Why Are We All Here?

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  No "Ken's Korner" last week due to internet connection problems. Thank you for your patience.


The age-old question that mankind has sought the answer to for centuries.

Linda Fiorentino's character asks it to God-in-female-human-form, played by Alanis Morrisette, in the 1999 film "Dogma".  The reply is a simple tweak of Fiorentino's nose by the deity with no explanation.

As I grow older, I become aware of the fact that I've already lived half of my life expectancy here on this planet.  Before marriage and family, I had no fear of death.

I still don't.  Through my faith, I know what's on the other side.  If given a choice, no one really wants to die. But I worry about the loved ones I will leave behind come my Judgment Day.  Namely my wife and daughter.

Mankind's greatest dread is the knowledge of its own mortality.  

I have lost three relatives to cancer.  My godfather and second cousin at 49.  Another second cousin at 52. My maternal grandmother at 54.  My great-uncle at 59.  While those deaths were smoking-environmental related, it never ceases to cross my mind as to how many others have died of a terminal illness without knowing they had one until it was too late for medical intervention.

More than four months ago, I changed jobs.  I had gone from working days to evenings, and now not sitting down to a traditional dinner with my family, and consuming less wine, I've managed to lose a few pounds, and others have taken notice of it.

Since I turned 40, I've made annual checkups part of my life.  My doctor, who's the same age as me, is going through the same careful navigation to stay healthy in our advancing years.

One day, having done the necessary fasting and abstention from alcohol, I went to have some bloodwork done the morning of our annual trip to Kennywood Park.  As it was approaching the time for my annual physical, I wanted to get that done and out of the way before I called to schedule my appointment.

They beat me to the punch a little over 24 hours later, when I got the call as I was preparing my daughter's lunch.

"It's about your thyroid", the woman in my doctor's office said to me over the phone.

My thyroid?  My wife was born without one.  I double-checked to make absolutely sure it was me they were talking about, as we both go to the same doctor.

They were.

My mind flashed back to my job change and the change in my eating and drinking habits that went with the new work schedule. Was that all it was, or is this something more serious?

Whatever the matter, my mind raced through the fact that I needed to remind myself that I was not a young person anymore, and that I'd better be ready to deal with matters like these sooner, rather than later.

That's not to say that the moment of fear, anxiety, and other emotions didn't have an effect on me.

For a while, I became patient with Savannah getting distracted from practicing her letters and numbers.  I became aware of the time I had with her...and all my loved ones, for that matter.

And the clock ticking those seconds away resonated in my head much more loudly.

I just turned 44.  My former boss was at this same age when he had two heart attacks in succession.  If it happened to him, it could very well happen to me.  I never lost sight of that.  An esteemed colleague of mine dropped dead of a heart attack at 53 while working a charity event.  Another died at 49 after years of fighting heart disease.  Another colleague just recently announced he was cancer free, while another succumbed to cancer as it appeared he was beating it.

I even asked for prayers on Facebook, thinking of the worst once I walked into the doctor's office.
Turned out not to be so bad.
My doctor and I are the same age, and are going through the same age-related health concerns.  My thyroid numbers concerned him and my cholesterol was up a point.  He was simply checking to see if I had any symptoms that I might have avoided calling him about.
But we went down the list, and he gave me a thorough exam.
"We'll keep an eye on the bloodwork," he said.  As long as I wasn't puking or passing blood, it was all good.
This is what convinced me that I have a good doctor, the fact that he was concerned enough about my well-being to order me into the office to catch anything before it had a chance to materialize.
Or metastatize.
You don't find that level of dedication in a doctor these days.
Well done, Dr. Fiorina.  You have me for life as a patient.

