Food for Thought: The plight of SE Asian planes

I'm starting to think I living in and flying all over SE Asia at the right point in time; I lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 2010 to 2012. Because getting on a Southeast Asian flight seems a lot more risky right now than when I was there. Planes have "disappeared" (see My Inner Conspiracy Brother entry), crashed into the ocean, been shot down, and most lately suffered engine failure and crashed into a bridge. I have no idea what the issue is. In addition to bad luck, I'm wondering what else has contributed. Are SE Asia airlines buying inferior plane fuselages and equipment? Or incompatible parts? Are they having radar issues? Are the pilots not properly trained? My heart goes out to the families of everyone who's been lost. But beyond that, my mindset goes to "Is there something better that could be done to prevent some of this from happening?" I certainly hope someone in a better position to affect change is asking this same question too. Food for Thought...

Food for Thought: Independence Day 2010

Happy 4th of July to all. I know, I'm a few days late but I've been inebriated and everywhere accept home for the past 3 or 4 days so please excuse my tardiness. Although many people, like the crew I was partying and having fun with all weekend, simply use this holiday as another excuse to cook out, watch/light fireworks (legally or illegally), party and drink, a friend of mine inspired me to think about the day a little bit deeper. The legal separation of the colonies from Great Britain actually occurred on July 2, 1776 instead of July 4th. Then the actual signing of the Declaration of Independence wasn't actually completed by all the of the politicians until August 2nd, almost a month later. Furthermore, my African ancestors were still slaves in much of the nation and even after being emancipated in 1865, still didn't receive...no check that, didn't fight, strive and die for anything resembling freedom until centuries after the Declaration of Independence. However, I didn't let the details put a damper on my holiday mood. I decided that I think think all Americans - no matter their race, gender, religion, etc - should use the date as a symbol to celebrate their independence whenever or however it was achieved. Part of the beauty of America is that it is a smorgasbord of ethnicities, backgrounds, and subcultures; all of whom have their own stories of the struggle for independence and acceptance. Close your eyes and try to imagine the "typical American" and I guarantee it's gonna b a combination of a lot of different images. So as much as I can complain about the plight of the young Black man trying to make it in America and my desire to see the world, I can't really see myself living anywhere else. Food for Thought...

Food for Thought: Soccer, Drugs, and Society

Last night, I saw "30 for 30: The Tale of Two Escobars" and it may have been the most intriguing and captivating program I've seen in a long time. It was deep and had many layers to it. In light of the World Cup being the biggest topic in the world right now, I figured I needed to share with the world. That message is how a beloved drug lord and his love for soccer held a country together and how his demise and that of the soccer team allowed the country to fall into all out anarchy. Pablo Escobar (pictured), one of the baddest men to ever walk the Earth, became a Robin Hood figure and champion to the poor in his country. Unlike American druglords who give back to the community, he was not killing his own people as most of his business took place in the US and abroad; he controlled 80% of the world's drug trade at one point. Despite him being a druglord named the 7th richest man in the world by Forbes (valued over $25 billion), he built up low-income housing, hospitals, schools, churches, and most applicably, a world class soccer facility and team. Soccer was his love and he built their team into the 4th-ranked in the world, the South American champion (yeah, they beat powerhouses Brazil and Argentina by a combined 8-0) and a World Cup qualifier for the first time in a generation; the hopes of the country rode on the shoulders of Pablo's national soccer team and their also beloved captain Andres Escobar (pictured below, no relation). Pablo became above the law, he got extradition illegalized, got elected to public office, and more until regular enforcement couldn't do anything. After the national team qualified and started preparing for the 1994 World Cup in the USA, Pablo's enemies took matters into their own hands. They formed the PEPEs (translated to "People Prosecuted by Pablo Escobar"), basically when Pablo was on the run his opposing cartel went to everyone who worked for him and said "We want Pablo dead. Either join in and work for us, or die." After they blew up a few target buildings and started a few small riots, people started laying down instead of fighting the PEPEs. They decided they were gonna terrorize the whole country until they got him. Well, the Columbian National Police, in the pocket of the PEPEs, finally found and killed Pablo when some of his closest allies turned against him. However, the society fell into a state of pure anarchy, widespread violence everywhere. Without the Big Boss, everybody wanted to be their own boss and they didn't have rules like he did. Pablo at his height had so much pull that anyone who wanted to do something illegal had to ask his permission or pay the consequences, he strictly forbid kidnapping or killing of people who weren't involved in the criminal underworld. With him gone, random people were being killed and kidnapped all over the place, including the families and friends of the National soccer team. So this society, which had so much hope riding on the soccer team sabotaged their tournament as their minds were on everything back home and nowhere near soccer. One of the tournament favorites, they lost 2 games and didn't make it out of the first round. Andres Escobar, one of the best and most respected players, had an own goal again the US in rout to a loss. Upon returning to Colombia, Andres was heckled by PEPE underlings about the own goal in a bar and eventually murdered in the parking lot after the verbal dispute continued. The overall state of the violence in society and its effect on the players' families coupled the murder of Andres effectively tore the soccer team apart. Players vowed to only play over in Europe, others quit the sport entirely. Colombia deteriorated in every aspect afterwards and was in shambles for the next few years. As much blame as Pablo gets for Colombia's violent culture of this time period, his wrath was calculated and involved only those involved in the underworld. With him gone and the soccer team losing, it spread to everyone. There were over 7000 murders in one year (compare that with Chicago's one year high of 943 in 1992, highest in the US in decades), many were regular citizens and over 600 were cops. How telling is it that Pablo's firm criminal order, his overwhelming generosity to the poor, and the success of the National Team he built kept his community together at the time where it was a potential powder keg? And by taking Pablo out, they sabotaged Andres's soccer team and threw the country into a tail spin. Food for Thought...

