The Letters to the Editor section of the newspaper was longer today than usual.  Counting the editorial cartoon the letters occupied a full half of the “Perspective” page.  Eight letters comprise what I like to think of as the therapy section of the paper.

One screams out, “You really don’t get it do you?” as if they’re carrying on a conversation with a person across the table from them.  Another says, “I am writing to inform you of my opinion.” Still another angsts over why a road project is taking so long.

I’d hate to think of the newspaper without the opinion page.  It functions like a virtual town hall and gives you a bellwether of public opinion.  Sometimes the opinions expressed are well-thought, articulate, and reasonable in tone.  Other times they are angry and reactionary.  Just because they appear in print doesn’t mean they’re worth reading.

What drives me nuts about them is how frequently the authors don’t have a clue what they are talking about.  For example, a local hot button issue in our town has generated a lot of heat but little light.  Awfulizers write about the terrible things that will happen if we get a particular business.

In our democracy everyone has the right to speak.  Right or wrong we can express our opinions and come to a consensus.  It’s not a perfect process as is evident on the editorial page.  And we do not always arrive at good decisions.

Nevertheless, the respect and access that we give to all our citizens is a far better way to live than totalitarianism where people are told what to think. 

I don’t like all the opinions expressed on the editorial page.  Some are downright uninformed.  But I’d hate to think of our society without that right.

This video has gone viral and is appearing in several places including Facebook.  I identify with “David’s” question, “Is this real life?”  Sometimes things feel so surreal you wonder if it could possibly be happening.  Enjoy.

We became friends because we were colleagues in the same group.  It was a bunch of pastors from the same area of the state.  We got together once a month for food and conversation and enjoyed the professional and collegial stimulation.

He was pastor for a church that eventually had some internal problems, and the church had a terrible split which created two churches.  He left with the group that split away, and also left our group.  He disappeared, and we didn’t see him after that.

Several years passed.  One day the phone in my office rang; it was my old friend.  “Hi Bruce.  How are you?  Still at the same church?”  We talked for a couple of minutes, and I was elated that he had called to reconnect.  Until……

“Have you heard of colostrum?” he asked.  “Colostrum?” I’m wondering.  “Isn’t that the first fluid that a nursing baby gets from its mother?  Why would he be talking about colostrum?  What could colostrum possibly have to do with our friendship?”  My mind went into warp drive.

He went on.  “Colostrum has wonderful health benefits, and my wife is now a distributor of it.  By going to this website and entering her number, you can purchase this great product and she will get credit for it.”

Whatever warm feelings I had about his calling evaporated.  He wasn’t calling a friend; I was just a potential customer.  A means to make money.  I could feel my mind shutting down.  “How can I get out of this conversation?” I thought.  I didn’t buy the product, and we never talked again.

A good friend of mine calls people like this a “one way street.”  In other words, the relational traffic only goes in their direction.  They don’t care about anyone but themselves.  It’s disappointing, especially when you fall for their opening lines.  “How are you doing?  I’ve been thinking about you.”

We went to a New Year’s Eve party at Playhouse Merced. The event started at 8:00 on Wednesday evening, and it was in full swing by the time we arrived. 

The Playhouse was well decorated for the event.  The main stage area had a fresh coat of paint.  A small, raised platform supported the three-person band.  A few people were dancing to the music; others were sitting, enjoying the show.

The foyer housed the drink bar, nibbles, and conversation areas.  It stayed full most of the night.  Some folks went to the event to be with friends and chat.  Conversation areas were scattered around the room.  One couple was visiting the area from South Dakota.  They found the event on the web and decided to join the festivities.

Upstairs in the Studio was the karaoke bar.  Cafe tables were set up, along with a small bar and a karaoke stage.  It was my first time to experience karaoke, and I was pleasantly surprised.

One by one people looked at the huge catalog of songs available, signed up with the person in charge of song order, and then waited for their turn.  Some had lovely voices.  Others sounded like cats fighting.  However, the audience treated every performer with kindness.

The karaoke performances were very democratic.  Everyone that wanted to got their opportunity at the microphone.  Everyone was treated with the same courtesies and respect.  Maybe it’s not that way at every karaoke night, but it was true here.

The performance that impressed me the most was that of the child who, accompanied with an adult, sang “Jingle Bells.”  It wasn’t a stellar performance, but that’s not the point.  The child was included as part of the karaoke community, people applauded, and the child left with an optimistic view of human acceptance.  It was a good example of human cooperation and contribution. 

