof vests for police officers until Yoko Ono donated money for that cause after her husband John Lennon was killed. Where are the priorities? Where are the geniuses in this society? What do they do with themselves when they are not counting their piles of money, and donating to “good causes” like of course the “performing arts” or combating disease in foreign lands?
The family of the young man who died in this nearby town should never have had a moment of question about what happened because every patrol car, including the one in this tragic incident, should already have had a running and operating dashboard camera. There should be nothing hidden and unknown; it should all have been on a dashboard camera. It is a disgrace that there is even one police car without a dashboard camera in this country, to say nothing of the thousands that roam around, doing good and sometimes doing mischief, unmonitored. Everyone goes like morons to go see Batman drive his high technology bat mobile, but they are too foolish to insist that their local police have dashboard cameras in their not so glamorous but far more important and real cars.
And, by the way parents, I have some advice. There is no such thing as “privacy rights” for minors who live at home with you. If you can afford a car for your teenage child you have the right to insist on certain safety rules and you certainly should look into the dashboard cameras that are for monitoring teenage use of cars. If you think that in the good old days teenagers took off on the family horse to have “privacy” and “freedom” you are sadly delusional. In the good old days no child or teenager did anything without a bevy of adult chaperons and community extended family observing their every move, since children and teenagers simply do not have good judgment as yet. The same, by the way, applied to using the family sword or firearm. In the good old days teenagers did not go trucking around with the family gun, or worse, their own gun, without being with adults. Even if this young man was the most responsible gun owner in the world, look at what happened: an accident. Every parent who has a live at home teenager with a car should seriously consider installing monitoring devices to ensure mature and wise behavior. If your teenager objects they obviously have something to hide. Like I said, there is no such thing as “privacy rights” for minority children who lack the maturity to exercise such rights.
Just ask the many traumatized family members whose children have, through speed or inexperience, been killed driving their cars just to school, often loaded with family members such as sibling children or peer group friends. Teenagers have very poorly developed driving skills; it is just a fact of judgment and lack of months or years of experience. Monitoring ensures such basics as driving at the speed limit, and not “blowing away” stop signs and so forth. You are doing your child a favor, and yourself, if you not only teach but demand responsible behavior, and invest in tools to monitor his or her driving rather than paying for a car and a cell phone so they can film each other’s genitals and broadcast them on the Internet, and then speed to their next school event. I am sick and tired of seeing grieving parents, broken bodies of children and teenagers, and lawsuits and finger pointing when good and firm parenting, including understanding the mental and emotional limitations of minority children, including mature seeming teenagers, could have avoided much of this. “Why does God allow this to happen?” God wants everyone to be freaking mature and responsible people who invest in the good and not the bad. Lord Almighty, how moronic he thinks all of you are, when you ask him how he can “allow” such tragedy, but you pay for naked buttock picture taking by teenagers but not for safety features to monitor their use in their own cars and also in the patrol cars of those who are supposedly protecting the community. But then again, it took two space shuttles with their full crews to blow up and kill them all before the engineering geniuses thought of putting monitoring cameras on them, so I guess God is expecting too much of the “average Joe.”
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Addressing the "Why does God allow" question
I am writing this with particular attention and concern for parents and other loved ones who have lost someone, particularly a teenager, to an impaired driving, speeding, or youthful inexperience automobile accident. I know that this is a wound that is very difficult to heal, if it ever does completely. I also know that some people have their faith affirmed, while others have theirs deeply shaken. I know it is not helped when those wishing to comfort you may say that it is God’s will, and so, while I’ve addressed this before, I want to try to ease your sorrow by directly addressing situations of teenage drivers and their passengers who through impairment, speeding or youthful inexperience lose their lives in an automobile accident.
First, to answer the question directly, “Why does God allow this to happen?” Here is what would have to happen if God were to stop these accidents, which he could. Every time that a teenager drinks, speeds or lacks automotive experience and gets in danger, God would have to intervene with a miracle. If they crashed their cars, God would have to “rewind time” just for them, and either raise them from the dead or intervene at every moment that is the “point of no return,” such as forcing the speedometer down so the car cannot go any faster, or having an angel steer the wheel of the car of an inexperienced driver. It would obviously be unmistakable that God is intervening in thousands of lives on a daily basis.
In no time at all teenagers would stop wearing their seat belts, try to put “the pedal to the medal” as hard as they can in order to test how far they can speed, take drugs (to see if God only “fixes it” when they are drinking or if he will “fix” “too much” drug use too). Perhaps an extreme sport would develop where teens would race their cars to see who could get farther before God intervenes and stops the race, or they would even smash into buildings with their cars, to see if God will stop them this time, or raise them from the dead.
You know I’m not exaggerating, even though that may be your first impulse of response. If God were to answer your pleas, literally, to not allow these things to happen to teenagers, he’d have to directly intervene thousands of times a day on a miraculous basis in a way that could not be mistaken and would obviously become widely known, anticipated, and even demanded. Soon those who die in war would wonder why they are not preserved, when they are serving their country, yet teenagers who drink and drive are saved. Then the cancer and heart patients would wonder why God does not fix them, especially if they lived worthy lives and worked for many years, while God is miraculously saving those who drink and drive and now also those who fight in war. People would stop trying to be safe. It is as simple as that. People would stop trying to do better, to be safer, and to be more caring of each other, to be more childlike as children and more mature as young adults. People would soon think that staying alive no matter what one does (and how one hurts others, such as the passengers in a drunk driver auto) is all that matters, and who cares about leading a good life in order to prepare for the eternal afterlife. That is human nature. Look at people who will do anything for a high, inhaling things that outright kill them. Humans have an adrenaline addiction and an immaturity that providing miraculous cures and preventions for each instance would only encourage, not discourage, that behavior. God, in their minds, would not be “Robo-cop” but “Robo-cure,” where youngsters and eventually everyone thinks they can do whatever they want, and then the button gets pressed and God performs a miracle to cure them.
So when people say that it is God’s will that someone dies in such an automobile accident, they mean that it is God’s will that humans have alcohol, roads, cars, children and physical laws that govern mass and energy during impact. It also means that God has foreseen this event, since God is all knowing, and that he is not going to intervene, for precisely the reasons that I described above. Therefore by not intervening with a miracle it is God’s will. But it is not God’s will that a young person drink, drives and dies. How do we know that? The Bible forbids intoxication. It’s as simple as that. If God ever approved of intoxication it would be in the Bible. So when a youngster drinks, drives and causes an accident, he or she is not performing God’s will. It is God’s will that natural law continues to consistently apply when human behavior dictates.
Having said that, I would understand if at that point you think that God must be a pretty chilly character and does not understand your pain. You’d be wrong. God is all knowing and here is what that means in this context. God not only knows your pain, the pain of your loss, but he knows every iota of it now and at every moment in the future, before you even experience it. So God, obviously, being the all-knowing, knows every bit of pain and the effect it has on you from start to finish, “all at once,” as he knows every iota of the future. For example, God knows every tear you shed and will shed, every stress hormone that you emit, every pang of memory that you have, and every change in your health and behavior that you experience, all in advance, until the day that you pass on. This of course is true of everyone, all of the survivors, all of those who mourn, and the impact even on strangers and the community of each passing.
