The Philip Pfiles

11/03/08: Voting and vetting behind the veil

I won’t tell my students who I’m voting for.

Not that I’m ashamed of McCain (BTW I’m voting for John McCain) its just that being in such a diverse school students are very passionate about their candidate and they would get offended if I’m not backing their guy. Really, either way you vote you'll offend somebody.

So I’m teaching them the value of listening to others and respecting the opinions of others, especially when you disagree with them. I'm also encouraging them to think for themselves... but that will take more time than what I have with them in one year.

Speaking of not thinking for oneself... Its hard not to buy into the excitement of Obama. He is inspiring. His words are like honey. He is charismatic and intriguing. He is historical and would bring a new dynamic to the presidency that has never been there (and yes I’m speaking of the minority part, we’ve already had the liberal part).

The problems though outweigh the positives. For beginners he sounds too good. “If its too good to be true it probably is.” And while he sounds great, his actual accomplishments are minuscule. And even if his success in organization (he has led a great campaign) are carried over into the White House the things that he’d accomplish I disagree with 70-80% of them (from abortion to education, from national defense to supreme court justice selection).

But the most disturbing are the intangibles. Something just doesn’t feel right.

Now I could spout off a dozen accusations from the internet but most of these are superfluous and baseless. There are a few that may prove problematic to say the least (is he even eligible to run for president? Was he born in Kenya or is he an Indonesian citizen? Who checks this out and what happens if he isn’t eligible to be president but he wins the election?)

It reminds me of a student body election in high school. Who does the student body elect the nerd with experience in concessions and scouts or the popular attractive charismatic kid who gives good speeches and looks cool?

I guess my biggest problem with Obama is not really his fault. The media has given him a pass on any real grilling. They’ve saved the inquisition for Sarah Palin. The extent of the inquisitive nature that is supposed to be a hallmark of journalism is that they’ve all read his books and have experienced goose bumps running down their legs.

So my biggest gripe is with the media. But I’m not giving Obama a pass either. He’s been very shrewd and opportunistic. Which makes for a great politician but not necessarily a great leader.

The way that he won his state senate seat (by disqualifying the other contenders) to his always trading up without paying his dues where he is (opportunism). This leads to the experience question and has he ever been tested? While he could have nerves of steel under pressure and make the best decisions the fact that he has never had to make tough decisions and hasn’t been under much pressure are two bad omens.

A last thought on Obama: why does he want to be president? And on a related note: does he hold a grudge? Does he forgive and forget or is his presidency going to be an evening up of the perceived score? I don’t know what this might translate to, but it is a feeling I have.

Now, I’m not just a vote againster. I would be voting for McCain over pretty much everyone but Mike Huckabee.

I like McCain. He has been tested. He has shown his mettle. And I personally like the fact that he loses his temper. It shows his passion and heart. And the fact that he writes notes and apologizes to those he blows up at makes him human... and more like me than I want to admit (except I'm not good at writing notes).

I also agree with most of his policy positions (abortion, national defense, and supreme court) and generally respect him a lot more.

In short I’ll be voting for John McCain.

I don’t know that it will help though. I think the media has already anointed Obama. And the majority of Americans vote more on a candidates personality then his positions. And the McCain campaign has not run a great race (they’ve focused on the minor issues while ignoring the important ones - plus they’ve played a reactive instead of proactive campaign). And Obama has run a better race.

Sure McCain has a Hail Mary left and could pull this election off, but I don’t see it happening and if it does then his victory would be bittersweet (can anyone say race riots?)

If Barack Obama does win this election I’ll tell you what I’m going to do though. Well, I’m not going to go to Canada or leave this planet (I wish those who spout off such jibberish would actually keep their promises). No, I’ll stay right in America and pray for our next president. Pray for his safety, wisdom and that God would use him to lead this country.

So I will pray ... but first I’ll vote. I just wish I lived in Chicago or that ACORN had contacted me. That way I could vote a lot.

06/25/08: Killer Compassion

Love and Truth.

Compassion and Justice.

Forgiveness and Vengeance.

It doth appear from where I stand (or more often sit) that our society is schizophrenic. We are caught in a dichotomy of our own making. I just wish I knew what dichotomy means.

Paradigm Shift anyone?

On one hand we celebrate love, compassion and forgiveness as hallmarks of our greatness as a nation. As long as its cheap, convenient and doesn't affect us personally.

