The World According to R.C.

I turn 67 this month (written in November 2009) and I feel very, very lucky.  I would use the phrase, "I feel blessed" but then that would bring up the "God thing", in my mind anyway.  Who else could "bless you" but a God?  So, I have to say that I just feel very, very lucky.  I am lucky because I have managed to stumble through my life for all these years and I am happy.  In fact, I am very, very happy.

I am happy because in my stumbling through life things always seemed to work out okay for me.  This is not to say that there haven't been some bad times or sad times because there has.  But, overall, things have turned out pretty damn good.

It could have been way different for me because I came from some pretty unusual parents and for some people, they never recover from "pretty unusual" parents.  Consequently, their entire lives are lived in some manner reflecting that previous "unusual" background.  I would never declare being totally free of baggage from the past because I am not.  But, I would  argue I have managed to do pretty well for someone raised by ultra-conservative, right wing, narrow minded, racially and sexually discriminatory, fundamentalist Christian and ultra-righteous parents.  How did I stumble through all that as a child?

I would argue my salvation came from being lucky to have been born a good ways to the right side of the bell curve on common sense and I.Q.  I have also had a questioning and challenging bent to my personality.  I like to learn stuff and I don't like just being told something is a particular way without exploring it a bit.  Consequently, as I stumbled my way through, I was able to come to my own conclusions on many of the things my parents presented to me as facts.  I could offer some examples.  I have come to realize that Black, Asian, Latino, or Jewish people are not any different than I am.  Their culture and background may have altered them is some ways but certainly not the color of their skin.  I also learned that the females in this world are not less than males in qualities.  Yes, they are  different but their differences probably make for a better balance.  Women may not be able to lift as many pounds but they are perfectly capable of, let's say, fly a jet aircraft as well as any man.  I managed early on in my life to have a bit of insight into the fundamentalist Christians that were knocking at the doors of my mind and was able to elude their warped advances.

So, here I am turning 67 in a few days and I can feel lucky.  Not only for escaping some of those parental issues but for having good health and, so far, a good brain.  I have managed to arrive here in this "feeling lucky" state without having to have God as my co-pilot or thinking that I will be moving on to a better place when my life ends.

My evolution into my current views on religion have come from reading about it and thinking about  it.  Reading certain books written by people like John Shelby Spong, Richard Dawkins, Darrel Ray, and others much smarter than me, have allowed me to become very comfortable in my views about God.  Those views are that no God, as I have read about in the bible, exist in this universe.   I know that the "born agains" of the  world are quite certain they are right but, I am comfortable knowing that I am just as positive as they are about me being right.

I am going to continue to move along each year, until I am no more, fully intending to take all the fun I can out of life.  I plan on enjoying my friends, my family, and my situation to the utmost.  I will also eat, drink and be merry as much as my health allows.

Of course my life is not all a bed of roses.  Many things in my surroundings frustrate me at times and momentarily cause me great frustration.  Many of these things have to do with others I have to bump into in this world that don't play the game of life in a manner that I think is fair, or rude, or puts others at risk.  I don't think you need God to have moral values.  I just think our morals values need to consider what works best for the society in which we live and that we play by those rules we have come to recognize as beneficial for our society.

Some insight into my values can probably be gleaned by reading my random thoughts, observation and questions below.

1. Why is it that many people think Red Light Cameras at street intersections should not exist?  I have heard some people say they are nothing more than a way to generate revenues for a city.   If drivers would just obey the law and stop when they are suppose to there would be no need for these cameras.  But in case you haven't noticed for many drivers a yellow light  means speed up.  Almost every time I drive anywhere in Southern California I see people push the limit on getting through traffic lights.  In many cases I see drivers  flat out run through a clearly lit red light.  For my own safety I have now made it a matter of practice to always look both ways as I approach and go through intersections.  I don't want one of these "hurry up", "my mission is more important than yours" assholes to kill me.  I just don't understand why drivers cannot simply obey the rules.

2. Almost everyone I meet seem so "together" until I get to know them better.  I don't seem to notice "rough edges" right away. I don't know if that is because they become more open with their oddities as they become more relaxed around me or maybe I am just not perceptive enough to pick up on their quirks right away.  I've had some friends for many, many years and suddenly I come to realize that some of them are really, really strange in a some aspects of their personalities.   I wonder if my perceptions are correct or maybe it is just me getting stranger?

