2012: ALL HYPE AND HOAX - AGAIN

Some knowing that I studied anthropology and specifically Mesoamerican cultures including the Maya under Tom Koehler at Ole Miss have asked for my opinion on, “This whole 2012 thing.” Well, its all about fear and money… Some people would have you believe that they have some academic or divinely inspired insight - that they are anointed entities that are privy to that ultimate experience – our collective passing and the end of the world. We need note that Armageddon fanatics have been predicting the end of the world for all of recorded history and however enthusiastic and persuasive, they’ve all been wrong. My recent review of twenty plus end of the world scenarios was another, further insight into Man’s gullibility. For the record, the calendar pictured above is not Mayan, rather Aztec an adaptation of the Mayan version. I just like it and for me the Mayan stelae are not as attractive… Sorry.

I have watched with both amusement and disgust all the nonsense/idiocy and hullabaloo about the year 2012 which brings me back to all the bogus Y2K hype. Aside from some movie producer/directors, writers, mystics, tea leaf readers, Cultists, Nostradamus wannabes (he never mentioned 2012), conspiracy alarmists, New Age astrologers and entrepreneurs, seemingly legitimate religious fundamentalists (no, the Bible doesn’t mention 2012 either), literalists of all shape and form and others that can’t seem to fit into mainstream culture, most of us seem to have it right. No, the earth isn’t going to be destroyed, there isn’t going to be some metaphysical transformation or the attainment of an earth shattering higher consciousness and those newspapers that remain will still be written at the seventh grade level.

What’s really disturbing, however, is that this hysteria does have some folks very agitated and frightened – even to the point of considering suicide reminiscent of a Jim Jones choreographed rapture (don’t drink the Kool-Aid). Be assured that this scenario is all western inspired and has nothing to do with the Maya, their culture and amazing calendrical system. Indeed, many contemporary Maya to include Guatemalan Maya Elder/Priest Apolinario Chile Pixtun have expressed dismay with the hocus pocus of 2012 and the inappropriate reaction by many, mostly in western communities.

Google “2012 End of the World” and look at the mush that’s available on the Internet. Read some of the blogs, threads and the countless folks that have bought into the hysteria. Cornell University’s, Ann Martin, who runs the “Curious? Ask an Astronomer” website, has reported communication from fourth graders declaring that they are too young to die and Mothers grieving that they will not be able to see their kids grow up. NASA authorities report numerous similar stories. Gees!

So, who’s allowing these people to buy into this scenario? Well, the Christian Fundamentalist “rapture driven” prophecy seems to fit very nicely with the movie’s theme. Seems some in this realm might also be taking advantage of this free PR to prepare the “Faithful” for the opening of the sixth seal and the ultimate Rapture. It would also appear that the producers of the movie 2012 or any one of the gamesters, writers or other folks in the secondary market (wanna buy a t-shirt?) stand to gain economically from stirring the pot. Yes, once again it’s all about money.

Some folks make a good point and say leave it be reflecting that this is just another Darwinian exercise which will purge the really stupid and gullible from our society - a “naturally self-correcting system.” Sounds like a plan…

Lending even further ridicule to this issue was the recent story featured in the Dallas, Texas version of the on line newspaper, examiner.com which revealed that Balloon Boy hoaxer Richard Heen of Colorado believes that the world is going to end in 2012 and allegedly perpetuated the balloon stunt in order to raise monies to build an underground shelter to protect his Family from the onslaught of a number of 2012 disasters including, “an exploding sun”. Now if true that’s a good definition of ignorant optimism or a futile attempt to justify his actions. He probably should have saved his balloon as the “predicted” tsunamis would probably render his underground shelter somewhat suspect. Of course, if the sun were to go super nova (it’s predicted to do so in around 4-5 billion years) then nothing would help.

I saw one Internet headline declaring that biblical scholars are now wondering, “Is 2012 is really the end of the world?” The psychology of even posing that question is an old sensationalistic trick and attempt to introduce curiosity and credibility into the debate. Interesting that a so called Christian is posing a question based on supposed non Christian belief system. Heck, even the History Channel in a recent show pondered, “Is 2012 the year the cosmic clock finally winds down to zero days? Shame on them. To be fair there are as many or more sites on the Internet debunking the 2012 myth. Good for them…

By anyone’s count (long or short) there are now over 200 books capitalizing on this hysteria including, The World Cataclysm in 2012, Apocalypse 2012, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, The Maya Factor: Path Beyond Technology and How to Survive 2012, among many others.

If you really want to make sense of what is mostly nonsense I can recommend a few folks that include Joel Achenback, staff writer with The Washington Post who has nailed this whole issue with his washingtonpost.com offering which he repeated in his Personal blog. I heartily recommend his post entitled, How to Survive 2012.

Achenback has identified and sourced other credible folks that include Astronomer Edward Krupp of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles who debunked 2012 in the November issue of Sky & Telescope magazine and David Morrison, senior scientist for NASA's Astrobiology Institute and the objective science based author of a NASA online feature called Ask an Astrobiologist.

Allow me to also include Associate Professor Kathryn Reese-Taylor of the University of Calgary's Archeology Department who teaches archaeology and is the author of several articles on the pre-Hispanic Maya and co-author of Landscape And Power In Ancient Mesoamerica. Reese-Taylor is a voice of reason who has warned of the misinterpretation of Mayan culture and reinforces that the Maya never predicted the end of the world indicating that there are Mayan references to well beyond 2012, including one to the year 4772 AD.

Dr. David Stuart a Maya scholar and Professor of Mesoamerican Art and Writing at the University of Texas at Austin confirms that 2012 is, "a special anniversary of creation," and further states that, "The Maya never said the world is going to end, they never said anything bad would happen necessarily, they're just recording this future anniversary on Tortuguero Monument Six."

From what I hear the movie appears to be a visual masterpiece (I haven’t seen it) it has been panned as less than mediocre by many critics who laud the eye catching special affects but cringed when any dialogue took place… Seems we can’t have one and the other. Many critics criticized the movie reflecting that its ultimate end didn’t come soon enough. I do not intend to see it…

Sony Pictures spent millions (and will probably make that back and then some) on their pre release hype that included the description of the fictitious Institute for Human Continuity (IHC). The HIC was featured on a 2012 teaser website where we learned it was founded in 1978 and charged with the perpetuation of human life after 2012. HIC created seven free floating space stations, numerous lunar colonies as well as subterranean cities. Not having seen the flick we can assume the development of spaceships (arks?) to transport folks to the space stations and the earth’s moon. Color me a romantic but this somewhat reminds me of Noah’s Ark (what no lions and tigers, Oh my?) and maybe more appropriately the often imitated and iconic Battlestar Galactica where space ships ferry Humans to safe havens on other hospitable planets. Whatever….