That's when we call for brutal honest truth, a justice of the peace (or a lawyer) and bloody, exacting, and total vengeance.

On an aside: I've been struck by the number of people that champion causes (be it the prevention of some disease, affliction or crime) AFTER they or someone close to them is affected. And this is noble, don't get me wrong, but what are the rest of us waiting for? Are we waiting until we get cancer? Our children have autism? Some drunk kills our family? Why are we addicted to reactions and not actions?

So on this note I will proactively state my solutions before they affect me personally.

1. I believe drunk drivers who cause the loss of a single life should be executed. Unless it is there own, then they should be let off with a warning and some rehab.

2. I believe those who molest, rape, kidnap or assault a child should be executed. I won't even try to rationalize or explain what is instinct in every mother and father around the world. You hurt my child, you die.

3. I believe all naturally occurring drugs should be made legal. I don't and probably would never take Marijuana or Cocaine but it seems absurd that we prohibit naturally occurring drugs that God made, while we synthetically recreate these same drugs in the lab and pay out the wazoo for them, all the while destroying whole countries fighting a war that will not be won. If there is a war that we should be "cut and running" from it’s the war on drugs. Besides once we legalize it we can control it, tax it and educate people about it (see cigarettes and beer). If, however, we insist on this war on drugs then we should be honest and add cigarettes and beer to the other life destroying drugs. All or nothing, anything else is hypocritical.

4. I believe that children are a blessing and should be treated like a national treasure. I have a lot of thoughts on this and will write about it elsewhere, but for now suffice to say children are a blessing. However, a blessing can become a curse if we don't lead by example and invest love and time teaching truth and character at an early age.

5. I believe training requires carrots and sticks, rewards and consequences. Along this line, children need to be spanked from time to time. A good paddling by loving parents is the best medicine for selfish immaturity. Again, I'll write about this later. Too often our more "humane" punishments are so removed from the actual offense that the poor child never makes the connection. At many schools students are punished with "timeout" (alternate class or in school suspension) for an offense days or weeks after the event and never make the connection. I stole from my teacher's desk, was caught and got swatted by the principal when I was in 5th grade. It was the best thing that ever happened to me and the last time I ever stole. Sometimes truth must pass through the butt to properly register. I think if we did this more with children we wouldn't have so many messed up adults.

6. I believe that we need some good ole fashion exorcisms. Jesus went about doing good, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. If only Jesus had known how to properly diagnos everyone he wouldn't have had to spend a quarter of his time casting out demons.

7. I believe that we should take away the video games, TVs, computers, music, etc... of every kid with ADD or ADHD and give them only books and then reevaluate them in one month. I'm not against these things in moderation, but I think it is silly to medicate kids for over stimulation before we first remove the hyper-stimulants from their environment.

So what about the killer compassion? I think our supposed compassion is deadly, and while many of my proposals might seem harsh would actually be more compassionate in the long run.

What is more compassionate? Option #1: Rehabilitating one drunk and burying a family of five. Or Option #2: Executing drunk drivers and saving 10,000 to 15,000 innocent lives a year? Believe me, if we got serious and started executing drunk drivers there wouldn't be much drunk driving any more.

Final thought: I believe that the truth is full of love and will save the lives of those it may initially offend. I believe that when justice is systematically and uncompromisingly enforced that the safety that would follow is compassionate. I believe that we need to forgive those who have hurt us, but that the state is equipped, empowered and has to administer vengeance on evil doers. The catch to all of this is that if these seven steps were followed I don't think we'd have to execute very many people before most would catch on and start behaving.

God forbid, but if something happened to anyone in my family, I would forgive the guilty party, pray for their salvation and wish them God speed as I watch them pass from this world to the next.

Harsh? Probably. The way you'll feel when injustice comes knocking at your door. Absolutely.

02/09/07: Jury Doodie

Today I finished three days of Jury Duty.

Yes I was surprised as much as anyone who knows me that I was selected.

As Winston Churchill said (and my “nemesis” in the jury room reminded me) "Democracy is the worse form of government except for all of the rest."

Anyway, our justice system stinks. But sadly, I don’t know of another system that I’d trade ours in for. Maybe Singapore’s? Then again I don’t have the need to tag walls with my graffiti and have never enjoyed gum that much. Yeh, maybe they’re a little too strict.

So my jury duty was a tediously interesting and ultimately sickening task. Did I serve on a capital murder trial or see some grotesque images? No, I was "blessed" to serve on a misdemeanor trial (assault and resisting arrest) with five other jurors.

