Captain Obvious

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear”

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

Perhaps you recognize the blog title as one of Tina Turner’s songs.  The rumor is that she never liked singing it because it sounded so cynical.  Perhaps we have all become cynical.

If we are mature, critical thinkers, we are taught that love is not a feeling … it is a decision.  We do it because of a genuine desire to be there for someone else expecting nothing in return. If we’re not careful, it’s easier to think “what’s in it for me?” rather than considering what we can offer to share with others.

Acting with love extends beyond romantic relationships. It encompasses how we show up for others, how we do business, how we treat strangers and even our enemies. Acting with love represents the choice to demonstrate care, attention, and sensitivity in what we do.

Most of the major religions of the world insist that we are to love our enemies.  Jesus insisted that if we don’t we are not forgiven ourselves.  This is hard to hear.

So, how do we reconcile this with the situation in Iran, where the radical religious element declares death to America, even though the Koran emphasizes love as noted above?  Ironic isn’t it … religious leaders emphasizing hate.

Let’s just suppose that we do see Iran give up in the next few weeks … it is likely. Let’s assume they attempt to reinvent their relationships to America and Israel.  Can we relax?

My observation is that you can outlaw the outlaw, but you don’t eliminate them.  They simply move underground, waiting to get revenge.  You haven’t changed the heart-attitude of people who profess hate for anyone or anything.

We can attempt to educate and deprogram the brainwashed, but it took decades and even centuries to get the masses to accept the hate they cling to.  So, correcting these situations takes a lot of time and consistent education over generations.  Few governments or leaders are willing to embrace these agendas because their term of influence is so much shorter than the time frames needed for correction.

So, is it futile?  After all, the hatred between the Muslim and Jewish perspectives in the holy land is so deep and broad, so how can we expect anything to change?

There is only one long-term answer here: we have to break the chain of bad influence.  We have to start somewhere to do that, and the most logical thing is in the education of children.  We also must let kids from all perspectives learn and play together to see that this is possible. They in turn influence their parents.

Transformation of this kind is a long game that goes far beyond “regime change” or even peace treaties.  It starts small and has to be nourished and guided over decades … the same way hate was taught.

Our role must be analogous to a small child walking on the beach, seeing thousands of starfish washing up to their certain death.  The child is seen throwing starfish back into deeper water … one at a time.  An adult passing by admonishes the child, saying, “You are wasting your time, you can’t make a difference … it just doesn’t matter.”

As the child throws yet one more starfish into deeper water he replies: “It mattered to this one!”  

So, maybe we each can’t solve the world’s problems.  We can show love to those in our sphere of influence … especially to those we see as different or make us uncomfortable by their differences … if we are willing to see them and show them our love through better understanding dialogues.

So … what’s love got to do with it?  Perhaps everything!

 

This picture was taken during the recent announcement about the Trump administration’s drug-price reduction efforts … a noble and overdue objective to be sure.  While I applaud the effort, I am concerned about how the savings are presented and why few are objecting.  My only conclusion is that the average American is not mathematically able to understand what is wrong.  Go figure!

I remember when the Truth in Lending Act was passed in 1968 promoting the informed use of consumer credit by requiring standardized disclosures of credit cost and terms.  A major driver at the time was that consumers were signing up for credit cards with very high, compounded annual interest rates that many could not clearly see.

Noble as it was, and as common as it is in our lives, I really wonder whether the average American knows how important it is to pay off these loans, even when the cumulative interest is clearly indicated in those disclosures.  I have written about this in recent blogs.

Perhaps you have also noticed that almost all restaurants now print the suggested tip range near the tip line.  As the picture here indicates, it irritates me that this range typically starts at 18%, well above my comfort level at 12-15%, and that range doesn’t even appear among the computed suggestions.

I get the problem they face … many customers simply can’t do the math in their heads or are too lazy to grab their phones to use a calculator.

One of my daughters had difficulties with math, and I can still remember working with her on her homework in grade school.  She just couldn’t get it, no matter how hard I tried to tell her stories and situations to bring it to life.

The picture above should give us all pause.  How can you get discounts of more than 100%?  Remember, a 100% discount means it is free.

If your math skills are challenged, go to the website shown here, take the diabetes claim, and enter some sample values. 