3. My skeptical view on religion becomes even more skeptical when I see a car with a religious fish emblem on it.  I don't really understand why someone would put a fish emblem on their car.  What are these people trying to say to everyone, "look at me, I am a Christian"?  Further, I often see cars with these fish emblems on them breaking traffic laws.  So what does that mean about these people?  Are they trying to say that they are "Christians" but as a "Christian"  they do not have to obey the laws of our land.  I wonder how an alleged Christian rationalize this law breaking behavior?

4. I have learned in my years on this earth that many people working in some specialized field of law/regulation enforcement openly breaking laws.  (Examples:  IRS agents who pirate software or FAA inspectors who break motor vehicle regulations, or police officers who cheat on income tax forms).  Isn't it amazing how some of us humans can all make our own little interpretations and rationalizations for our behavior - whether legal or not.  In my former career as an FAA inspector, tasked with writing violations against airmen and air operators for violating aviation regulation, noticed many of my fellow inspectors arguing that it was okay to break the speed limits on the roads because if you didn't you would get run over.  I don't get it!

5. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out if you drive a whole bunch faster than the other automobiles on the road near you, it is only a matter of time before you are going to be involved in an accident - duh!  You cannot be in a freeway lane going 20 or 30 mph faster than the traffic in an adjacent lane and be considered operating your car safely.  Sooner or later someone in the slower lane will inadvertently move in front of the faster car in the other lane.  Depending on when this lane change happens it could initiate a series of events that will crush metal and destroy living tissue.  Do these people not recognize this or are they just assholes?

6. Part of my former career was aircraft accident investigation.  I investigated a whole lot of aircraft accidents over the course of my career and many of these were fatal accidents.  How come relatives and friends of some of these recently killed  pilots, and some were involved in a really stupid pilot error accidents,  almost always say, "I just don't understand, Harry was the best pilot in the world, Harry was always so careful and never took chances."?   I heard these kind of  statements or one similar many, many times.  I wonder how a non-pilot friend or relative can actually come up with those kinds of conclusions on piloting skills.  For that matter, how does another pilot come up with those conclusions if they are not a trained pilot examiner or experienced flight instructor.  Most weekend pilots don't have the experience or training to rate there own skills in an airplane much less someone else's.  Isn't that why their are flight instructors and check pilots?

7. I am a bicyclist and have been a bicyclist for many years.  A person does not have to ride a bike on the streets very long to to note the lack of respect some drivers give bicyclists.  Some drivers won't even deviate their driving path even slightly when passing a very vulnerable bicyclist legally riding along the right side of the driving lane?  Although the driver is fully aware that the path they are on and the path the bicyclist is on will not collide, if everything remains steady and constant, they leave little room for error.  A courteous thoughtful driver will move over to the far side of their lane.  Other drivers will not.  What is that all about?  If either makes a small mistake injury or death can result.  Do bicyclist make people turn into assholes?  Some of these assholes have fish emblems on their car.  I now have two friends that were intentionally run into by drivers.  These drivers are lucky I am not king of the universe.  If I were, I would behead them.

8. Did you ever notice how much of a hurry people are in when driving home from their work day?  Many are in such a hurry that they drive like assholes, do rude and dangerous  things and, of course, break traffic laws.  Do these drivers have an important mission waiting for them at home that warrants that kind of behavior?  I'll bet their mission is to pop a brewski and kick back on their sofa.  I doubt if many of them have a mission to save the universe from destruction which, from my view, is the only reason for taking these extra risks!  I wonder if any of these assholes ever calculated the difference in drive time between going 50 mph in a 35 mph zone when the total drive distance is, let's say, 8 miles.  At 50 it would be 9.6 minutes.  At 35 it would be 13.7 minutes.  Four minutes we are talking here and that is if the faster driver could really average that 15 mph faster than if at the 35 mph speed limit.  In reality the faster driver would probably save a minute or two by being a dangerous asshole.

