Watching the Olympics and thinking about New Stories

Evolution, Games, War

Afghan women

The other night, some friends came over for dinner and part of the conversation revolved around how our myths or stories no longer fit a new reality. Mankind – well, the USA and Russia for sure, and probably Britain, France, and China – have the ability to detonate enough nuclear weaponry to destroy mankind and yet we continue to act as if that were not the case..

I remember reading an article about two traditional Afghan villages getting in a Hatfield-McCoy fight sometime after the Afghans drove the, then, Soviets out of Afghanistan. The feud had been going on for many years in a cold war sort of way. To patch things up, the daughter of one family – let's say Delbar (meaning sweetheart) Durani – was married to the son of the other family – let's say Fariad (meaning outspoken) Mamadzai. 

A couple of months later, Delbar did something that pissed Fariad off and he beat her. Now Delbar, who had perhaps been too coddled as a child, did not like being beat up. The second time Fariad beat her, she snuck away and returned to her village. This put the Duranis in a bind, they either had to take Delbar in or return her. If they returned her, she would probably continue to be beat up; if they took her in, then the Mamadzais would be dissed.

They took her in and the feud was renewed. But this time, both families had AK47s and rocket grenade launchers. This time, the fight was short and lethal. The majority of the men of both villages were simply wiped out. The rules hadn't changed, the stories they built their lives around hadn't changed but the equipment had. The old ways no longer fit the new reality.

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So, I sit here watching the Olympics and thinking about how every contest is a zero sum game. This high ideal – this lofty gathering is for somebody to win – for some nation to win. And that means somebody – some other nation – has to lose. And I thought how much that reflected almost everything in our modern world. 

Everything is about winning. I read recently that most people would prefer to make $100,000/year if everybody else was making $80,000/year compared to making $150,000/year with everybody else making $200,000/year. Think about it: we would prefer to make less – be able to buy less – if it was more than the next guy. 

And that led me to thinking about how much different it would be if the Olympics were about cooperation rather than conflict. What if cooperation were the ideal. What if everybody doing better were the ideal.

How about a bobsled contest in which a gold medal would only be awarded if the average time of all the competitors were were no more than 2% higher than the fastest competitor. In other words, to win a gold medal, the fastest guys would have to make sure the slowest guys went faster. How would that change our story of what a winner is?  

 

A walk in the sun

Bay Area Walks, San Mateo County

Today it stopped raining for awhile – and the sun came out. In our backyard, all kinds of plants are starting to bloom. The jade tree or crassula argentea – or crassula ovata – that Michele got from her mother's front door stoop:

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A hybrid cymbidium we got from somewhere,

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And almost all our fruit trees.

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The area where we live is part of the Town of Portola Valley but, because the roads are so narrow and sub-standard, the town will not maintain them. So we have a private maintenance district that is run by a Homeowners Club that is supported in part by the residents and by an allowance from the Town.

Last weekend, we cleared an old trail to the next road over. So, when the sun came out, Michele and I went for a walk on the newly opened trail.

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Past all kinds of mushrooms that I am sure are deadly,

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the giant wake robin or trillium chloropetalum or, as Michele calls them, just trillium,

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and – of course, because it is February – there are acacias everywhere.


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And vibrant moss on everything including the benches.

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Finally, at the top of the trail, is a view of Stanford and Palo Alto.

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Gays in the military 2: Obama as a Jedi master

Americana

Now, General Ray Odierno, the commanding general of the U.S. forces in Iraq, says that he is OK with gays serving in the military. (Seeing here giving Stephen Colbert a haircut.)

Odierno 

It is like the Chinese water torture (enhanced interrogation?) – only in reverse – every week some new commander comes out saying that they are OK with gays serving in the military.

The U.S. military, Afghanistan, and change

Uncategorized

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NATO soldier training Afghan in the proper use of a rocket propelled grenade launcher – something I would not have expected they would need. 

Yesterday – or maybe the day before yesterday – we – that being the coalition forces or ISAF – bombed and killed, by error, a group of Afghan civilians and General McCrystal apologized. Personally! On Afghan National TV. This is the general who is accused of stonewalling the friendly fire killing of Spc. Pat Tillman and of abusing detainees in Iraq!  

And he was put there after firing the last commander, General David McKiernan. Firing a commander is pretty unusual in the Army and this was even more unusual because McKiernan was a classic Army commander who came up through the ranks in Armor. For at least the last 60 years, Armor has been the preferred path to promotion in the Army. Sort of like being an aircraft carrier guy in the Navy.

Then the Armor guy is replaced by a Special Forces guy – or snake eater as they used to be called. And now the snake eater is apologizing for killing Afghans. The same day, the new Afghan governor – or mayor – moved into Marjah before the fighting even stopped. He came with a lot of money, is backed by the Marines, and supported by U.S. State Department personnel. 

This is an amazing change of attitude. A sea change in the culture of the U.S. Military and the Army in particular. This is a huge bureaucratic organization that is totally changing in the middle of the dance. It is like General Motors changing to manufacturing only compact cars in 1995. (BTW as an example of how hard that is – The General just hired – as a consultant – the CEO the Obama administration forced them to fire last year.)

The military has gone from measuring success by high body counts to courting the local loyal jurga. I am astounded! And delighted at how serious and sincere the Obama Administration and the United States military are – even though I am still not convinced we should be there.