Category: Observations Page 53 of 90

How far we haven’t come

On March 20, 2014

Recently, my wife and I visited the Newseum. I revisited the Berlin Wall exhibit. Going through it, I also watched the video about the reporters responding to the 9/11 attacks. Seeing the antenna from the top of the World Trade Center and parts of the debris brought it home.

Our history is not that old. The Civil Rights movement is only 50 years old. And still ongoing. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The September 11th Attacks were in 2001. Our country’s pain is not old.

There was an extensive photo exhibit from John F. Kennedy’s photographer and a great video montage of his brief presidency. He was before my time. But he was not in the distant past.

Our history is real and living. It affects us today. We do not live in a bubble. We are influenced by our past. We get to build our future into what we’d like it to be. It’s a future that will have many amazing events and people. It will be filled with terrible times and people. It will mirror our past.

History doesn’t feel real from the pages of history books or television programs. History feels real when I can reach out and touch the Berlin Wall. I can imagine myself living beneath the watchful, murderous eye of the tower guards. To live apart from family and friends. To not see loved ones for decades. What would that feel like?

The Civil Rights Movement. It’s not a done deal. It’s the start to a long, hard road. A road being walked by those who want to love who they want. Isn’t that what everyone wants? Everyone wants to be loved and to love. Everyone wants to live inside their own house and their own lives.

There are lessons the past has to teach us. But instead, we insist on re-learning the same
painful lessons. We’ve done a pretty terrible job of allowing everyone to share the rights of straight, white men. I don’t remember anyone voting for my right to marry. Rights are not a finite resource.

Women have to fight for equal rights.
African-Americans have to fight for equal rights.
Gays have to fight for equal rights.

Our history is not a collection of old, dead stories from books. Our history is now. Our history is yesterday. And tomorrow is a new chance to write it.

Why I’m not renewing my Washington Post Sunday-Only Subscription

By Carl

On March 19, 2014

In Observations

I was really enjoying the paper for a while. It had a lot of good coupons and the paper itself helped when making paper logs and camp fires.

I saved money. I started fires. I covered the floor when working on painting or projects that would get messy. It was a perfect typeset drop cloth. The newspaper served its purpose and served it well. I even read it periodically to see what the Internet hadn’t talked about days earlier.

But eventually, I realized no one reads the newspaper anymore. It’s not hip. My friends aren’t posting shout-outs in the classifieds section. It’s all news and events in DC. I can get that elsewhere, including the online version of the same paper. I don’t need it in print.

After Jeff Bezos bought the paper last year, I don’t know if I know where the paper’s priorities are anymore. I don’t know if it’s the same thing I bought into when I originally subscribed.

I don’t use the paper for anything anymore. And I have plenty of access to the archives in a pile in a closet so I’m more than ready for camping season.

I hope it continues to do well. I’ll check in on it from time to time. They still have an old Linotype machine in front of the building.

Embrace your tools

By Carl

On February 28, 2014

In Observations

It’s exciting to work with people who see technology as a tool to do great work. It’s exciting to see them embrace a new tool for what it can do. For what they can do that before was impossible. It’s exhilarating to be a part of that excitement.

So often I see people nitpicking software for what it can’t do. You didn’t use the right tool. That’s a bad solution. This and this and these are all better.

You know what? Having a tool for the job and using that tool to do a great job is all you need. Use the tools you have. Stop pining for a slightly better version of what you have.

Stop criticizing the tool for what it can’t do. Do great work with the tools you have. They can be bent and molded in surprising ways.

Your meeting platform can be turned u to a video teleconference system. A previously inaccessible event can be made available to the public. No longer would it require air travel and interrupting your life.

We can bring the events of an auditorium in Washington DC to people around the country. And that is magical.

It is so easy to get caught up in the debate about tools. But that’s a losing play. It doesn’t matter what tools you have. It matters what you do with the tools you have. And if you can make something great then do it!

Opinions

By Carl

On February 26, 2014

In Observations

There are tons of things going on in the world. There are uprisings in the Ukraine. There are human rights violations in Russia and North Korea. There are celebrities screaming for attention to their latest hi-jinx. There are sports teams playing well and doing poorly. There are movies. There is music. There is art. There are books and magazines, blogs and forums. There are millions of things to care about.

Often, people ask what is your opinion about…? But rarely is it worth having an opinion on everything. It’s perfectly OK to just not care about things. You can’t have an opinion. You can say I Don’t Care.

I have opinions on things I care about. I have opinions on things I know enough about to understand. I have opinions on things I’ve taken the time to think about. If I haven’t, then it’s not my opinion.

It’s my parent’s opinion. It’s my friend’s opinion. It’s my news channel’s opinion. It’s everyone’s opinion but mine.

So next time someone asks you for your opinion on something. It’s fine to tell them, “I don’t have one.”

You are not the intended audience

By Carl

On February 24, 2014

In Observations

You are not the intended audience.

Now that the world is universal, we are becoming unintended audiences for everything. We see all sorts of messages and posts on our social mediums. It exposes us to things we’d never dreamt of before. There are vast differences of opinion on the international communication medium.

And we are not always the intended audiences.

Polite reminder for straight people who say "who cares" when someone comes out: such gestures are addressed to lonely queer kids. not you.— Danny Bowes (@moviesbybowes) February 15, 2014

This is a good point that’s worth repeating. I’m a straight white man. The strength and acceptance are not for me. I don’t need them. They are for those who need the support.

It could be someone telling others he or she is gay. It could be someone coming to grips with depression or anxiety. It could be someone joining or leaving a church. These are personal choices. These are personal experiences. We share because it’s liberating to share a truth. But also because of the best thing the Internet ever did for us.

Remind us we are not alone.

No matter how alienated I felt growing up, I knew there were other people out there who were like me. No matter how much I feel alienated, I know I am not alone. That’s a powerful message. And an even more powerful feeling.

You Are Not Alone.

So next time you see someone coming out they’re not doing it for you. They’re doing it for them. And if that helps you, great. But if not, then ignore it and go on about your day. You are not the intended audience.