Saturday morning Bev and I went to a friend’s house to help her move.  We got to her new digs about 9:30 AM where we met her to help unpack the first truck load.  That went pretty quickly.

After lunch we went to a storage shed to empty it, and we picked up a few additional items at her old house.  The second truck load was just as full as the first—front to back.  There were just 5 of us to do the work.  And there were several feet between the truck ramp and the front door of the two-story house.  Lot’s of walking.

We completed unloading the truck at about 4:00 PM.  I discovered that a 61 year old man shouldn’t be unloading U-Hauls.  Every muscle and joint in my body ached.  However, a little Advil when I got home, and the pain went away.  I felt amazingly normal the next day.  But I would do it again in an instant.

Helping a friend move is an activity of community.  It’s a 21^st century version of a barn raising.  Friends swarm to help you accomplish something you can’t really do alone.  I like the laughter, eating, and accomplishment.  It also creates unique bonds to the person being helped.  Muscle aches notwithstanding, helping a friend is the best.

At 5:00 in the morning I am beginning to emerge from deep sleep. I’m mildly aware of the world, but still not awake. And I most certainly don’t want to get up at that hour.

Which is why this morning’s alarm was particularly rude. It came about 5:00, way before the time I had selected to arise. But I’m also blind at that hour; my glasses are still on the dresser. The room is dark. Seeing is not an option.

Since I had a 7:30 appointment downtown, I didn’t want to oversleep. So I stumbled into the bathroom to look at the clock. “Yep, it’s 6:30 alright. I need to get ready.” I shaved, showered, and got dressed. Then I saw my mistake.

As I was eating breakfast, now with my glasses on and light in the room, I noticed that it was only 6:00. A full hour and a half before my appointment. I was flabbergasted. I finished reading the paper. Then I looked for a place to take a short nap. The sofa in my office was perfect.

I got over the sleep deprivation, but I also made note of how hard it is to see the face of the clock without my glasses and in the dark. I made all my appointments with amazing mental clarity, and I hope my time confusion doesn’t happen again.

But the experience was a good reminder of how easy it is to think you’ve seen things clearly, only to find out that your vision was distorted.

During Bill Clinton’s campaign, his campaign strategist, James Carville, coined the phrase, “the economy, stupid,” as a way to refocus voters’ attention and to say that George H.W. Bush had not adequately addressed the economy.  The phrase was meant for an internal audience of campaign workers, but it became widely used.

All you have to do is drive around our City or any city in the U.S. and you get the immediate impression that “It’s the economy stupid” is current again.  The economy looms over us like a huge black cloud.  And it affects family after family.

The evening news last night presented us with the grim news about the auto industry.  American auto makers are drowning in a sea of red.  Cars aren’t selling, sources of money for lending are meager, and some are saying that the industry as a whole has only months of money left to operate unless something significant happens.

But this is about more than the auto industry or the banking industry or any other industry by itself.

The story went on to talk about how the auto industry’s woes trickle, no flood, down into the rest of the economy.  If the auto industry has no money to purchase from suppliers then suppliers have no money to produce their products.  Layoffs occur and then families have no money to spend in their respective communities.  Small businesses close, taxes dry up, and city governments have less money to spend on services.  Yada, yada, yada.

The economy is such a good, but painful, reminder of how interconnected we all are; none of us lives in a vacuum.  I especially like the way the famous preacher, John Donne, said it.

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.

Earlier this year one of our neighbors moved, and a For Sale sign went up in front of the house.  The family was a victim of the current housing crisis.  I don’t know where they went, but I do know that the economy’s effects trickled down to our street.  That makes it very, very real, and very personal.

I got to the polls at 6:45 AM; polls opened at 7:00 AM.  There were about four of us in line by the time the door opened.  I wanted to get this done before there were long lines to wait on.  The ballot had two sheets.  I inserted them both in the ballot box, and it kicked them out.  “Oh great!” I thought.  My vote doesn’t count.

The machine said something like, “The machine detects two pieces of paper.”  I separated them, inserted the first one, and in it went.  “Whew.”

By 7:05 AM I had finished voting, and the room was filled with voters.  There was also a long line out the door.  I don’t think it was that way all day, however, it was a good indication of the kind of passion that exists for this election.

It has been an interesting day to me because lots of people wanted to talk about the election.  Many assumed they knew where my sympathies and convictions lay.  They talked about how they voted and why.  I listened.

