Monday, December 17, 2012

Why we should eliminate assault weapons and high ammunition clips immediately and other thoughts on gun control.


Ok, I have been thinking long and hard about gun control.  I know many people who are opposed to gun control, but usually we don’t talk about what is meant by “gun control” vs. regulation, and when we dig deeper we have a more complex conversation. As with most things, I believe there needs to be a balance. A balance between complete restriction and unregulated gun ownership (which is what we have in America today).  I hear several arguments against gun control of any sort and thought I would address them here. At the very minimum, I see no reason why we should not have a ban on assault weapons and high ammunition clips.  I know some of you may think I am not going far enough, but lets get the low hanging fruit.  The issue of our culture of violence and guns is much wider and will take longer.  Lets start with doing what we can immediately do to protect the citizens and the children of this country.  I welcome your feedback

The Hunting Argument
Although it is not my preference to murder Bambi, (ok, I admit a bias here) I have no problem with Hunters owning guns.  I find that people who hunt tend to be knowledgeable about guns.  But one doesn’t need to have hand guns, assault weapons or high capacity ammunition to hunt, so this is a fallacious argument regarding gun regulation.  If all you are using your gun for is to hunt, then I do not see why regulation concerns you.

Just the bad guys will have guns and I have the right to protect myself argument
So first, the statement just the bad guys will have guns is not completely true, as law enforcement will have guns as well.  This argument revolves around hand guns.  The reality is, most hand gun deaths in America are at the hands of a family member, usually in the heat of passion or by accidental death (usually mistaken identity).  This is a fact.  The number of hand guns that are used to actually deter crimes by citizens is very small.  In the Gabrielle Gifford shooting spree:
Joe Zamudio who did have a gun at the event said "I came out of that store, I clicked the safety off, and I was ready,I had my hand on my gun. I had it in my jacket pocket And I came around the corner like this." Zamudio demonstrated how his shooting hand was wrapped around the weapon, poised to draw and fire. As he rounded the corner, he saw a man holding a gun. "And that's who I at first thought was the shooter," Zamudio recalled. "I told him to 'Drop it, drop it!' "But the man with the gun wasn't the shooter. He had wrested the gun away from the shooter. "Had you shot that guy, it would have been a big, fat mess," the interviewer pointed out. Zamudio agreed:

We have a wild west mentality, which I personally think as a culture we need to change, but again, this argument about protecting oneself from "bad guys" does not have anything to do with limiting assault weapons and high capacity ammunition clips.

2nd amendment and overthrowing the government argument
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”
I am not a historian, but clearly this relates to creating a militia, which was needed as we really did not have a national armed services at the time it was created.  If there really is a concern about a tyrannical government, and the need to overthrow it, well lets just be honest, if things ever get to that point, we are totally screwed as a country.  I would suggest that people worried about a fascist government should get involved in government to make the country work for all people instead of assuming it is going to go down the toilet. My question would be, why do you not want to help other citizens instead of trying to defend yourselves against them.  And here is the reality, no matter what weapons you have, if the scenario of a fascist government does happen, whatever side our military is on will win this conflict, not some militia in the woods.   Spend your energy making the country equitable for all people. Instead of thinking of better ways to kill each other, let us use that energy to think of ways to lift people up and to heal people. I understand the intellectual argument of the second amendment, which I believe is based in fear not freedom, but if we are honest, we often give up certain freedoms to secure our safety.  The question is how many freedoms, which freedoms, and what are the corresponding benefits. I think banning assault weapons and high capacity ammunition is well worth the benefit. This is very utilitarian I know, but the scales have been tipped too far to the side of violence.  We do have deal with the underlying root causes, but we can first deal with some of the symptoms which are guns.   Which brings me to the final argument I often hear which is:

Guns don’t kill people, people kill people –
Yes, people can find ways to kill if they really want to (and they have).  But they would have to find those other ways to kill.  Having a gun is an easy way to kill.  Having assault weapons and high capacity ammunition is an easier way to kill a lot more people.  And guns are easy to obtain.  Other methods of mass killing are not so easy to obtain.   Many people may not figure out a way to kill others if it is not easy.  Or maybe they will not be able to kill as many people.  We have to start somewhere. There are many other things we can do to help people, but we can also take action to limit their options to cause harm.