NEXT WEEK:  Heaven's Gate

Connection Perception...Part II

We left off last week with a bit of a history lesson of what led to social media dominating the electronic landscape as it does today.
As I had stated last week, a friend had engaged in a discussion with another about how social media is more of a disconnector than a re-connector.  He posted this on his Facebook profile and solicited responses in kind.
It was a matter that I hadn't given much thought until I read the responses.  I was surprised to read what I did, but then not so surprised as I began to understand it.
The responses ran the gamut.  Reconnector...renewing old friendships across the miles.  Disconnector...the depreciation of the meaning of the word 'friend'.  Reconnector...a more efficient way to communicate. Disconnector...you learn more negative qualities about that person whose friend request you accepted.
Reconnector...for those who work long hours with little to no time for letters or phone calls. Disconnector...those stupid games!
I'll digress on that one.  I do like "Words With Friends".
But are we becoming a generation that has become more comfortable with misanthropy than real social interaction?
Ted Danson's character on the former CBS sitcom "Becker" would happily agree with the former of the two.
In social situations, when we disagree, there is less of a tendency anymore to 'agree to disagree', and more to separate ourselves from that person altogether or even react violently, whether it's verbal or physical in nature.
I know this because in this very forum, I have taken stands on views that have been to say the least, controversial.  While some supported me, others spewed vitriol in my direction and de-friended me, never wanting anything to do with me again.  The remaining messaged me privately asking me to help them understand why I took the stand I took, because they valued me as a friend and didn't want to lose me.
Notwithstanding, my backbone remains intact.
For the past 25 years, I worked in the radio broadcasting industry, and I spent more than half of my career as a journalist.  Objectivity wasn't an option, but a tool necessary to do your job successfully.
And I believe I have been just that.  Though objectivity sometimes carries no weight with the bull-headed so steadfast in their beliefs that they see no room for anyone in their lives whose beliefs are different than their own.
Among my family and friends, and I don't mean the ones on Facebook, there are whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, rich, poor, atheists, agnostics, Christians, Jews, homosexuals, bisexuals, transgendereds, high school dropouts, scholars, tradesmen, professionals, artisans, executives, ex-convicts, and law enforcement officers.
Muslims too.  "OMG...he's a terrorist!!!"  I can see it now.  Grow up.
Just about every one of them would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it.
There's positives and negatives to social media.  Do the negatives outweigh the positives?  I believe they do.
But then again, how long can you carry on an in-person conversation with another before life gets in the way and you have to leave, wishing 'I would have loved to talk about that some more'.
When I joined the planning committee for my high school class's 25th reunion, none of us ever would have dreamed that the number of attendees would be less than half of those who came to our 20th.
Nonetheless, we still had a great turnout, with many traveling hundreds of miles to be there.  But I'm sure that social media played a role in determining whether or not many of our classmates were going to show up.
Some are content to live their lives vicariously through others or see the pictures of what someone is doing rather than going out and having these experiences on their own.  Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but why not go beyond a thousand?
You may have received a 'friend request' that you accepted with some degree of reluctance because it was a person you may not have cared for years ago.  And as you browsed that person's profile, you may realize you may have misjudged that person.
Or that you were right about them all along and nothing's changed.
Employers are finding social media to be a useful tool in screening potential work candidates, or giving them grounds to fire an existing employee.
I like Facebook.  It gives me an opportunity to share my life with others I don't get to see as much as I would like.  Photos, this weekly blog, the occasional trip, my love of wine, things like that.
I don't do Twitter.  I personally don't find my life all that interesting to 'tweet' about every single action I have going on.  One form of social media that's fairly low maintenance is enough.
For everyone.  I don't care who you are.
Anything beyond that is overboard.
I first started with MySpace.  Once I learned that Facebook gravitated to a more mature crowd, I migrated there and shut down my MySpace profile.
If I spend that much time on social media, all I'll be 'tweeting' about is how much time I spend on social media.  It doesn't make sense to me.
So what's my final answer, disconnect or reconnect?
It's all a matter of perception, and it boils down to this:
With great power, comes great responsibility.
Make of that what you will.



NEXT WEEK:  The Ticking Clock

Connection Perception...Part I

An old friend of mine from high school posed this question on his Facebook page just a few weeks ago.

He and a friend were discussing how social media is a disconnector and not a reconnector.

A very thought-provoking argument, Michael.  Challenge accepted!

The root argument is this...are we relying on social media to supplant social interaction?

Let's think about the oldest form of social media there was before social media.

Huh?  

I'm getting around to that.  Just humor me for a moment.

