Baylor Bears Triumphant Over Formerly Undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs

Baylor Bears Triumphant Over Formerly Undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs, 2021

    I was prepared for the Dogs to go undefeated and match the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers, a home town team that I was too young to appreciate when it happened. I was ready to move on, and let the Zags have that greatness attached, taking from my home state of Indiana and my alma mater.

 

    But the Bears showed up and played better. Quite a bit better than their previously perfect foes. I think, as many others, that the Saturday night UCLA game took some out of them, the West Coast Conference darlings of the last 20 or so years. The WCC more recently added my Utah alma mater Brigham Young as an opponent, which has raised the level of play in this smaller Catholic dominated league; Gonzaga may have been lagging for the championship last night due to a scramble and classic game with another former school of mine, UCLA. Meanwhile the Baylor Coach, Scott Drew, comes from the Hoosier state and foiled the dandies of Spokane, Washington.

 

    Bob Knight's Hoosiers remain the perfect team from the Bicentennial, 45 years ago; Gonzaga joins Larry Bird's 1979 Indiana Sycamores as the last perfect team to be spoiled in the final. Four other college division one teams entered the tourney perfect, including a loaded, scary, Kentucky team not too many years ago, and a crazy good UNLV team in 1991, but they lost in the Final Four semis.

   Scott Drew, the architect of of this awesome Baylor squad, grew up in northern Indiana, then graduated from Butler University in Indianapolis.

   I guess the ghost of the Hoosiers is haunting Gonzaga and all these undefeated teams since.

   The spirit of '76.

  It remains in Indiana, in Monroe County, at Assembly Hall. Not where they played last night, at Lucas Oil Stadium at Indy. Or rather, the phantasm may have done its haunting there. And kept things secure 50 miles to the south.

   

 China: The Past, Present, and Future

    I just finished reading a 10 page special report about the youth of China, the jiulangghou, or something like that. In the Economist. This magazine is one of the best on the planet. Check it out.

[I started this in March; I will finish it now in April, 2021, hopefully].

 

      Some 118 million? or 180 million of their generation born in the ... 1990s? Or 1980s? I have to re-visit the details to make it right, but the point was how a large cohort of Chinese younger generation are doing things in patterns and trends that affect China now, and into the future, and thus the world.

 

    China is obviously a huge part of our planet. It always has been; in some ways in the 21st century it will be more important than ever. Why? The large population and the long, rich, deep history of China has always been an intrinsic part of our shared human history, but now the flows of money, influence, power, military, and cultural politics is bigger than ever because the Chinese government, which in its unique way represent the many more than billion people of the this now wealthy and strong nation, a juggernaut that continues to up-size and expand, will have ever more sway in all the goings and doings, comings and goings of our interactions. Prices, fuel, drugs, commodities, ecosystems and pollution, arms, space travel, technology, art, communication, legal battles, maritime claims and fishing, human rights and religious freedoms, art, travel, academics. They are one fifth of the world's input, if not output, in many ways.

   Xi Jinping is the head of the people, and the Communist Party, as the other presidents before him, taking the reigns from Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin before them, one from 2003 for the previous ten years, and the latter from 1993 through '03.  Could we envision a female Chinese leader? Not yet. How do the Chinese deal with LGBT+ issues? Not as open as the West, assuredly.  Apparently their plans are more about economic prosperity and might, a much more collective vision of success than the rest of the more free thinking and liberal Western world, where rules of human behavior have their free thoughts of individuality and expression, beyond the needs of the millions, the West has turned toward the lone consumer and his/her/their rights rather than some super collective which was Marx and other communists' dreams, which resulted in the countless nightmares of all of us.

    All of this is subjective to me and my knowledge and impressions, which is not the least informed of my contemporaries; I follow quite a bit of conventional wisdom, albeit Western-based, and religious from my angle. But I do read the major articles from American and other sources, to include the British-based Economist and few other foreign sources. Sure, I am an American, and I tend to think conservatively, but I am open minded and realistic to fathom that the world can be very good and cooperative and also can be very bad, very dark and scary. Both things can be happening at once, even.

    Take this pandemic, for example. Likely started in China' they are acting as if they did not start it purposely, in a science lab in Wuhan, that only some 4,000 plus died of it, less than 100,000 contracted it, and that they are not to be blamed for all the misinformation and since obfuscation of the truth and records that have tracked it, grossly impairing the rest of the world in the scientific and medical communities and likely costing millions of lives and heartache, not to mention the loss of employment, education, stress, increased drug use, violence, suicide and death. We have all witnessed this, or most of us have in the United States. China needed to cooperate more fully and they have not. Ask international bodies like the World Health Organization, not just the Atlanta-based CDC (Center for Disease Control). China has been woefully non-transparent, which is par for their course.

 

    The Uigher of Xinjiang have been amassed in concentration camps in the hundreds of thousands for the intent of "re-education", mass forced labor, and more recently I have come to find out systematic rape and abuse.