Some of the issues were cut and dried for me.  High Speed Rail is important for the Valley economy.  Measure M would be a boon to our school system and much needed.  Other issues left me feeling uncertain, even ambiguous. 

I’ve had good friends on all sides of the issues sharing their points of view with me.  I love them all.  I think that is what makes this election both difficult and crucial.

I’ve been reading a very intriguing book called Wikinomics.  The premise of the book is that the way business and creativity is practiced on the Internet is transforming brick and mortar business as well.

The premier example of the creativity of the Internet is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia produced through the collaborative efforts of its users.  In other words, anyone can write an article for the online publication.  His best example is about the bombings that occurred in London on July 7, 2005.

Four synchronized bombs exploded in the London subway.  Eighteen minutes later the first entry about the bombings appeared in Wikipedia.  Within minutes other Wikipedia users were adding additional information to the original article, correcting spelling, etc.  By the end of the day, over twenty-five hundred users had created a comprehensive fourteen-page account of the event that was much more detailed than any other single news outlet.

There are other great examples of how people have collaborated to create wonderful ideas and products.  As the old expression goes, “Two heads are better than one.”  Mozilla is an open source internet browser created by collaboration.  Joomla and Linux are also products that are open source and the product of multiple users. 

All of which made me think about how many people “do church.”  Hierarchically.  Top down.  Professional.  Hired.  In other words, if you are a lay person, there is not much for you to do.  Show up.  Worship.  Contribute.  Study.  And go home.  But what if you were a full-on contributor to the life of the church?  A significant part of a team.  Making contributions that affected the well-being and momentum of the church.

The apostle Paul may have been talking about an ancient version of Wikipedia when he likened the church to the human body.  He described it as an organism that relies on all its parts, and each individual part, no matter how tiny, makes important contributions to the function of the whole.

Now that’s what I call collaboration.

Last Tuesday a group of about 20 took an all-day trip to Apple Valley, California to visit a Wal-mart Distribution Center. Touring this Center required about 12 hours of riding and flying, but that’s another story.

We went to Apple Valley (near Barstow) to see a Wal-mart Distribution Center (WDC) in operation. Why? Because Wal-Mart wants to build a similar Center here in Merced. And it’s a big deal. The new Distribution Centers are the size of 24 football fields–under one roof. They have 1.3 million square feet of space for products sold at Wal-mart. Each center services about 70 individual Wal-mart stores.

When the WDC opened in Apple Valley they had 12,500 applicants who showed up to grab one of the plum jobs. If you don’t have a job or health care these Distribution Center jobs look like a godsend.

What’s curious to me is the loud opposition to the Center that we’re now hearing in Merced along with the seriously flawed disinformation that is disseminated by the opposition. For example, our tour group expected to see queues of trucks waiting to either load or unload at the Center, belching clouds of CO2 and black smoke. In point of fact, most days only 70 trucks come to the Center. These are state-of-the-art trucks that don’t idle when parked and use the most fuel efficient engines available.

But I allowed myself to get distracted. Which is what much of the disinformation does. It takes our focus off of the people that need the 900 jobs that will be generated by the WDC. That’s 900 jobs making $17 an hour with excellent medical benefits. That’s $35k jobs in a County that has a per capita income of $14,257 as reported in the 2000 Census. (Citation: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06047.html).

In all this community debate about the WDC I couldn’t help but think about how God condemned ancient Israel for ignoring the plight of the poor. I know that the issues surrounding the WDC are complex, but it seems to me that if we began with the poor, much of the other debate would become clearer.

Victorville Daily Press reporter Nikki Cobb attended the grand opening of the Apple Valley Distribution Center. Here’s what she wrote.

“W-A-L-M-A-R-T!” The 27-acre Wal-Mart distribution center — with room enough to fit 24 football fields under its roof — was barely big enough to contain the enthusiasm of the jubilant employees and local dignitaries assembled for its official grand opening Tuesday.

“I haven’t heard spirit and cheering like this since I was a teenager, watching Brooklyn Dodger games at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn,” said Apple Valley Mayor Bob Sagona after Wal-Mart associates cheered out the name of the store at the opening. “The opening of the Wal-Mart distribution center is a beginning of what we know and believe to be the beginning of additional economic development in north Apple Valley.” (Citation: Daily Press (Victorville, California) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News) Publication Date: 10-MAR-04)

I’m sure there would be similar cheering if Merced put 900 of it’s citizens to work. (Apple Valley WDC has about 1000 employees.) And that would begin the process of raising our per capita incomes to more humane levels. I daresay that God would be happy.