The church was the cornerstone of every community.  It was the place to gather for worship, and fellowship before and after the Sunday (temple on Saturday) service.  With the rise of electronic media and more secular thinking among today's society, the church is slowly losing its grip on that.  And churches have been around for...well, forever.

Oh, let's also not forget the stay-at-home Mom.  America's social calendar personified.

Then came newspaper.  The telephone.  Radio and television.  Then the personal computer.

While there is some debate over whether or not IBM co-founder Thomas J. Watson Sr. actually said "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers" in 1943, I doubt even he would have believed that these devices, once large enough to fill an entire floor of an office building, would have shrunk to the size of a notebook, with similar capabilities found on cellular telephones, and be available in just about every home worldwide.

It began in the 1970s following the introduction of the microprocessor, though the personal computer as we know it today would not begin entering homes until the start of the 1980s.

Even then, the devices were used for little more other than playing games or as word processors. The latter would eventually supplant typewriters, though some of those devices are still in use today.

With the increase in the number of personal computers entering homes, then came the internet.

The internet as we know it today has been around for a little more than two decades now.  However, the concept of networking computers with one another had been around for at least two decades prior to that, though limited in scope to only government, educational, and scientific entities.  As more computers entered homes in the 1980s, more 'hackers' found ways to infiltrate computer networks if they were fortunate enough to own a dial-up modem.  

Then someone thought of a way to bring the hackers out of hiding.  Thus the birth of the World Wide Web.

While some hackers are still underground, others are working legitimately to combat what they had become experts at over the years and now getting paid for it.  The birth of the IT department.

Email was praised as a means for those who didn't have the time to devote to sitting down, finding a piece of paper and envelope, go to the post office and get stamps and THEN put the finished product in a mailbox for pickup the next day.  Once you bought your monthly subscription to AOL, you could visit any of the free email sites and set up your own account immediately.

I've had my hotmail address for 15 years now.  

You could start a letter to a friend, and if you didn't have time to finish, you could save the draft and return to it later, then finish and send it off.  

Those who didn't like to write letters now found themselves with time to email.  Even those who highly valued the art of penmanship like my mother (who is a left-handed calligraphy artist), found themselves having to assimilate to electronic mail if they intended to stay in touch with family and friends across the miles.

Some even took this a step further and spent the money needed to develop their own website, make money with it by doing something they enjoyed (blogging, photography, selling of crafts, etc.) and quit their hated day jobs.

Entertainers also plied their trades through websites of their own.  But what was left for those who couldn't afford a site of their own, yet still wanted to share their lives with others?

Enter Facebook, MySpace, Twitter.

And we'll touch on that next week.