Further, while you can only imagine, and I know this is painful, all that your loved one would have experienced if he or she lived, God actually knows what would have happened in your loved one’s life. God has “the facts” and knows whether they would have graduated, gone to work, gone to college, served in the armed forces, bummed around Europe as a tourist, fixed cars, married, had children, been a grandparent, retired, and so on. So far from being a chilly character, God knows precisely the full cost and lost potential of every single person and knows the grief of that curtailed life.
God himself does not grieve because God encompasses everything, including the eternal that is outside of the boundaries of life, so God, for lack of a better expression, always puts even the saddest loss of life within the overwhelming context of eternity. But God knows humans better than they know themselves, so God indeed knows the grief of a loss to the fullest measure, more than even the parent can comprehend, since God has “all the facts” including the details of “what would have been.” No one, either God or the angels, is “happy” when someone suffers or dies tragically, but remember they are on the other side of the door seeing that person’s immortal soul. It is hard to grieve the loss of a person when that person is there with you. Thus God and the angels feel particular pity and comforting love for those who on earth, alive, suffer the loss of their loved one, and who must still go on. It is then that if one believes, and continues to believe, one can turn to God and know that as Jesus Christ taught, “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).
First, to answer the question directly, “Why does God allow this to happen?” Here is what would have to happen if God were to stop these accidents, which he could. Every time that a teenager drinks, speeds or lacks automotive experience and gets in danger, God would have to intervene with a miracle. If they crashed their cars, God would have to “rewind time” just for them, and either raise them from the dead or intervene at every moment that is the “point of no return,” such as forcing the speedometer down so the car cannot go any faster, or having an angel steer the wheel of the car of an inexperienced driver. It would obviously be unmistakable that God is intervening in thousands of lives on a daily basis.
In no time at all teenagers would stop wearing their seat belts, try to put “the pedal to the medal” as hard as they can in order to test how far they can speed, take drugs (to see if God only “fixes it” when they are drinking or if he will “fix” “too much” drug use too). Perhaps an extreme sport would develop where teens would race their cars to see who could get farther before God intervenes and stops the race, or they would even smash into buildings with their cars, to see if God will stop them this time, or raise them from the dead.
You know I’m not exaggerating, even though that may be your first impulse of response. If God were to answer your pleas, literally, to not allow these things to happen to teenagers, he’d have to directly intervene thousands of times a day on a miraculous basis in a way that could not be mistaken and would obviously become widely known, anticipated, and even demanded. Soon those who die in war would wonder why they are not preserved, when they are serving their country, yet teenagers who drink and drive are saved. Then the cancer and heart patients would wonder why God does not fix them, especially if they lived worthy lives and worked for many years, while God is miraculously saving those who drink and drive and now also those who fight in war. People would stop trying to be safe. It is as simple as that. People would stop trying to do better, to be safer, and to be more caring of each other, to be more childlike as children and more mature as young adults. People would soon think that staying alive no matter what one does (and how one hurts others, such as the passengers in a drunk driver auto) is all that matters, and who cares about leading a good life in order to prepare for the eternal afterlife. That is human nature. Look at people who will do anything for a high, inhaling things that outright kill them. Humans have an adrenaline addiction and an immaturity that providing miraculous cures and preventions for each instance would only encourage, not discourage, that behavior. God, in their minds, would not be “Robo-cop” but “Robo-cure,” where youngsters and eventually everyone thinks they can do whatever they want, and then the button gets pressed and God performs a miracle to cure them.
So when people say that it is God’s will that someone dies in such an automobile accident, they mean that it is God’s will that humans have alcohol, roads, cars, children and physical laws that govern mass and energy during impact. It also means that God has foreseen this event, since God is all knowing, and that he is not going to intervene, for precisely the reasons that I described above. Therefore by not intervening with a miracle it is God’s will. But it is not God’s will that a young person drink, drives and dies. How do we know that? The Bible forbids intoxication. It’s as simple as that. If God ever approved of intoxication it would be in the Bible. So when a youngster drinks, drives and causes an accident, he or she is not performing God’s will. It is God’s will that natural law continues to consistently apply when human behavior dictates.
Having said that, I would understand if at that point you think that God must be a pretty chilly character and does not understand your pain. You’d be wrong. God is all knowing and here is what that means in this context. God not only knows your pain, the pain of your loss, but he knows every iota of it now and at every moment in the future, before you even experience it. So God, obviously, being the all-knowing, knows every bit of pain and the effect it has on you from start to finish, “all at once,” as he knows every iota of the future. For example, God knows every tear you shed and will shed, every stress hormone that you emit, every pang of memory that you have, and every change in your health and behavior that you experience, all in advance, until the day that you pass on. This of course is true of everyone, all of the survivors, all of those who mourn, and the impact even on strangers and the community of each passing.
Further, while you can only imagine, and I know this is painful, all that your loved one would have experienced if he or she lived, God actually knows what would have happened in your loved one’s life. God has “the facts” and knows whether they would have graduated, gone to work, gone to college, served in the armed forces, bummed around Europe as a tourist, fixed cars, married, had children, been a grandparent, retired, and so on. So far from being a chilly character, God knows precisely the full cost and lost potential of every single person and knows the grief of that curtailed life.
God himself does not grieve because God encompasses everything, including the eternal that is outside of the boundaries of life, so God, for lack of a better expression, always puts even the saddest loss of life within the overwhelming context of eternity. But God knows humans better than they know themselves, so God indeed knows the grief of a loss to the fullest measure, more than even the parent can comprehend, since God has “all the facts” including the details of “what would have been.” No one, either God or the angels, is “happy” when someone suffers or dies tragically, but remember they are on the other side of the door seeing that person’s immortal soul. It is hard to grieve the loss of a person when that person is there with you. Thus God and the angels feel particular pity and comforting love for those who on earth, alive, suffer the loss of their loved one, and who must still go on. It is then that if one believes, and continues to believe, one can turn to God and know that as Jesus Christ taught, “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).
I hope that you find this helpful. Truly everyone knows that the only help for a terrible loss is the gradual effect of time. I think, though, that talking through the difficulties of God actually intervening in every case such as this is helpful, as I know that people in their pain do not think it through when they wish that God could have saved their loved one. God could do so, but that is precisely the point where humans say to God, “Well, we can’t manage our own business and live without being micromanaged, so make us robots and life will just become one big game of ‘let’s see when God will save us next.’” Remember too that it is not as if God is silent. The Holy Spirit and the guardian angels are constantly encouraging good and safe, life affirming behavior. As I’ve written previously, if one were to conduct an experiment and the Holy Spirit and the guardian angels were removed of their silent influence, life would suddenly be so dark and unbearable that humans would not even be able to stand up. The guiding encouragement of the Holy Spirit and the guardian angels is like oxygen, it is so natural and taken for granted that one would only notice it if it were totally removed, God forbid. All I can say is that parents and loved ones need to band together to reduce the immaturity and bad influences of society on the young, especially in high risk behavior, which they are all so prone to, as many humans are by nature.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Capitalism/financial crisis trade/purity issue
I do not understand why "free market" advocates constantly push for more trade without saying one word about how to not only maintain but increase testing and guarantee of any imported product, especially food, medicine and toys, safety and quality.