If you normally paid $100 for your prescription and you had a 230% discount, you would have been paid $130 to take it! 

The answer is in the fine print right above the numbers in the picture at the beginning of this blog.  The discount is calculated as the percentage savings compared to the FINAL PRICE, not the original price.

You were never taught percentages this way, and for good reason … it is terribly misleading.  Fortunately, there is an easy correction.  You simply divide 100% by these discount statements to get the conventional way of expressing it.  So, a 230% discount is really about 44%.  You would save about $56.50 for the prescription, paying $43.50 instead of $100.  Divide $100 by $43.50, and … voilà… you get 230%.

Doing the math with 654% the right way, your original prescription cost of $100 would now cost you $15.30 … about an 85% reduction in costs.  Nice.  Very impressive.  Just misleading as presented.

Another more correct way to express this price reduction is that this program avoids these percentage markups over what the government has negotiated as a fair price.  There are lots of good ways to explain things like this … the method used is just not one of them.

And for complete contextual relevance, we all know that an optimist declares the glass half full, while a pessimist defines it as half empty.  The engineer most accurately explains that you appear to have twice as much glass as you really need.

This is why you should invite engineers to your parties. They will come because they have nothing else going on. Don’t worry, they won’t interact with your other guests and make cleanup a snap because they will eat whatever you serve.  And if they’ve had a good time, they will fix your garage door opener and phase-align your speakers 😊. 

I must admit that ice skating has become a sport that seems to defy the laws of gravity and the bounds of human balance and movement.  I don’t tire of watching these athletes do things I frankly can’t believe just happened before my eyes.  But remember, I am afraid of height, speed, and slippery surfaces.  I hated ice skating as a child.  So, I just stare in wonder at their skills … even the “last place” skaters.

The Italians evidently have decided the Olympics are just boring and are flocking to performances of a five-hour-long opera about the end of the world.  I can’t imagine sitting through any performance that long, and frankly, I have never sat through an opera.

My wife, Susan, wanted to thank our employees by buying them tickets to Les Misérables.  I cautioned her that any opera with the word “miserable” in its title was unlikely to be appreciated by our younger employees.  It lived up to, or maybe down to its title: Miserable … except for the brief moments when we heard the one song that we all know: I Dreamed a Dream.  This musical is just not for everybody.

So, with all this as background, it is fascinating to read that the Italians are making it known that they object to the Olympics by attending a five-hour opera.  It was a lead story in the Wall Street Journal.   And that brings us to the phrase many of us use that comes from this opera: “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.”

It means that one should not presume knowing the outcome of an event that is still in progress. It cautions against assuming that an event’s current state is irreversible.  My admonition that relates is to understand tariffs are not the end game … they are just the classic opener in any international negotiation … why doesn’t the press get that?  Instead, the press seems more concerned about using colorful language to make their endlessly repeating talking points.

And, for those who are prone to political correctness, remember that Italian operatic sopranos are generally fat ladies!  It is not tone deaf of someone to state the obvious. 

By the way, the phrase carries with it a wise note of patience and deference in life … don’t assume the end just because you think it is over.  My parallel language is precisely that: it ain’t over till it’s over.  Faith is central here … believing that it is not over offers us a positive way to change things for the better … not just resigning ourselves to what seems inevitable.

But … perhaps it is over for you when you believe it is over … so stop believing that.

As many of you know, Susan and I spend a lot of time aboard our boat in Marina Jack, Sarasota, Florida over the winters. This year I noticed we are getting usually large swarms of crows at first light … I mean sky-blackening swarms … straight out of a horror film.  I shot a video of them coming into swarm: take a look.

The Birds was a 1963 American horror film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on the 1952 short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier.  It centers on a series of sudden, unexplained, violent bird attacks on the people of Bodega Bay, California, over a few days.

It is interesting that these swarms are called a murder of crows.  Our situation on the boats in the marina poses no risks, but it is really spooky to watch.  The term “murder” derives from historical folklore and cultural superstitions rather than science.

With their dark plumage and eerie caw, crows were often associated with omens, foreboding, dead bodies, battlefields, and graveyards. Crows are social animals and gather for a variety of reasons: it is more efficient foraging in a group, there is safety from predators in numbers, and to find prospective mates outside of the immediate family group.  Perhaps most important, there is social learning and information transfer (Hey, there is good stuff at the KFC dumpster…).