Some final thoughts
We as a society have to choose what our values are. How many more children have to be sacrificed so that gun companies can continue to make profits, or to support the idea that every individual freedom taken to the extreme is superior to the common good.  Yes the Connecticut shooting was worse because they were young children, but any life senselessly lost, is not acceptable.  We should start talking and thinking about what we can do as a society to change our culture of violence, but we can start today by eliminating the completely unnecessary sale of  assault weapons and high ammunition clips.

Friday, October 12, 2012

The Company Men – a 7 out of 10 on the JayWo scale of movie ratings

The Company Men - A great cast in this 2010 movie including Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, and Kevin Costner among others.  It tells the story of a large company and upper executives who get laid off and how they deal with it.  I think it very importantly shows how people’s identity are very connected to their job, and their loss of that job leads the loss of their identity and a complete sense personal failure. One executive who is fired says “You know the worst part….My life ended and nobody noticed.”   It showed clearly how connected we become to material things.  Even at the end, one of the  protagonists says,  I like $5,000 hotel suites. (never been in one, but I imagine they are nice).  But ultimately he realizes that there is not enough compensation for the loss of the creation.  For the best part of the movie for me, was the concept of work being good for the soul, work being about creating something, and building something worthwhile.  Work, whether it be remodeling a house, or building a tanker ship, or building a company was given equal value.  This resonated for me as for most of my career that is how I felt.  I was always part of a management team building companies and now part of a great team building a Congregation.  The one major negative about the movie, is in the way most of the women are portrayed.  Not one executive was a woman, and the spouses of executives (with one exception – Ben Affleck;s spouse) were portrayed as materialistic, petty, and out of touch.  The one female character in the company that was of any substance was also sleeping with one of executives.  I think perpetuating these stereotypes just diminish the movie, and perhaps if it addressed a female executive, it could have been a deeper story.  But it did show how Business executives think, making decisions worried only about potential legalities and not ethics, and serving their own interests over the interests of the company, the employee and the greater community. Good issues to address.  Bottom line.  Worth seeing.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

A House of Hope


These last two weeks we have heard a lot of speeches on television at the political conventions.  One candidate used the word hope twice in his convention speech reminding people that the hope they had four years had not come to fruition.  The other candidate used the word hope 17 times often speaking about what still gives him hope.  And most of the examples he gave were the actions of ordinary citizens overcoming unbelievable hardships in their lives to reach their potential, and by doing so, they had the  ability to instill hope for others.  I think the juxtaposition of these two brings up an interesting question about hope.  Just because every hope does not come fruition, should we stop hoping.  Is hoping for something unrealistic appropriate? 

Just recently my cousin posted something on Facebook, mentioning that the NY Mets were only 8 games behind in the baseball playoff  race and he lauded them with hopeful abandon that they could still win it, if they just swept the St. Louis Cardinals this upcoming week. So knowing the Mets were not as talented as the Cardinals I pointed out to him that the Book of Ecclesiastes states, “the race does not always go to the swift, nor the battle always to the strong.”  Often do people, groups, societies overcome conventional wisdom.  It was once conventional wisdom that slavery should be legal, it was once conventional wisdom that there was no need for public education, it was once conventional wisdom that women should not vote, it was once conventional wisdom that people of the same sexual orientation should not marry. Those things didn’t change overnight, but through hard work, through the hard work of many people working together, over a long period of time, even generations, changes to conventional wisdom came to fruition.  And to see this come to fruition, to sustain the energy of ones purpose over such a long period of time, one needs hope.   This hope is not a magical thought, it is not something that you can turn on and off.  It is a way of being, a way of living, almost a spiritual practice in and of itself.

Just like anything that if we are to be good at it, or if it is to become a natural part of our personality and religious understanding,   it must be practiced, and it needs especially to be practiced in the onslaught of everything that tells us otherwise.  I think this is exemplified by Vedran Samilovic.  He was the principal cellist of the Sarajevo Opera, In 1992 Vedran heard a mortar shell burst in the street near his home, quickly followed by screams.  People had been standing in line to buy bread from one of the few remaining bakeries in the violence ravaged city.  When he looked out his window, Vedran saw the carnage.  The Shell killed twenty two people.  Grieved and shocked, he felt he must do something. but what? He did what he felt he, as an artist, could do.  Dressed up in his formal concert clothes, he went out the next afternoon and sat where the shell had burst and played the plaintive alinoni Adagio in G Minor.  He played every afternoon for the next twenty two days, one day of music for every person killed.  Then he kept playing As the Indian Buddhist writer/teacher Swati Chopra describes his discipline – “he played to ruined homes, smoldering fires, scared people hiding in basements.  He played for human dignity that is the first casualty in war.  Ultimately, he played for life, for peace, for the possibility of hope that exists even in the darkest hour.  Asked by a journalist whether he was not crazy doing what he was doing, Smailovic replied: You ask me if I am crazy for playing the cello.  Why do you not ask if they are not crazy for shelling Sarajevo?  It takes practice just as playing music does.”