    No, China. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

   Fact check: The youth of the 90s in China number 188 million now. They have many more men than women, and would currently be in their twenties. Most are singletons.

   Other facts gathered from the special.

   1. Many youth are returning home to their rural roots after college education. It is not as necessary to stay in urban centers to be successful and get along.

   2. The city of Chengdu appears to have a rebellious vibe, a place where original people of expression and almost dissent is the trend.

   3. Civil and political rights in Hong Kong have now become normalized to the rest of the nation, to the chagrin of many of them and the rest of the world.

    China offers much good, much bad, and simply a lot to chew on. Do some Americans and others choose to raise their children learning Chinese still? Is this the continued pattern in the West?

    Will Chinese controls on pollution work to reduce gases and dangerous toxins from the environment and atmosphere? Will Chinese foreign students commit intellectual espionage which will only go to benefit their military (People's Liberation Army) and the Communist Party?

   There was more I was thinking about in the past regarding this great nation, as Western countries exploited China in the last centuries, and there is ample resentment from that, not to mention the occupation of Japan last century... 

   But this will do for now.

   Chew on it.

The Russians are Still Coming

 April Fools, 2021. Russia is still Russia. 

   The Russian Empire, as it were, has been a growing presence for hundreds of years, and despite the wishes and even metrics of negative decline that are observed of it, Mother Russia seems to be as active as ever, marching on with power and influence.

    The United States and the Western countries fear this, some more than others, because Russia has proven to be belligerent and cruel, even as recently as the last few years, for the West more recently in Syria, defending the now considered pariah son of Hafez Al-Assad, Bashar Al-Assad. Many of us naively believed that the Arab Spring of 2011 would sweep away such lifetime autocrats, but this son has proven as sticky and gritty as his father, or even more so. His dad was bad back in the 1970s and 1980s; now the son has proven even worse. But the country is not what it used to be, which is comforting to many, where at least some independent Syrians, claiming to be free or liberty seeking, or the oft abused Kurds are staking their claims, but along with the necessary presence of Turks, in formerly controlled Syrian sovereign space of the north. The U.S. has its stakes south nearer Jordan and Iraq, and then there are replete Shia powers, to include both Lebanon to the southwest and Iraq and Iraq to the east, closer and farther, respectively.

   Russia swooped in militarily in 2015, as a surprise to many, to save the Assad regime against the freedom fighters and the jihadi terrorists, not to mention Irani-backed militias, this a repressive government and country that had leaned socialist/communist in the past, friends of the former U.S.S.R. Surely Russia wishes to have power, control, influence, military sway, and placement in a vital part of the world. This was after the crazy paradigm changing year of 2014, where after the nice and peaceful Winter Games in Sochi (southern Russia), the Russian government supported the ethnic Russians of eastern Ukraine to overtake Crimea, a hugely important part of the former Soviet independent and Western leaning bread basket and wealthy Soviet Empire.

   Russian military had their way in Georgia in 2008, and practiced a lot of warfare in the interior Autonomous Republic Chechnya in the 1990s, a very grisly affair. Russian shows no signs of changing, as perpetual president in place Vladimir Putin will continue to push the might is right policy of pushing its way and politics through money and troops, now to include mercenaries and former military "advisors" in many conflicted nations.

     Mercenaries travel and military advisors consult and guide, a lot like the United States, sure, many would argue fairly. But, there are profound and subtle differences between Americans who go around the world as pay-for-hire versus the Russians, and this from an American, I admit my biases. We all like to make money, this is the root and driving force of so much weapons traffic and armed conflicts in many hot and cold spots across the globe. 

   The Russians have their aims, culturally, militarily, politically, economically, and in sheer force of geography. Sea ports, trade, power and control. Expansion, as truly great (powerful and/or terrible) nations do.

   And thus, this empire has not ended, and it looks to grow again after a few decades of seemingly diminishing. Romney was right when laughed at in 2012 in the fall debate; China looms there, too, but the Russians are more like us in many ways, and thus they are the competition against which we are pitted for places in Asia and hearts and minds in Asia, Africa, South America. Apparently we know and purport that they care a bit about U.S. domestic politics and our home affairs as well. The Russians wish to make us as divided as possible in cyber wars and social media, makes sense. Soft but passive-aggressive war and and interference, or "influencing", as some call it now.

    Russians: not all bad, but certainly not all good.

    We have similar goals and aspirations, claims and strategies. We have competed with them harshly before, and we continue to do so.

   The Great Game is still afoot, the British are with us, as other Western powers, as they of the English-speaking isle based empire fought Russians going on two centuries ago, and perhaps the theory of Halford Mackinder is actually and truly in effect, for "he who controls the center [meaning Asia, the world's largest land mass] controls the world." This theory was developed largely before the oil and gas deposits were discovered and exploited, and also before maritime and air and now space transport and conveyance were so strongly at play. With satellites and cables and the Internet of Things, the world has changed in its geographic "center", as it was. But some things from the 19th century have not changed. Key spots and choke points are still key to the world's power structures. He/she/they that hold the most vital territories win the game.