9. Why do so many general aviation pilots think that flying light airplanes is actually safer than driving a car?  Statistically, it so much more dangerous to fly light airplanes than it is to drive a car that it is like comparing apples and oranges.  It doesn't take rocket science to discover the facts.  Just do a little research.  The real story about light aircraft safety compared to automobile safety can be determined with research.  I don't reveal this truism supported by statistics to spoil the fun of light airplane flying but, I think it is important to acknowledge the real dangers of what we do as pilots.  Certainly it is not as dangerous as climbing Mt. Everest but it does have increased risk over most activities in which we so called normal people participate.  From my view to ignore the actual  increased risks in flying light aircraft is to take a less than proactive stance on aviation safety.  Flight instructors often tell students the most dangerous part of the flight is getting to the airport in a car.  That is a crock of crap and I have done the research to show it is.  I don't think flying light aircraft is so dangerous that we pilots shouldn't do it.  I just believe we should be honest with ourselves about the inherent danger of light airplane flying.

10. How come, from my view, drivers going faster than me are assholes and drivers going slower are stupid?   I once heard a comedian say this.  It works for me.

11. How can some tree hugging, lily licking, frog kissing environmentalists actually place more value on the flora and fauna on earth than the livelihood of humans? These people, from my view, tend to evolve into a condition of logic myopia that reminds me of what religious fanatics have evolved into.  You can't reason with them and you can't change their mind. If I were king of the universe they would be in deep doo-doo.  If we humans want to stop the negative impact of our living on this earth, quit having so damn many babies!  I do agree our resources are finite.  I do agree we are abusing the earth.  If the population shrunk I believe the damage we are doing to the earth would shrink.  How can we ever hope to stop the ever expanding earth population when we have many religions supporting the doctrine of "go forth and multiply"? 

12. Why do most people refer to someone dead as having "passed away"?  I hate that euphemism.  I almost smile whenever I hear someone use it.  If these soft spoken, weak kneed, wimps were soldiers on the battlefield, I wonder if they would still say their brothers in arms were passing away around them?  I wonder if they would refer to killing the enemy as making them pass away with their rifle?  I'll bet they would just refer to "killing the m.f. that was trying to kill them" just like I would. When I croak, I want people to say that I am dead, or I died.  Please don't say I "passed away."  If some son-of-a-bitch kills me before my biological time on earth has elapsed ("biological time", as I use it, means when my body has aged to the point it is a worthless piece of shit), I want you all to say I had been killed and that I am dead.

13. How many "real" Gods there are in this universe?  With so many religions of the world there must be a lot of them.  I wonder which one I should buy stock in? Should I go along with  Pasqual's gamble? Why not believe in God: if you're wrong, it can't hurt; if you're right, then you get pie in the sky   I can't seem to make up my mind where I should throw in my chips.  All those God choices and all those religion choices, what is a thinking man to do?

14. We Americans accept approximately 40,000 deaths on the highway each year.  Apparently these are acceptable losses.  Isn't that odd that we accept that terrible loss but protest numerous other less lethal activities?  We picket when impurities in water cause one additional cancer death in 20,000.  When 3000 died in the attack on the WTC, we were all ready to go to war on terrorism.  While we are at it, why don't we go to war on transportation safety?  Just think...ten years, 400,000 dead on the highways!  You only have to count back for a few decades to recognize that we have killed more people on the highways than any war we ever fought.  How do war protestors justify protesting a war and not protesting driving which kills so many, many more than wars.

15. How come almost every single television evangelist sports a hair-do that looks like it came out of a box?  Is there a connection between being one of God's "chosen" and way-phony looking hair? A few years ago we saw Tammy and her husband sporting incredible hair, now days you can tune in on the PTL channel and watch Jan and Paul Crouch.  There are also many others TV evangelist sporting what looks like plastic, pasted on hair.  I'll bet pre-TV evangelists didn't sport those kind of pasted on hair-dos when broadcasting on the radio.

16. Why do some people think it is okay to pass gas around loved ones yet passing gas around strangers is a major social sin?

17. Did you ever hear someone say, "When its your time to go, its your time to go", when speaking of death, especially accidental death?  What makes some people think that they have no control over their destiny?  I actually know smart and educated friends that argue for this absurd concept of going when its time to go.   Do they think this way regardless of what type activity they are doing?  Is this ridiculous logic or what?  What about risk exposure, probability, and statistics?  Do these morons think participating in a Mount Everest summit attempt offers no more risk than staying home and watching television, as long as it isn't their time to go - duh?  If you spend a lifetime eating spare ribs, bacon fat, and whole milk dairy products you probably will get heart disease earlier than if you didn't eat this stuff - duh?  If its your time to go it your time to go...what a bunch of crap!