In what ways are we practicing hope as a  Congregation. In what ways does our religion provide us hope for a better future.  I think one way we gain hope is from looking back and seeing our religious ancestors who as our sources say used  words and deeds which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love; By doing so we will be able to see the practice of an active hope over and over again lead to change.

We see hope the words and acts of Unitarian Minister Theodore Parker who was one of the earliest and most voracious supporters of the abolition movement in this country protecting runaway slaves, and financing anti slavery activist John Brown’s attacks into Kansas to prevent that state from becoming a slave state. Parker also famously said :

Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the good. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.” 

Hope comes from looking back and knowing we are on that arc, but that we have only come so far, so we cannot rest.  We have a responsibility to carry on with the work of justice. This is the core of our religion, within our principles,  where we affirm and promote Justice equity and compassion in human relations as well as peace liberty and justice for all.  It is in the core of our vision and mission as a congregation, which asks us to devote ourselves to community good and to support social justice and social action initiatives in our congregation and the greater community. Hope comes from looking forward and knowing can we harness the collective power of our energies as a congregation so we can make this a more just and compassionate world.

So we can impact our community with our values.  This is what we are called to do. To stand up and speak the truth to power, to stand up and do the work that needs to be done. I have seen this in what our religion has consistently done over the years, from being the first religion to ordain a woman, to being the first religion to ordain an openly gay man, in our tireless efforts to see justice enacted wherever there are people oppressed as did in Phoenix Arizona at General Assembly this past year.  And knowing this gives me hope.

We see hope in the words and action of Unitarian Susan B Anthony who in one of her many works as leader of the women’s suffrage movement was arrested when she tried to cast a vote in an election at a time when women were denied the right to vote.  But she alone could not have made the right to vote come to pass.  It only happened through her tireless work and the work of many others coming together, both men and women, but it finally did come to pass.  And we are still working for the justice of gender equality, so that anyone regardless of gender receives equal pay for equal work.  And Susan Anthony said “a True Women will proclaim the "glad tidings of good news" to all women, that woman equally with man was made for her own individual happiness, to develop... every talent given to her by God, in the great work of life.”Through letters that Susan B Anthony wrote to her Unitarian Congregation we know her experiences at the Congregation transformed her.

As she wrote “my spirit was born  anew to listen to a cultured educated presentation about what it means to bring the light that lighteth every person that comes into the world”.   She knew it was special because she wrote on that day it was the first time she had ever seen her father put money in the collection basket at church.  We can gain hope looking back knowing that our religion  gave her the courage to continue on with the work that we all now benefit from.  Hope comes from looking forward and knowing that we can renew our own spirits as well. 

This is also at the core of our religion as our principles that ask us to encourage spiritual growth in our congregation.  It is at the core of our congregational vision that asks us to feed the mind and spirit. Hope comes from looking forward and knowing we can change, and grow and knowing that we will have good people to walk on our religious journey together with.  And that is a key to hope.  It is forever connected to trust.  First and foremost we have to trust in the universe that there is a purpose to our existence.  But even more importantly, even if there is no purpose, we have to trust each other. 

We have to  know that if we are going to risk opening ourselves up to new ideas, to risk allowing ourselves to believe in the potential for personal change, to risk letting go of some deeply held rigid beliefs, then we need to know that we can trust that the people we journey together with will catch us when that belief that held us for so long no longer buoys us, trust that we will not be judged for exploring ideas that are challenging to us, trust that we will be forgiven when we fail, and trust the good intentions of all we walk with.   I have seen this trust in our meetings, I have seen it in our classes, our connection circles and in our services.  And this gives me hope.