   And the quest for world power continues; Russia will not rest.

   Neither will we; we stay vigilant. Whether we vote left or right, the American people do not sleep too easily on a country with forceful ambitions, whether in the Western Hemisphere next door, ever true the Monroe Doctrine, or across the oceans where we send troops for essential or debated flareups. We have our own problems in house in the 2020s, certainly, but we are used to seeing problematic bullies crop up across the maps. It happens every generation, at least.

 

   We will see you around the corner, sooner or later, big bullies. Threaten your own people of their rights or the smaller countries by your side, we stand by ready to counter your coercion and potential violence or suppression.

 

   Although Star Trek or Arthur C. Clarke in the 2001 Space Odyssey film series predicts, someday we may be friends, or much more friendlier when it comes to dealing with each other and our neighbors, maybe the West and the East, that great land ruled by Moscow, will get along in good fashion as time progresses. Who knows?

   Till then.

  

Tear the Scab Off and Heal, Hoosier Basketball Fans

    IU has a new basketball coach hired a couple days ago in the 63 year-old former super player Mike Woodson, acquired for a hefty price in the ending week of March Madness 2021.  The entire Division I tourney this end of winter into spring is being played in Indiana for reasons of Covid-19 protocols. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers finished poorly and are not there! Guys are transferring after the latest unsuccessful coach is fired in Bloomington, my dear home town of sports and nostalgia. However, I recognize the curses of such nostalgia, and now we must exercise those gods and demons of the past, while resurrecting others... 

 

    We, the Hoosier faithful, have had other promising new coaches since the departure of legendary Bob Knight's forced  replacement Mike Davis, three times in the last decade plus, in Kelvin Sampson, Tom Crean, and Archie Miller. They all tried. Of course they did. Paid good money. Sampson got caught for cheating, and he learned from it, while now his mighty good Houston Cougars will face another former Indiana connection in the well coached Scott Drew's Baylor Bears. Two Texas teams vying for college basketball greatness, a place us Indiana fans use to know and revel in. We loved it. But again, this love for the past helps us torment ourselves in the present and since, since we have had the joys and delights of being the best, the last team standing

    Then there is Gonzaga and UCLA on the other side of the brackets of the Final of this spring, as all of us are surviving the pandemic; the bracketology that I have failed miserably in predicting in our family brackets challenge, because I guessed heavily on Big-Ten teams, highly rated but all failed pretty spectacularly, which lead to my ruin . Gonzaga is the best of the present, and UCLA has been the best of the past. They go head to head, a rare match up from the West Coast.

Ghosts. Those are the ones that haunt us, tantalize us, drive some of us to be less family-oriented than we should be, less committed to church or other good causes than we ought to be, mesmerizing me with the hopes of a great victory over some ranked team, or a good old fashioned beat down of a marginal one.

   Indiana is supposed to be both the giant and the giant killer, as it was in the past. Fun to watch, like living out the fantasies of Bible and adventure stories, all wrapped into one.

   The Indiana tradition of excellence in roundball in Bloomington started long before my parents moved there in 1967. The second year of the NCAA tourney, in 1940, back in the Great Depression, those old time Hoosiers won the crown, a good year plus before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in the Pacific. They followed up with another championship banner at the end of the Korean War in 1953. But then enter the former Army coach Robert Montgomery Knight, and the really good times were in session.

   The heralded 1976 undefeated team, followed by the "Celebrate Good Times" Isaih Thomas-led Hurry'n Hoosiers of '81, and then finally the poised and unruffled overachieving Steve Alford champions of 1987, Knight's last of three. We struggled to see Knight not get back to much success, Duke overwhelming a very talented 1992 Final Four squad, and then fading off into ignominy. The new century brought the zero-tolerance policy, the firing, and the litany of coaches since, to include short lived assistant and former player Dan Dakich.

  Ghosts, goblins, demons, and witches have haunted us since. Players from Indiana who avoid coming. Others that do but leave early, or play injured, or just end up being not good enough.

   It has been too long since any March success. We are haunted. We need to excise the ghosts and phantasms of seasons past.

   Perhaps Gonzaga going undefeated in a few days will allow us stalwart hangers-on of former greatness of the 70s team to excise the mystical power of that era, to move on and let us open up our souls to a future team without the pressure of those past expectations.

   Mike Woodson had to deal with those hopes all four years in Bloomington, and he never met them as a player. 

   Now he is here in the twilight of his career as a coach, doing the same thing as the others attempted for the last twenty one years. A life time of no banners.

    The quest for number six. 

    Since the fifth banner in 1987 when I was in high school, Kentucky has added three, North Carolina four, and Duke five. Even UCLA added another, to top out at eleven total.

   UConn and Villanova had added multiple rings, and other schools have done well: Florida, Kansas.

   Let's see what the next six years bring with Woodson and those that he can convince to play in B-town. Six is the key to making the miracle and the mystery unfurl.

   The wound of recent decades will be healed, in time.

   We hope.

  Go, Hoosiers. C'mom Mike, bring us home.

