Independence Day

Millions of people all across the United States will celebrate the 4th of July this weekend. It is a celebration of an event that happened 232 years ago when a committee of five men led by Thomas Jefferson John Adams and Benjamin Franklin crafted the Declaration of Independence.

They knew that their actions would lead to months of sacrifice and blood shed. They also knew that no action would bring the greatest tragedy of all, a lack of freedom and independence.

Planted deep inside every human being is a "spirit of independence" crying to step away from the crowd and establish it's own identity.

I believe Independence Day has a two fold significance. As a nation we should always strive to remain free. We do that by registering to vote, by knowing who represents us in the Congress of the United States and in our local government and by staying involved in decisions that effect our cities and schools.

Too many of us struggle to name even our U.S. Senators let alone our state and local leaders. We are often quick to criticize state and local decisions without having any knowledge of why those decisions were made. It is far easier to repeat the "talk show" babble of your favorite host than it is to actually research a topic and discuss it intelligently.

Every time we utter a statement that simply mirrors someone else's opinion with no research of our own, we thumb our noses at our own declaration on independence.

I also believe this holiday should be a reminder that as individuals we enjoy a level of independence in this country that is un-matched anywhere in the world.

Every day of our lives we make hundreds of decisions. We decide what to eat, what to read, what to watch on television, what to say to our children, our spouses, our parents and our friends.

Hundreds of times a day we decide what to think and whether to agree with what we hear.

During the course of a day we will hear radio and television commercials, news and hearsay. We will see pop up ads on our lap tops and phones. We will hear office chatter and gossip.

Hundreds of times a day we will have to decide what to absorb and what to discard. In a split second we will have to decide what is "noise" trying to seep into our brains and what is useful information.

This is where our true independence is tested. Are we going along with the crowd or making a conscious decision to accept or reject what we've heard ourselves?

If your "human filter" is working properly you'll be free to decide for yourself what is good and bad for you. Those decisions will determine whether or not you have a happy and successful life.

I wish you all a fun filled 4th of July weekend. Find a family celebration in your town or city and enjoy the fireworks.

I am not a fan of the illegal and often over sized explosives I hear in the woods behind my house every July. I wonder if the thoughtless people who buy and use them every year think about the effect they have on pets or more important the effect they may have on the men and women recently home from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'll close with an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them to another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Libery and the pursuit of Happiness.

The Card Store

It was a rainy Saturday in the pacific northwest. I spent most of the early part of the day cleaning the house, vacuuming, folding laundry, mopping floors and bagging up clothing to take to Goodwill. I know I'm a wacky funster with no limits on what I'll do for a good time. Just as I began to get bored I decided to take the two mile walk from my house to DJ's Sports Cards. It was like a return to the summer of 1957 for me walking to the baseball card shop with a couple of bucks in my pocket and big dreams in my head. It was almost like my boyhood friend Dave Appelbaum was right there by my side pounding a tattered baseball into his Spaulding glove. Dave taught to me to bat left handed when I was seven years old. I started as a right hand hitter but he convinced me I'd be more effective if I could bat lefty as well. It paid off handsomely in my teenage years when I became one of the better Wiffle ball players in the state of Connecticut.

So I'm walking to the sports card shop on a rainy Saturday thinking about the old days, Dave and Wiffle ball. Thinking about the hour I spent on our gravel road in my home town hitting small rocks into the woods with an old baseball bat. I'd call play by play like Mel Allen the Hall of Fame yankees broadcaster of the 50s and 60s. When Mickey Mantle came up I'd hit lefty if he was facing a right hand hitter and vice versa. I spent entire summers living an imaginary life as a big league ball player. The only thing missing was the chewing tobacco. I substituted Bazooka Bubble gum. I couldn't spit worth a darn but it tasted a lot better than tobacco.

My mind wandered to the time I hit a grand slam homer off Bob Feller at the old Yankee Stadium. Actually it was a rock I tossed to myself and it was on Newsome Lane. The rock flew deep into the woods, squirrels scattered, birds retreated to the neighbors yard, the crowd roared. It was the longest home run of my career. I think the rock I hit is in the hall of fame.

As I approached DJ Sports Cards on Saturday I realized that I am a grown up now, my child hood was decades ago, I really should face reality. On the other hand I think I'll go down to the river and hit some rocks. Bob Feller is 90 years old now I think I can hit another long one off "Rapid Robert."

Hopeful Solutions

Check out the Monday June 14 Seattle Times article about a major mineral discovery in the Afghan mountains. In a nut shell U.S. Geologists and Pentagon officials discovered veins of gold, cobalt, iron and other minerals worth at least a trillion dollars in the Afghan mountains. This discovery could turn a war ravaged region in one of the great mining centers in the world.

There are people who spend their entires lives working on this kind of solution to the problems that face us. We should applaud their efforts and find ways to help them.

Complaining about everything from crime rates to poor public education to the price of health care is easy to do. Finding solutions to these problems is difficult and should be supported.

Living Wooden's Words

Most of the talk about John Wooden immediately following his passing last week was about his character. There's a good reason for that. It can be found in this Wooden quote. "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, whilte your reputation is merely what others think you are."

The Wizard of Westwood won 10 NCAA titles as coach at UCLA including seven in a row. His winning percentage of .804 will never be surpassed. The numbers in the record books tell the story of a great career. The lives of the houndred of players and coaches he touched tell an even greater story.

John Wooden always had time for people. It didn't matter if they were from Sports Illustrated or a small newspaper in Yakima Coach Wooden had time for them. He listened more thank he spoke and when he spoke he didn't talk about himself he asked about you.

Remember the records if you wish but also never forget the lessons this man taught all of us. "Be prepared and be honest," he said. Let's all start with that one and go from there.