Food for Thought: Kevorkian and the Right to Suicide

I recently watched HBO's Original Movie entitled "You Don't Know Jack" chronicling the actions, beliefs, and legal tribulations of the controversial figure pathologist and "right-to-die" activist Dr. Jack Kevorkian. It was a name I heard as a young child as the butt of many jokes, but I didn't know and furthermore wouldn't have completely understood the actions of the man. So when I saw the commercials for the original movie and the casting of Al Pacino - one of my favorite actors - I was intrigued. So I watched it and as usual with me, it got me thinking deeply. And I never thought I'd say this when I was a child and I heard his name smeared as if he were a serial murderer, but I agree with Dr. Jack. People tend to draw their own conclusions when they hear the numbers; he "assisted" over 130 suicides. But this man wasn't some deranged mad scientist hell-bent on seeing people die or the power to kill in legal means. He lost his medical license because of his actions, I think the risk itself of losing the right to practice medicine would've scared him out of that if this were only some sick hobby. He offered his services to terminally ill patients who contacted him, not vice versa. Furthermore, the numerous times he was brought to trial, he wasn't trying to find some slimy rhetorical or loopholes to avoid going to jail. He was deliberately trying to use the legal system to put what in his mind was an archaic and overall nonsensical double standard on trial. He was more than willing to become the martyr of the issue if it could eventually overturn prejudice against, or at least further the argument for, "right to die" decisions for terminally ill or constantly suffering patients. In the picture below Kevorkian is shown coming to court wearing a medieval wooden pillory to represent his distaste that the prosecution had to resort to such outdated and outrageous common law doctrine to prosecute him. According to the ancient common law doctrines used conversion away from Christianity and openly disagreeing with anything in the Bible were also criminal acts. He carried out his services to a dear friend of his who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, so he clearly wasn't a hypocrite either. So many people are great and standing up for an issue until the question "What if it was someone you knew" question is asked. So speaking as I speak to my people, I feel him. The biggest argument against him was "You don't have the right to play God, you're overstepping your bounds trying to determine who lives or dies." However, quite frankly that's in the job description of the doctor under the Hippocratic Oath. I mean, if a doctor said "This guy's dying and I can help him, but who am I to interfere with the will of God?" he'd be crucified for violating the Oath and "playing God" in that situation. Sounds like a double standard. If a person is unconscious in a coma, the decision can be made to pull the plug from the machine and let them die with no problem, but if a conscious, rational Lou Gehrig's disease sufferer says they've been living in excruciating pain for years and wants to escape the pain and stop causing their family so much stress and money, the doctor can't listen to him? Is "physician insisted suicide" a medical service to a dying or suffering patient, or is is "murder"? More applicably to me and my demographic, three NYPD officers can shoot an unarmed man outside his home 41 times (over 2.5 full clips between the 3 pigs...i mean cops) and no one even loses their jobs, but Kevorkian had to do over eight years for "murder" for lethally injecting a man who looked up and contacted Kevorkian to help him die; he even went so far as to sign an informed consent form. I ran track with someone who intentionally shot a man to death and was out in less than five years. Does that seem fair? What's next, abortionists facing prosecution despite the women coming to the clinics for their services? And one ideal from everything I heard Kevorkian say resonated the most with me; if I were in a situation where I'd have to live the remainder of my life in excruciating pain until my terminal disease finally killed me, I may want the option to die peacefully too. I wouldn't want to be such a burden on my family, I wouldn't want to be reduced to the point where I have no quality of life and am simply a charity case, and I wouldn't want to spend years and years suffering when I know that there's no light at the end of the tunnel. I also may want the right to die on my terms. Food for Thought...