We see hope in the life and deaths of Rev. James J. Reeb and Viola Liuzzo both of whom were killed when answering the call to March in Selma Alabama in support of the voting rights act.  I think this is important to note, we usually only talk about Rev. Reeb, and ministers who answered Martin Luther King’s call back in the 1960s.  But it was lay people as well as ministers together who answered that call.  And that is also what gives me hope about our religion.  That unlike so many religions, we truly believe in what the responsive reading spoke of, the priesthood and prophethood of all believers. 

That each of us has a ministry, and we minister to each other, that each of you have a voice to speak your truth and we are willing to live out our shared values in the world, which may require sacrifice, and in the case of the two I mentioned the ultimate sacrifice.  And they helped create change in this country by doing so.  This priesthood and prophethood of all believers is also at the core of our religion, as our principles affirm and promote the right of conscience, and the use of the Democratic  process. And our vision and mission, speaks to us as a community doing this together, not as individuals, but as a community.

Together we can do exponentially more than any one of us could ever do alone.  Embedded in our religion is the opportunity to give people the opportunity to learn and to lead.   And I have certainly seen that here, as our caring team and other individuals care for each other as often life can leave us in the dark night of the body and soul. You see this in our worship as is our tradition, our lay leaders also speak from the pulpit.  We are all in this together.  And these things too gives me hope.

And lastly for today  I see hope in the actions and words of Universalist Clara Barton who among other achievements in her life, not only opened the first public school in the state of New Jersey, but during the civil war went to the battlefields to provide medical care to wounded soldiers and then after the war she founded the Red Cross in America. I think of her accomplishments and I think, perhaps I should do something more lofty than watching the Football game this afternoon. 

Clara Barton made one statement in particular that moved me. She said,  I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.” This to me more than anything else is foundation that our religion rests on. We look at all things with new eyes based on new information and new experiences.  To know and to accept that we are not in possession of some final absolute truth, is in and of itself holy to us. To not only accept but to  welcome the fact that revelation is ongoing.

This too is embedded in our principles in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.  I see this here at our congregation as we incorporate new ways of thinking, feeling and being. I see it as we incorporate learning’s from science, not with a fear that it will invalidate our beliefs, but with a quest that it will enhance our understanding of our purpose in the universe.  I see it in your journeys as we all come together trying to find our way for ourselves and this Congregation to reach its highest potential.  This coming together learning from our past and moving forward towards our better selves also gives me hope.

Now sadly, my cousin was wrong, and the Cardinals won 2 out of 3 from the Mets, and I wont even try to console a Chicago Cubs fan, but the thing is, neither my cousin or I had any control over the outcome of those games.  That was hoping for someone else to do something.  That is not the kind of hope I speak of.  The kind of hope I speak of is not the kind of hope that Emily Dickenson wrote about never asking a crumb of her. The kind of hope I speak of is an active hope.  The kind of hope I speak of today is the hope that is born within us that we are capable of changing ourselves for the better and changing our community for the better, and by doing so inspiring others to be moved to hope for the same. 

Our religion shows us through words and actions that what was once thought impossible is possible. Let us continue to build on the foundation of this house of hope that has been bestowed upon us generation after generation. Let us cross the threshold together, and let us have hope and through our words and actions provide hope to others.  Remember, you have to have a dream if you want to have a dream come true.  May it be so.






Tuesday, July 24, 2012

From the Heart of the Minister

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” – Charles Dickens (a Unitarian)

This summer has brought large contrasts in my consciousness.  I have been blessed to be able to go to Chicago with my wife Jan, to view various museums and the zoo.  I have gone to Arizona for the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly where among other things, I attended a vigil for undocumented workers who are being held in deplorable and I would argue illegal conditions.  As of this writing I am preparing to travel up to Wisconsin to visit with an old friend and to attend a Meditation Retreat. There was the shooting death by a father of his three children who were members of one of our Minnesota Congregations.   I have had time to read and ponder and plan for the upcoming year.  Then the news came out about the Colorado shooting at the movie theatre. These events forced me to travel on another journey, the farthest and most difficult destination of the summer.  This journey, filled with obstacles and wrong turns, was the journey inward.  The journey was a reminder for me to maintain compassion in the face horror.
The Buddha said the first of the four noble truths is,  “the recognition of suffering”.  These events are a jolt, a reminder to us that there is ongoing suffering in the world.  Often the amount of suffering within oneself and in the world can be overwhelming, and we all react differently.  Some look the other way. Some distract themselves. Some strike back in anger. Some decide to live in a nihilistic manner trying to cut themselves off completely from the interdependent web of life.  Some take action to find ways to alleviate their suffering and the suffering of others. 