Greg Strawder - Continued Remembrance

    I've been reminded that we are called to remember Brother Strawder, again, five years later since his passing. Greg was a friend and church brother that I came to know before his unexpected and premature death; I wrote about him briefly in April of 2015, and I spoke at his funeral. This was an honor and special experience for me. I wish to reflect a little more about him now. I wanted to reflect more in print and prose back then, and I thought that I would do that, as I wrote in that brief eulogy, but I cannot find any of the notes from those weeks and months with respect to that, so here goes.

    When it comes to God, He is either there or He isn't. There are those that say that God or many gods are hanging around in the margins, that they may be floating around but they do not really care, or that they cannot control anything, and that the afterlife is nothing, that we cease to exist with our dying breath, and life in many ways is lacking meaning due to the ethereal and ephemeral nature of existence. Deep I delve here, okay, and rather sad to consider what so many believe, but true of what many think in the 21st century. It is the biggest fad, I think, to buy into the nothingness of nothingness beyond what we can empirically measure and see. But that worldview denies the heart and the mind, and what I know as the Spirit of the divine. Millions proclaim and decry: there is no God! And if there is a God, they cry, be it male or female or it, unshaped and amorphous, they cannot possibly love me or the world and inhabitants who live in it! The world, according to them, is an unfair quagmire of systematic hate, or at minimum an existence of chaotic greed.

    I do not agree. And, I know that Greg disagreed with these atheistic or agnostic, cynical and pessimistic notions as well. We believe that God is there, that He can be with us, that He cares immensely, and that we are a part of His divine plan. His nature is ours, only perfected, unlike us, we are the fallen with a path to redemption. He gives us the way to His perfection and peaceful reign in the eternities. Greg knew he was flawed, he was a humble, contrite man, ready for something better; now that I am fifty years-old myself, I see those human frailties and flaws in me and others more acutely than ever; I see that we as very imperfect creatures are far from the wholeness that we seek, but we must find it in grace and truth and sacrifice and devotion and faith. I want to keep searching for goodness and truth as my older brother Greg did.It is not all on us, but we have supreme out, a safety plan. And we must trust in a higher, more beneficent Power. We cannot just try to be good and do good things in and of ourselves and our own efforts. We depend on repentance and the love and pardon of Jesus Christ and the goodness of God to grant us a better life, peace and rest. Heaven. God makes us malleable pots of clay when our will is placed in His. It is a matter of submission and acceptance of His will, as any profound philosophy would proscribe. Accept the greater, higher powers and authority. Respect the eternal laws, and try your best to abide by them.

    I believe Greg knew that is what he needed, because he was not an island (and no one is) and he could not conquer all ills by himself, and that ultimately we all need Someone else, and when he met the kind and energetic sisters, full time dedicated missionaries, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sterling, a vocation that they had been set apart to do, he was ready for the invite. He allowed them in, listened to their messages and teachings, accepted the principles and doctrines that they brought, attended the local church and fell in with us, fellow members, brothers and sisters of all races and backgrounds and economic strata. Greg's wife came along and supported his discoveries in this new religion, too. 

   

    Might I add that the religion may seem new and novel to many, but if you delve into the beliefs more you might find something deeper and older and more sublime.

 

   In that time, 2011 or so, I was a called set apart teacher and missionary in our local congregation called the Algonkian Ward: I lived about a mile from Greg's home, and I would help teach and share with Greg and his wife about the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus and His Saints and apostles, and people like Doug Pr., Mike Wa., and Mike Ri., and Dave Al., and others would go into his home and share the love of God and the community that we understood to be the Kingdom of God on Earth, our own version of the good society. This would occur at church on Sundays and other times in his living room, or at a social activity with food or song, or a Christmas party or service project. We were Saints of the Latter Days of the Second Coming of the Son of Man; only as holy and perfect as He allowed us to be, not "saints" as other Christians make them out to be as some mystic heroes; just simple followers of the Master, taking upon us His name and His commandments. Committing and living to have His Holy Spirit to be with us. This is who we aim to be now, and always. This is a long term race, the ultimate race for success and prosperity. The blessings and the promises of the ancient Holy Scriptures are all at play in this game of faith. No small thing. Greg came on board!

   Greg accepted the invitation to be baptized in the name of Jesus, by one who has authority, in the symbolic waters of baptism that both represents the death of the old sinner and being born again with hope and joy in the Perfect One as a new follower, and also representing the the physical death that we must all pass and the great moment and ecstasy of the future resurrection of our mortal vessel, the one that brought us into the universe as a zygote and continued in our mother's womb, transporting outward into the blessed and sometimes cursed air and lands of our planet.

    Greg was born in Chicago. A tough place as I know it, and as I heard references from him in his situation in his own words. Raised in Chicago, Illinois. Brought up with a lot of good, but some bad as he told me, and he learned to fight and hit, play organized semi-pro football where he took his lumps and received bruises and some permanent pains that would not go away. Greg lived with some lifelong ills and pains. He got used to it, and dealt with it in the ways he knew how. He learned to survive and cope with his less than optimal medical conditions. He probably lasted longer than many in his same situation. I thank our Heavenly Father that he was around long enough for me to come to know him. People like his wife and mother-in-law and others guided and aided him.

