A road trip to Wyoming. I knew it had the makings of something wild and crazy as soon as it was placed on the schedule. A team with a record of 4 – 8 last season. Locale: Laramie, Wyoming – population 27, 204 – or about one quarter of the size of DKR Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. It had all the makings of – strange.
Would it be the Wild West … or the Twilight Zone?
As it turns out, it was a game of two halves – a great Twilight Zone episode if ever there was one. In the first half, there were crazy calls by the refs – for example, an unsportsmanlike conduct call for … well, I am still trying to figure out what that call was all about. The real Longhorns must have still been on the bus, because with 1:32 left in the first half, they were down 10 – 6. Yes, it was an ESPN upset special waiting to happen.
Then James Kirkendoll reminded everyone that the Longhorns really were the higher ranked team - his spectacular 25 yard catch putting the Longhorns up 13 – 10 at halftime. Whew. A short sigh of relief.
Yes, I know it may be hard to believe, but the World Health Organization’s report on health care systems rates the United States as number 37 – yes 37 – in the world. But those in the status quo want you to think otherwise, stating that we have “the best medical care in the world”. So who do you believe? And what really ARE the issues at stake?
Before we even get into the issue at hand, let’s take a light-hearted look at the issue by musician/actor/filmmaker Paul Hipp:
Humor can certainly bring light to the insanity of the situation. So now that we’ve taken a collective sigh of relief (and hopefully had a chuckle in the process), let’s now look at a couple of elemental issues in the health care reform debate.
It’s time for a call for civility. And truth. And intelligent discussion. And passionate debate. And solutions. At this point in history, the last thing we need is a call to arms. We need a call for civility.If you’ve been anywhere near a TV or newspaper or online discussion forum, you’ve been witness to perhaps the most childish, boorish, inane, insane behavior this side of reality TV. Oh, I forgot, it IS reality TV. This isn’t “Survivor” or “Big Brother” - it’s our very own town hall meetings, and Congress, and countless self-proclaimed “mavericks” and “patriots” espousing words of wisdom on cable TV. We’ve all seen or heard it lately … “death panels” (a classic Palin-ism there) … carrying an assault rifle to a town meeting because you have the “right” to bear arms … not sending your kids to school because the President has a “socialist agenda” for them (when he tells them to "stay in school”, “pay attention” and “listen to your parents”) … the sign at a town hall that stated “Bury Obama Care With Kennedy” … or how about comparing the President to … Hitler? Ahhh the irony on that one.
This has all become ridiculous. Stupid. Tasteless. Classless. And, in my eyes, terribly un-American. Since when have these behaviors become acceptable?
If I didn’t know better, I would think that all of this starts to look like the fall of the Roman empire. We are now a country in denial. And despair. And fear.
How so?
Jackie Stewart, three time F1 world champion, always used to say it in his thick Scottish brogue: “It’s a great day for motor car racing”.
And in Texas, in September, we have our very own version: “It’s a great day for college football”!
It’s a great time of the year. It’s a time when you finally realize that summer is on it’s way out, the fall is coming, and a season of college football is upon us. Visions of national championships and BCS bowls run through our heads. You put the Texas vs Oklahoma game on your calendar like it’s a national holiday (hold on – it isn’t?). You remind yourself that Thanksgiving isn’t only about turkey and family – it’s also about “beating A&M”.
Going to the game just adds to the excitement. There is burnt orange everywhere. Tailgaters on every street – and street corner – within a couple of miles of DKR Texas Memorial Stadium. Nowadays, tailgating involves the all-too-familiar sight of a student or alum with a beer in one hand – and a cell phone in the other. My oh my the times have changed – at least with the cell phone!
Saturdays are Game Day. Plain and simple.
On and off. Black and white. Up and down. Right and left. In and out. Yes and no.All of these are simple binary statements. They are all fine examples of a series of ones and zeros. There are so many instances of this – in fact, everything in our world can be described with just two numbers.
It is amazing how all of what we do can be reduced to a simple combination of ones and zeros. In many ways, it’s hard to believe, hard to comprehend, hard to imagine how such beautiful patterns and structures in our world exist because of ones and zeros – nothing more, nothing less. This is, without doubt, the definition of “elegance in simplicity”.
And this series of digits brings to mind the fact that life is just a series of simple, straight-forward decisions. It is but a decision made at every fork in the road, a choice in every waking moment, a stimulus and a response – a one, or a zero. On or off. Right or left. Up or down. Yes or no.
Someone has caused time to speed up. I swear, it’s going by faster today than it ever has before. Or it certainly seems that way.Life. It’s plays out fast, like an arpeggio, a stratospheric Eric Johnson guitar riff – when all you really want is one Albert King note bent a tone and a half that takes forever … and ever … and ever. You want it all to slow down to the level of a Howlin’ Wolf slow Delta blues – and instead, the pace of life starts to reflect a Steve Morse jam punctuated by triplets and double stops, embodying a “my guitar wants to thrash you” persona.
Life as music. Or music as life. The two have occupied parallel universes for me for many years.
And it is with thoughts of time – and music – and life in general - that I write today. If moments were notes, then we’d be playing a lullaby at birth, progressing to a Metallica song by the time we are 40. And it only gets faster as we go.
Before we even get into this discussion, a quick definition is in order:“Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs,opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy is thus a kind of lie. Hypocrisy may come from a desire to hide from others actual motives or feelings.”
We’ve come a long way since March 5, 2009. That was the day of the first “summit” on health care reform. Oh, I remember it well. All the stakeholders, all the players, were so excited to be a part of the summit, a part of the process.
It was an exciting time. Until the stakeholders realized that the promise of reform was for real.
The stakeholders that have the most to lose are now spending millions of dollars to cover their reform-exposed asses. I think the last number I read was $1.4 million per DAY from the big money stakeholders. It’s Big Pharma … Big Insurance … Big Hospitals … Big Medicine …
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