18. Why do neat people think messy people are nuts and why do messy people think neat people are nuts?

19. What makes someone who seems to enjoy his/her life, has at least average intelligence, climb in a car and travel somewhere without strapping on a seat belt?

20. Christian fundamentalism is as dangerous as any other religious fanaticism found anywhere in the world.

21. Protestants killing Catholics! Catholics killing Protestants!  Muslims killing Christians!  Christians killing Muslims!  What we do for "our" God.  We have been killing for God as far back as you want to look.  Every religion has had its Jihad.  The most recent in this country was the Mountain Meadow massacre in Utah. That one was Christians (if you consider Mormons Christians) killing other Christians.

22. Why would an anti-hunting fanatic who complains about the needless slaughter of animals eat anything that has to be killed to be eaten whether it was plant or animal?  I think these fanatics, to be true to what they are saying, are stuck with eating fallen fruit off trees and sipping water until they die from lack of protein.

23. One trip down the 91 Freeway during the morning or afternoon commute reveals the true nature of humans.  It reveals how new we are from an evolutionary view.  Aggression, selfishness, dog-eat-dog every mile of the way is not that far from a pack of hungry wild dogs. 

24. Is there really a God orchestrating this universe?  What is his purpose for making someone beside your spouse or significant other seem so sexually appealing?  Of course this could be explained if you are a Fundamentalist Latter Day Saint but what if you aren't?

25. If you are atheistic or agnostic, it doesn't take long to figure out there is no logic in any world religion, just faith, or just a believe that it must be true. If you question religion the holes in the "story" become glaring and blinders must be worn.

26. As it is in religion it is also in relationships - no logic to love.

27. How come I thought I was smarter than every boss I ever had and every boss I ever had thought they were smarter than me?

28. How come I always think my way is the "right way" and the rest of you are just too stupid to see it?

29. Why do I respect smart people more than I respect dumb people?  If there is a God then he must have had control over who is smart and who is dumb.  Did he make some people smart and some people dumb for a reason?  Is this a way for God to frustrate both of these elements of humanity and thus orchestrate conflict?  If it turns out there is no God, is it okay that I had less respect for the dumb people?  If there is a God is it okay that I had more respect for the smart people?

30. Are smart people way more complex than dumb people?  I heard that smart people over analyze things and make themselves unhappy.  I have no data to support this but it sure sounds logical.

31. In 1997 there were approximately 13,000 homicides committed with firearms.  In that same year 43,000 died in motor vehicle accidents.  So, why push for gun-control...I want automobile control.

32. For awhile it seemed the news would be punctuated with postal employees who "lost it" and shot their co-workers.  Hence the phrase, "He went postal" to describe losing it.  I know why people "go postal" that work in a post office.  I worked at a post office.  It has to be the most boring work in the universe.  Imagine sitting at a letter case for eight hours looking at addresses and sticking them in pigeon holes.  If I was on a jury for a "gone postal" defendant, I would argue for justifiable homicide.

33. If you don't think we humans are mere animals just think of the mechanics of sex.  How can something so good appear to be so odd looking.  Did you ever hear this?  "Is sex dirty?"  "Yes, if you are doing it right."

34. Did you ever notice that most of the really out there "nut balls" we run into in life have a "thing" about either sex or religion.  Why is that? 

35. If you happen to believe a religious "nut ball" cannot influence the course of history, just read a couple of books on Joseph Smith, the founder of  Mormonism.  He is a prime example of someone in this category.  But his "work" done over 150 years ago, to this day, still grows at an alarming rate surpassing any other religion in existence.

36. Think about the complexities generated by sex in societies.  Sex makes many religious people sinners and some sinners religious people.  Sex makes some married people adulterers and most single people promiscuous.  Sex makes some people become bigamist and makes some people steer clear of the opposite sex.  Sex  makes many honest people liars and makes some liars honest people. Sex makes some people into wanton criminals and some wanton criminals into Christians.  Sex makes some movies hits and some movies bomb. Sex is certainly a main player in this universe, isn't it? All this sex talk, I think I will go have some right now...