My initial and continuous thoughts were; why is this thing wasting the court’s time? A lot of people are spending a lot of energy, resources and time on something that should never have gotten this far.

The facts of the case are boring and if I have to rehash them here I would probably rehash my dinner at the same time.

But basically a girl (old enough but not mature enough to be called a lady), with her friends, insult and cause a general disturbance in a bar. When they are asked to leave they cop their privileged attitudes. A racial slur is thrown out at the black female bouncer (which of course none of these fallen angels will admit) which causes the bouncer to man handle the defendant while escorting her to the door. The girl reacts by kicking, screaming and swinging which causes another bouncer to call for help over the walkie-talkies. Vice officers are at the bar at the time and respond to the call. The vice officers identify themselves and tell her to stop fighting. She resists arrest and is eventually tazed because she refuses to submit to the police.

As I sat contemplating the cures for cancer that could be developed with the same resources that were being squandered on this trivial matter I identified 9 points (and counting) at which this could have been defused and disarmed.

1. The girl could have behaved like a lady. Insulting others is fine when you are watching them on TV. Don’t go to a bar and do this and expect your superficial beauty will save you.

2. When confronted by the bouncer she could have kept her mouth shut and not antagonized the bouncer.

3. The bouncer could have ignored the racial slur and continued on with her escorting duties without dignifying the insult with a response.

4. As she was being forcibly assisted to the door she could have swallowed her pride and just left the establishment.

5. When the police arrived they could have asked both parties what was happening instead of just siding with the bouncers. Maybe such a moment of calm may have diffused the situation and given both sides an opportunity to save face and a chance for the girls to leave on their own.

6. As they attempted to subdue her she could have let them instead of resisting arrest.

7. The police could have tried a little longer to subdue her, or give her a minute or two to calm down before they tazed her.

8. Once subdued and out of the bar they could have given her a ticket instead of filing the two misdemeanor charges.

9. Both parties could have settled (which I don’t think the defendants wanted to do because they will most likely be filing civil suits to try to make some money).

This case will probably go to a civil trial where the defendant will sue the bouncers and police officers. I hope that it doesn’t go this direction. But like every mole hill turned summit, why stop now? Worked for Europe in 1914.

*Aside: After writing this article I struggled with my decision, after 4 hours of deliberations, to agree with the other jurors and find her not guilty on both counts. And while I do think she was guilty I feel at peace with my decision given the laws and instructions that the court gave me.

Don’t get me wrong, she was not innocent, but she wasn’t guilty according to the charges we were given. She was guilty but we couldn’t find her guilty of her true charge: being a spoilt rotten, self absorbed, calloused and shallow girl who at the age of 24 still throws temper tantrums and refuses to accept responsibility for anything she does. Sadly there is no charge for that. All we could rule on where the two ambiguously worded, convoluted and legalese filled charges that were given to us. And unfortunately for her, she was found not guilty on both these counts.

Now why was this unfortunate for her? Well, the lessons she will probably take from the experience are...

1. It is never her fault.
2. Her daddy will bail her out of her poor choices (until the day when her dad dies from the heart attack that his daughter has given to him - seriously this guy has probably aged 10 years through this ordeal).
3. If you lie long and loud enough (and get your friends to lie for you) then people will believe you. Most of the jurors, for the record, new that she and her friends were lying but that was not a charge that we could rule on.
4. Money will buy justice. Most people of lesser means would have accepted the two misdemeanor charges and moved on. But if you have enough money you can purchase some lawyer-prostitute (yes that is my new term for lawyers who twist the law to line their own pockets) to get you off the hook on a technicality or in our case a loop hole that would let Charles Manson go free.

My hope is that she will learn her lesson and become a changed person. And that her family will let it go and move on with their life.

I’m not holding my breath, although I am holding my nose.

01/21/07: Hating Patriots

As I contemplated the writing of this the Patriots were ahead of my beloved Colts and I feared that their uncanny ability to always land butter side up was once more in effect.

Since the inception of this article the Colts produced a remarkable comeback and showed their maturity and talent by overcoming a 1st half deficit of 15 points to win the game with a touchdown in the final two minutes.

I may talk about the Colts and lessons from their trials of the last few years but today I will express my hate for the Patriots.

I hate the Patriots in much the same way as much of the world hates the US.