Tom Deliso of Wisdomsdoor.com offered the following observation prior to the Y2K debacle. It certainly sums up my perspective on this whole issue.

“It is no secret that humanity has been a slave to fear and the lower passions. What makes those fears and passions even harder to overcome is the fact that, over the centuries, humanity has been brainwashed by various doom and gloom predictions, made by people that just wanted to make a name for themselves at any cost. These very smart predictors went about and played upon humanity's innate flaw for creating havoc and distress and feeding the frenzy year by year, in the hopes of gaining some kind of recognition, power, or control.”

He was right then and now.

Bottom line: the hype of 2012 (movie or otherwise) is all poppycock and “disaster porn.” Don’t sell your house and/or give away your possessions; don’t do in your spouse, children and pets. You will still be around on December 22, 2012 ready to go to work and pay taxes and engage all the great to mundane activities and tasks that make life what it is…. just another turn of the page. Please remember that the Maya were smart but not to the degree that that they could even predict or prevent their own demise over a thousand years ago. They were done in by their own hand and had little control over or appreciation for their environment.

And if you feel that there’s a sense of déjà vu here, it’s probably because so many have predicted this event so many times before. I guess that in 5 billion years when the sun finally does go super nova whatever is left of humanity will stand up and utter, “Aha!”

In keeping with probable Maya intentions, let’s use 2012 as yet another excuse for the positive celebration of life – the achievement of another significant milestone in the Human calendar and the opportunity to salute our ancestors and encouragement & inspiration for future generations.

And, hey, Happy Baktun 13 and, yes, I used to have a cat named Quetzalcoatl.

Aye,

Ned Buxton

FATHERLY ADVICE

“I am taking part of my lunch hour to write you a letter. My telephone has been busy all morning, telling me of the increasing demoralization of business and industry and the crumbling of all commodity and security values to absurd levels. Unemployment is growing rather than diminishing and manufacturing plants of every character are facing either drastic curtailment or shutdown. All these matters raise very serious problems affecting the economic structure of our country and the world and with them must necessarily come problems which have grave consequences upon the social fabric. There are now relatively few rich men left and that select and limited group find the value of their accumulations shrinking daily and the prospect of tremendous income and inheritance taxes imminent.

I tell you these things first, as a matter of general business information and second, so that you may consider them as factors in the working out of your own program of life and philosophy.

Civilization has previously gone though major depressions both ancient and modern. We had four or five hundred years of depression in the Dark Ages, after the fall of Rome and since the advent of the modern industrial age, immediately following the Napoleonic Wars, we have had two or three periods of deflation probably as bad as anything we have gone through thus far. Nevertheless, it may be a long time before we return to the standards of the Golden Age, the decade which followed the World War. The men with the best training, serious purpose, dependable character and a capacity for hard work will have the best time in our lifetime, at least.

You must realize and I believe you do, that you have passed out of the college boy phase and atmosphere and are no long justified in regarding yourself as a playboy. I am of course, disappointed that you are not to have the experience in Labrador, with its combination of service and contact with that “primitive life” which prevails on the vast majority of the Earth’s surface.

If will be a misfortune if you do not have some definite experience with that kind of manual labor by which most men live. You will not understand your fellow man or be able to lead them unless you have a sympathetic viewpoint based on experience. I spent at least three summers working on your great grandfather’s farm, between the ages of fifteen and eighteen and I am glad that I did. A hayfield is a good test of mental and physical guts on a pleasant August afternoon…likewise, the potato patch and the long rows of corn where the weeds flourish. Wrestling with a tumbled-down stone wall involves a resistance fully as stiff as anything you can get out of the young gentleman from Tufts. All your ancestors have wholeheartedly contacted the handles of both a hoe and a shovel.

Mr. Wyman (Walter S. Wyman, then President of New England Industries) who is recognized as the outstanding business man in the state of Maine, tells me that when his son was graduated from Harvard, he got a job with a road gang and swung a pick for six months, when he was promoted to foreman of the gang, wholly without any assistance or influence from his Father. I think that pleased Mr. Wyman more than anything his son has done subsequently.

Mr. Wyman has a very large farm at Winthrop, Maine. He employs about thirty men. He told me that if you wanted a job on this farm, he would be glad to give it to you. I don’t know of any other job available. It is possible that I could ask some textile friend to give you some apprentice job in a textile mill, but I don’t think you would find it as agreeable as outdoor work - or as beneficial. Bobby Goddard is going to work for a month in one of our mills in Maine in the city of Lewiston and while I believe you should be anxious to have some similar experiences later, I would not recommend it for this summer, unless all other possibilities fail. If you wish to spend one month of the summer at military camp, I certainly have no objection but I think you will agree with me that the time has gone by for playing the young gentleman of leisure in any fashionable watering place until you can do so on your own.”

When I first read this letter a couple of weeks ago I realized that it could have been written with a few tweaks here and there and in a more contemporary style to represent reaction and analysis of the most recent downturn in the US and world economies. In fact, this letter was written on May 4, 1932 when the United States was in the midst of an even greater financial crisis precipitated in part by overheated, overvalued markets, the subsequent Great Crash of 1929 and the policies (some say wrongheaded) of the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations. Yes, there’s a lot of controversy about those policies… Whatever your perspective, the United States and the World were in desperate straits in 1932.

The taxes the author of this letter was referring to were the huge tax increases precipitated by the Revenue Act of 1932 which raised income tax on the highest incomes from 25% to 63%, doubled estate taxes and, likewise, raised corporate taxes by almost 15%. Believe it or not this act even included a "check tax" that placed a 2-cent tax (over 30 cents in today's dollars) on all bank checks. Many feel that ill advised fiscal policies like this stifled investment and helped to further deepen the depression with most conceding that this was a herculean bipartisan effort.

Whatever the origins, it caused a continued panic among the most wealthy in this country and what was left of their money wasn’t looking for opportunity, rather preservation. History confirms that the S&P 500 bottomed in mid-1932 and then like the phoenix soared nearly 75% in the next three months though basically went sideways thereafter for almost a decade. We know now with our capacity to look backwards that the Great Depression did not technically end until 1941 and the start of World War II giving further credence to the fears and counsel of the writer of this letter.

