Drive Safely

 A 10-year-old girl is dead and the 18-year-old driver who caused her death is in the burn unit at the University of Alabama – Birmingham hospital with life-threatening injuries.  In all, eight people were sent to the hospital.  For two families, life will never be the same.

I saw the aftermath of the wreck and I’ll have a hard time forgetting the silver tarp draped over the mass of twisted metal that was once a Toyota minivan, or the county coroner’s van arriving to remove the dead girl from the wreckage.  As I drove to work the next morning, a driver, who had earlier been tail-gating me, blew past me.  Didn’t he know that child had died the night before because of a speeding driver?  Watching him exceed the speed limit by a good 10 or 15 miles per hour, I wondered why there is never a police officer around or any actions to correct this behavior.

When a child is killed with a handgun, you will hear lots of voices crying for more gun control.  When a child dies in a car accident, which occurs much more frequently, you won’t hear those voices crying for more traffic laws or tighter traffic enforcement.  Similar to handguns, the vehicles we drive can kill or maim, simply because of the people operating them. And the key to reducing traffic deaths is not more laws or more cops, because there can never be enough enforcement, it’s us policing ourselves.

Policing ourselves means making driving our primary focus while we are driving.  You can’t hold a phone to your ear and focus on driving.  Texting, eating, and applying makeup are examples of activities that take our focus away from driving.  And we need to focus because a split-second may be the difference between life and death.

Policing ourselves means obeying the traffic laws. That means driving the speed limit, not following too closely, maintaining your lane, coming to a complete stop when making a right turn on red, and using turn signals. Obeying these laws will go a long way towards keeping us safe. 

A final way of policing ourselves is to be courteous drivers.  Don’t cut people off in traffic.  Allow people to merge. Drive the speed limit, not 10 mph below it or above it. Drive in the right lane; allow the faster traffic to use the left lane. Turn down the music. Remember that you aren’t in your own little world; be aware of what’s going on around you and how your actions may adversely affect others.

Too many senseless accidents happen every day that could have been avoided.  It only takes a second for a bad decision while driving to cause an accident.  And yes, I meant to say decision, a conscious act that you made.  Police yourself on the roadways.  The life you save by doing so may be your own.

Connected

Thanks to John Galt for another great post.

Are we jaded?  Are we realistic?  Are we informed?  I’d hate to think we are clueless.  Our country’s strength has been founded on the ability to assess the situation and foster a solution.  This ability still exists and (hopefully) will soon be apparent in Oklahoma.  I pray that the country comes together to support those affected by the tornadoes and bring about recovery and healing. 

My challenge to the country’s realism centers on our ability to recover financially from this failed economy.  Sequestration.  Maybe it didn't affect you directly, but it will affect you.  Many of the government agencies are working at a deficit.  We have to work less hours with the associated cut in pay.  That means we have to make informed choices on how we spend our reduced salary.  We won’t eat out, order in, buy extra, improve our homes, upgrade our automobile, or buy your goods and services.  We simply cannot afford it.  The costs of goods and services did not diminish with our salary reduction, so expect me to spend less than the 10% pay cut.  I’m scared of what comes next, so I’ll hold onto all I can. 

So, if you joined in the rhetoric on the fat-cat federal employee that could well afford a pay cut, let me share my burden with you in the goods and services industry.  I cannot afford you.  The days of isolation when the consequence imposed on one person did not necessarily affect others are gone.  I don’t live off the land.  In days past, my farm’s drought probably wouldn't affect you.  I’d weather the loss alone.  You wouldn't have to carry my burden, feed my family or offer a hand out.

Well, my pride won’t let me ask for a handout, but it will make me hold onto my money very tightly so I won’t have to.  But think about it.  Our economy is based on capitalism.  You want to sell me something.  If you are economically viable, you are lucky.  But, when your recent high school graduate cannot find a job because I had to take a second job as a clerk in a department store or a waiter in a restaurant, you will feel the effects.  When I buy fewer products, the mill cuts back on their output and lays employees off, prices will go up, and you will feel the effects.  We are all connected in this economy.  To think otherwise is foolish.

One thing you won’t notice is a change to my support of the people that endure the horrors of a disaster.  I will always send them my prayers and offer them a hand and a warm meal.  My grandma taught me to be frugal with a dollar, but never let anyone go hungry from her table.