Shortly after 9/11 the Patriots won their first Superbowl ever. Most Americans, including myself, rooted for the underdogs who played as a team and never gave up.

A year later they repeated as champions and most Americans acknowledged their skill, team work and coaching. Two years later they won yet another Superbowl and as of half time today they looked like they were destined to a fourth Superbowl in six years.

The problem is that they haven’t taken all of the fans from five years ago with them. While they have kept their talented quarterback (Tom Brady) and coach (Bill Belichick) they have lost much of their supporting cast as well as the good will of much of the country. The question that haunts me and that I find very relevant to America’s position in the world of the 21st century is why?

First of all the thing that was so unique about the Patriots of 2001 (2002 Champs) was that they had no big name players but worked as a team and overcame tremendous odds and more talented teams to win the Championship.

Since that time winning has come their way easily. Too easily. As mentioned they seem to always find a way to win much to the frustrations of better team (ala The Chargers last week). But that doesn’t explain why I hate them.

I think the biggest reason I hate them is that they have been too good. Too lucky. Too fortunate. Add to this the fact that they seem to take it for granted that this is their lot in life. They seem to think that they deserve to always win. And winning is apparently all that they care about.

They don’t seem to care about their players. This past year they lost four major players (Two wide receivers, kicker Adam Vinatieri who is with the Colts and Cornerback Ty Law who as a Chief provided KC’s only redemption by intercepting Manning twice two weeks ago) because they weren’t willing to reward them (with money of course) for their contribution in three Championships. The also lost an assistant coach, Eric Mangini, who became the coach of the Jets. Belichick, ala Peter, has denied even knowing who this traitor is ... or so it seems.

Winning is everything to the Patriots. More on this attitude and the personality of Coach Belichick can be found at an article on Yahoo.

So what does my bitter grapes toward the Patriots have to do with the World’s hatred toward us.

1. In 2001 the world was our biggest fan after 9/11. Even France had kindness in their Grinch like heart.

2. Instead of appreciating this good will we’ve become so obsessed with winning with or without fans (allies) that we’re increasingly gone our own way ... on our own.

3. We’re too successful and because of this it is hard for anyone to root for us. Now this isn’t something we can really do much about except for to try to make successes of other countries as well. It would’ve been nice if Bill Belichick was a fan of Eric Mangini the way the Tony Dungy is a fan of Lovie Smith and Herm Edwards (two of his former assistant coaches).

4. We only do what is in our interest and the world knows this. Ironically our foreign policy is a very Marshall Plan’esque approach and we really do want other countries (especially Iraq and Afghanistan) to succeed but this is not what the world perceives.

5. We don’t seem to value the people (though we are doing better by our soldiers now then we did 30 years ago - nevertheless we could do much better) and allies that have made our country such a success. Some of our biggest enemies now (Iran, Venezuela China, and France) were once our allies that we took for granted. Now they’re kicking for the other team.

Again much of what I write here is my perception of the world’s perception. But in this 21st century perception becomes reality when men are willing to blow themselves to pieces in order to express their anger.

While we can’t fix all of the perceptions it is at least a good idea to know what these perceptions are so we don’t make them worse. And while President Bush has made many mistakes to take this as an attack solely on him is missing the point. Radical Muslims hated us before either Bush was sworn into office. Any President we have would be the target of their hate. The problem, I believe, with America’s perception around the world is more a reflection on America’s unbridled success and decadent opulence. This perception is more right then we might want to admit so its more comforting to blame our chief executive then to take a look at our own self-centeredness.

Most New Englander’s love the Patriots and don’t understand why the rest of the country hates them.

Tonight I cried, prayed, begged, tore out my hair and screamed in my humble effort to propel my team, the Colts, to victory over the hated great Satan. Unfortunately, this is the same approach many young men are taking in the Middle East. Except for them the fireworks are real.

03/20/06: Now we're getting somewhere

In a recent article on Islam I appealed to moderate Muslims to take back their religion. I just finished reading an article on a young Egyptian preacher, Amr Khaled, that gave me hope that there doesn't have to be a clash / conflict between Islam and Christianity.

Now he is just one voice, but maybe Muslims will grasp ahold of the hope and reconciliation that this young Islamic leader symbolizes.

Click here to go to this article.

03/18/06: Is it too late to be a Hedonist?