There is something wrong in our culture that creates the conditions that allows such tragedies as these shootings to occur. We are all trying to deal with the question as to why? I am reminded of the story told by Rev. William Sloane Coffin at the funeral of the death of his son who died in a car accident.  One of his parishioners said “Sometimes I just cant understand the will of God” Sloane replied “I'll say you don't…God’s heart was the first to break”  All of our hearts are deeply saddened for the people who died and those who loved them.

Let these tragedies be a reminder as to why we come together. We build community.  We walk together with each other on this journey of life.  It is a journey that is filled with thought provoking conversations, eating, singing, dancing and much joy.  But it is also a journey for walking with each other in times of challenge and suffering. It is a journey of opening our hearts and being a presence in each other’s lives.  It is a journey to create a culture of love and compassion.  So let us take pause for a moment and recognize how our hearts break with the suffering we experience in our lives and in the world. Then let us remember that we are not alone, we have each other.  We can make a difference in each other’s lives. And we can make a difference in the lives of other people in our community who are suffering. 

I invite you to take that inward journey of self-awareness and then let that journey lead you to make that outward journey of making a difference in the lives of others. 

with a grateful heart

Rev. Jay Wolin


Thursday, July 05, 2012

Ted – a 6 on the JayWo Scale of movie ratings

So it is very simple – if you like Family Guy, you will love Ted.  If you hate Family Guy, you will Hate Ted.  Think of Brian the dog and transfer that to the character Ted. Actually much of the voice cast for Family Guy is in the movie (Alex Borsetein, Mila Kunis, voice of Seth MacFarlane). Giovanni Ribisi is a really convincing creepy character.   I loved the “homage” to the Flash Gordon television show.  Oh and by the way, you will also need to like fart jokes.  I like Family Guy (and fart jokes in small doses)  and found it hilarious.  Not a deep movie, but if you need a hearty laugh (and this humor gives you a hearty laugh) you will love it.

Moonrise Kingdom – an 8 on the JayWo Scale of movie rating.

I really liked this movie.  It is a multi-layered, beautifully aesthetic movie that has deep metaphorical meaning.  I admit I tend to like these sort of movies that speak to a time of coming of age, where youth speak what they think, and act on their emotions despite their fear.  I am also sentimental about camp movies (although I was only a boy scout for 3 days) as I went to sleep away camp for about 5 years and it was a very formative experience for me.  This movie speaks to the sadness, loneliness and pain in the world along with the  wonder, adventure and hope in the world. It speaks to how we can be bold, how we have to take risks to achieve what we need, but also that we can help others find what they need, and in doing so help ourselves.  There is so much more to this well made and intelligent movie, but I will leave the rest for you to see and think about as I think about it some more.

Monday, July 02, 2012

Abe Lincoln - Vampire Hunter

Movie Review – “Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter” 4 out of 10 on the JayWo scale of movie ratings.  I don’t know, maybe I am just tired of vampire movies.  Ok, I am really tired of vampire movies. You may ask, Jay if you are really tired of Vampire movies, why do you go to them? That would be a good question.  We have a rule here since our tastes in movies are so diverse, that each time we go to a movie, we trade off on who gets to choose the movie.  Each of us has the right to veto the others choice, but as in politics, we have to be careful not to use the veto power too often lest we build up animosity around movie choices.  So I like Lincoln of course, and thought it a clever twist on mixing history with fantasy so I agreed not to veto the movie.  To give you an idea of the historical movie I like, would be the 2010 movie “Conspirator” about Mary Surratt’s role in the Lincoln assassination.  

What I really objected to about this movie was that it blames this country’s history regarding slavery and prejudice on vampires. I know you are thinking no one will really believe that.  But on a subconscious level, this country does not want to believe we could do such things.  We don’t want to take responsibility for the errors we have made in our past (let alone our present).  On some level, we can look at this and say it was not humans who caused us to do this.  Is our culture’s obsession with vampires a way of seeing the dark side of ourselves as something other worldly, caused by something outside of ourselves?   We need to look at ourselves in our entirety, with all our good and evil and work to reconcile those with the world.  That would be an interesting movie to me, although I am sure Jan would veto seeing it (and I would have to wait for the DVD or go alone once she returns to Florida).