Sunday breakfast at Mickey Dee's

At McDonald's this morning for Sunday breakfast. Maty is working today, so I'm on my own and I really want to write. I need to start writing regularly again.

I've found, believe it or not, that sitting in this environment, taking advantage of the Mickey Dee's wifi, drinking coffee is helpful. The clientele at McDonald's is my community. There is much inspiration in sitting amid one's community, watching and listening.

At the table next to mine, a happy family sits and plans their day. The mother sits with her back to me. She's wearing her jacket. Feeling chilly, apparently. I can see that she is a proud woman, content with her lot in life. I can see this by the set of her shoulders and the neat cut of her well-combed hair. It is pretty hair and it is the color of carrots fresh from the ground. As I watch her she gets up from the table and turns and our eyes meet. She smiles and I smile back. Across from where she was sitting is her husband. A man about my age, maybe a few years younger. He's dressed in a gray hoodie and sports three-day salt-and-pepper stubble. His face has not known a razor this weekend. He sits back against the bench cushion, amiable and relaxed. His arm is draped across the back of the bench. Next to him sits the boy. He's about thirteen and he's a good-looking kid. Tall and thin, with an open face and a full rack of braces on his teeth. All the bloom of youth is about him and it is apparent that he is the source of the joy, the good vibes that emanate from their table. When Mom returns they joke with each other and talk about plans for the day to come, the month to come, the year to come.

A Mexican family, a father and two sons, sit at the small table near the window. The father is in his thirties, dressed in workman's jeans and sweater. A key ring jangles from his belt. His older son is paraplegic, in a motorized wheel chair. Maybe 12 years old. He has a big awkward head and a skinny body. He smiles and laughs. Beside him is his little brother, about 7 years old, with wide dark eyes, and a solemn expression. The young one seems wise, as if, at this tender age, he is aware that there is much to learn. All three of them have cocoa skin and a shocks of unruly black hair . The father's moustache is also black. They munch their food and chatter in Spanish, the boys asking questions of their father and he answering around mouthfuls.

These two families make a pleasing and beautiful sight. As I watch them, discreetly and without revealing myself, I realize that I want things to turn out well for them. Overcome by a sudden rush of brotherly affection, I realize that I love them.

Book review: Replay

Remember the 1993 Harold Ramis film, Groundhog's Day?

If you've seen the movie, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, you'll recall that the protagonist, Phil Connors (Murray), is stuck in a temporal loop that requires him to relive one particular day in his life until he gets it right.

Ken Grimwood's novel, Replay, first published in 1986, reminded me of that film. When I read Grimwood's novel, and realized its premise, my first thought was of the Ramis flick.

The comparison is manifestly unfair, of course. Grimwood published his novel seven years previous to the film. So to the extent that the concept of reliving one's life while retaining memories is original, the credit goes to Grimwood.

You see, as the novel opens, the protagonist, Jeff Winston, a 43-year-old radio journalist, dies of a massive heart attack while on the phone with his wife only to return to his life 20 years earlier as a college student in Atlanta, retaining the memories from his previous existence.

Something of a mind-blowing concept, no? If you had a chance to do it all over again, with foreknowledge of what is to come, how would your life choices differ? Jeff Winston gets the opportunity to find out. Several times.

Over the course of the novel, Jeff repeats his life multiple times, each time choosing a different path: fabulously rich tycoon (his foreknowledge of events allows him to make millions betting on sporting events), ascetic hermit, humanitarian, and more. Whenever he reaches the age of 43, he is again felled by a heart attack. However, after several repetitions, he notices that each return to life advances his starting age slightly. As the novel progresses, Jeff and his reincarnating companion, Pamela Phillips, begin to wonder what will happen when they return to life at the precise moment of their respective deaths.

I enjoyed this book, but mostly because of the originality of plot and story line. Grimwood is imaginative and readers will recognize the love that the author put into his work. (Grimwood himself succumbed to a heart attack in 2003. Kinda eerie, eh?)