Last night, once the kids were asleep, my wife and I watched the first 15 minutes of Rent. During these 15 minutes we witnessed a slew of young hedonists bemoan the fact that they had to pay rent and lament the horrible suffering that was thrust upon them (namely the HIV virus).

I might have kept watching if I hadn’t already seen Team America World Police where they lampoon Rent with "Lease" and its signature song "Everybody has AIDS!"

I’m not making light of AIDS or those who are afflicted by it. Nevertheless it is hard to take seriously, or feel sympathy for people who take little or no responsibility for their life while they seek out hedonistic pleasures.

Ironically, of the "isms," hedonism does make the most sense. All of the other "isms" have their supposed payout at the end. Be it Paradise, Nirvana, reincarnation, or a new crock pot, most have one pay in this life for something one may or may not get in the next. Hedonism is the perfect American religion. Like the credit cards we so enjoy, you get what you want now and pay for it later.

But pay you will. In my last entry I talked about Rudyard Kipling’s "Gods of the Copybook Headings" and one of these headings he uses in the poem is "the wages of sin is death." It is right to feel sorry for people that are suffering and dying. This is called compassion - and it’s a good thing. The problem that I have seen in life is that so many refuse to consider the eventual costs despite being warned by parents, friends and society. Then when the Rent is due they whine, try to avoid collections and want others to pick up the tab.

In a way its similar to the Welfare State that President Johnson initiated in the 1960's. While the goal was noble (erase poverty), this socialist system has seen poverty explode in the inner city. As any economist will tell you, you get what you pay for. When you pay people not to work ... well it doesn’t take John Maynard Keynes to tell you that you are in a for a bumper harvest.

If, out of compassion, we remove all of the consequences for sin (for that is what hedonism basically is) then are we doing them or future hedonists any favors?

This is a bigger question then it first appears. For this is the struggle that we have in society on so many levels. Whether it is a mundane issue like school attendance and performance or a major lightning rod like abortion or drug use we have a hard time letting people pay up.

As a teacher I think more kids should fail. I think the whole "self-esteem" card is a bunch of malarkey. Should we socially promote someone (despite their triumphant lack of effort) so that they don’t develop low self-esteem? Our society says we should and we have. So we have a whole bunch of idiots who feel real good about themselves. So good that they join FHA (Future Hedonists of America), have multiple offspring by different mommas and never learn to take responsibility for their actions all the while holding onto their precious self-esteem.

Now I’m not a kill-joy. If someone is trying then the education system shouldn’t let them down, but when they aren’t even trying the education system does let them down by letting them pass.

My parents taught me that self-esteem was based on their love for me AND on my actions in life. Self-esteem is not a bad thing, if there is something there to be esteemed. We teach our children that they are valuable just because of who they are, and then when they graduate or leave school they enter a world where you are judged by what you do. Wouldn’t it be nice if we gave them a heads up about this before we’ve lost the chance to put anything more into their head?

I got caught stealing in 5th grade. I often tell my students the story and have written about it before so I wont rehash it here. Nevertheless it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I got caught. I was forced to take responsibility for my actions and once I was forced to pay up it changed my life. My teachers would have done me a great disservice if they had had compassion on me and let me slide or given me a stiff warning and evil eye. What I needed was those two hours in the principals office where I cried, pleaded and begged for mercy. Then when I saw mercy wasn’t coming I changed to pleading for forgiveness and once I got swatted, a hanky.

Interestingly, because the punishment was immediate and complete I knew that afterwards I could rebuild their trust in me. Sure there was shame but this just motivated me the more to try very hard to rebuild the relationship they had with me. I went on that year to place 3rd in a district wide math competition, and was recommended for advanced classes by my English teacher, the same one that I had stolen from. I still remember Mrs. Harris’s talk with me at the end of the year and wonder how much her belief in me has given me confidence to write (and I’ve written a lot). I don’t know that any of these things would have been possible if I thought they were still mad at me or were out to get me. There wrath had been satisfied, and I still bare the marks on my ego. Their compassion hurt me, but this hurt was temporal and helped me in the long run.

So in a way being forced to take responsibility for my actions, my teachers (and parents) immunized me to hedonism. You can’t be a responsible hedonist. Hedonism by definition is a self-serving desire driven mentality. Taking responsibility takes self-control which is (to use my current favorite word) anathema to the hedonistic creed.