In keeping with that most popular Bing Crosby 1932 song of the year, Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?, 24.9% (12M+ unemployed) of US workers in a labor force of 51,250,000 (total population of 91,810,000), put that scenario in a much darker context given our recent and seemingly more mundane excursion to just above 10% where 15.7 million (M) are unemployed out of a total US labor force of around 154M (US population - 308M). Still impressive numbers but it all points out that we have been here before and will surely be there again.

The writer wasn’t as enthused as an ill-advised Hoover who communicated to businessmen in 1932 his confidence and assurances that the depression wouldn’t last and that, "Prosperity is just around the corner." Hardly anyone believed him and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 landslide presidential victory (472 to 59 electoral votes) confirms that most voters felt that Hoover’s approach was, “too little too late".

The author of the letter was my Grandfather, Colonel G. Edward Buxton, Jr, and the recipient was one Coburn Allen Buxton Sr., his son and my Father who was then a student at Babson Institute in Wellesley Hills, MA, near Boston. Yes, Colonel Buxton was the same Man who offered his sage (as he put it “Dutch Uncle”) advice and counsel to one Sergeant Alvin York prior to his heroics. His words then and those above are timeless and hopefully not wasted as they apply equally to the current generation of young men and women. Colonel Buxton put his Brown/Harvard learning and work experience on the line, always worked hard and walked the walk.

By the way, the reference to the stiff resistance of the young gentlemen from Tufts alludes to my Father’s participation on the Babson Varsity soccer team (aye, The Beavers). Tufts College (now University and home to the remains of Barnum’s Jumbo the Elephant) was then, as now, a traditional and formidable adversary in athletics.

Though his business reputation had been honed and polished as a journalist and newspaperman with the Providence Journal, the textile industry beckoned and Buxton assumed senior management responsibilities (VP and Treasurer 1920-26, President 1926-1935) with the new B. B. & R. Knight Co. which at one time with 22 mills, was the largest producer of cotton products in the world. With headquarters in New York City, they owned many textile plants and brands in New England to include Dan River and the still famous Fruit of The Loom labels, among others.

Colonel Buxton, even as a national depression loomed, was elected President of the National Association of Cotton Manufacturers on October 28, 1927. He assured and prepared the 500 delegates of that body’s annual convention, thusly.

“Today finds us working and planning to meet changing conditions. To the utmost of our abilities, we are adapting our equipment and organizations making them more flexible; endeavoring to create better methods of merchandizing; getting in closer touch with our markets; recognizing the consumers demand for individuality and personality and style and beauty in color and outline and weave and standards of quality. Such changes come about very gradually, no matter how great the energy behind them.”

Of course, the Great Depression followed and prompted the steep fall of cotton prices that further rippled into a general industrial malaise that contributed to reduced consumer spending and confidence in the economy. Sound familiar? The special significance of Buxton’s contribution during this period was that he cajoled, educated and then successfully managed/guided Knight and other companies with a minimum loss of facilities and the preservation and maintenance of thousands of jobs. Buxton’s focus was always the preservation and integrity of American industry and the status of each and every worker. He understood that the individual worker was the backbone of our economy. His effort was courageous and heroic and he was rewarded with continuing and ever increasing management responsibilities.

From 1932 to 1939 while still president and later Chairman of the Board of B. B. & R. Knight Co, Buxton was elected president of a group of five Maine textile plants to include Androscoggin Mills, Bates Manufacturing Company, Edward Manufacturing Company, Hill Manufacturing Company and York Manufacturing Company, all owned by New England Industries and affiliated with the New England Public Service Company. His Friendship with Walter S. Wyman, President of New England Industries pompted the “Maine” remarks in his above letter.

Buxton successfully guided Knight and those Maine mills through the maelstrom. Following the end of that assignment in Maine, the Lewiston, ME Journal reflected that, “Colonel Buxton had come to Lewiston in the depths of the depression, in trying days and times that have left their mark indelibly. Colonel Buxton’s efforts were heroic in keeping the mill wheels turning and in promotion of their products. He was genuinely interested in the civic problems in the cities where the mills were located and understood the meaning of good will.”

Would that we had more astute Colonel Buxtons who could actively counsel and advise us to keep our attention on our narrow but necessary path. Given all the current distractions, maybe we should require at least one year of mending stone walls and manually tending the fields in the hands-on Amish style? The activities which require contact with the handles of both hoe and shovel (no harrows, please!) are builders of integrity for the young men and women who will ultimately lead our country. Engaging the “primitive life” will allow for the best training and definition of serious purpose – where they can develop a dependable character and a capacity for hard work. Aye, those who successfully find and “negotiate that course will have the best time in our lifetime, at least.”

All too often folks in the 21st century want to transition from classroom to boardroom with no real training or seasoning – that incredibly naïve immediate gratification thing. Earn your degree, have a plan and then follow it. Yea, this is basic stuff. Your degree may open doors, but from there the real work starts. Earn the attention and respect of your fellow workers many from different cultures by mastering your tasks (however mundane), achieving your goals and work objectives by contributing and performing at the highest level. Be a great communicator, facilitator and build consensus for your tasks and perspectives. Understand that all jobs are important and significant to a healthy organization. The chairmen of my last two major employers started working in their respective companies as a mail clerk and retail representative. Example set.

So, Ladies and Gentleman of the future, plan well and note that the advice offered herein is still valid. It may very well be that given the current conditions all of us, young and old, will ultimately head for the fields with hoe and shovel in hand. And Me? I think I'll head for Labrador.

Aye,

Ned Buxton

COYOTES: ANOTHER CRITTER IN OUR MIDST

The tragic and untimely death of the beautiful and talented Canadian folk musician Taylor Mitchell, 19, of Toronto reminds us once again that we are but fragile and transient visitors on this planet. Taylor was engaging an innocent daytime foray, hiking solo along on the Skyline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada when she in a so called “unprecedented and a totally isolated incident” was inexplicably mauled by two coyotes. Canadian Conservation Officers and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) hunted and put down two of the animals and killed a third large male who appeared human habituated and was demonstrating aggressive behaviors.

In a previous Might of Right post Critters In Our Midst (3/21/09) we noted the marked resurgence and expansion of many native species including the bobcat that have been slowly reclaiming their former territories and all to the chagrin of the human beings that now live in those areas. The mass slaughter almost to extinction of native fauna that was the mantra of a less sensitive (“brutal and heartless”) population a century ago has now turned to a more tolerant society, yea, even sponsorship of native species that has allowed the bobcat, bear, mountain lion, wolf, raptors and others to regain at least part of their former range. It has artificially allowed the wily and opportunistic coyote to expand well out of its traditional range. And that ironically puts them in direct conflict, competition if you will, with many of those more highly educated, tolerant and “civilized” members of Homo sapiens that seemingly, instinctively allowed for that rebirth.

