Cleveland Heights on the Watch

If one wants to maintain a blog I expect it's important to post things fairly regularly. So on the assumption it's better to post anything that I think may be worth sharing rather than nothing at all, here's something of mine that's been hanging around for a while.

My wife comes home from church choir practice frustrated and fuming, not because of the singing (she loves it), but because of the ticket she has just received from a police officer lurking on a street that is dubbed residential, though it is only half so – you know, that stretch of Superior that separates Cain Park to its north from the houses to its south, and upon which Cleveland Heights balances its municipal budget with fines levied on unsuspecting motorists by posting a 25-mph speed limit and a hawk-eyed cop there: he who must never sleep, eat, make love, or gas up his cruiser is always there, ready to bring down folks whose heavy right feet, briefly lulled to carelessness by the seeming isolation of that stretch (particularly in winter), cost them hefty fines plus court costs – the street that makes that guy Cleveland Heights’ most valuable employee minus, of course, all the ill-will he collects.


How long has it been hanging around? I wrote it in February for a class in Creative Writing at Cuyahoga Community College (an excellent class, btw; and free for seniors). The assignment was to produce a 150-word single-sentence paragraph.


And why now? Because I am paying taxes to Cleveland Heights for the privilege of working there, and I want to share with you an even bigger source of municipal income.


How many of you east-siders have met this guardian of public safety? And does he also relentlessly patrol quiet streets in far-off locales?

Post 9/11 Post

Friends:

Between starting a new job and having to buy and set up a new computer, I have not posted anything for a couple of weeks. That could be fatal to a newly-hatched blog, but I hope not. And I hope you are still with me.

Today's post came to mind as the tenth anniversary of 9/11 neared, and I thought about posting it then. I am glad I did not do it because the day was marked by solemn and generally respectful remembrance of those whose lives were suddenly taken from us. I think it's better to post it now.

It is not new. It is from the concluding section of a sermon I preached on September 16, 2001, in which I struggled with the same questions everyone was struggling with in the tragedy's immediate aftermath. I remembered it in general, but when I went back to look at it I found myself asking to what extent my prayer suggestions had been realized, and whether things would be different now if they had been.

What do you think?

Every decision made or not made by President Bush and his advisors in the next few days and weeks will have overwhelmingly real world consequences.  The stakes are higher than perhaps they have been in my lifetime.  Christians will continue to pray for them.

• We pray that a way to a just, lasting and secure peace be found, recognizing that walking that way may prove tough and costly.
• We pray that our leaders be as honest and forthright as as they can possibly be, so that the distrust of democratic institutions initiated by Vietnam not be heightened.
• We pray that we not strike out at just any target, or even at pretty good targets, intending to show our strength and resolve, but in fact only showing our frustration.
• We pray for the protection and preservation of all people, from the least to the greatest.
• Obedient to Jesus, we pray for our persecutors.
• We pray that dissent and criticism be considered and respected, even if not all are accepted.
• We pray that every genuine sacrifice continue to be valued and appreciated.

Peace be with you.

More Than Jobs

            When asked about increasing taxes, conservatives spout a unison response: “That would be a job-killer.” They still believe, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that large sums of money in millionaires’ pockets and corporations’ vaults alone somehow morph into jobs as those millionaires and businesses purchase new equipment and hire new workers. Unfortunately for the present state of things, such is not the case. Millionaires prefer by buy luxuries and corporations prefer to reward their investors with dividends. Government jobs are being axed right and left, so even they are not available.

Can we assume, as our conservative compatriots do, that “it’s all about jobs”? We cannot. Jobs are vitally important for individuals and for the common good. But there’s more to life than work and more to the wellbeing of our nation than jobs for those who can work.

Americans know that. All Americans—those who have jobs and those who do not—want to breathe clean air, drink clean water, eat safe food and take safe medicine. We value good police and fire departments, expect well-regulated air traffic, and need first-rate highways. We love our national, state and local parks. Given the choice, Clevelanders would rather live next to a lake teaming with fish than one blooming with algae. And we certainly depend upon our military and its servicemen and women. Without governments funded by taxes, we’d have none of those. Even if we all had jobs, life would be brutal and short.