Sorry to be blunt, but someone has to be. Just as ethics have degraded in the USA, foreign developing countries have companies that often never had ethics in the first place. The obvious example is what has happened in China about the melamine in milk, but the purpose of this post is to explain to you that this has been a trusting and naive generation in the USA, used to putting anything in your mouth or your children's without giving a thought to deliberate poisoners on the other end. Read this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7750464.stm
snip
Nigeria's food and drug agency says that 25 children aged between three months and four years have died after taking a contaminated teething syrup.
The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control said it had shut down the Lagos-based manufacturer, Barewa Pharmaceuticals.
It said the syrup, called My Pikin, had been tainted with diethylene glycol.
The substance, used in engine coolant and anti-freeze, triggered kidney failure in the children, it said.
The children died at three hospitals in Lagos, Ibadan and Zaria.
At least 10 other children are reported to have been brought to hospital.
The NAFDAC said symptoms among the children who had taken the syrup included diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and convulsions, and that they had not been able to pass urine for several days.
The agency said it had first received reports of possible contamination on 19 November and had begun to confiscate the syrup two days later.
"NAFDAC officers nationwide have been directed to mop up all batches of the offending drug from circulation," the agency's head, Dora Akunyili, was quoted as saying.
She also appealed to mothers to stop using the medicine on their children.
Now here is my point. Both the left and the right in economic and trade policy have been asleep at the wheel. The left thinks it is all enlightened and groovy to stimulate the economies of poor countries by importing their goods to the USA. The right thinks this is the "competitive free market at its best," since of course goods from developing countries are cheap. But look, here is another example where obviously some people don't mind putting a deadly chemical in baby teething formula for their own country's children!
How does this stuff get in these products? Greed is the reason whether an accidental contamination or deliberate. If it is an accident that means they cut corners on cleanliness and purity in the factory. If it is deliberate then they are substituting industrial chemicals for the more costly active food or medical ingredients. Either way the reason is to be cheap and thus greedy.
So I do not understand why there are less resources in the United States who work full time at not only testing all products before they enter but are part of the initial trade negotiation process. "If I were in charge" I would never sign a trade agreement without US inspectors not only doing initial inspections of all likely import products (to gain background information on how the goods that might enter the USA are being made, and create a database in advance) but also there should be an incremental addition to the FDA, customs and other inspecting organizations at the time any new trade agreement is signed. They should be "specialists," then, for the products that the new trade agreement proposes to allow into the country.
This is part of our horrible financial and economic meltdown, just as much as the mortgage problem, because it reflects the breakdown of standards of quality and due diligence on behalf of the American public.
Somehow American governments, agencies, and corporations, pushed by both the left and the right, think that just because the USA has a friendly relationship with a country, and wishes to do good by opening trade, that automatically like magic dust that means that all of the product suppliers and manufacturers in that country are well educated and ethical folks, and that their product can be swapped as "just as good but cheaper" as anything that had been previously grown or made in the USA. That is one of the most incredibly naive views of both greed and "culture" that I've seen in the past several decades. Our parents and grandparents used to be suspicious of imported aka "foreign" goods for a reason, not because they are prejudiced dolts, but many of them know that things are not too nice and clean, and anything will be done for a buck, in many of these places. But that knowledge has been dismissed as being old fuddy duddies who are prejudiced. Anyone with a lick of common sense and world experience, though, knows that "any thing goes" in most of the developing country marketplaces, including deliberately putting poisonous industrial chemicals in products for babies.
WISE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would not sign a single trade agreement, no matter how "nice" the country or how "worthy" the desire for mutual benefit and trade without some sort of advance product vetting by legitimate and beefed up USA agencies. A database should be established in advance so that if any problem does arise, Washington is not scratching their arses wondering "where did those tomatos or chiles come from?" Sheesh.
Sorry to be blunt, but someone has to be. Just as ethics have degraded in the USA, foreign developing countries have companies that often never had ethics in the first place. The obvious example is what has happened in China about the melamine in milk, but the purpose of this post is to explain to you that this has been a trusting and naive generation in the USA, used to putting anything in your mouth or your children's without giving a thought to deliberate poisoners on the other end. Read this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7750464.stm
snip
Nigeria's food and drug agency says that 25 children aged between three months and four years have died after taking a contaminated teething syrup.
The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control said it had shut down the Lagos-based manufacturer, Barewa Pharmaceuticals.
It said the syrup, called My Pikin, had been tainted with diethylene glycol.
The substance, used in engine coolant and anti-freeze, triggered kidney failure in the children, it said.
The children died at three hospitals in Lagos, Ibadan and Zaria.
At least 10 other children are reported to have been brought to hospital.
The NAFDAC said symptoms among the children who had taken the syrup included diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and convulsions, and that they had not been able to pass urine for several days.
The agency said it had first received reports of possible contamination on 19 November and had begun to confiscate the syrup two days later.
"NAFDAC officers nationwide have been directed to mop up all batches of the offending drug from circulation," the agency's head, Dora Akunyili, was quoted as saying.
She also appealed to mothers to stop using the medicine on their children.
Now here is my point. Both the left and the right in economic and trade policy have been asleep at the wheel. The left thinks it is all enlightened and groovy to stimulate the economies of poor countries by importing their goods to the USA. The right thinks this is the "competitive free market at its best," since of course goods from developing countries are cheap. But look, here is another example where obviously some people don't mind putting a deadly chemical in baby teething formula for their own country's children!
How does this stuff get in these products? Greed is the reason whether an accidental contamination or deliberate. If it is an accident that means they cut corners on cleanliness and purity in the factory. If it is deliberate then they are substituting industrial chemicals for the more costly active food or medical ingredients. Either way the reason is to be cheap and thus greedy.
So I do not understand why there are less resources in the United States who work full time at not only testing all products before they enter but are part of the initial trade negotiation process. "If I were in charge" I would never sign a trade agreement without US inspectors not only doing initial inspections of all likely import products (to gain background information on how the goods that might enter the USA are being made, and create a database in advance) but also there should be an incremental addition to the FDA, customs and other inspecting organizations at the time any new trade agreement is signed. They should be "specialists," then, for the products that the new trade agreement proposes to allow into the country.
This is part of our horrible financial and economic meltdown, just as much as the mortgage problem, because it reflects the breakdown of standards of quality and due diligence on behalf of the American public.
Somehow American governments, agencies, and corporations, pushed by both the left and the right, think that just because the USA has a friendly relationship with a country, and wishes to do good by opening trade, that automatically like magic dust that means that all of the product suppliers and manufacturers in that country are well educated and ethical folks, and that their product can be swapped as "just as good but cheaper" as anything that had been previously grown or made in the USA. That is one of the most incredibly naive views of both greed and "culture" that I've seen in the past several decades. Our parents and grandparents used to be suspicious of imported aka "foreign" goods for a reason, not because they are prejudiced dolts, but many of them know that things are not too nice and clean, and anything will be done for a buck, in many of these places. But that knowledge has been dismissed as being old fuddy duddies who are prejudiced. Anyone with a lick of common sense and world experience, though, knows that "any thing goes" in most of the developing country marketplaces, including deliberately putting poisonous industrial chemicals in products for babies.