   God put him here, and God took him back, all in His due time. Greg accepted that. Greg knew Heavenly Father was all powerful and all knowing, and despite the struggles and real world pains and turmoil that he faced as a youth and an adult, he found goodness and ran with it. That includes his beloved wife, before I had the fortune of knowing him, and that for me involves how I knew him as a brother in Christ. Illinois, New York, Georgia, Virginia. Greg had places to go and souls to touch. He did. He did! You had to know him, and if you did not meet him you missed out.

   Here we are in 2021, when race becomes the byword of wrongs and evil, now almost a year since the American streets became alive with rage and castigation, protest and defiance. Greg did not live on the earth to see these days of pandemic and marches; I would love to hear his take on it, his insight.

   But for me personally, Greg was a strong and kind Black man, and he and I became brothers beyond skin tone, because the pigment of a man or a woman only means this much in the world. Identity and character go deeper. I went with Greg the second time that he went to the Holy temple of Washington D.C. For those that don't know, the first time one goes to the temples in our faith for the initiatory ordinances, which are washing and anointing, and then soon after we go to the endowment rooms, starting with the Creation Room, and learn about our first earthy parents and our relationship with God and Jesus and His appointed servants, followers, disciples. We make solemn promises to God and commitments to live closer to His way, and follow His commands. 

    Going through this two hour experience and the ceremonies and rituals for the first time can be overwhelming, albeit mostly amazing and joyous, and a bit of an overload to the senses, so going back for the second time, and doing the vicarious work for another soul who has passed, I felt strongly would be important for Greg to take it in more slowly and with less fanfare, as the first time many people from the ward accompanied him. He enjoyed it; I am sure that we had a good conversation in the Celestial Room about the sacred proceedings and some of the meanings of the lessons and presentations shared. Being in the Celestial Room is like being in heaven: it is quiet, beautiful, peaceful, and one feels like they are in the presence of God and angels.

 

   After this pleasant experience Greg and I went to a McDonald's, likely in nearby Bethesda. I remember that Greg got french fries, and he enjoyed them. To a lot of people the memory of french fries would not stand out, but for me they did that day. For most of the years of my wife and children till then, some 13 or so years, we would have our share of McDonald's burgers and sundaes, but those were cheap and we generally saved money by not buying fries or sodas or shakes. Fries were a delicacy and treat for me, and I saw how much Greg enjoyed them. That was nice for both of us. A small reward for living a temple-centered life.

    French fries at the fast food restaurant represented a bonus for striving to do God's will. That day at the temple Greg and I served those that could not do those ordinances for themselves; our kindred dead beyond the veil needed us, and we were serving them. Gratefully.

    It felt like the same day, it may have been, that Greg and I went to Sister Stacey's house to give her a priesthood blessing of health. This was Greg's first time doing it. I remember giving my first blessings of health to people, and it was a quite a learning and sometimes draining experience.

     It was good for Greg, the blessing for the sister and the temple visit, requiring hours of attention, but afterwards when I took him home he was done, and so was I.  But that was a special day, and I am grateful to have had it. He inspired me then and much in relation to his faith and willingness to learn and grow and serve. As a convert of the Church of Jesus Christ, like my parents and my adopted grandma and Sister Stacey and many others throughout my life, Greg showed me the continual wonders and miracles of the faith that we posit in Jesus, the respect and reverence that we show for the emblems of His sacrifice and meaning to us, His spiritual children, rescued and gathered by Him. Converts, those who enter the faith as older people, not raised from birth, as former President of the Church Gordon B. Hinckley, who we consider a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator of God, said about those them:  "they are the lifeblood of the Church". In other words, we would die without them. Not all faiths are like that, but I believe we are.

    Greg certainly was an infusion of lifeblood to me and my faith and my life; I am grateful for him and his influence; he stayed stalwart to the end of his life, which is about all anyone can do, an example of perseverance and love. There were friends from his nursing home that attended his funeral and the dinner after; they entered a Church of Jesus Christ in our local chapel for the first time; Greg was their missionary who brought them in. I am sure he is reaping the benefits of his good faith on the other side.

   Like my mother Ruth, my father Ed, my adopted grandma Ruby, the converts from my mission, the former ones that I knew across Chile, some of whom were my bishops or mission leaders, or sisters and brothers who fed me and took me in as their own, some of my missionary companions, the hundreds of other converts to my faith that I have met in the states and other countries where I have lived, my home state of Indiana, and five other states that I have lived in, plus all the other states and countries where I have visited and met with with my fellow Saints who are converts. This includes meeting the newly joined in wards and branches in Mexico, Canada, Kabul and Kunduz and Mazer-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, Spain, Nevada, Arizona, South Dakota, the panhandle of Florida, Saint Petersburg, Florida, the Shenendoah Valley of Virginia, the back roads of North Carolina, and on and on. We are everywhere, almost. I have witnessed and observed these grafted in members, like, Greg, across the globe.