But I found the novel's prose to be overburdened and awkward, and frankly, I found the characters to be rather flat. And then, the novel's core supposition (dealing with the limits of free will in a clockwork Universe) seems contradictory and un-thought-out.

Replay is a fast and worthwhile read, though. I'd recommend it as a great vacation book. Good beach reading.

Peaceniks: Now is the time to prevent war with Iran

Fellow peaceniks, take a trip back in time with me, if you will. Go back to March 19, 2003.

Do you remember that date?

I do.

It was one of the worst days of my life. That was the day the Machine pulled the trigger on Iraq. That was the day Junior Bush sealed his legacy, not as a mere well-intentioned bumbler, but as a figure of historical infamy. Forever and eternally.

I recall that day. I watched the military-approved pressers on teevee. I saw prancers and fakers from both political parties shape their faces into expressions of solemnity and heard them utter platitudes about determination and sacrifice.

I was overwhelmed. By horror and disgust. And grief. And contempt. And a deep, burning anger. Only two days before, I'd joined 30,000 other individuals on the streets of the Rose City to register my protest. Worldwide, there were 10 million demonstrators. But by the time we got organized and took to the streets it was too late. The Machine had ground past us.

The gullible American public had been manipulated into accepting a war brought about by obvious and demonstrable lies.

On March 19, 2003, over 12 years ago, the killing that continues to this day, started in earnest.  Both the killing and my anger will continue through the day of my death.

Do you feel that way, too?

Well, fellow peaceniks, take a look around, because it is happening again.  But this time, the target is Iran.

The shaky negotiations currently underway between the United States, Iran, and other interested parties are hopeful, but not enough, in themselves, to halt the slide toward war.

Those who would benefit from it are relentless.

A lot of the very same personalities that endorsed the Project for a New American Century (Jeb Bush and John Bolton, to name just two) are now leading advocates for an aggressive Iran policy. (Recall that PNAC advocated war with Iraq in 1997, four years before 911!)  And there are plenty of jingoes in Congress who are playing right along. Recall the letter, penned by freshman senator Tom Cotton and signed by 46 of his Republican colleagues, that attempted to undermine the negotiations.) It's as if peace is offensive to these people.

Iranians flashing peace signs at Tehran's Mehrabad airport.

The Iranian people don't want war any more than we do. And if we don't want war, the time to act is now.

Let me urge you, fellow peaceniks: Make known your demand for peace! To anyone and everyone. But most especially to your elected representatives. Up to and including the President of the United States.

I don't want any more of that anger that will never go away. I don't want more death, waste, and destruction. Nor do you, peacenik.

Demonstrate! Advocate! Make yourself heard!

The time to stop the war with Iran is now.

Procedure: Determining Your Place in the Universe

Note: On this April Fool's Day, I send this out to all my fellow technical writers. A content-modeled procedure for determining your place in the Universe. 

Determining Your Place in the Universe

Abstract

You can approach enlightenment by accepting what must be.

Prerequisites

Live for enough years to understand that you are not the prime element in an infinite and (perhaps indifferent) Universe. 

Procedure

1. Contemplate instances of triumph and defeat in your life.
   
   Note: This may lead to unsettling revelations about one’s existence.
2. Realize that these events came about because of the infinite circumstances that defined each moment.
   
   Free will was not involved.
3. Read Tolstoy's War and Peace.
• Examine Tolstoy's portrayal of Napoleon Bonaparte.
• Contrast the world views of Pierre Bezukhov and Prince Bolkonsky.
  
  
4. Wrestle with the implications of your demoted position in the Universe relative to your previous beliefs.
5. Don't despair.
6. Proceed as described in the following table:
   
   

If you want to ...	Read...
Laugh	Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy)
Cry	The Mysterious Stranger (Mark Twain)
Rage at the injustice of it	Moby Dick (Herman Melville)



7. Recognize the freedom in submission.

Results

Your consciousness should approach that depicted in Figure 1.

Figure 1. New Awareness

For More Information

Consult the following writings:

• Torah
• Bible
• Koran
• Upanishads