WISE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would not sign a single trade agreement, no matter how "nice" the country or how "worthy" the desire for mutual benefit and trade without some sort of advance product vetting by legitimate and beefed up USA agencies. A database should be established in advance so that if any problem does arise, Washington is not scratching their arses wondering "where did those tomatos or chiles come from?" Sheesh.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Dock worker dies; no safety equipment available
I just read this article and see that this poor man is the third dock worker to die in an accident in Oakland, AND that basic safety equipment to perform a rescue (like ladders to get down to the water) are not available. I'd be seething if I was the workers and I'm very indignant on their behalf. There is no "bottom line" consideration when it comes to basic safety gear, I mean come on, this isn't the 1920's. Condolences to the families; these are just hard working guys trying to do their best, they deserve better.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10292190
Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said this is the third death on the Oakland docks in the past year.
Merrilees said Blakeney spent 30 minutes in the water because there was no rescue equipment, such as ladders, available to the workers attempting the rescue.
"Workers are furious over this death and fed up with excuses from companies that don't make safety a priority," Merrilees said in an e-mail. "Workers haven?t gone to work since the incident late Saturday night, and as of now, it is not clear that things will be operating normally tomorrow (Monday)."
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10292190
Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said this is the third death on the Oakland docks in the past year.
Merrilees said Blakeney spent 30 minutes in the water because there was no rescue equipment, such as ladders, available to the workers attempting the rescue.
"Workers are furious over this death and fed up with excuses from companies that don't make safety a priority," Merrilees said in an e-mail. "Workers haven?t gone to work since the incident late Saturday night, and as of now, it is not clear that things will be operating normally tomorrow (Monday)."
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Important article about toxins in products, toys
This is a really good article in the Chicago Trib.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-household-chemicals_bdaug17,0,7072536.story
***
Ignore the usual moronic comments in the comment section, where some people have a self control problem.
I want to repeat a point I've made before. Do not forget what is called the "multiplier effect."
Suppose a particular chemical is tested to be "safe" at small doses.
The problem is that everyone is exposed to hundreds of products, EACH ONE at their "safe dose."
So you have safe dose 1 added to safe dose 2 added to safe dose 3 added to safe dose 4 added to safe dose 5 etc etc until you have hundreds of "safe doses" added together. Some interact. Some do exactly the same damage and have a compilation effect on the body, compounding one on top of the other. Plus some safe doses may open the door for another safe dose to do damage (such as triggering a genetic disposition toward being affected by one or more chemicals). This is called the "multiplier effect" and it is a fundamental concept that the well informed consumer must understand about pollution, toxins, the environment and product safety.
So it is bogus that companies can test for individual safe levels of individual chemicals and then declare that there is no overall risk. Of course there is overall risk because each dose of a toxin adds together according to exposure, and there is no escaping toxin exposure now. Yes, companies need to measure individual "safe" dose exposure but agencies must start using computer models to recognize that all the "safe" doses are adding together in harmful combinations and in unmeasurable and unpredictable future effects. People MUST start eliminating toxins and other unnecessary chemicals in their food and products.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-household-chemicals_bdaug17,0,7072536.story
***
Ignore the usual moronic comments in the comment section, where some people have a self control problem.
I want to repeat a point I've made before. Do not forget what is called the "multiplier effect."
Suppose a particular chemical is tested to be "safe" at small doses.
The problem is that everyone is exposed to hundreds of products, EACH ONE at their "safe dose."
So you have safe dose 1 added to safe dose 2 added to safe dose 3 added to safe dose 4 added to safe dose 5 etc etc until you have hundreds of "safe doses" added together. Some interact. Some do exactly the same damage and have a compilation effect on the body, compounding one on top of the other. Plus some safe doses may open the door for another safe dose to do damage (such as triggering a genetic disposition toward being affected by one or more chemicals). This is called the "multiplier effect" and it is a fundamental concept that the well informed consumer must understand about pollution, toxins, the environment and product safety.
So it is bogus that companies can test for individual safe levels of individual chemicals and then declare that there is no overall risk. Of course there is overall risk because each dose of a toxin adds together according to exposure, and there is no escaping toxin exposure now. Yes, companies need to measure individual "safe" dose exposure but agencies must start using computer models to recognize that all the "safe" doses are adding together in harmful combinations and in unmeasurable and unpredictable future effects. People MUST start eliminating toxins and other unnecessary chemicals in their food and products.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Lots of anger this year about boating accidents
Like this one, for example, boat and run, killing a father of two, not far from where I used to live.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/hitandrun_boating_accident_in.html
***
I haven't been on a small boat on a lake for a long time. My stepdad had a fishing boat, but my mother made him give it up in the 1980's (she didn't like the maintenance effort needed, at their age). I often was annoyed when I thought about it, thinking she made him give up one of his few hobbies. But as I read about these drunk boating speeding rage incidents, I now have to wonder if maybe we weren't lucky in the long run. My stepdad was a slow careful elderly driver, whether in the car or the boat, and those times have changed. He probably would have been mowed over by some speeder in a boat a long time ago. So the rash of boating accidents (many from incredible speeding at night, such as in CT, NH and other states) has maybe made me think that perhaps my stepdad was safer from *holes in boats without his hobby, even though that wasn't my mother's concern. Times have changed, and not for the better. It just isn't nice anywhere anymore, it seems.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/hitandrun_boating_accident_in.html
***
I haven't been on a small boat on a lake for a long time. My stepdad had a fishing boat, but my mother made him give it up in the 1980's (she didn't like the maintenance effort needed, at their age). I often was annoyed when I thought about it, thinking she made him give up one of his few hobbies. But as I read about these drunk boating speeding rage incidents, I now have to wonder if maybe we weren't lucky in the long run. My stepdad was a slow careful elderly driver, whether in the car or the boat, and those times have changed. He probably would have been mowed over by some speeder in a boat a long time ago. So the rash of boating accidents (many from incredible speeding at night, such as in CT, NH and other states) has maybe made me think that perhaps my stepdad was safer from *holes in boats without his hobby, even though that wasn't my mother's concern. Times have changed, and not for the better. It just isn't nice anywhere anymore, it seems.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Question for engineers, landscapers, whoever
I'm reading about all the drownings around the NYC coastline. I'm one of those who can't swim in the ocean because I can't swim well enough to handle waves or even mild current. So I can relate to how people get pulled out and go under. So I just had a thought, which may be totally impractical technically, but since it's on my mind, here it is. Is there any way that technically a net could be installed for a section of beach at about the five foot depth? In this section people, especially kids, could still enjoy the surf and ocean water, but not be in danger of being swept out because they'd reach the net first. So a small area of the ocean front could be set aside for weak swimmers and kids where this net would run along to catch anyone being swept with their feet out under them, knocked over by surf but not then pulled out, or in any current they can't handle that might pull them out, since the water would flow through the net but not the person. This might not be practical (I dunno) as far as installing it, but why not? If one can drive pilings for docks into sand, then why not a piling every ten yard with net across it? I get that with the tide it has to be strong netting but that's not a new invention. And this is probably not practical at packed urban beaches, but then again, why not if the viewpoint is that this is kind of a virtual contained spot for weak swimmers and kids? Hmm. I just thought I'd put that idea out there. I'm only the idea lady, not the nut and bolt person. And before insurance companies start to hate on me, I read one of the moms of a drowned person questioning the training and number of lifeguards. So I think the likelihood of someone getting stuck in one of the nets is small (especially as a lifeguard would be dedicated to that section) and actually that would help insurance issues because weak swimmers would be advised to stick to that area. It would be guaranteed and checked daily that there are no drop offs and so forth, so it's extra safe. I'd want any little kid of mine to be in that area. Hmm. So that's the idea. Resorts may want to think about it; parents might find that a real attraction. Maybe it's already done, or the surge is not the problem it is on Coney Island and so forth. Just a thought.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Condolences for crane family loved ones
Here is a very moving article with quotations from family members and colleagues for two of the four men who were lost in the gigantic crane accident in Texas.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5897423.html#none
***
There is nothing I can say that will take away the terrible sting and pain of this loss. These were men in the prime of their lives, and even the oldest one is more than a decade younger than I. So I know how great life is when you have a job you love, doing real work for a country who needs it (not just fiddling with videos), and love is still young and sweet with your families, children, even when there are problems. I know exactly how devastated the spouses, children, parents and other relatives must feel.