As you probably know, crows are exceptionally intelligent, with cognitive abilities often compared to those of a 6-year-old human child. They possess remarkable problem-solving skills, use and create complex tools, recognize individual human faces, and can plan for the future. Their brains are densely packed with neurons, enabling advanced reasoning, self-control, and memory, allowing them to pass on information about opportunities and threats. 

Well, then, perhaps they have something to teach us all in our modern societies.  There is much to be gained from visiting with each other … in person.  Yes, the collective din of the conversation can be annoying, just like the squawking of the crows … but it is good for each of us to gather in groups, share information, and learn from one another.  It’s good for our social fabric.

Perhaps we should pay more attention to what crows can teach us.

If you accept the Old Testament as the inspired testimony of the ancient Jews, you probably know it says God formed humans out of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7).  Funerals often include the phrase “ashes to ashes and dust to dust” to remind us that we started this way and to dust we will return.

It isn’t fun parlor talk … frankly we want to avoid the subject even when we contemplate our own life.  But it is a fact of life.  And, throughout history, civilizations have sought to assure some future possibilities … often by mummifying bodies as a way to preserve them for the afterlife. But to be truthful and relevant, most faith traditions believe our bodies only serve as a temporary house for our spirit. They do not last forever.

And I guess it makes sense for entrepreneurs to view this as a business opportunity, especially since graveyards are filling up, reducing our choices for our “ultimate resting place.”  

This is far from a new challenge, and many solutions have been implemented, most notably catacombs. And, when the water table prohibits that, you get above-ground burial chambers that you see in New Orleans.

Major cities, such as New York, have long faced the challenge of limited space.  So, perhaps it is not surprising to see creativity there around burial beyond cremation, which seems to be the obvious choice to most of us … well, most of us who are OK with cremation.

After all, we all have enough space for a few more shoe boxes of remains, if we didn’t want to spread them at sea, on scatter in our gardens, or do as my father requested in his will: Put the remains in the tops of firecrackers and light them off to that song made famous when sung by Frank Sinatra, Fly Me to the Moon, … which my brother and I did along with our loved ones.  It was fitting.

Our church created a dedicated area for those who seek a different kind of sacred space.  Called a columbarium, it seems to work for many in our congregation.  But, as with all of life these days, there are others who are looking for an environmentally sustainable answer to their minds and hearts.  So, that brings us to composting.  Read it for yourself here: From Dust to Dust – Literally

The cemetery plans to start with around 18 composting vessels from Berlin-based startup, Meine Erde—translation, My Earth. While similar human-compost companies are sprinkled around the U.S., Pablo Metz, the 45-year-old founder of Meine Erde, hopes to spread the practice to more Americans, starting in Brooklyn.

“We’re looking at the idea of dedicating certain areas that would be just for these remembrances,” said Meera Joshi, cemetery president and a former deputy mayor of New York City. “The idea of getting in on the ground floor, especially in a beautiful place like Green-Wood, is a little irresistible.”

Baby boomers, the West’s most affluent cohort, have been enthusiastic disrupters of cultural norms. As they reach old age, the burial business is poised for an influx of money and new ideas, including biodegradable coffins and holograms of the deceased to display as digital memorials.

While I applaud creativity, anyone with more than a third-grade math ability can point to the absurdity of this approach.  It can take months and years to compost human remains, and the number of deaths each day (150-200) makes this absurd.

After all, with 150-200 deaths per day and at best a 40 day use of the composting machine, there would be a backlog of 6000 dead bodies waiting for those 18 bathtubs in the first cycle.  You load 18 more and 40 days later you now have a backlog of 11,982.  Why didn’t anyone in the comments point this out???

So, is this business idea going to fail?  You decide for yourself after reading this summary:

How does MEINE ERDE solve the burial problem?

In the words of someone who has chosen the now-available third option; reerdigung (human composting): “This concept is just so coherent for me: I was born into this world after 40 weeks in my mother’s womb, and I am leaving it with 40 days in a beautiful cocoon, and the circle closes by me becoming part of Earth again.”

I am still ok with urns and shoe boxes.  Oh, and by the way, where are you going to store all these dead bodies waiting for a proper burial?