The other day a young female red tailed hawk slap dab in the middle of densely populated far north Dallas took a gray squirrel out of the oak tree in the front yard, dispatched it on the lush St. Augustine lawn and after an interval of about ten minutes flew off with squirrel (expired) in tow all to the horror of the other squirrels in the tree (especially one) and the chagrin of a fancy Lady in a flowery shirt and white pedal pushers walking two small white poodles down the sidewalk. The point is that nature in all its primal state is being engaged all around us. Like it or not the dance of life and death and the balance of nature is integral to all lives including our own. We are all connected, an integral part of that choreography and the wildlife cited heretofore are our neighbors. Perhaps we/they need to be closer still…

Residents of other north Texas communities like Plano and Frisco who have been complaining about the local wildlife to local animal control authorities have been dismayed with their response: a hands-off, part of the landscape approach. Collin County, Texas authorities have been trying to educate residents on how to assume more responsibility for their children and pets. It seems, and rightfully so, that the message is all about coexisting with the native wildlife. That same approach appears to be the mantra throughout the United States with the assumption that wildlife was here well before we moved in and, yes, they have a right to remain here.

I remember several years ago in Huntersville, North Carolina where the Catawba Valley Scottish Society’s herd of West Highland cattle (those hairy coos) at the historic Rural Hill Farm was thought to be in danger by bands of marauding coyotes that had taken down scores of Angus calves on a neighboring, much larger farm. We all prepared to engage the enemy with some of the more stalwart male, testosterone-infused members unpacking our rifles and readying ourselves for a vigilante coyote tour of our 265 acres. That call never came. It seems that the “ladies” in the herd have an incredibly strong protective maternal instinct and armed with those very impressive horns used them against several coyote interlopers whose carcasses were proof of the cattle’s ability to protect themselves. There were no worries after that.

Maybe, just maybe, the restoration of the balance of nature might be the answer to control populations of those very few hybrid, human food-conditioned, maybe diseased but definitely Human-habituated and opportunistic canines and other predator populations that can present a danger to Man.

The use of guarding animals like livestock guarding dogs (LGD) is an ancient practice in existence for millennia (2,500 to 9,000+ years) in Europe and Asia (and now the US and Canada) where they protected sheep and other types of livestock. We have also seen donkeys and llamas used effectively as guarding animals. So, while LGD and other guard animals may help protect hearth and home to include pets and children in mostly suburban/farmland/ranch situations, we obviously can’t take our very large LGD or donkeys or llamas with us while we go hiking. In fact if you take a dog on the trail with you it might even attract attention and be perceived as a threat by wolves, coyotes or bears. The majority of national parks do not allow dogs on any hiking, walking or backcountry trails.

We could allow for the reintroduction and recovery of other canid populations like the Gray Wolf that places the coyote at the top of their hit list and would substantially reduce coyote populations like they have in Yellowstone (by 50%) and Grand Teton (33%).

Reintroduction of the Red wolf in Tennessee wasn’t successful but fared much better in northeastern North Carolina. Hybridization with Coyotes, however, appears to be the primary threat to the Red Wolf’s survival with (not so ironically) hybridization the main factor in the Red Wolf's initial demise in the wild. Some folks think this makes an even greater case for a more widespread reintroduction of the Gray Wolf though some might offer that we are just trading one “problem” for another.

We can probably take other precautions while on the trail that would allow our survival in case of a confrontation. Those options might include carrying a weapon like a gun (pistol or rifle) and Congress has been lately debating that issue. In reality they probably wouldn’t help if stowed in your pack and weapons in national parks and wildlife areas except by those authorities licensed to carry them would probably only get you in major trouble. How about a stun gun? They appear to be legal in most US states (with limitations) though they are illegal in Canada especially Parks Canada where Taylor Mitchell was attacked. They appear to also be illegal in US National Parks.

Some Friends have suggested the use of wasp spray with its concentrated, long range spray as a defense against a predator, human or bear/coyote/wolf/dog though the thought that this might provoke them all the more entered my mind. Snopes.com also reflected that wasp spray is probably illegal as a defensive (or otherwise) weapon. The label on at least one product states that “It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.” Bottom line: It’s not legal for other than its intended use – killing wasps. Apparently these insect sprays use pyrethrins which apparently pose a greater danger to humans than initially thought. Now this generally assumes use against a human being and not a dog, coyote, bear, etc. Check with your attorney and proceed with caution.

Another option is either Bear or Dog Pepper Spray (not the old Mace) which does come in models that offer long and accurate concentrated sprays that appear to be the equal or better than wasp spray (up to 40 feet). That said, US Federal law prohibits the carrying, possession or use any form of bear spray, pepper spray, mace or any other irritant gas spray in US National Parks? We have seen this law overridden by superintendents such as Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott who has encouraged its use as a non lethal self defense alternative. Apparently when pepper spray is marketed as a wild animal repellent, then the possession and use thereof is legal when locally approved.

In Canada bear sprays are regulated by Health Canada and their Pest Control Products Act. Health Canada has requested that a seemingly uncooperative Canadian Customs consider bear spray as a pesticide (not a weapon) and ignore the $10 exception limit. Apparently Canadian Customs has acquiesced. So, pepper spray marketed as a bear deterrent by the manufacturer and so declared will pass through Customs though it would appear far more hassle free to just buy the product in Canada.

If you are going to use Pepper Spray make sure that you carry it so you can quickly retrieve it. Pepper spray buried deep in your pack does little good when a predator is attacking you. Hang it on your pack or your belt and when you are approaching an area that could present danger, have it ready to use.

Some folks have recommended the use of strobe lights and siren/electronic noise devices (Ah Wilderness!) which have been somewhat successful and probably does nothing more than startle the predator. But, that’s OK if it gives you time to make good your escape.

Well, after all that I guess that the ideal scenario is to avoid placing ourselves in jeopardy and the necessity to employ a defense whether it be pepper (bear/dog) spray, stun guns, wasp spray, etc. I suppose that’s the tail wagging the coyote for that would mean cloistering ourselves in our homes and not engaging life. No matter what we do short of exterminating these animals will prevent their ultimate and continuing recovery and expansion. The coyote is an evolutionary work in progress and I have asked myself whether they could have progressed to this degree had the Gray Wolf survived. I don’t think so.