It is too soon, but perfectly understandable, about the speculation about what could possibly have happened. Construction work is dangerous, whether it is on one of the world's largest machines, or like the poor three guys here in Mississippi who were digging a sewer pipe ditch and the earth wall collapsed, killing them. Some accidents can never be prevented because they are just flat out dangerous circumstances (like the brave utility guys who go out in terrible conditions to repair storm damage, sometimes even as the conditions are still bad). These are the salts of the earth. I grew up among that generation where most men had that type of job, and I have always supported them, and feel terrible when there is a loss. I live near a gravel pit here and I always slow down to get a glimpse of the guys and their gadgets. I was thrilled when I got a hard hat to wear in the 1980's even as a desk girl, because I once in a while looked in on a building under construction. The country would fall apart even worse than it is if it wasn't for guys like this, and that's a fact.
So what can we do? Nothing mends a broken heart when one's loved one, child or parent is gone. The only thing one can do is to recognize that time makes it bearable, one hour at a time, one day at a time. People in the article mentioned how important reconciliation is while people are still alive; and I hope many who read this take it to heart. This is a comfort to the loved ones who must carry on, to know that their loved ones were "alright" with the important people in their lives. It is also a reminder to make sure that everyone is "alight with God," all the time, throughout your life. I'm not saying this in a dark way, about their dispositions with God, but I'm pointing out it is a great rock and comfort to those who are remaining after one dies to know that the loved one was "alright" with the Lord. This is another reason that faith is a family thing. A father teaches his children about God, and at the same time, he demonstrates to his family that he is in a relationship with God and will be "alright" if anything happens to him. This is a great source of solace, in the most inconsolable of all situations, and I'm saddened that many don't remember this. But it is something that the grandparents and those who fought in the big wars all kept in mind.
I don't know what else to say except I know exactly the devastating pain of loss that the loved ones are experiencing, and so does God. Cherish your memories and remember that time has now changed, where time becomes your friend, rendering the unbearable gradually bearable again.
I hope that executives and others in the profession now heed what I am going to say. The rush to meet schedules and budgets is a national background static that keeps people from seeing more costly but safer ways to do things. I'm not saying anything was done wrong or irresponsibly; not at all. I'm saying that I had hoped in this stage of prosperity of the nation that rather than relying only on ass covering routines such as inspections that buddy and team systems of checks and balances would have permeated all businesses, large and small. Everyone always calls for more inspections and laws when something like this happens. Yet they do not use their creative thinking caps to think of how to break down and change procedures in building and other projects so that there are increments of review and nothing becomes "rote."
I'm no expert on heavy equipment but here's an imaginary example. Suppose when you set up some sort of rig and adjust it, there are two incremental stages of modification or addition. I think that these should be reviewed to see if extra slower stages could be added, so that a two step process could be divided so that there is step, check, step, check, step, check, step, check, plus an extra team member who is the "buddy" of the head guy (I guess in this case the crane operator is the head guy). It is like the Army buddy system. With radio contact the buddy could know all the steps the head guy is going to make, and they have a verbal check off and the buddy can also scan other related activities. I've thought this during a number of the accidents I have seen on the workplace.
Again, I'm not saying it was necessarily a procedure error. My advice mitigates damage from broken parts too. For example, if more gradual steps and checks are taken, if something is going to break, maybe it would do so at an early stage of exposure, where there is less weight, height, torque, people around, or whatever... know what I mean? For example, I thought it when the ditch digging guys were killed that there should have been a team member who worked above ground to mitigate risk and be the buddy of the head guy of the team. Their problem was rain saturated ground that suddenly collapsed on them while deep in the trench. I wondered if there was a guy who was a buddy who stood by with procedures and mitigating materials in advance of wet ground collapse situations. I mean, clearly not, and I'm not saying that was wrong. But in my "ideal workplace world," I think more buddy system with a safety orientation is needed, where the buddy's job is to think about the things that could go wrong and position tasks and materials in a way that would mitigate damage at unrecoverable stages of work, if you know what I mean.
So I would really suggest that while the accident cause must be found, that everyone who has this kind of responsibility think about it. You could do it and have an extra benefit if the buddy is a kind of apprentice in the trade; he or she will be learning but also already knowledgeable and on the payroll. Maybe you add people, maybe you add overtime. But you can't buy your way back out of a loss of life, even if the accident itself was unforeseeable, it is hard to live with a loss of life on the job when a buddy system and incremental steps could have "caught" whatever the situation was at least one step before "dire." By the way, I think this is needed in the financial and not-for-profit world too, a good decision and honesty buddy system, but that's a whole other topic not pertinent to the sad crane accident.
I truly hope these thoughts help and again, my condolences to family, friends, colleagues and all who are grieved by this loss, and others that have happened in the past.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5897423.html#none
***
There is nothing I can say that will take away the terrible sting and pain of this loss. These were men in the prime of their lives, and even the oldest one is more than a decade younger than I. So I know how great life is when you have a job you love, doing real work for a country who needs it (not just fiddling with videos), and love is still young and sweet with your families, children, even when there are problems. I know exactly how devastated the spouses, children, parents and other relatives must feel.
It is too soon, but perfectly understandable, about the speculation about what could possibly have happened. Construction work is dangerous, whether it is on one of the world's largest machines, or like the poor three guys here in Mississippi who were digging a sewer pipe ditch and the earth wall collapsed, killing them. Some accidents can never be prevented because they are just flat out dangerous circumstances (like the brave utility guys who go out in terrible conditions to repair storm damage, sometimes even as the conditions are still bad). These are the salts of the earth. I grew up among that generation where most men had that type of job, and I have always supported them, and feel terrible when there is a loss. I live near a gravel pit here and I always slow down to get a glimpse of the guys and their gadgets. I was thrilled when I got a hard hat to wear in the 1980's even as a desk girl, because I once in a while looked in on a building under construction. The country would fall apart even worse than it is if it wasn't for guys like this, and that's a fact.
So what can we do? Nothing mends a broken heart when one's loved one, child or parent is gone. The only thing one can do is to recognize that time makes it bearable, one hour at a time, one day at a time. People in the article mentioned how important reconciliation is while people are still alive; and I hope many who read this take it to heart. This is a comfort to the loved ones who must carry on, to know that their loved ones were "alright" with the important people in their lives. It is also a reminder to make sure that everyone is "alight with God," all the time, throughout your life. I'm not saying this in a dark way, about their dispositions with God, but I'm pointing out it is a great rock and comfort to those who are remaining after one dies to know that the loved one was "alright" with the Lord. This is another reason that faith is a family thing. A father teaches his children about God, and at the same time, he demonstrates to his family that he is in a relationship with God and will be "alright" if anything happens to him. This is a great source of solace, in the most inconsolable of all situations, and I'm saddened that many don't remember this. But it is something that the grandparents and those who fought in the big wars all kept in mind.