    There are people who are honest of heart that become new members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints almost everywhere you go; it is exciting to my kind, a member of enthusiasm, and energizing to us life long members to observe and witness this phenomena. I am not saying that this is not true of Jehovah's Witnesses and Baptists and Evangelicals and Muslims and Hari Krishnas and others who seek true devotees and acolytes, including the modern secular folks and altruists and super philanthropists and benefactors who do their great things, but Greg did not join them in his last years, he joined us. He joined in my faith, and for that I celebrate him and his meaning to me. Greg became my spiritual brother, on my grounds. Clark and Kathy Ki. helped Greg when he was down, as did others, and we communed with his spirit and his soul. He brought us new hope and life.

     Greg was a special man. I remember him and his example. I am not the only one, but perhaps I am the one who gives it this much verbiage, which does not mean I am more special, but it bespeaks of his life and example. He has a son remaining, that I hope learned some things from his father which he will pass on to others and the next generations. If we are all so lucky and blessed we will go where Greg has gone.

    He followed the Spirit of God, he followed his heart, he communed and accepted us humble followers, he was not perfect but he learned that he can be perfected thanks to what he found and accepted. Jesus Christ and His kingdom. That is the short and sweet of it. Now he has eternity to grow on, with God, and hopefully many of us.

   God bless you and all yours, Greg. Many of us are yours and you are ours. Jesus prayed that we would be One in Him, with Him, and that he would be One in us, and all of us be one with the Father. May we be so united! 

  

    That is how I see it, I feel it. We must be one with another and with God; He cares for and loves us, by returning to Him we shall be one in heart, spirit, and cause. We will see the face of God, and our countenances will be His. For we are His, His children and creations. We are divine Greg. We are saved and exalted and must be One with Him: one community, one people.

   Yes, Greg, we have sacrificed here and there, we have taken some lumps, some of us have suffered privations and unfair conditions and circumstances, some of us have been compelled to run in circles that we did not like, work shifts and wages and jobs that were less than favorable. We have had family and friends and associate that thought that they were helping us, but in reality they were not. We have been hurt, physically, mentally, emotionally, morally, spiritually.  We have sought after the balm of Gilead, the healing of the Master, the touch of the Healer, to access and embrace our Benevolent Creator on High. However, we have come across and enjoined many good and great people despite all the difficulties. We can list them by name.

     We have seen many highs and lows in this mortal sphere, in this realm of dreams and some nightmares. You made it through, Brother Greg; you showed many of us a special light. You spoke of working with the youth, helping them. There are plenty of young souls in heaven, Greg. You can do your heart's desires above. You can help them and bring them closer to the light and God's love, like you helped some of us here. You helped me see and re-see, feel and wonder anew, and review, value, and cherish the blessings and the gifts that are offered to me and others in this life.

         And yes, Greg, you have made it to the Golden Arches. Way beyond hamburgers and shakes. 

        Yes, Greg, I'll have the fries with that order, please.

        Thank you. Thank our Heavenly Father for you. We are all so blessed.

Purdue Chokes ... Home State Blues

    It happened last night. 

    The Purdue Boilermaker's talented young men's basketball lost in overtime last night, pretty late; I watched most of it, as I watched most of the first day of this year's Madness in the first round, first day. 

I am a basketball fan, alas. I am also from Indiana. Things are trying to rectify themselves now in my home state, a place that is known for appreciating and even revering this sport of quite a few masses. I like the sport for a few reasons. I like how many men, women, boys, and girls find and outlet in  it and a chance to surge and succeed. It is not too violent, and does not require too much money. It is a sport that favors the tall and the quick, but many can participate and use it to get ahead, to gain good results in life.

     North Texas did that last night against the favored Boilers. It happened in Indianapolis. The Green were mean, they had more upperclassmen by far. And the Purdue guys that my Indiana Hoosiers have not beaten since 2016, lost again to twice this year, during the worldwide pandemic.

   Ohio State, another Big Ten team that my Hoosiers cannot beat, was the bigger upset last night. I had them for the Final Four, as did a few others (seeded second), and I had Purdue with a big upset over Baylor. Baylor and Gonzaga are two of the biggest picks this month. They play later today, Saturday.

    So, the state of Indiana is hosting the whole tourney and the teams from the state are now shut out.

    My Hoosiers fired their fourth year coach, Archie Miller. We are in search mode for the fifth time since firing Bob Knight in the fall of 2000. Purdue likes Painter, despite last night, he is doing well. Notre Dame struggled this year despite signs of life a few times, not enough.

    Indiana State has hired a new coach, a team that took fire once in 1979, while other Indiana schools at the division one level are not that good: Valparaiso, IPFW (Fort Wayne), Ball State, IUPUI (ooh-wee pooh-ee),  and Evansville. Mighty Indiana is not that mighty, especially after last night. 