It would appear that many species (natural or reintroduced) will continue to habituate themselves to Man and these incidents will likely continue and even escalate in frequency. A cursory review of the Internet shows Coyote–Human incidents and interactions underreported and certainly on the rise (more later).

Our unfortunate reality is that while we have been sleeping, the rules have changed. We can no longer escape and strike out into the wilderness to cleanse ourselves - to regain our sanity - to soothe our souls from the monotony and tedium of our everyday work worlds without taking such heroic precautions that it potentially demeans the intent of that effort. Heck we can’t even walk, run or bike on city or suburban trails without a higher vigilance and making provisions for self defense in our violent and many times desperate society. If one of our heretofore mentioned canids doesn’t present a threat, then perhaps a fellow Homo sapiens might. The age of innocence is gone forever.

We can’t count on the Wilderness as an idyllic Thoreau-inspired haven. Our Wilderness areas are now highly managed and are just barely surviving the encroachment of Man. In fact, the ultimate recovery of the wilderness may very well be the harbinger of our own ultimate demise. Anybody for an afternoon of hunting and gathering? The anthropologist in me says that something’s gotta give and that something is probably us. My early responsible experiences in the wilderness are no longer reality, instead the memories of a bygone past – and not a pleasant entertainment – rather, a startling reality that should scare the hell out of all of us. We need to restore some balance…

Taylor was an environmentalist, “passionate about animals” and she strode into a popular Canadian national park with youthful exuberance and misplaced confidence in and naïveté of that environment. We mourn her passing and pray that her death will mark the adoption of more mature perspectives about our native wildlife and our environment as a whole. Taylor Mitchell’s Mother, Emily, when she was made aware of the intent to kill the coyotes involved in her daughter’s killing commented, “'Please don't, this is their space.' She wouldn't have wanted their demise, especially as a result of her own.” She continued, "We take a calculated risk when spending time in nature's fold -- it's the wildlife's terrain."

While true, I don’t completely share this incredibly generous and compassionate plea. Those coyotes appeared to be well beyond the pale and should have been put down as they would have likely repeated those behaviors (see Dr. Geist below). When a species like coyotes lose their fear and wariness of Man and become conditioned to our presence that generally spells trouble for them and us.

I also still wonder if this is really, “their space” and just another human manipulated aberration and species outside their native range in the same class as the Russian boar in the southeastern United States, the zebra mussel in the Great Lakes, the gray squirrel in Europe and the starlings in New York. For those of you out there that denounced the killing of the coyotes, just remember they blatantly and without provocation attacked Taylor while other hikers were nearby. We don’t need to be Kum By Ya stupid when a situation is clearly out of control.

This attack appears to be part of a classic, predictable, deliberate targeting process used by wolves and coyotes and we all need to be aware of this habituation-exploration model. The Might of Right directs your attention to Dr. Val Geist, retired wildlife biologist and Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada who has identified seven classic stages leading up to attacks on people by wolves and coyotes. Dr. Geist had determined via interviews with hikers and Cape Breton National Park staff that the coyotes of Cape Breton National Park were already in the latter phases of this process with the end stage being attacks on Humans. So, I ask, were warnings posted and hikers carefully educated on the dangers? I don’t know the answer but pray that all cautions be taken from this point on whether it be on Cape Breton Island or in Frisco, Texas.

Frankly, we created this problem and that becomes apparent when we realize that recovery and reintroduction are quite different than expansion. In the mid 1800’s the range of the coyote was primarily limited to the American West and Northwest including open prairies and grasslands, sagebrush lands and brushy mountains As we have noted, the larger and more powerful Gray Wolves primarily occupied the forests and kept coyote populations well in check.

The highly adaptable and enterprising coyote, however, has evolved in the Americas by taking full advantage of human activities and that especially includes the substantial reduction of Gray Wolf populations to expand their range throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America. They are now found in all their traditional haunts as well as forests, deserts, islands (including Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland), agricultural areas, and most urban environments. They have mated with dogs and gray/red wolves and may eventually upset that DNA applecart. On Cape Breton with its limited prey populations the coyote has already put the Canada lynx, rock vole and Gaspé shrew in jeopardy.

The presence of coyotes on Cape Breton Island was but the harbinger of their continued migration that now includes Newfoundland and Labrador. Seems that the coyote arrived there in the mid nineteen-eighties from Cape Breton by crossing the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the winter ice pack. We suspect that the coyote will do well in Newfoundland (no Gray Wolves) while Labrador may be the northern most migration possible as they will most certainly run into a healthy Gray Wolf population and the southern most migration of polar bears.

It appears that we have three options here. The total extermination of the coyote or any predator species that poses a risk to man, the present coexistence/management scenario or an apathetic comme ci, comme ça stroll where we let it all go and trip the light fantastic back to our primal past….and let an altered nature take its course. Of course, that will probably happen whether we consider it an option or not. Whatever option we engage, an increased vigilance (no “Sunnydale Syndromes” please) and understanding of our environment is absolutely necessary.

I do concede and agree that the wilderness and the rest of our planet belong to all forms of life. While Taylor’s passing may prompt us to responsibly recalculate our environmental paradigms and understand the ultimate consequences of our presence on this planet, I am reminded of two Friends who successfully traversed a long stretch of the Appalachian Trail and made calculated provisions for their safety and protection against predators – human and canid. It was nickel plated.

The next time I hit the trail I might opt for a Cromack and my (imaginary) pet Gray Scottish Wolf Badb Catha of Ackergill to wit, A far croonin' is pullin' me away As tak I wi' my cromack an wolffis to the road.

Rest in peace, Taylor Mitchell and God Bless You.

Aye,

Ned Buxton

THE DEATH PENALTY

I’m from Texas, the death penalty capital of the United States. I’ve always embraced the mentality/mantra and the warning to all would-be perps that if you commit a capital crime in Texas including murder then you are going to get the “express lane to the electric chair.” OK, we don’t electrocute convicted murders who receive the death penalty anymore. Rather, we administer it by the supposedly more humane lethal injection, a process that we hear has been botched more than just a few times. Credible or not, we in Texas execute more people than any other state in the U.S.

Again, the idea was that the aggressive administration of justice to include capital punishment (the death penalty) would deter crime and set the moral tone for what is mostly a very no nonsense, conservative state. Yep, that was me when it came to the death penalty and to this day I do not find any offense with capital punishment on moral or religious grounds. I guess an “eye for an eye” and retribution mind set seems a sensible and logical payment though statistics seem to bear out that the death penalty has little deterrent effect. Does the death penalty bring closure to the families of loved ones? Don’t know as I haven’t been there though I suspect that it would offer me little consolation save that a murderer was off the streets.