          Moreover, if the measure of all things is whether they produce jobs, where does that leave those who cannot work because of age (too young or too old), because of illness or disability, or because of any condition beyond human control? Or those who have made mistakes that leave them on the outside of job fairs looking in; will they be given any chance to turn their lives around? If all government budgetary and program efforts are narrowly focused on jobs alone, what of the large portions of our population whose work is to get an education or who need programs that can help them redirect their adult lives?

There’s more to life than a job. There’s more to the power of our nation than its workforce grinding out widgets. Even Americans sipping tea at their little party know that. I long to hear a conservative commentator or politician support anything for the common good other than cutting taxes.

Several months ago someone took out an ad which listed most—maybe all—of the taxes Americans pay. No reason was offered for publishing the list, but I can only assume its intention was provoke an “ain’t it awful” reaction. But the ad never told what those taxes pay for, what they buy for us who enjoy the highest standard of living the world has even known and who, compared to much of the rest of the world, bear a light tax burden. Do we want our fellow Americans who are poor to live at level of abject poverty found in much of the world? How well we all live together is a product of private enterprise and public policy, including equitable and fair taxation.

We need jobs; good paying jobs in good workplaces; jobs that produce useful products and offer useful services. But we need more than jobs alone if we are to remain the beacon nation celebrated by the Statue of Liberty. After all, the communist Soviet Union boasted full employment…but who’d want to go there from here?

Finders Keepers...or Not?

30-year-old Leah Kleppinger of Twinsburg, Ohio, found a wallet containing $4,700 in cash in a Bed, Bath, & Beyond shopping cart in the parking lot outside the store. It also continued information identifying its owner.

What would I have done?

She took it to the local police station, and told the Plain Dealer that “it is what God would have wanted her to do and that she was just being a good steward of it while it was in her possession.”

What would I have done?

The police lieutenant who helped her observed “There are still honest people in the world.” The “very happy” owner rewarded her, which she said was “completely unnecessary.”

What would I have done?

When the story was reported on the local TV news, reporter Ramona Robinson announced the results of a “text poll” the station had taken which asked, “What would you have done?” About 65% would NOT have returned it; 35% would have. Ramona looked shocked. Such polls are notoriously unreliable…but I have to wonder…

What would I have done?

And you?

Meditation on Elephants

Maxine and I took advantage of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s free “Senior Safari” last week to see the marvelous new “African Elephant Crossing” Exhibit. I imagined I was in Africa as I stood quietly watching one of the three female elephants (Moshi or Martika or Jo) break, strip, crunch, chew and swallow small branches of some delectable tree. I was amazed at the range of fine to large motor skills evident in her trunk, and by the ease with which she coordinated its movements with her tusks to get the job done. She was in no hurry, as if sharing a leisurely lunch in the company of her lady friends.

A couple of days later I picked up a copy of the September issue of the Metroparks’ program guide, the Emerald Necklace. I wasn’t too surprised to learn that an elephant’s trunk contains 100,000 muscles and ligaments, and can pick up something as small as a TicTac and also flip over a Volkswagen.

Then I was shocked by an additional statistic: “the [wild elephant] population has declined from 1.5 million to just 300,000 in only 20 years…about 100 elephants lost every day.” I don’t know how I’d feel about that stat if I were an African farmer whose crops were being destroyed by elephants, but I know how I feel about it as an affluent American worried about the future of our planet’s biodiversity. It’s depressing.

Zoos help us see amazing creatures such as elephants up close and personal, so that we might gain a sense of their unique and irreplaceable value, and perhaps take actions to help preserve their natural habitats so they can survive. Another stat from the same article: “There are 223 accredited zoos in North America, only 42 of which have African elephants.” I am proud of our Cleveland Zoo, and glad my taxes help support it.

I am also glad that Cleveland has a fourth elephant, 11-foot-tall, 13,000 pound Willie. Maybe in a couple of years we’ll be able to watch a baby elephant crossing our north coast slice of African savanna. It would be a blessed event, indeed!