Food for Thought: In Search of Vision

Just like Blaxploitation era pimp/hustler Willie Dynamite in the clip u just watched (Hint: watch it now if u skipped it), right now I am full of ambition but lacking the proper vision. Unlike Willie, I am not a pimp trying to rationalize a power struggle with a slightly effeminate older pimp who is overly expressive with his hands. Instead, I am graduating in May into a slowly recovering job market full of questions. I have so many thought about what I want to do in the long run and/or experience I'd like to have. However, my mission right now is to do the research and figure out step by step how I want to get there. I don't want to be one of those people who doesn't make it to a position where they feel productive or like their job until they're in their 50s. I just have to figure out the shorter (not necessarily the easier) route. Maybe I do need to go to grad school, maybe I need to look to move up from a different direction than my given major usually hires, maybe I should look into an apprenticeship and move up that way. I have a Hurricane Katrina-like brain storm raging in my mind. Hopefully God's guidance, connections with professionals, and my own blood, sweat, tears, and perseverance can help me find the vision to make it. Failure is not an option, I've come too far to work at Foot Locker and sponge off my family. I gotta get to grinding and get my life together, please pray for me...

Food for Thought: Happy New Year, the Questions

Happy New Year Everyone, 2009 is gone and it's not coming back. We've entered a new year and a new decade. This is the fourth decade I'll be alive to witness (80s,90s,00s,and 10s) and I'm grateful for that. There are many who did not make it this far. I look at each New Year as an opportunity for each person and consequently the world to make themselves better. But unfortunately there is also the possibility for things to go the other way also. Which is why I'm always left with so many questions for the new decade: both glisteningly positive and darkly negative. Questions that both excite me and scare me senseless. If u r the type to be frightened by such dark questions, don't read any further; these are the "frightening questions" Samuel L. Jackson spoke of in the movie "Pulp Fiction":

From a personal perspective:

• I'm scheduled to graduate in May, will I make it there? Or will I be hit by a bus before I get there?
• Will I get a job doing something meaningful? Or will I become another paper pusher who resents their job everyday?
• Will I actually find love? Or will I stop believing in it all together?
• Will I remain optimistic in my everyday perspective and endeavors? or the 'real world' tarnish my values and view on things?
  
• Most importantly, will I become a man and role model that everyone can be proud of and look up to? Or will I become a disappointment to those who helped me to become the person who I have become?

From a political and global perspective:

• Will we make the breakthroughs in energy necessary to continue our way of life? Or will anarchy arise as the world fights over the last remaining resources?
• Will the US improve its healthcare and education systems to compare with the world's elite? Or will we continue to fall behind other developed countries in these important areas?
• Will we make big strides towards curing AIDS, Cancer and other widespread problems? Or will a new and adaptive epidemic threaten the health of our entire society?
• Will there be movement towards peace in the Middle East? Or will war threaten the most sacred lands in the world?
• Will we able to prevent terrorist and suicide bombers from killing more large numbers of innocent people and unsuspecting soldiers? Or will they have more extravagant tricks up their sleeves that we are not ready for?
• And most importantly, is this the decade that conflicted nations will find some sort of understanding with one another and work towards cooperation and peace? Or will some event spark the apocalyptic nuclear war that could threaten all of mankind?

These questions run through my head and obviously the answers are not available to satiate my curiosity. Therefore all I can do is try to uphold my responsibility towards giving these questions the positive answers rather than the negative. We have a duty before God (whichever is the center of your faith), my family, and everyone else to try to make the world a better place. We as a people must strive to achieve things in the 2010's that I could not in the 2000's or prior. As in the "Six Million Dollar Man" show from the 70s, "We have the technology." The question is, will we use it for the right things? Our future is waiting for the answers...