I love the beer commercials that say "drink responsibly." What they really mean is find someone who will be responsible so that he/she can be your designated driver so you can be irresponsible and get drunk. To be truly responsible one wouldn’t drink. Kinda like the "safe sex" add campaign. I have safe sex. I waited till I was married and remain faithful to my wife. But that isn’t what the "safe sex" slogan is about. Anyway, I digress...

What I am alluding to is called in other circles "tough love." Tough love is hard. Sometimes it is harder for the one doing the loving, then the one being loved. I often laughed when my parents would tell me "this is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you" right before they beat the ketones out of my backside.

Now as a parent I’m seeing it differently. It is a pain to correct my children. It takes too much effort, self-control and patience to train, correct and discipline a child. It is far easier to have compassion and give them another chance. For instance the whole reason parents give their children "3 seconds" to do something is because they are hoping the child will respond so that they don’t have to get up off of the duff. Me, I give my children 10 seconds. Yes, I’m that lazy.

Mrs. Miller, a fellow teacher I’ve worked with for five years, put it this way: you either fight for your kid when they’re five or you fight them when they are 15. Either way you will have to fight. The biggest difference is that when they are five you should be able to win. At 15 you both lose.

One good thing came from the 15 minutes of watching Rent. I was reminded that you write what you know. The writer of Rent knew his material because he lived that lifestyle in the East Village. And this may be one reason so many films and TV shows have been out of touch with the mainstream because the writers write from what they know and they are out of touch with the mainstream. Fortunately for me I couldn’t be any more mainstream if I tried; I’m married, have children, go to work, go to church and have weeds in my lawn.

Aside: Did anyone see the disconnect in George Clooney’s Oscar acceptance speech besides myself? Clooney, the penultimate hedonist, says that he’s glad Hollywood is out of touch with the mainstream because that means that they have led America in issues such as racial equality (and then he failed to mention any other examples). While I’ll cede that Hollywood has been instrumental in racial issues (Guess who’s coming to diner, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Heat of the Night to name some noteworthy films) I don’t think every area that they have led in has been good for society.

Thanks in large part to Hollywood’s example divorce is a national epidemic, sexual promiscuity is rampant, we are losing the drug war and a generation of men are seeking love from other men because they never had a father. Fortunately, Hollywood has glamorized Homosexuality to such an extent that now our boys can choose between being George Michael or George Clooney.

I can think of a half dozen Georges that I’d rather my children emulate. These two don’t make my list.

When it comes down to it the cure for hedonism is strong dose of responsibility. I’m afraid genetically we’re all infected with the lazy / selfish gene.

So hedonism? Is it too late to join? For me it is. I can’t live life for myself (though I do try to work in some selfishness whenever I am able). I have responsibilities. And while I have had to pay a lot (effort as well as finances) I already know that I’m going to like the return on my investment.

I’m going to call my film "Mortgage." Because in the end we all pay, the smart ones have something to show for it.

11/05/05: Always low, not often right

Something is rolling at Wal-Mart. But I don't think its their prices, I think its Sam Walton rolling over in his grave.

Tonight Wal-Mart proved to me yet again why it is the sick man of retail. I went to Wal-Mart to purchase a few items. First I bought some video games and was over charged for one of them. I brought it to the attention of the cashier who after checking the tag consulted a manager and corrected the mistake. Cost me five minutes but saved me $10, plus tax. Actually, it didn't save me anything, it just prevented me from being overcharged.

I then pick up another four items and make my way to the front. At the front express lane I notice Pepsi's on a display rack for 4.98 a 24 pack. I pick up a diet and a regular and take my place in line right by the Pepsi display.

When the cashier checks me out I notice that the Pepsis ring up for 5.98 each. I bring this to the attention of the cashier and she calls for assistance (regardless of the fact the display is less than 10 feet away and clearly shows that I'm being overcharged).

The "assistance" arrives and tells me that the Pepsis are indeed 5.98 and that the display is wrong. The vendor has messed it up and it isn't their fault. So they charge me the 5.98 anyway.

I'm not upset but nor am I pleased. I've bought eight items and have been overcharged on three of them. Not a great percentage. I go to the front and ask for a manager. A manager arrives and I relay to her my recent experiences. She tells me what the other lady told me; that it was the vendors fault and that the Pepsis are 5.98. As we talk, I point to the sign which is now 20 feet away but very clearly visible: 4.98.

Now for the kicker. I bought Pepsis from that exact same display case 10 days ago (I just rechecked my receipt and they did charge me the right price) and was charged 4.98. After suggesting that they tell someone of these problems and fix them the manager offered to have me wait for a few minutes so I could get in another line and get my $2 back. I declined and left.