So, since we are all in this together, let’s say enough is enough to our elected federal officials.  We won’t tolerate your indecisive, ineffective conduct.  You can no longer target one group as the scapegoat and distract us from the real issue.  You, our elected officials, are not doing your job and we are tired of it.  Shake the hand of the person across the aisle and work out a solution that puts this country back to work.  Enough is enough.   People are suffering and you can ease their pain.

Clueless Government?

President Obama has had a tough couple of weeks dealing with three major controversies.  In light of the controversies, I find the response by the American people to be disturbing.  The first controversy concerns the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee began hearings on May 8^th. The Oversight Committee is investigating the actions (or inactions) of the White House and State Department before, during, and after the attacks, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the US Ambassador to Libya. Some charge that US officials misled the country about the attack, while others state that Obama or Secretary Clinton were not aware that the attack was anything more than a violent protest over an anti-Islamic Youtube video.

The second controversy involves the IRS.  On May 10^th, IRS officials admitted that among organizations applying for non-profit status they targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny.  The Department of Justice and the FBI are currently investigating the IRS.  The people involved, including White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, insist Obama knew nothing about the IRS scrutiny.

The third controversy concerns phone records.  The Department of Justice secretly obtained two months of Associated Press reporters’ telephone records.  The US Attorney General, Eric Holder, has declared before a congressional committee that he didn’t know the specifics concerning the phone records.  The intent of obtaining the phone records was to identify how news organizations get their information.

If the statements coming from the White House, State Department, and Justice Department are to be believed, then the implication is the President and his appointees are clueless about what is going on within the Executive Branch.

In the midst of these controversies, there has been a ray of sunshine for the President.  A CNN/ORC International survey, released on May 20^th, reveals that 58% of those polled believe Obama is a strong and decisive leader and 52% believe he can manage the government effectively. Yes, you read that correctly.

After reading this, I wondered if the American public is so accustomed to politicians failing to live up to campaign rhetoric and dodging responsibility that our expectations are so low as to believe that Obama is doing a good(enough) job.  Or, are they completely in the dark about the activities of the government?

In either case, there is something we can do.  In the first place, we should demand more from our elected officials.  Our elected federal officials, before taking office, swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies and to faithfully discharge the duties of the office they are about to enter.  We should expect them to conduct themselves in a moral and ethical manner whether or not we are paying attention. 

And the elected officials should not use their office for personal gain.  That includes using privileged information to target groups and obtain personal records.  There are policies and procedures and violating those measures that protect our personal freedoms should not be tolerated.  If there is just cause, there are procedures to follow.  When these officials don’t execute their responsibilities or they engage in misconduct, we simply should not re-elect them.   At a minimum, we should call them on the carpet. 

 In the case of the President, the executive power of the United States is vested in him.  Being responsible and informed, not clueless, is part of the President’s job.  If the executive branch is too big to effectively manage, then perhaps a reduction is size is warranted.  When communication cannot flow effectively to/from the President, then he must make corrections.  President Obama said, “If people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics. “ He’s right.  With all of the technologies that exist today to transfer information, there are no excuses.

If We, the People, remain ambivalent, uninformed, and misinformed about what happens in Washington, or City Hall, then we should get used to ineffective government and crooked politicians.  In order to fix the government, then we need to fix ourselves.  We do that by becoming more informed, less misinformed, and more intellectually honest about the issues.  If we end up with bad government, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Skylab Legacy

Forty years ago, NASA launched America’s first space station.  Skylab, built using leftover Saturn launch vehicle components, hosted three different crews.  The Skylab IV crew stayed for 84 days, a record in the US space program at that time.  Watching videos of the Skylab astronauts working and playing in a weightless environment was one thing that inspired me to study science and math.

After the last crew left Skylab, it was abandoned, its orbit slowly decaying over time.  NASA was busy developing the Space Shuttle and had no capability to return crews to Skylab.  When it appeared that the Space Shuttle might be ready to fly by 1979, NASA looked into reusing Skylab.  Unfortunately, greater-than-anticipated solar activity caused Skylab’s orbit to decay quickly, resulting in re-entry in 1979.  The Space Shuttle first flew in 1981, and the first elements of the International Space Station (ISS) flew in 1998.  In between 1981 and 1998, the US space program was constrained to flying in low Earth orbit for durations of two weeks or less.