I don't know what else to say except I know exactly the devastating pain of loss that the loved ones are experiencing, and so does God. Cherish your memories and remember that time has now changed, where time becomes your friend, rendering the unbearable gradually bearable again.
I hope that executives and others in the profession now heed what I am going to say. The rush to meet schedules and budgets is a national background static that keeps people from seeing more costly but safer ways to do things. I'm not saying anything was done wrong or irresponsibly; not at all. I'm saying that I had hoped in this stage of prosperity of the nation that rather than relying only on ass covering routines such as inspections that buddy and team systems of checks and balances would have permeated all businesses, large and small. Everyone always calls for more inspections and laws when something like this happens. Yet they do not use their creative thinking caps to think of how to break down and change procedures in building and other projects so that there are increments of review and nothing becomes "rote."
I'm no expert on heavy equipment but here's an imaginary example. Suppose when you set up some sort of rig and adjust it, there are two incremental stages of modification or addition. I think that these should be reviewed to see if extra slower stages could be added, so that a two step process could be divided so that there is step, check, step, check, step, check, step, check, plus an extra team member who is the "buddy" of the head guy (I guess in this case the crane operator is the head guy). It is like the Army buddy system. With radio contact the buddy could know all the steps the head guy is going to make, and they have a verbal check off and the buddy can also scan other related activities. I've thought this during a number of the accidents I have seen on the workplace.
Again, I'm not saying it was necessarily a procedure error. My advice mitigates damage from broken parts too. For example, if more gradual steps and checks are taken, if something is going to break, maybe it would do so at an early stage of exposure, where there is less weight, height, torque, people around, or whatever... know what I mean? For example, I thought it when the ditch digging guys were killed that there should have been a team member who worked above ground to mitigate risk and be the buddy of the head guy of the team. Their problem was rain saturated ground that suddenly collapsed on them while deep in the trench. I wondered if there was a guy who was a buddy who stood by with procedures and mitigating materials in advance of wet ground collapse situations. I mean, clearly not, and I'm not saying that was wrong. But in my "ideal workplace world," I think more buddy system with a safety orientation is needed, where the buddy's job is to think about the things that could go wrong and position tasks and materials in a way that would mitigate damage at unrecoverable stages of work, if you know what I mean.
So I would really suggest that while the accident cause must be found, that everyone who has this kind of responsibility think about it. You could do it and have an extra benefit if the buddy is a kind of apprentice in the trade; he or she will be learning but also already knowledgeable and on the payroll. Maybe you add people, maybe you add overtime. But you can't buy your way back out of a loss of life, even if the accident itself was unforeseeable, it is hard to live with a loss of life on the job when a buddy system and incremental steps could have "caught" whatever the situation was at least one step before "dire." By the way, I think this is needed in the financial and not-for-profit world too, a good decision and honesty buddy system, but that's a whole other topic not pertinent to the sad crane accident.
I truly hope these thoughts help and again, my condolences to family, friends, colleagues and all who are grieved by this loss, and others that have happened in the past.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Child killed in wind storm Huntsville AL
You can read on www.al.com the main story and blogs about the five year old boy who was killed this afternoon when a sudden microburst storm cell hit an air show that was attended by many thousands. Apparently the tent he was in collapsed, knocking a heavy air conditioner unit onto him. Prayers for him and the family. You think you are going to a nice family event and you suddenly lose your child; it is a terrible tragedy that I sure do well understand.
I mention this because people have all seen how suddenly the weather can change. It must have only been about an hour after this tragedy that I was on the road driving to a restaurant when I suddenly saw a purplish black front bearing down on me with straight line winds. It really seemed to come out of nowhere. I got behind a guy in a black pick up truck and we gunned it to out run the long side of the rectangular shape that it made, driving very fast for about six miles. While I was eyeing the storm wall as it bore down in our direction, I didn't see any rotation (my big concern for a tornado) but straight line winds can be just as sudden and fierce.
By the way, if you are ever in my situation but you actually see tornado rotation commence or straight line winds that can tip over a car, immediately get out of the car and get into a culvert. As I was driving I was watching along side the road for good sized culverts in case I had to make the dive. Cars are great for protection from lightning, and you should stay in your car if lightning is the threat, but if you encounter a tornado or car tipping straight line winds the car is not the best place. Several people have been killed in the Midwest storms during the past month when they were in their cars. A culvert, which is the underground large tubes for drainage that you see under driveways and in ditches, is the safest place to be in a tornado. Yeah, being in Mississippi I really didn't want to think about fighting a critter to get into the culvert, but that's better than a potential tornado. Anyway, the storm blew over fast and hardly any rain fell. But just like the Huntsville microburst storm cell, it was a sudden cell of fierce wind that was the threat.
I mention this because people have all seen how suddenly the weather can change. It must have only been about an hour after this tragedy that I was on the road driving to a restaurant when I suddenly saw a purplish black front bearing down on me with straight line winds. It really seemed to come out of nowhere. I got behind a guy in a black pick up truck and we gunned it to out run the long side of the rectangular shape that it made, driving very fast for about six miles. While I was eyeing the storm wall as it bore down in our direction, I didn't see any rotation (my big concern for a tornado) but straight line winds can be just as sudden and fierce.
By the way, if you are ever in my situation but you actually see tornado rotation commence or straight line winds that can tip over a car, immediately get out of the car and get into a culvert. As I was driving I was watching along side the road for good sized culverts in case I had to make the dive. Cars are great for protection from lightning, and you should stay in your car if lightning is the threat, but if you encounter a tornado or car tipping straight line winds the car is not the best place. Several people have been killed in the Midwest storms during the past month when they were in their cars. A culvert, which is the underground large tubes for drainage that you see under driveways and in ditches, is the safest place to be in a tornado. Yeah, being in Mississippi I really didn't want to think about fighting a critter to get into the culvert, but that's better than a potential tornado. Anyway, the storm blew over fast and hardly any rain fell. But just like the Huntsville microburst storm cell, it was a sudden cell of fierce wind that was the threat.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Curious about what safety taught in schools
Since I don't have any kids in school (the kids I used to sponsor have long ago grown up and are mostly out of touch) I genuinely don't know the answer to this question. How much safety is being taught to kids in school these days? I don't mean how to put a condom on a cucumber, since I know the schools have that "covered." Or of stranger danger, because that too is a popular topic. But what about good old safety instruction that we used to get by the ton?
I remember coloring books that taught how to be careful around electrical outlets and so forth. That was for the little kids.
And as older kids, there was also a lot about safety, often as part of driver education. Kids were taught that if you were in an accident and power lines were down, to NOT get out of the car, but to wait for rescue (unless the car was actually on fire). I remember this was a big deal in safety instruction. It comes to mind because I just read the sad story of a teenage girl who survived an auto wrecked against a utility pole, but when she got out of the car and stepped on the ground she was electrocuted. It made me wonder (and this is not a criticism of her, but yes, an implied criticism of the schools and perhaps her family) if this type of thing is taught to kids anymore.