It wasn't about the $2. First of all they never took responsibility for the over priced soda. They blamed it on the vendor who had mislabeled the sign - even though a week earlier it was right. Second it brought into question their whole pricing scheme. If they messed up on two items out of seven (one item being purchased twice) how much have I been overcharged by them in the past decade? Third when I bring an obvious overcharge to a cashier, manager or any retailer they don't need to argue with me or prove to me that they are right. What about the customer always being right? Fourth, I pay attention to my receipts and what I pay. Most of Wal-marts customers have less money then me and are often immigrants who will pay whatever they are told to pay. In my experience people with higher educations, ergo more money, are the ones who pay more attention to what they are charged.

So... it makes me wonder whether such overcharges are par for the course with Wal-Mart? And finally, when the mistake is brought to their attention by someone (and I had just come from a wedding so I looked like ... well I could've been important as far as they knew) and they don't immediately fix it, and only reluctantly offer to charge the correct price, I've gotta wonder why? Why not overcharge? If caught make it right. If not caught pocket the difference. Where's the incentive to not overcharge?

Which brings me to Kroger. There is a reason I shop at Kroger for all the things I need that they carry. For all other items I go to SuperTarget. The only time I go to Wally World is when I need something that Kroger doesn't have and Target is closed. Anyway, when Kroger overcharges me (which they have - and admittedly overcharging is going to happen due to the nature of the computerized beast) they give me that item for free. The times when I've been overcharged and bring it to their attention, I get the item for free, they don't argue with me AND they fix it in the computer so that the next person doesn't get the same item for free. Now that is accountability to their customers. Wal-mart isn't accountable and that is a problem.

But now that I've done my public service announcement, I shall try to make the problem that is Wal-Mart occur less in my life. I won't be so naive as to say I'll never shop at Wal-Mart again, instead I'll approach it as I do an enema. Sometimes it has to be done, but I avoid it whenever possible.

03/09/03: Two Roads Diverged

Growing up my brother Sam and I were avid readers of a children's book series called "Choose Your Own Adventure." The basic set up of the books is that you begin your journey on page 1 and by page 3 or 4 you are faced with a decision. If you choose the first option (Run away from the four eyed alien monster) you would turn to page 37. If you choose the second option (poke the alien in the eyes) you would turn to page 92. On page 37 and 92 respectively you would find even more tough choices. Followed to the end most of your decisions would lead to a gruesome death (page 66) or being frozen in a time warp (page 88). But if you made good decisions (and were a little lucky) you would defeat the alien scum and save the world (page 111). Course, my brother and I quickly dissected the books and figured out how to always win, at which point the books lost their appeal. Sam figured it out in 7th grade, I came to the same conclusion when he explained it to me last week.

Unfortunately, the future in real life is not so easy to foresee and there is no going back when you turn to the wrong page. At this moment in history we stand on page 40 with two choices, whether to go to page 66 or 111. Except we don't know for sure which decision will take us to which page. It is good that we are discussing it as a democratic society. It is even better that we are praying about it and committing our path to God, who already dissected the book.

Normally I try to speak in rational and logical ways, and while I will continue to do that in this article some of what I am going to say has nothing to do with ration or logic. My spirit (gut) is telling me some things and I am going to tell them to you. Whether it is from God as a prophecy, word of wisdom, common sense or just bad indigestion - I don't know.

But I've felt from election night 2000 and through the coming months that President Bush's election was a gift from God to America of "time." I'm not saying everything President Bush does is perfect or that I agree with everything he does. What I'm saying is that the election of President Bush was a miracle and was due to God's intervention and the prayers of people around the world.

Now what does "time" mean? I don't know. What I feel is that the "time" that God has given us is extra time for America as a society (all civilizations, by the way, do eventually crumble and fall) and for the world to hear the gospel. As I read an article in today's paper (link to article) I was struck by the possibilities of what could be if the page we turn to is the right one.

We could be on the cusp of an open window of liberty, democracy and religious freedom all over the Middle East. This "time" of openness would not last forever but it could give hope and life to billions of people who have no hope and are waiting to die.

Or it could backfire and inflame Muslim hatred, European hatred and generally get everyone ticked off at the USA and Israel (not that people need a reason to blame everything on Israel) which could very well lead to World War III or Armagedon or The Postman II.

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