questions Archives - Page 13 of 24

The PANHANDLE Question

One of those perennially unresolved questions in my life: what should I do when someone, not of my acquaintance, asks me for money, for food or bus fare?

I claim no insight into this except that to walk past someone as though I didn’t hear the question, as though the person were not there, is not an acceptable solution. For me. I make no judgment about what others do, in part because I’m so inconsistent in my own thinking.

I used to give, then I used not to give. I’ve walked into a pizza joint and given money to the proprietor, telling him to get the fellow a couple slices.

One time a friend and I were in Washington Park in Albany and a guy came up to us and asked for some specific amount of money – $2.87 or something like that. He said he was a VietNam vet and that he was going to use the money to buy liquor. And we GAVE it to him. Either it was so honest that we could not resist or a most excellent con.

And that’s what the real issue is, isn’t it? You give money to someone who says he needs food and you’re afraid that he’ll use it on booze and drugs.

While I understand the logistical reason for doing so, I miss the bus tokens that the bus company, the CDTA, used to sell. I used to buy 10 of them for $9.50 and when someone hit me up for bus fare, I’d just give her a token. They put the kibosh on tokens, BTW, because other items – foreign coins, casino slugs, etc. – could replicate the tokens in the machinery.

I figured out that some folks would then sell the token I gave them to someone for cash, and then buy something else.

This has particularly come to mind, not just because it’s the Advent season but because of the Gospel lesson in the liturgy a couple weeks ago, Matthew 25:31-46, which reads in part:
Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father…For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
This article also came to mind.

So, to be crude about it, aren’t we directed to help that smelly, crazy-looking guy on the street? The fact that I give to registered charities doesn’t take me off the hook when face to face with a human in need. Does it?

I had this conversation with my sister who was musing on the very same issue. She noted that her own safety and security is an issue. I can understand that, which is why I give change and even a crumpled single dollar bill from my pocket, but am resistant to show my wallet. On the other hand, her pastor suggested that if you give money based on one piece of information and the user does something else, that’s on them, not on you. Or are you suppose to “discern” their motivation?

In the words of the Beatles’ second movie title, “HELP!”

ROG

Questions about Death

This is, as most Americans of a certain age – what a quaint phrase – the 45th anniversary of the assassination of the 35th President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I remember it well, I think. Or, as I have surmised in the past, I may have shared the story with acquaintances so often that now I recall the retelling rather than the actual event. No matter.

The facts were these: I was in my fifth grade class at Daniel S. Dickinson school in Binghamton, NY when our teacher, Miss (Marie) Oberlik was called into the hall by someone. She came back into the class to announce that the President had been killed. then she left. Immediately our 10-year old minds were reeling. What happened? And what does this mean for the country. I’m fairly sure that we were not versed in the rulkes of Presidential succession and I doubt that I even knew who Lyndon Johnson was. Suddenly, Miss Oberlik returns to the class screaming, “Everyone else in the school is being quiet in respect fior the President!” Well, yeah, but I bet their teachers didn’t drop a bombshell on them and then LEAVE.

BTW, I also saw Lee Harvey Oswald get shot on live TV that weekend.

My questions, which I request that you answer:
1. Who was the first tragedy (death or other traumatic event) you know that was NOT personally involving your sphere of family and friends. For me it was JFK’s death; for my wife, who is younger than I am, it was Richard Nixon’s resignation, probabl;y for the reason I felt about JFK – what now? (Wheras I was rather pleased by Nixon’s departure.)

2. Who was the first person you knew personally to die?
For me, it was all in one short stretch of my great-grandfather (my paternal grandmother’s father), my paternal grandmother, and my great aunt (my maternal grandmother’s sister). They may have been a year or two apart, but they all feel now as though it were the same gloomy stretch. ROG

The SKA questions

A friend of mine e-mailed this to me:

1. What time did you wake up this morning? 5:30 AM. this is actual;ly an improvement.
2. Diamonds or pearls? In order to do what?
3. What was the last movie you saw? Vicki Crisina Barcelona. I was going to go see Frozen River this past weekemnd, but the prospect of taking two buses each way simply didn’t appeal to me.
4. What is your favorite TV show? Current: The Office; true for at least three years. All0-time, Dick van Dyke Show.
5. What do you have for breakfast? Spoon-Size Shredded Wheat mixed with Cheerios, the usual one weekdays; on weekends, it’s oatmeal
6. What is your middle name? Owen. There was a period in junior high when my friends and I would address each other by our middle names.
7. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I have about nine CDs in rotation, including Brian Wilson, REM and Elvis Costello
8. What kind of car do you drive? I don’t drive it, but we have – what is that Bryan Ferry song? – Avalon
9. What’s your favorite sandwich? egg salad on wheat
10.What characteristic do you despise? injustice
11. Favorite item of clothing? slippers
12. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? San Francisco
13. Favorite brand of clothing? L.L. Bean
14. Where would you retire to? Qu’est-ce-que ce ‘retire’?
15. What was your most recent memorable birthday? My 16th. My parents rented a place and I invited all my friends.
17. Furthest place you are sending this? So, I went to SiteMeter, and the farthest country appearing there was Thailand
18. Person you expect to send it back first? n/a
19. When is your birthday? March
20. Are you a morning person or a night person? Middle of the night
21. What is your shoe size? 10
22. Pets? none
23. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with us? we went to the open house for UAlbany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. I now know more about a buckyball than I ever wanted to
24. What did you want to be when you were little? A minister, then a lawyer
25. How are you today! reflective
26. What is your favorite candy? cherry Hershey kisses
27. What is your favorite flower? mums
28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? tomorrow
29. What is your full name? Roger Owen Green
30. What are you listening to right now? Tom Petty box set
31. What was the last thing you ate? dinner last night: chicken, corn, potatoes
32. Do you wish on stars? hard to see the stars in the city, but I never did anyway
33. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? green, of course
34. Last person you spoke to on the phone? probably one of my sisters
35. Favorite restaurant? Justin’s, where I proposed to Carol
36. Real hair color? WYSIWYG. Gray.
37. What was your favorite toy as a child? teddy bear
38. Summer or winter: summer
39. Hugs or kisses? hugs, unless they are romantic kisses…
40. Chocolate or Vanilla? vanilla. Did I ever tell this story? I was in 6th grade, and we were selecting ice cream for a party. I was out of the room, but came back and was asked when I returned. I was the ONLY one to pick vanilla.
41. Coffee or tea? tea, I suppose, in that I don’t drink coffee, to some people’s chagrin
42. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? I love comments
43. When was the last time you cried? there’s always something
44. What is under your bed? books, slippers, the bathroom scale
45. What did you do last night? after dinner, did the child’s bedtime routine, then bed
46. What are you most afraid of? boredom
47. Salt or sweet? sweet
48. How many keys on your key ring? 4
49. How many years at your current job? 16 last month
50. Favorite day of the week? Sunday
51. Do you make friends easily? depends on what you call friends
52. How many people will you send this to? billions and billions
53. How many will respond? millions and millions

3ROG

QUESTION: THE QUESTION of the season

1. Regardless of your political persuasion, who do you think’s going to win the US Presidential election. Will it be:
a. McCain wins the popular vote, but Obama wins the electoral college.
b. Obama wins the popular vote, but McCain wins the electoral college.
c. McCain wins both.
d. Obama wins both.

I’m leaning towards d, but fear b.

2. How will the swing states go? As of yesterday, Electoral Vote attributes MS, SD, WV, and AZ(!) as weak McCain, GA, IN, and MT as barely McCain, FL, MO, and NC as barely Obama, CO, NV, OH and VA as weak Obama, and ND a dead heat. What’s interesting to me is how much bluer the map has gotten in some places and redder in others. AZ was solid McCain and MO barely McCain just last week, but IN moved from barely Obama. I expect Obama to win FL because of the Great Schlep. Traditionally, at least where I grew up, there were lots of blacks and Jews working together on civil rights issues so I’m hoping that translates to votes this year. The state Obama could win that would least shock me is Georgia. Not only is former Congressman Bob Barr running, but the early black vote has been strong, I’ve been told.
Actually, any state that isn’t solid red may be in play for Obama. Maybe I’m crazy, but in the Evanier poll, I picked 364 electoral votes.