I remember coloring books that taught how to be careful around electrical outlets and so forth. That was for the little kids.
And as older kids, there was also a lot about safety, often as part of driver education. Kids were taught that if you were in an accident and power lines were down, to NOT get out of the car, but to wait for rescue (unless the car was actually on fire). I remember this was a big deal in safety instruction. It comes to mind because I just read the sad story of a teenage girl who survived an auto wrecked against a utility pole, but when she got out of the car and stepped on the ground she was electrocuted. It made me wonder (and this is not a criticism of her, but yes, an implied criticism of the schools and perhaps her family) if this type of thing is taught to kids anymore.
Monday, June 23, 2008
"Baby on board" advice for parents
Another baby has died in an overheated car while a parent forgot that the baby was in the car. While I find it incredible that a parent could be so distracted by anything that they forget they have the baby along with them in the car, I accept that humans will "zone out" in certain circumstances. One is when there is a change in routine, where a parent takes the child who normally does not to daycare and so forth. The other thing I understand, to some degree, is that people strap their kids into carriers in the back of big SUV's and so forth and so if they fall asleep, as they often do, they are "out of sight and out of mind." (I still am the type of person who would obsess with driving extra careful when I have a baby in the car, and thus would be unlikely to forget the baby is there, no matter how quiet he or she might be during the ride). But humans make mistakes.
I have a suggestion. You know how there are a lot of toys that attach via key ring to purses and so forth? Kids put them on knapsacks? I suggest you get one for each of your infant children. Then, whenever you take your baby to your car, you take that toy along and either hang it on your key chain or on your rear view mirror, your purse or briefcase, etc. This is your "baby on board" reminder.
So even if you are a hectic parent who has the baby when you don't normally on your commute, and you forget the baby is in the car, when you park and go to leave your car you can't help but see a big fluffy yellow chick, or pink pig, or teddy bear or whatever dangling from your keys, your purse, your briefcase, the car door handle, or wherever you had placed it when you got in the car.
Grandparents, this is something you can buy for your children for their "baby on board" reminders. It seems that nagging is really appropriate here. Even one death is too many and I read about it year after year after year.
So you keep the toy or toys, one for each infant or small child, where you keep your car keys in your home. When you pick up your car keys you also pick up the toy and bring it with you along with the baby to the car. You place the toy in the unforgettable and un-missable place where you are certain to see it when you arrive at your destination and park your car. If you are dropping off the baby at daycare, for example, you keep the toy in the un-missable spot in your car. Thus when you get in your car at the end of your work day, you see the toy there and remember that it's your turn to pick up the baby. When you arrive home and put your car keys in their usual place you put the "baby on board" toy next to your keys, ready for the next use.
Do it, folks, and tell others to do so. Better yet, buy extras and give them to other parents and explain the idea to them. I really hope this helps.
I have a suggestion. You know how there are a lot of toys that attach via key ring to purses and so forth? Kids put them on knapsacks? I suggest you get one for each of your infant children. Then, whenever you take your baby to your car, you take that toy along and either hang it on your key chain or on your rear view mirror, your purse or briefcase, etc. This is your "baby on board" reminder.
So even if you are a hectic parent who has the baby when you don't normally on your commute, and you forget the baby is in the car, when you park and go to leave your car you can't help but see a big fluffy yellow chick, or pink pig, or teddy bear or whatever dangling from your keys, your purse, your briefcase, the car door handle, or wherever you had placed it when you got in the car.
Grandparents, this is something you can buy for your children for their "baby on board" reminders. It seems that nagging is really appropriate here. Even one death is too many and I read about it year after year after year.
So you keep the toy or toys, one for each infant or small child, where you keep your car keys in your home. When you pick up your car keys you also pick up the toy and bring it with you along with the baby to the car. You place the toy in the unforgettable and un-missable place where you are certain to see it when you arrive at your destination and park your car. If you are dropping off the baby at daycare, for example, you keep the toy in the un-missable spot in your car. Thus when you get in your car at the end of your work day, you see the toy there and remember that it's your turn to pick up the baby. When you arrive home and put your car keys in their usual place you put the "baby on board" toy next to your keys, ready for the next use.
Do it, folks, and tell others to do so. Better yet, buy extras and give them to other parents and explain the idea to them. I really hope this helps.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Not a good day for "green lines"
Boston:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sns-ap-boston-train-accident,0,6241311.story
snip
NEWTON, Mass. - Two commuter trains collided during the evening rush hour outside Boston on Wednesday, hurting several passengers and trapping the seriously injured operator of one train, authorities said.
There were "multiple injuries" in the above-ground accident on the city's "T" system near a station in suburban Newton, said Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
snip
There was no immediate word on the root cause of the crash, which occurred on a branch of the Green Line, part of the MBTA system serving greater Boston.
The Boston crash came just hours after an elevated train derailed in Chicago, sending several people to hospitals. Officials quickly blamed the derailment on operator error.
Chicago:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-train-derailment-web-may29,0,185486.story
snip
Errors by a 31-year CTA veteran caused the derailment of a Green Line train on the South Side Wednesday morning, CTA President Ron Huberman said.
The preliminary finding of operator error was based on the unidentified motorman taking the train through a red signal, Huberman said. Fourteen people were injured, but none of the injuries was believed to be serious, fire officials said.
The red signal indicated that the track switch at the junction ahead was not properly set for the train, which was bound for the East 63rd/Cottage Grove branch of the Green Line. A red signal, like a red traffic light, instructs the operator to stop.
The train operator proceeded anyway...
Bottom line:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cta-derail-riders-web-may29,0,6156135.story
(snip)
'I just thank God it didn't fall off the edge.'
Passengers recall moments after CTA Green Line train derailed
"Everyone was screaming and hollering for their lives," Jackson said. "I just thank God it didn't fall off the edge. It was chaos. Everyone was hysterical."
He said it took about 5 minutes for police officers to arrive, and firefighters followed shortly after. The two women who fell appeared to have hurt an arm and a knee, respectively, and were taken off the elevated tracks in a fire department ladder basket, Jackson said. "The woman who hurt her arm was groaning," he said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sns-ap-boston-train-accident,0,6241311.story
snip
NEWTON, Mass. - Two commuter trains collided during the evening rush hour outside Boston on Wednesday, hurting several passengers and trapping the seriously injured operator of one train, authorities said.
There were "multiple injuries" in the above-ground accident on the city's "T" system near a station in suburban Newton, said Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
snip
There was no immediate word on the root cause of the crash, which occurred on a branch of the Green Line, part of the MBTA system serving greater Boston.
The Boston crash came just hours after an elevated train derailed in Chicago, sending several people to hospitals. Officials quickly blamed the derailment on operator error.
Chicago:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-train-derailment-web-may29,0,185486.story
snip
Errors by a 31-year CTA veteran caused the derailment of a Green Line train on the South Side Wednesday morning, CTA President Ron Huberman said.
The preliminary finding of operator error was based on the unidentified motorman taking the train through a red signal, Huberman said. Fourteen people were injured, but none of the injuries was believed to be serious, fire officials said.
The red signal indicated that the track switch at the junction ahead was not properly set for the train, which was bound for the East 63rd/Cottage Grove branch of the Green Line. A red signal, like a red traffic light, instructs the operator to stop.
The train operator proceeded anyway...