Forty years later, we are in similar straits.  We have a space station, but no US launch capabilities to get a crew there.  We rely on a Russian launch vehicle and spacecraft to get our crews to the ISS and home safely.  We have plans for a new spacecraft and a launch vehicle to get crews to the ISS, but what mission comes next?  Current US space policy is to continue operating the ISS, begin crewed missions beyond the moon, and send humans to orbit Mars by the mid-2030s.  While these are big goals, where is the inspiration that accompanied Kennedy’s challenge to send us to the moon before the end of the 60’s?

The big difference between when NASA launched Skylab and today is that spaceflight has become so commonplace that it doesn’t pique the interest of most people.  So few students enter fields of study in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) that the US Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and many technology companies  have partnered together to make STEM education a national priority.  I wonder if more technological feats in space would inspire kids to enter STEM fields.

Recently, ISS crew members performed an emergency spacewalk to replace a coolant pump.  Most spacewalks are planned weeks in advance of execution.  In this case, the spacewalk was planned and executed in the roughly 48 hours after a coolant leak occurred, demonstrating that we can work safely in space and repair systems when needed.  It is hardly surprising that there is more interest on the Internet over ISS Commander Chris Hadfield’s rendition of “Space Oddity” than the ISS crew’s success over a technological challenge. 

Another big difference is what we know today about space compared to the days of Skylab.  The ISS has been crewed continuously for nearly 13 years, with most crews staying for six months at a time.  We have wealth of knowledge on how to live and work in space, how space affects the human body--both physically and psychologically--and how to work in a weightless environment.  Furthermore, we’ve gained experience with the hardware, knowing what does and doesn’t work well in the space environment.  And we’ve learned some hard and painful lessons along the way.   Because we can track how far we have come, shouldn’t it inspire us to see how far we can go?

If our leaders are truly interested in inspiring students to enter STEM fields of study, what better way than to provide a space program that inspires.  To do that, our space program needs a mission with concrete, near-term goals and milestones and the resources to see it through.  Give NASA a goal, a milestone, and the resources to achieve the mission and then let NASA go do it.

Tell your Congressmen and Senators you want your space program to boldly go where no man has gone before.  In the process, we might just inspire the next generation of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.

Running Towards Danger

I read that several of the victims from the Boston Marathon bombing are still in the hospital, many of them amputees.  I can’t imagine the pain and suffering, and the loss the victims and their families must be feeling.  Not only the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombing victims, but also those affected by the plant explosion in West, Texas.  My prayers go out to all the victims and their families.  But in all the tragedy, I was reminded that there is still hope for this country.

A friend directed me to a video showing the Boston Marathon bomb blasts and pointed out that when the bombs went off, most people ran away.  But a great number of people ran towards the blast.  Why would someone run towards danger? Are they foolhardy or just willing to put themselves in harm’s way to help someone else? 

These people ran to help the blast victims, not knowing the cause of the blast or whether another blast might occur. Yet they ran towards danger.  Some were professional first responders, paid to go into harm’s way, but many were not.  They were just people willing to help.  Most of the people who died in the blast in West, Texas were volunteer fireman responding to a fire at the plant.  Many of the victims of the World Trade Center act of terrorism were first responders responding to the crisis. 

The people who run towards danger don’t do it only when big things happen, they do it every day.  Not only our servicemen, but firemen, policemen, and EMTs run towards danger.  They put themselves in harm’s way to aid and protect us.  While I don’t think it is a uniquely American trait, I do believe it is a trait that makes this country strong. We should thank God that there are people in this country who are willing to risk their safety to help others.  And we should follow their example.

I’m advocating that we should worry a little less about saving ourselves from inconvenience and more about rescuing our communities.  I’m not advocating running into burning buildings or into the fallout of an explosion.  Volunteer at a soup kitchen or food bank.  Sign up to read to children at the local library.  Volunteer at a school or local charity.  Be a mentor at a Boys or Girls Club.  Do something to help your community and the people in it.  The professionals and everyday people that became heroes in Texas and Boston set the bar high.  Your challenge may not be running towards danger, but be someone’s hero and change a life.