   The Hoosier state has to improve. The state of college basketball is good, there are about 357 top level schools in almost all the states except Alaska. Scholarships and better educations and futures are going out

   Meanwhile, the Midwest is still playing strong in a few quadrants, with a few Big Ten teams remaining, which I hold my hopes for, even past the Buckeyes. Wisconsin crushed North Carolina, that was nice. Kentucky and Duke were already eliminated, that is a bonus for me. UCLA plays my BYU Cougars tonight, which is part of the overall historic race for supremacy; the Bruins won their 11th all time in 1995. Since then Kentucky has reached 8, North Carolina is at 6 or so, and Duke is at 5 all time since 1991. Those blue bloods, all teams with blue in their colors, plus Kansas and Villanova (also blue), and Connecticut, are adding multiple championships since IU plateaued  at the five stars and banners that they achieved way back in 1987, to this date my favorite year of sports, because of that IU men's team winning the whole enchilada and my favorite baseball player peaking that summer. 

   Purdue has a super good team the following season, 1988, and between my Purdue friends Patrick and Jason, I was hoping that the Boilers could win it back then. But they choked to a decent Kansas State and an amazing ______ ________ . He went on to a great pro career.

   Purdue has put up some good teams since, good enough to best IU too much for my liking, but can never go too far in the Dance. I wish that they would win, as good as they have produced! Other Big Ten teams have flirted with the championship, but only bringing home the rings in 1989 and 2000, Michigan and Michigan State, respectively. Michigan has had some great teams, Wisconsin a few, Michigan State and Ohio State have both made their Final Fours. Illinois flirted heavily back in 2005, only to be bested by a North Carolina squad with a Bloomington kid, Sean May.

Here's hoping 2021 can go the way of the Big Ten, despite Purdue and Ohio State going down so early. We have a few more teams to go. Iowa? Illinois? Wisconsin? Rutgers? 

Maryland? It could happen, everyone has a shot.

Just not the Indiana boys in the tourney of Hoosierland.

Martlin Luther King Dreams Ignored, Forgotten, Neglected

     I woke up this morning with something running in my mind, and I will try to explain it here.

 

     The Reverend King was brutally assassinated in 1968, before I was born. Quite a bit of water has run under the bridge in the United States and the world since. But these many years later we as a society, collectively and individually, cast off his words, his intents, his dreams. There is much hypocrisy when it comes to his legacy and ideals. Unfortunately, some make out his example and stands to be things that they are really not. The politics and the economics and the accusations of systemic racism that are invoked in his name are canards, are false narratives. Lies. Why? Because we have forgotten his standards, his hopes, his dreams.

   So, allow me to drop some wisdom on you, Generation Z, Millennials, my own Generation X, and any one else who can grasp what I am sharing here. In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Junior, the Reverend and believer, patriot and hero, martyr and sage, a celebrated American with his own holiday. Let us discuss what this great man of the past would want for you, me, us, today.

    Do you go to church? Or synagogue? or mosque? When was the last time you did go, make your way to a house of worhsip? Do you plan on going? Why or why not? Perhaps churches "are not for you", maybe organized religions, according to your way of thinking, "only pander to and exploit the masses" (see Lenin), that you think that religions "sow divisions and hate." Do you believe any of that? Church, temple, or mosque, or a religious study or practice groups do not call you? Why is that? You believe that organized faiths are the cause of evil, that they are old fashioned and antiquated, no longer relevant, that they are hateful and misogynistic, at minimum patriarchal, racist and status quo seeking, anti-LGBTQ and all things good and progressive. Church and state are separate, is the eternal battle cry, and the state is the modern and proper panacea for all societal woes, not some organized, old man institution of suppression and hate, of greed and vice, achieving the opposite of their goals, raking the poor of their money and time, propping up themselves and feigning humility while all the while fleecing the needy.

I have heard and I comprehend the arguments against organized religion. I understand that organized faiths can seem inconvenient or uncomfortable on your personal "style", or worse can seem to go contrary to your personal ethics or standards. But, who needs fixing? Is there poverty, systemic racism, classism, unfair inequities? Yes? What do we as a society and collective need to do to remedy these generational issues? Listen to Doctor King, for one. Believe in a Higher Power. Act on faith, not on disbelief.

What church or faith do you participate or work at, or even associate with? None? You avoid them? You eschew them and tear them down metaphorically as wastes of space and time? Hmmm. And life is turning out good for you? For your community?

What would Reverend King say?

GO to church. Regularly. Make it a habit and let it be a part of your soul and trust community.

Am I making this up? The Reverend Doctor would be mortified by those who have dropped their family religions, holy books, holy places, community outreach groups, Bible or other scripture studies.

You have fallen into a vast wasteland of unbelief and scorn. Words of the Holy Bible and the Reverend, and of the Lord, not just me. Gandhi would say the same. Instead, you frequent bars and games and video parlors and everything but a place of organized faith. And your souls are rotten with waste of the world. And you continue to fall behind morally, spiritually, ethically. The dollar is bigger to you, even if ill gotten. You do not help the poor. Selfish and contrary to the sermons and dreams of the Reverend.