Food for Thought: Village of 100 People

This was interesting when I saw it. And as u kno, I aspire to either entertain or enlighten with each blog. I hope this one will enlighten you and help us become more tolerant of other cultures. It's a study if the world's population were reduced to 100 people with the same proportions as the current population.

If the World were 100 PEOPLE:

50 would be female
50 would be male

30 would be children
There would be 70 adults,
14 of whom would be 65 and older

There would be:
30 Whites
70 Non-whites

There would be:
61 Asians
12 Europeans
14 Africans
8 Latin Americans (Central & South Americans combined)
5 Americans & Canadians combined

There would be:
31 Christians
21 Muslims
14 Hindus
6 Buddhists
12 people who believe in other religions
16 people who not be aligned with a religion

17 would speak Chinese
8 would speak Hindustani
8 would speak English
7 would speak Spanish
4 would speak Arabic
4 would speak Russian
52 would speak other languages

82 would be able to read and write; 18 would not
However, only 7 are educated above an 8th grade level

1 would have a college education
24 don't have any electricity
1 would OWN a computer
12 have computer access, only 3 of which have Internet access

75 people would have some supply of food and a place to
shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 25 would not
56 have no sanitation
9 are disabled
1 has AIDS

1 would be dying of starvation
20would be undernourished
15 would be overweight

83 would have access to safe drinking water
17 people would have no clean, safe water to drink

6 of them (all from the US) control 60% of the village's wealth
16 live on $1 a day or less
33 live on $2 a day or less
20 use 80% of the village's energy

only 25 have a refrigerator, clothes, a bed and a roof over their head

Google "Village of 100 people" or go to miniature-earth.com to see the video and stats

Remember how fortunate how are and how much of the world is different from you. Take care of yourself but never forget others.

Food for Thought: Were we meant to eat meat?

I just have a little quick Food For Thought on this subject. I was raised in the South and I love meat as much as the next man. I don't plan on giving it up either. But I was at a Brazilian steakhouse with a teammates and some tennis players last weekend and began thinking about this as I stared at some particularly rare meat sitting on someone's plate. I can do medium-rare, I can deal with a little pink on my steak; but these strips I was lookin at were all pink, no brown in sight, not even on the edges. No one at the table was willing to eat it because how such uncooked food would make us sick. Carnivorous animals may have had a battle over uncooked meat like that. So I started thinking again, were humans even meant to eat meat? Honestly, there's a lot of evidence suggesting that we were not meant to do so. Take a look at both pictures in this blog. Animals who are genetically meant to be carnivores or even omnivores have evolved certain traits that help them hunt, kill and easily eat and digest their meat. They have sharp teeth to easily tear up their meat; we have flat teeth, hence why we have to use utensils to cut up everything. Put us at a table with steak and no steak knife and we look pathetic. Furthermore, to hunt other animals to eat, carnivores have supreme hunting and fighting skills; Take away all weapons and I can't name one animal of any decent size that humans can take one-on-one in a fight; we weren't blessed with claws, tough skin, or any of those kind of advantages for hunting. Plus, carnivores' digestive systems are conditioned for eating raw meat and everything functioning just as it should be. Humans on the other hand can not eat large amounts of uncooked meat. Plus, even eating cooked meat, cholesterol and high blood pressure lead to the leading cause of preventable death, which is heart disease. Humans, especially Black people who frequently eat soul food, are eating ourselves into the grave; which wouldn't happen if our digestive systems were made to run off meat.

So, living in a country that makes meat itself the centerpiece of every meal, if not the whole meal, we must stay conscious of what we eat. Since I have hereditary higher-than-normal cholesterol, I have become very conscious of my consumption of pork, burgers, and other highly unhealthy foods. So I'm not saying that humans should stop eating meat or anything of that nature. But I do say that we need to be conscious of the problems it caused and we as a people need to take better care of ourselves. I didn't cut down on the bacon and double cheeseburgers cuz I didn't like em, I cut down becuz I'd truly like to be around to see my kids grow up and have kids of their own. Take care of yourselves out there. Make sure you get fruits, vegetables, and grains in your diet; it may have been what we were supposed to live off of in the first place. Food For Thought. Am I overthinking this?? Maybe. But I've Been Called Worse...