3. What will be the “Florida 2000/Ohio 2004” for 2008?

Of course, I fear shenanigans. This story about NM just one example. Here’s a machine problem in WV. Democrats in Virginia are getting notices in the mail that tell them Democrats are to vote on November 5th instead of the 4th. Nevadans with Hispanic names are getting calls that they can vote by phone. In some places, letters are going out saying that when you show your ID, you’ll be checked for outstanding warrants or parking tickets. I was hoping Ohio would be cleaner than before under new management, though indications suggest that its troubled history will be replicated.

And it may not even be intentional. This from a friend of a friend – NOT an apocryphal tale:
Although [the 89-year-old man] voted in the primary election, the Early Voting officials could not find his name or address on file. [The man and his daughter] went the Craven County (NC) Board of Elections office… The officials “tried to re-register him only to find Dad and his address no longer existed. Well guess what, they finally found him in their records only to inform me that he was listed as DECEASED as of 7/24/08 per the State of North Carolina. They were still unable to find his residence. I happened to have his tax papers in my pocket book but of course that didn’t help. I was told that this problem was a mistake made in Raleigh and that it would be after the election before the problem could be fixed. Dad was given a Provisional Ballot and we were assured me that his vote would be counted.

If this happened to someone who voted in the primary, what about those elderly people who haven’t voted recently? Here’s hoping that everyone, who knows elderly persons who are planning to vote, tell them DO NOT WAIT UNTIL ELECTION DAY BECAUSE IT MAY BE TOO LATE. Make sure that they vote early just in case they have been listed as deceased and taken off the roll.”

Still, I’ll pick Missouri as the most likely trouble spot. There’s no early voting, it’s a significant state and it’s in play. It may or may not matter at the end of the day, but there it is.

Other political notes:
Precautions to take. Albany-based, but may be useful to others.

Some see gold in ‘Osama’ ballot goof. Those Rensselaer County (NY) ballots that had Osama for Obama are going for $50 to $100 on Craigslist.

A Poem for The Young Voter.

And this gem from earlier in the month, which I missed:
7th-Grade teacher to students: Obama is a ‘N’-word. Angry parents in the northwest Florida community of Marianna want a middle school teacher fired after he put the “N”-word on the board to describe Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama. The Marianna Middle School teacher, Greg Howard, is now serving a 10-day suspension after writing an acronym on the dry-erase board on Sept. 26: “C.H.A.N.G.E. – Come Help A N*gg*r Get Elected.” But many parents want the 17-year teacher fired. The seventh-grade social studies teacher’s class has 17 White students, six Black students and one Asian student. Initially he was suspended for the day without pay, but that was elevated to the 10-day punishment. He must also write a letter of apology to students. “We feel like the punishment is sufficient,” Larry Moore, superintendent of the Jackson County School District, told The Detroit Free Press. “We did not feel he had to be fired.” NAACP officials say they will reserve their actions in the case until their investigation is complete.

ROG

Celebrity endorsement QUESTION

I was watching a Boniva ad featuring Sally Field when I realized, “If I were a woman with osteoporosis, I think I’D be taking Boniva because Sally seems so sincere.”
I also recall, many years ago, Andy Griffith’s popular ads for Ritz crackers, which didn’t get me to try the product, but did get me to go around saying, “Mm-MMM. G-o-o-d cracker.”
William Talman, who played DA Hamilton Burger to Raymond Burr’s Perry Mason, appeared in a number of anti-smoking ads, such as this one; as an avid watcher of Perry Mason, this definitely enhanced my anti-smoking position, especially with my father, who smoked a pack or more of Winstons at the time.
The Jerry Seinfeld AmEx ads, such as this one were clever enough, but had no effect on getting the card in my wallet.

My questions for you fine folks:

1. Any celebrity endorsements actually lead you to purchase an item or at least supported your position to do so? Any celebrity endorsements turn you off from a product?

And, unrelated to the topic:

2. Will Sarah Palin’s appearance on Saturday Night Live help her, hurt her or make no difference? I say it helps slightly. She comes off as engaging when reading cue cards.

3. What is your favorite Four Tops song? The great Levi Stubbs, the lead singer, died yesterday. For some reason, 7 Rooms of Gloom came immediately to mind, but appropriately, I suppose it’s I’m in a Different World..
***
Just say no!

. ROG