But, and this is a big but, if one person is wrongfully convicted and executed for a crime they didn’t commit - where’s the justice? I don’t embrace a good for the many, there will be mistakes or a cost of doing business rationale when it comes to the execution of an innocent party.

Let’s put all this in perspective. The Death Penalty Information Center reports that, “Since 1973, 135 people have been exonerated and freed from death row, including 5 people already in 2009. Some were only freed because of extraordinary work by individuals outside the criminal justice system.” The top three exonerating states include Florida with 23, Illinois with 20 and Texas with 10 exonerations.

With all these exonerations we wonder out loud, how many innocents have been executed? The answer is elusive though several high profile cases including one in North Carolina, two in Texas and many more validate that reality. I have seen some studies that claim numbers in the hundreds though the credibility of those statistics remain suspect. The American Bar Association (ABA) strongly supports a moratorium on capital punishment and acknowledges that innocents have been executed. Remember our magic number is ONE.

Seems that in Texas the ever growing number of exonerations of convicted people including Claude Simmons Jr. and Christopher Scott, in Dallas County as recently as last week who were in the twelfth year of their life sentences for murder is but the tip of the iceberg. Consistent with their initial declarations, they didn’t do it. This wasn’t a case of DNA revealing their innocence, rather the work of local college students at the University of Texas at Arlington and UT Austin's law school who brought the case to the Dallas District Attorney's office last year. Another individual finally admitted to the crime after reevaluation of the evidence. The motivation for a lot of this effort can be attributed to the very aggressive and innovative approach by Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins. Well done!

And as far as DNA exonerating innocents, it would appear that we are now starting to run out of those older DNA cases, so the work of motivated volunteers and students like those with UT Arlington’s Innocence Network will be critical in securing justice for those wrongfully convicted. At least modern technologies and procedures like DNA analysis will allow us to engage yet another effective tool that will assist in determining ultimate guilt or innocence.

The cases and statistics we have cited may just be the tip of the iceberg. While our justice system might not be broken, it surely is in need of a tune up. So, what do we do? First, maybe we just need to come up with some innovative ways to dispense justice that will be a real deterrent when we are thoroughly assured of guilt to include caught in the act, conclusive videotape, DNA and other technologies not known or yet invented.

With our tongues in our cheeks perhaps we should entertain the dispensation of justice in a very public venue. Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia continue to publicly execute via beheadings, firing squads and even stoning. We could always revert to a Salem motivated (as in Witch Trials) public hangings or we can implore the counsel of the English who for centuries were known for their brutality and the very public execution of the death penalty which was administered for a whole cacophony of “crimes” including petty theft, cutting down a tree and, of course was used as a tool of political oppression. Perhaps we should resurrect drawing and quartering ala William Wallace or just the perfunctory beheading ala the opportunistic and devious eighty year old Simon Fraser, the 11th Lord Lovat, Chief of the Clan Fraser aka The Fox (1667-1747). Lovat had his head lopped off on April 9, 1747 for his part in the ’45 Jacobite Uprising and has the distinction of being the last person beheaded in Britain.

So why do I bring this up? Well, with the imposition of public execution we could expect some interesting repartee and situations worthy of our current reality TV phenomenon. As in Lovat’s case we have already enriched history with the lurid details of his final day. For example, though it probably offered Lovat little consolation (though some delight), one of the overcrowded stands overlooking the executioner’s scaffold collapsed, resulting in the death of twenty spectators (we hope all English) whereupon Lovat quipped, "The more the mischief, the better the sport."

Lovat was well educated and had the gift of the gab, witness his reaction to an old woman who poked her head into his coach whilst he was on the road well traveled to his place of execution. She tauntingly quipped something like, "You ugly old Scottish dog, don't you think you will have that frightful head cut off?" to which he is reputed to have replied, "You damned ugly old English bitch, I do believe I shall."

But that bon mot wasn’t Lovat’s famous last words for just before his execution Lovat exonerated himself by stating, Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori a line from Horace's Odes which roughly translates as, "It is noble and glorious to die for one's country."

With the return of these very public executions we could at least expect from the better educated of the lot some horrific entertainment and theater worthy of Shakespeare but hopefully (let’s get serious) some affect from the revulsion of actually viewing the execution, perhaps even a deterrent? Maybe then we would get it right. Not so, say Friends who offer this would become the basest of entertainment and, yes, another degrading reality dimension.

That said, this doesn’t help us from executing innocents. Perhaps we could engage a form of suspended animation/cryostasis for those sentenced turning them into human popsicles (a la Demolition Man and Spoiler) for the duration of their sentences or until sufficient science exists to either validate the sentences or exonerate them. No Ted Williams jokes, please.

The reality is that as human beings we will never get it completely right and some innocents will pay the ultimate price for our failure to adequately address this issue. The text of State of Texas District Judge Robert Burns remarks to Claude Simmons Jr. and Christopher Scott as they were released after almost 13 years of prison for a capital crime they did not commit follows.

"I want to extend to each of you, on behalf of the state of Texas ... my most sincere apologies for the miscarriage of justice that each of you've experienced," Burns said. "Just speaking as a human being, I hope that you are able to put these 12 or 13 years behind you and enjoy the freedom ... that you are about to experience and not be bitter."

Right. Thank God they weren’t executed… In a surprisingly enlightened move the Republic of Texas enacted a law in 2009 allowing for compensation for wrongly convicted people which is the most generous in the nation. Claude Simmons Jr. and Christopher Scott will apparently each receive $80,000 US for each year of incarceration, plus a lifetime annuity.

Last Word: If one man/woman has been wrongfully convicted of a capital crime, did not receive adequate due process sufficient to prove their guilt/innocence and was then executed for that crime - then we need to rethink our whole system. Methinks I need to seriously reflect my whole approach to capital punishment… Count my vote as “Yes” for the moratorium on capital punishment.

Aye,

Ned Buxton

CORN BY ANY OTHER NAME…

As I have posted several times I am a great Friend of Canada and have many close Friends of that Ilk. I am an American citizen though my Best Friend is a dual citizen as are her two children.

I spent a lot of time in Canada during my early business years and have played both the national games of Canada - Hockey and Lacrosse - with some facility. I don’t look upon Canada as the United States’ 51st state and recognize her unique culture and perspectives. I haven’t taken offense with, rather celebrated her greatness and the differences in our two countries – at least not until recently (more later).