Bottom line:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cta-derail-riders-web-may29,0,6156135.story
(snip)
'I just thank God it didn't fall off the edge.'
Passengers recall moments after CTA Green Line train derailed
"Everyone was screaming and hollering for their lives," Jackson said. "I just thank God it didn't fall off the edge. It was chaos. Everyone was hysterical."
He said it took about 5 minutes for police officers to arrive, and firefighters followed shortly after. The two women who fell appeared to have hurt an arm and a knee, respectively, and were taken off the elevated tracks in a fire department ladder basket, Jackson said. "The woman who hurt her arm was groaning," he said.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Muslim employers/officials please read this article
This is about the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire of 1911 where many women seamstresses were burned to death or had to jump because they could not escape during the fire. This incident was taught in school when I was young (probably not so much anymore) because it was the turning point for understanding the need for safety standards and escape routes, especially where so many women work. By the way, shirt waist referred to a style of shirt that this company manufactured. And the building still stands; I even worked a few blocks from it some years ago in NYC.
I hope you review all of your manufacturing and other office facilities, especially if you have a segregated area for women, with this in mind. Many thanks for your attention to my respectful suggestion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire
I hope you review all of your manufacturing and other office facilities, especially if you have a segregated area for women, with this in mind. Many thanks for your attention to my respectful suggestion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire
Safety caution after church concert floor collapse
Thank God no deaths thus far. I was worried about just such an event a few days ago. When structures are built to hold a capacity of say 1400 people, like this church, the code inspectors are not assuming that the people are jumping up and down. Vibrations are notorious for bringing down balconies, lofts, and floors (think of stadium tragedies too) when the supports are weakened by the oscillation of the occupants jumping, stomping or dancing.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080426.wchurch0426/BNStory/National/home
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080426.wchurch0426/BNStory/National/home
Casablanca fire tragedy
Many are burned to death in a mattress factory fire. It sounds as though most of the deaths were on the 3rd floor, where the women sew, and that escape routes for them were blocked.
I'm just guessing here, but if this was an example of where there is Muslim male/female work force segregation by floor, while locking the doors keeps women safe from male harassers, it leaves them most vulnerable to tragic workplace disasters when they cannot escape. If this is the case, please bear this in mind in the future.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080426.wmfire0426/BNStory/International/home
I'm just guessing here, but if this was an example of where there is Muslim male/female work force segregation by floor, while locking the doors keeps women safe from male harassers, it leaves them most vulnerable to tragic workplace disasters when they cannot escape. If this is the case, please bear this in mind in the future.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080426.wmfire0426/BNStory/International/home
Friday, April 4, 2008
Smoke detectors
Dear friends, I would like to make a suggestion. We all know that over the years the installation of smoke from fire detectors has saved many lives. Public safety officials have done a great job of spreading the word about the importance of smoke detectors. Also some towns will not allow a house sale without updated smoke detection devices throughout the house for sale. Also there is a custom of public service announcements to remind people to check their smoke detector batteries. However, there are still many apartments, trailers and houses that either do not have smoke detectors or they are inoperable. I would like to suggest a new initiative.
Anyone who can afford smoke detectors, please buy an extra one to give to someone needy in your community. Be sure to buy extra batteries too. If you know someone in need personally, donate and install the device for them. If you do not know someone personally, how about donating it to your local church or food pantry and see if they might be interested in matching your smoke detector to someone in need.
Churches and civic groups, how about adopting an apartment building or a block of houses? Have volunteers bring smoke detectors along with them and show the owners how they work, and install it for them. Sure, some people may say no, but if you get even a handful of devices into homes that lacked them, you may some day be personally responsible for the precious gift of saving lives.
Years ago when my stepfather learned that the father in his local church was sweltering in the heat of summer, my stepdad bought an air conditioner and installed it for the father. This is how it used to be, where people just rolled up their sleeves and did something ad hoc, once they spot a need. I suggest that people do the same thing for their neighbors, acquaintances, and even strangers in your community. Those of you with an actual paycheck and job security, next time you are in your hardware store or doing general shopping, buy a smoke detector and then find someone who needs it. Don't wait to read about a sad story in the paper and wonder what folks could have done. We all know how stressed people are and things just get put off, even if they could afford the smoke detector. Sometimes the gift is not so much the cost of the detector but bringing the screw driver and installing it for the person, and reassuring them how it works.
I hope this stimulates some individual and group actions, and bless you in advance for all your efforts.
Anyone who can afford smoke detectors, please buy an extra one to give to someone needy in your community. Be sure to buy extra batteries too. If you know someone in need personally, donate and install the device for them. If you do not know someone personally, how about donating it to your local church or food pantry and see if they might be interested in matching your smoke detector to someone in need.
Churches and civic groups, how about adopting an apartment building or a block of houses? Have volunteers bring smoke detectors along with them and show the owners how they work, and install it for them. Sure, some people may say no, but if you get even a handful of devices into homes that lacked them, you may some day be personally responsible for the precious gift of saving lives.
Years ago when my stepfather learned that the father in his local church was sweltering in the heat of summer, my stepdad bought an air conditioner and installed it for the father. This is how it used to be, where people just rolled up their sleeves and did something ad hoc, once they spot a need. I suggest that people do the same thing for their neighbors, acquaintances, and even strangers in your community. Those of you with an actual paycheck and job security, next time you are in your hardware store or doing general shopping, buy a smoke detector and then find someone who needs it. Don't wait to read about a sad story in the paper and wonder what folks could have done. We all know how stressed people are and things just get put off, even if they could afford the smoke detector. Sometimes the gift is not so much the cost of the detector but bringing the screw driver and installing it for the person, and reassuring them how it works.
I hope this stimulates some individual and group actions, and bless you in advance for all your efforts.
Friday, July 20, 2007
EZ Nuclear Power Plant checklist and guide
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070719a1.html
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070721a1.html
Two interesting articles about the earthquake in Japan that whacked one of their nuclear power plants. After reading these articles I prepared a quick checklist for nuclear plant operators:
1. Don't build a plant right on top of an earthquake fault. Actually check if one exists before building.
2. Earthquake proof the entire power plant, not just parts of it.
3. How about actually having fire extinguishing equipment on site? What a concept. Did people think there might never be a fire?
4. Teach employees to actually follow the safety manuals. When the emergency instructions say "Turn off" it means to actually turn it off.
This could have been Godzilla bad... I'm sincerely glad to see that it wasn't and that the government seems really serious about ensuring all the power plants are inventoried and secured. I'm a nuclear power plant advocate, but not if people are being irresponsible dummies.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070721a1.html
Two interesting articles about the earthquake in Japan that whacked one of their nuclear power plants. After reading these articles I prepared a quick checklist for nuclear plant operators:
1. Don't build a plant right on top of an earthquake fault. Actually check if one exists before building.
2. Earthquake proof the entire power plant, not just parts of it.
3. How about actually having fire extinguishing equipment on site? What a concept. Did people think there might never be a fire?
4. Teach employees to actually follow the safety manuals. When the emergency instructions say "Turn off" it means to actually turn it off.
This could have been Godzilla bad... I'm sincerely glad to see that it wasn't and that the government seems really serious about ensuring all the power plants are inventoried and secured. I'm a nuclear power plant advocate, but not if people are being irresponsible dummies.
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