Tuesday, June 30, 2015

What the Founding Fathers Said

“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”― George Washington and John Adams.

Both of the above founding fathers, in the Treaty of Tripoli signed in 1787, shared this belief about where this country, the young United States of America, stood in reflecting what it stood for on the world stage. What does that quote mean to us today when we face so many issues that change long-held beliefs and the right of all citizens to be protected by the concept of social justice for all in our country? 

Around 1787 History Lesson: The United States was battling the unsettling and dangerous threat of the Barbary Pirates. These pirates, or privateers as they were also known, came from the Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and other small states, but were under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire. Their predation of American shipping interests extended throughout the Mediterranean, south along the West African seaboard, into South American waters, and to Iceland in the North Atlantic. The treaty was designed to address ending piracy on American shipping on the high seas, and this treaty passed unanimously in the Senate (only the third such unanimous vote of the first 339 recorded votes in the early Senate, and I am only guessing that those senators read the whole treaty before voting on it). In fact, official records show that the entire treaty was read aloud on the Senate floor, and copies were printed for each and every Senator. 

What do you think the founders meant by this? I don't think they were just pulling a fast one. They came to the colonies to escape religious persecution, and created a republic. Yes a republic, which is a form of government in which power resides in elected individuals representing the citizen body and government leaders exercise power according to the rule of law. This republic was created so that it protected religion while also acknowledging that the government would remain secular, protecting each and every belief equally (each and every citizen) and not endorse any one religion over another. This also includes the freedom of choice of whether or not to choose a religion at all.  

In fact, it was President Thomas Jefferson who later wrote (to a Baptist church group in 1802), "The First Amendment has erected as a wall of separation between Church and State." 

And to handle this concept fairly, not everyone agreed with this perspective. James McHenry, the Secretary of War, protested the language of the treaty. "[He said] at the time, [The Senate] ought never to have ratified the treaty alluded to, with the declaration that 'the government of the United States, is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.'What else is it founded on? This act always appeared to me like trampling upon the cross. I do not recollect that Barlow (Joel Barlow was the United States consul-general to the Barbary States who handled the translation of the treaty from Arabic to English) was even reprimanded for this outrage upon the government and religion."

I for one feel safe knowing the historical perspectives and having the opportunity to question motives in their entirety whenever our government gets into the process of deciding what we should believe. But we are blessed by the gift of having the choice of what to believe, and that the constitution gives us an opportunity to entirely respect the beliefs of others. Entirely! This does not mean to condone behavior that is hurtful and mean and destructive to the lives of any United States citizen. We are all created equal and need equal treatment in our country. Apply the golden rule. Anyone can apply that rule, it is not exclusive to any group. You don't even need a religion.

Please revisit and read what the founders of this great nation wrote, don't take my word  or what the spin-doctors spin. Before believing anything you hear or read, try critically looking at it, and then decide. We all deserve to give ourselves that gift.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

The Journey Versus Easy Access

“A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourists can in a hundred miles.” -Edward Abbey



In Desert Solitaire, a narrative by Edward Abbey, he writes that he sees the wilderness and the parks as places that should remain as untouched an unaltered as possible, regardless of the difficulty accessing it would be for some of the population. His meditations on how he sees modern man and his need to move quickly through time, getting places quickly in their cars, is solid philosophy. At least as solid as the fluid essence of philosophy can be.

It is difficult to see him as right in his answers to the problems that he outlines. Problems such as paving the wilderness to reach key points of interest and landmarks, often at the expense of destroying much wilderness in this process. I believe he is well intentioned, his hearts certainly in the right place. Here is where I would recommend that you should read this book. With an open mind. Slowly, with consideration at a walking pace and not our normal barreling forward with a reckless abandon pace.

I remember when I was a young kid my own parents took me to the Lake of the Clouds, nestled among the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I distinctly remember a spectacular and challenging hike and climb to reach the overview to view the vista of the lake. Many years later, I took my own children to this spot, but instead of the long hike and climb, we drove right to the top on a paved road, took a few constructed steps to the overview, and there we were. I felt distinctly like someone, a traveler perhaps, whose land no longer matched the map held in his hand, in my memory. The site was still spectacular but my children missed the journey, a journey that was just as much a part of the experience as the beauty of the overlook. We did see a sow black bear and her cubs cross a paved road and navigate over the steel guardrails that were installed to keep the motorists from plunging into Lake Superior. The bear sighting is memorable but the habitat we viewed it in was somewhat questionable. (We saw bears in the UP on my vacation trip as a child as well, in both natural surroundings as well as at the local U.P. dumps the bears would frequent in search of an evening snack.)

Isn't part of life, and its experiences of the journey through time and across defined space, worth some effort? Some sweat equity, some blisters and bruises, a case of poison ivy or insect bites would only add to the experience. Can the modern feeling I experience, that of having somehow broken connections with nature and its multitude of perils, joys, hardships, wonder, challenges, initiative, and efforts, be reestablished?
 

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Technology to Get to the Primitive

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity”― John Muir

I always feel particular close to nature when my wife and I hike the Pictured Rocks Lake shore, an annual endeavor of ours each summer. Even though this wilderness area has vast stretches of primitive trails, it still takes technology to get close to the trail heads we hike. Technology such as roads and the cars that travel them. However, even smaller technology plays a closer role on the primitive parts of the trail during hiking. Water bottles take the place of an animal skin to carry our water. Yet an animal skin water container was to primitive man advanced water-carrying technology, necessary to survival between water sources.

Being alone is less important to me on the trail for me to experience the wilderness, than is having silence. My wife and I are of similar nature and appreciate silent moments filled with wilderness sounds. We have stood and listened to what surrounds us: birds, bubbling brooks, waves, storms, and whispering trees. We find joy in silent, observant, and appreciation of what surrounds us on a trail snaking through the wilderness. How my body feels on the trail—fatigue, invigorated, refreshed. However, even the hiking shoes that are technology over our ancestor’s bare-footedness leave the occasional blister or hot spot on my feet.

Perhaps if I never had shoes I would not miss them on the trail. That is how the human mind seems to work at times, seeks solutions to what it sees as a problem. How to make it easier to hike a trail? Invent footwear.