Some of my Canadian Friends like to point out how they are different and some have used the US as their anvil. They don’t want to emulate the US, rather embrace and expand on their differences. No problem. The Canadian political system is different, they are mostly a hell of a lot colder, they don’t have to wait until they are 21 to legally drink, they have better beer and doughnuts, they are laudably much greener than we are, generally labor unions are more popular in Canada and, of course, they have that health care system we seem bent on emulating.

Two of my favorite magazines are Canadian National Geographic and Canadian Living. The November 2009 issue of Canadian Living is another superb offering. Being a big fan of food in all its myriad forms, I occasionally note their recipes which generally take on a literal north of the border flavor. It is with one of those recipes that I have taken offense…

In the Deep South we have our, yea, iconic culinary institutions and that includes their gastronomic offerings representative of Memphis, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; New Orleans, Louisiana and all the other Southern towns around and in between. Meal times can be significant social events and can include Low Country Shrimp Boils, She Crab Soup, Pork Bar-B-Que, Cajun, Southern Buttermilk Biscuits, Southern Fried Chicken and much, much more.

Well you see this Canadian Living “Deep South” recipe (Ontario?) called for milk, water, yellow cornmeal, salt and pepper, shredded old cheddar cheese and butter, period. These base ingredients were somewhat familiar recalling a recipe I know.

Simplicity aside, my recipe includes all the above and can depending on mood and circumstance also incorporate a small diced onion, finely chopped garlic cloves, vegetable or chicken broth, extra sharp cheddar and Jack cheese (important), heavy cream, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Of course, we are known to spice things up by also adding to taste: bourbon, cider vinegar, sorghum or molasses, honey, Tabasco Sauce®, thyme, cilantro, cayenne pepper, olive oil and to make things more interesting, maybe some shrimp, thick sliced center cut bacon, salt cured country ham or sausage - most of those with a sumptuous red eye gravy. The cornmeal should be stone ground and of a coarse (not fine) consistency.

The Canadian Living recipe was for – ready? – Cheddar Cornmeal Porridge where you can, “treat your family to a taste of the Deep South for breakfast.” Revolting! This recipe title is a sacrilege to the South and while it technically might be a porridge, it ain’t! We of the South have never and wouldn’t ever call this porridge. One of my heroines, Chef Paula Deen, would surely take equal offense with this excuse of a recipe title.

Porridge (porage) for you Canadian folks out there means oats. In Scotland porage (oats) is so popular they have a culinary event known as the Golden Spurtle for the best porage recipe. As an aside, I am proud to say that the 2009 winner of the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Making Championships was one Matt Cox of Milwaukie, Oregon for his pear brandy-infused Oregon Orchard Oat Brulee recipe. Again, so much for simplicity. We note that Matt defeated fourteen other competitors (several Canadians) in the event, including last year's champion, Ian Bishop from Carrbridge, Scotland. We of the Might of Right are also pleased to recognize Anna-Louise Batchelor from Reading, England as the first place Spurtle winner in the specialty category for her recipe of steamed porridge Spotted Dick with custard. You bet, really!

So we aren’t talking about porridge when we engage our cornmeal recipe. Drum roll – yes, this is all about GRITS! Please also know that while grits are often served as a breakfast side dish they aren’t just for breakfast. They can also be served at the dinner meal and are very often incorporated into a casserole. And, please do not forget about hominy grits, but that’s another whole story.

In 1976, South Carolina declared grits their official state food and I would not attempt to improve on the words of the South Carolina Legislature when they offered that proclamation. They spoke for all of us…

“Whereas, throughout its history, the South has relished its Grits, making them a symbol of its diet, its customs, its humor, and its hospitality, and whereas, every community in the State of South Carolina used to be the site of a grist mill and every local economy in the State used to be dependent on its product; and whereas, Grits have been a part of the life of every South Carolinian of whatever race, background, gender, and income; and whereas, Grits could very well play a vital role in the future of not only this State, but also the world, if as The Charleston News and Courier proclaimed in 1952: 'An inexpensive, simple, and thoroughly digestible food, [grits] should be made popular throughout the world. Given enough of it, the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about. A man full of [grits] is a man of peace.'”

By the way, President Obama likes and eats Grits, not porridge and I suspect some Canadians do as well.

Aye,

Ned Buxton

BLUE GOLD

North Texas and the southeastern United States have been inundated with water from above for the last month and a half. September and October have seen storm after storm (some severe) hit the Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta areas. Most lakes and reservoirs are now at or above full pool. Lake Lavon which supplies water to northeast Texas and Dallas bedroom communities like Plano, Richardson, Allen, McKinney, Garland and many other cities is today at 493.65 feet, 1.65 feet above full pool – and its only just stopped raining over Lavon. Lake Texoma, from which north Texas gets roughly 30 percent of its water, is now also well above full pool.

Water level at Lake Sidney Lanier which is the primary water supply for Atlanta, Georgia is at 1,071.38 feet, 0.38 feet above full pool of 1,071.00 due to what meteorological sources call significant hydrological events. OK, lots of rain - some 600 percent above normal in north Georgia. Lest we forget, at this time last year Lake Lanier was almost down to the bare bones bed of its primary supplier, the Chattahoochee River and residents of Atlanta and all downstream communities even those in Alabama and Florida were in a virtual panic. I know of folks who moved from the area because of the drought. If you ever want a very impressive and comprehensive analysis of Georgia, overall southeastern and national weather pattern updates don’t hesitate to go to http://lanier.uslakes.info/Level.asp. Very well done.

Residents of north Texas and Georgia have seemingly forgotten the previously cracked, sun-baked beds of Lakes Lavon and Lanier and the scare and inconvenience of a drought that continues in central and south Texas. We have developed a two birds in the bush and ant and grasshopper (OK, cicada) rationale and have once again gotten sloppy and seemingly placid or indifferent to our plight and the conservation of our most important natural resource.

Happily, we appear to be in an ever strengthening El Nino pattern that will dictate the potential for more precipitation through the rest of the fall and winter seasons for Texas and the southeast. That’s the good news for all you carbon based units that want for H2O. The bad news is that the pendulum will inevitably swing back the other way and we will once again be in drought conditions.

I drive north and south – back and forth to work - on Preston Road (289) from far north Dallas to Collin County and Plano each day. I traverse through some residential (mostly apartments and condos) though mostly business developments that are pretty representative of that area. Many of those businesses and apartment complexes have been noted to have their sprinklers (the big commercial ones) on full bore daily, even during torrential downpours.