So there's that. Try to tell me that these statements are not true. You can't. Secular wisdom and the world have become the new religions, which is only a bunch of politics and condemnation that has no solution. Kicking against pricks, the great secular "none" (having no faith) generations. You are a part of it, and we are aghast. Bow your head and head to a worship service. As soon as possible. Otherwise, you are still part of the problem.

    But this is not all.

There is the family. Oh, yeah. That. Father, mother, siblings. Some would throw in the grandparents, some aunts and uncles, too. Maybe some godparents, too. How do families come to be?

    Back when Martin Luther King was alive, people in the United State and the world over had kids by legally binding contracts that were usually applied by men of the cloth, which was a solemn and austere and usually spectacularly beautiful ceremony called a wedding; a man and a woman, of sound mind and adult standing, would come together to make a family and to have kids. Those progeny would be raised by those parents, the ones that created them or adopted them, and the children would have a mother and a father to raise them and teach them and sacrifice for them and try to help them know between good and bad.

 

    Doctor King believed in this. Was there another way? Was one woman supposed to have children with five different men, none of them claiming their offspring, and all of them leaching off the government checks to survive? What would the good Doctor say? Sleep with a whole grip of others, raise your kids as bastards to the state?

    What would Martin Luther King say about the state of the nuclear family now? It needs to be better. People need to get married and bring children into the world right, and raise them right. Parents need to be there for their progeny, literally and spiritually.

    What would he say about tattoos, and grooming standards, and the dress of teenagers and those adults who labor or work in other professions, those who never wear a tie or dress, those who wear baggy clothes and clothing that do not conform with normal, decent living and working? Why all the jewelry, and skin piercings? Why all the hours and hours spent on hair styles that require so much work, instead of say, reading a book or learning about cultural knowledge like attending a museum or visiting a historical shrine? I am not saying that all people who put hours into their looks are ignoring better opportunities to better themselves and others, but how much time did Doctor King spend on his appearance? Did he think that fancy hair and body tattoos were of priority to advancing?

    Okay, I realize my cynicism has the best of me here. The times and era of the 1960s were decidedly more socially conservative than now, the grooming standards were more clean cut and proper. I recognize that many things have changed since the times of Doctor King, including racial mixed-marriage acceptance and the legalization of same sex marriage; some of those fashions and values of yesteryear do not translate across the board into the 2000s. There are good, well meaning youth and adults who use jewelry, studs, gauges, hooks, pins, needles, and all sorts of alternative piercings and body manipulations, not to mention hair coifs and expensive clothing and styles, that some would argue are distracting and detract from the overall progress of a hard working, striving, citizen.

    We do not have to be "clean cut" in order to live out Martin Luther King's dreams, I know. The now fallen Bill Cosby used to tell Black youth to "pull up your pants" and be presentable, not "ghetto", and it turns out he was one of the worst anti-women predators that we know. Looks are not everything, I get it. However, too many youth, men women, of all classes and backgrounds spend too much time on their looks and styles, and some of them are non-productive to the point of destructive. 

   Can we agree on that? What else would Reverend King disagree with today? Too much alcohol. Too much tobacco. Too much marijuana. To many illicit drugs. Too much sex, especially outside of marriage. Too much crude language. Too many gangs. Too much gun and other random or systematic violence. Not enough education. Not enough welfare or health care. Not enough food. Not enough marriage. Not enough religious attendance. Not enough Bible. Not enough good principles being touted or celebrated.

Yeah. 

We are not living his dreams, safe to say. Who do we blame? Republicans? Democrats? Church people? Atheists? Hollywood? Generation X? The Baby Boomers? Ronald Reagan? Bill Clinton? Michael Jackson? Televangelists? Osama Bin Laden? The Pope? Blacks? Whites? Tiger Woods? 

Who is to blame for us failing Martin Luther King, Junior, and his goals and dreams?

All of us are to blame. I am trying to right the ship right now.

We need to correct the course of the ship and remember his words, his dreams, his intentions.

We have forgotten them.

I repeat: we have forgotten the words of Doctor King.

 

Forgotten what? 

 

Precisely.

 

We celebrate a federal holiday for who? Who was he? Why did he matter?

 

Does he matter?

 

According to our words and actions, he is no longer relevant.

 

You and I live that way, it is that way. 

The Reverend, the true intent of his hopes and dreams, have been kicked to curb. 

Convince me otherwise.

You don't have to be Christian and Bible believing to live the dream of the Reverend. But, you have to aspire and strive to live higher than you and we have been living.

Remember who, again? I think that we have forgotten and forsaken the Dream, one principle at a time.

Dads, marry your wives. Parents, raise your children. Believe that marriage is right, because it is. Believe and act on raising your children, because they are the dream.

Is this a dream, or a weird nightmare?

His death was nightmarish, and too much of his community has gone the same way. We are his legacy, and we have neglected what he was about.