NEXT WEEK:  Part II

Center of Government

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson

Think about the third President's words for a moment, and realize just how big government really is.  Especially here...at just about every level.
I'm not just talking about our elected leaders and appointed officers, but the staffs that support them.
And the mounds of paperwork that make it all run smoothly.  
Or so it seems.
Here in Butler County, Pennsylvania, where I've been based for the past seven years, our county commissioners have come under fire for an annex they wish to attach to the county courthouse because they're running out of room.
In this forum, I'm not going to chide nor praise by name any of the three commissioners currently in office for this reason: many of the county's residents have already formed their own personal opinions of each of the commissioners.  Their character flaws or gifts are not the issue here.  It's all about money and how it's spent.
Just about every county seat in this country has outgrown its original courthouse.  They either add another building onto it like in Westmoreland and Butler Counties, vacate it completely and move into an entirely new one, like in Indiana County or in Seneca County, Ohio, or keep the existing building and rent or buy space in neighboring buildings that are but a short walk away, as is the case with Armstrong and Jefferson Counties.  
Since those buildings were first erected, populations were beginning to grow in the areas that surrounded them. With population growth, there comes problems that create a need for "growing the government" in kind.
Public safety.  Social welfare.  Parks and Recreation.  Public works and the relative infrastructure.  Those are just a few examples.
Fifty years ago, the ills that face our society today simply didn't exist.  That's not to say that things like drug abuse, rape, incest, assault, robbery and theft, and murder weren't around, but they were in far fewer numbers than what they are today, and much went unreported or journalists were told to shy away.
In many cases, much of these crimes involve suspects and victims known to each other, and not random crimes committed by strangers.  These are crimes borne out of bad choices made by mature adults capable of taking responsibility for their own actions, yet many choose to make victims out of suspects and place the burden of it all on society's shoulders.
A great example of this is Children and Youth Services.  This agency has been praised, feared, damned, and celebrated because of the unenviable job its people are tasked to do.
The essence of the job involves removing children from dangerous situations, and also removing them from society where they pose a danger to others.
The commissioners say that this particular agency has outgrown its space and needs room to expand.  Not in terms of staff, but the mounds of paperwork from the multitude of files that have to be at near-arms-reach of a caseworker at any given moment.
Thus the basis of the need for the new building, known as the "Government Center Annex", that two of the three commissioners want to attach to the existing Government Center, which is the courthouse annex (an annex for the annex, yes).  The third wants to purchase a building down the street that he claims will cost less than building new.  The two others claim that cost will be inflated by necessary construction upgrades to bring that building to suit the needs of the CYS office.
A former co-worker of mine inspired me to write this, saying that the money used to buy or build the building could be better spent on fixing roads or giving police departments K-9 officers or other tools necessary to combat the growing threat of drug-related crimes in town.
I couldn't agree more.
Unfortunately, it's not that simple.  Even more unfortunate than that, is that the elected leaders at the county level often get an unfair rap that they don't deserve.
Like other municipal governments, counties are restricted on how they raise revenue on their own, and spend money they receive at the state and federal level.  It must be documented in painstaking detail.  Not only that, they're required by state law to provide human service programs, yet be totally on their own insofar as raising money to fund those programs.
Unfunded mandates, if you will.  They're not the only ones.  Special education programs that school districts are mandated to have are all funded through local real estate tax revenue.
When more people depend on 'the system' to carry them through life, these programs are forced to grow in size, because the caseload size grows.  Though western Pennsylvania has experienced a 'brain drain' over the past two decades with our native-born population fleeing to a more prosperous job climate, we've become a haven for welfare-dependents from other states who come here after they've exhausted their benefits from their own points of origin.
Thus, western Pennsylvania has earned the nickname "Pennsyltucky".
The paperwork involved with these programs, along with CYS and juvenile courts is monumental...more than you could ever imagine.
But we could make those forms and that paperwork electronic, right?  
Not that simple.
Unlike the federal government, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not have a Paperwork Reduction Act, geared towards making forms simpler and only available through electronic means.
We need one.
Though Common Pleas (in Pennsylvania, circuit court elsewhere) Judges are housed in a county-owned edifice and are elected by county residents, the county has little to no jurisdiction over the judges.  They collect a state-issued paycheck and answer to the state.
And Judges want to see real paperwork written in one's own handwriting, if that's the case.  The reasoning behind it is because our justice system is so detail-oriented that one little typo or missing word could make the difference between a conviction or acquittal.
Case files need to be on live paper and have to be easily accessible under rules of criminal procedure in just about every state governing disclosure in the court system.  
In case this week's column is too long, it's the shortest, yet most concise answer I can give regarding this subject.  
That money could be better spent elsewhere.  But state law says it can't be.  That's what needs to change, and it's up to us to lobby our legislators to make this change happen.  If they can't do it, we can elect someone who will.
When we talk about spending millions of dollars for a new courthouse annex for the existing courthouse annex built over a decade ago, BUT have no money to buy the City of Butler a K-9 officer (money for that was raised mostly through private donations spearheaded by a local businessman), yeah, something's wrong!
The county eventually did kick in some cash towards the dog after it became clear that this is what private citizens in Butler wanted, and proved it through a very successful fundraising campaign.
There's also bickering over office space sizes and parking.  Let's settle this once and for all.  All department heads get the same office size!  Your subordinates are doing the legwork, they need room for all the required paperwork.  As for parking, let's not put the cart before the horse.  I think employees will take any free off-street parking that's available to them.  Umbrellas and overshoes were invented for this reason.
Ron, I thank you for your challenge.  
I hope this gives you the answer you were looking for.



NEXT WEEK:  Disconnect or Reconnect?