Now I know that with the lakes at full pool the municipalities are happy to generate much needed revenues with what they now consider a never ending resource. The waste is absolutely huge and so unnecessary. All it takes is one yahoo to either turn off their sprinkler systems or the very easy and inexpensive installation of an automatic rain turn off. There was probably no need to have engaged the sprinklers for at least the last one month. Where are the water police when you need them?

While our water resources have stayed fairly consistent through the eons, it is not ultimately, under the current circumstances, a renewable resource - ad infinitum. Water once abundant on some parts of the earth is now gone, redistributed in our flora and fauna and across the world by changes in our populations and weather patterns.

Texan and ultra successful business man T Boone Pickens has seen another ultimate profit making opportunity and has been buying up water rights in the panhandle of North Texas via his Mesa Water, Inc. Pickens is treating water like a commodity with the proof in the pudding being the success of the bottled water industry and the most recent lack of that indispensible resource in major US population centers. He believes that if you don’t charge for that service we will ultimately exhaust even that resource. Pickens may be right and all you have to do is look at the recent oil crisis. If we don’t ultimately value something we will use it up or further devalue it. Pickens is planning to make water available (for a price) from the huge though not inexhaustible Oglalla Aquifer to downstate communities like Amarillo, Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and even San Antonio should the need arise. The heavy rains in Texas have prompted a jocular Pickens to note that the region has been flooded “with cheap, offshore water."

The realization that the global population is expected to rise substantially greater than the production of and accessibility to fresh water should prompt all of us to rethink our approach to water conservation. If we don’t retool our attitudes then Mother Nature will take care of the problem by eliminating the drain on that resource – humans and other flora and fauna that once depended on that water. Problem solved. So what happens if the remaining water is so polluted that it cannot be recovered for a lifetime? Same song, different verse.

So don't crank up your sprinklers just yet. Better yet, don’t turn them on until you have to. We have enough water falling out of the sky to water our lawns, flowers, bushes, trees, foundations, etc. I believe strongly that municipalities of all “civilized nations” should continue and aggressively enforce permanent, mandatory water restrictions for all their residents. The difference is that we will go from a current voluntary rationale to one that is mandatory. Perhaps we should also consider charging more for water consumption per Pickens. While current water restriction schedules are admirable they generally lag behind what the prevailing circumstances dictate.

The bottom line is that we as a species do not seem to be responsible enough to control the one resource that is indispensible to life. Our individual and collective memories are incredibly short term. We are once again drifting back into complacency and can’t be trusted. Mother Nature is sitting back and taking a wait and see attitude. Do it for the good of the many…

Aye,

Ned Buxton

THE GUY IN THE GLASS

When my Dad hit sixty I noticed that he seemed to “thicken up”. He was always a big man in his maturity around six feet tall and around 250, probably from drinking too many Dad’s Root Beers (great product!). I initially thought this odd as his head seemed to grow larger and broader, his ears and nose got bigger, hair grew voraciously from every visible orifice and he had to fight the good fight with his waistline with even more fervor. All this appeared contradictory as he was a great athlete in his youth and in college played on the Babson soccer team. Seems that so many good athletes have to fight being overweight – always used to stoking the fires to find the energy to perform. We seemingly don’t know when to stop and reeducate/recalibrate ourselves. Thank God for Weight Watchers.

I noticed some of those same changes in the photographs I have of his Father and of my Mother’s Father. Dad spent a lot of time in the sun and by the pool so his skin while well tanned was a bit more wrinkled but still in pretty good shape. I really didn’t notice much of a change in his hair (salt and pepper) though he always wore it short…

I saw some photographs of myself recently and heretofore thinking I was closer to the above and now long dead famous actor, had my gerontological epiphany and realized that I am going down that same path. It prompted me to reflect on who I really am as opposed to who I think I am – at least physically.

You have to address that mind’s eye scenario where your consciousness perceives you at one state or another and not necessarily the space you really occupy. Now, I’m not dealing with some societal/organizational labels or perceptions, rather where you are from your own perspective. One invariably settles in and occupies a niche that he finds most comfortable. That season for self scenario finds me probably in my late forties, early fifties. The image that I have apparently subconsciously chosen for myself is just flat wrong... I am not going to climb Mount Rainier again, strap on my hockey pads, paddle my canoe or kayak down section IV of the Chattooga River or score another touchdown. Acceptance of my real persona and state doesn’t mean defeat or decline, rather time to occupy the present and look to the future. Dale Wimbrow’s well known 1934 poem, The Guy in the Glass should be required reading for all males over the age of sixty.

Brother John who turns 65 this November has been calling lately with questions about Social Security and Medicare – issues that I had addressed the year before. Gees, whoda thunk it?

The lessons that my wonderful significant other has been trying to pound into me (I’ve been kicking and screaming all the while) have finally sunk in. She won’t let me color my stache or otherwise alter my appearance to look younger, except to lose weight and get in shape. She has not unexpectedly proved to be far wiser than me and I thank God for her love.

The paradox of achieving a substantial maturity (old age) is that while we may have less time to live, we are freed from most of the earthly constraints that bound us in our earlier mediocrity. Though many of us continue working because of failed trusts or 401(k)s, we can bring the wisdom of our experiences to the work place, our personal lives and our communities. This can be the most rewarding and productive phase of our lives. I’m counting on that…

I’m not a philosopher though I do admire the works of many to include the 2nd century BCE Hindu philosopher Patanjali (Yoga Sutras) who stated,

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be." I perceive myself to be on the verge of that “new, great and wonderful world.”

Moving ahead requires some inner reflection, personal assessment and estimation how you can make a difference in the lives of your Friends and Family and your community ultimately giving your life greater meaning. I am not into the philosophy of the “growing old gracefully” crap. The bottom line is that you have to get out there and “Do it!”

No J Alfred Prufrock, I’m going to work at this issue and as one blogger put it recently, “Stand proud, throw back my shoulders, hold my head high, suck in both my stomachs and gracefully glide into growing old.” Well, maybe not glide. Attack or assault are probably far better verbs per the Buxton Family mantra, Do It With Thy Might.

Maybe my best Friend will let me grow some Everett Dirksen or Andy Rooney eyebrows to accentuate my maturity and eccentricities. I suspect that I might like English poet and journalist Jenny Joseph be encouraged by her famous 1961 poem Warning, to engage the male equivalent of “wearing purple with a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me... go out in my slippers in the rain… and wear terrible shirts and grow more fat.” Though I find myself doing most of that now perhaps I can symbolically break the shackles that bind me and continue to be a (more) productive member of society. I do not intend to, “go gentle into that good night” rather, “Rage, rage against the dying of the light”, no “tattered coat on a stick.”

Aye,

Ned Buxton