Nothing to do with the Kids at the Outer Banks? Kayaking!

The Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina is a really pleasant place. It’s quiet; the food’s great; it’s great for family. But what if the family gets restless? You’ve done the mini-golf and the movies. What might be new, different and fun, and take advantage of the fact that you are where you are?

Try this one: kayak. I went kayaking with my college-age daughter in the Alligator River National Wildlife Reserve this summer, and it was a fabulous change-of-pace. Keep this in mind: we are not an outdoorsy family; we had never kayaked before; and my daughter is not exactly Nature Girl. However, all the key ingredients are there. It is easy. It is not particularly expensive. It is interesting. It is fun. It is relaxing.

We began with a call to one of the outfitters in the Outer Banks. We paid in advance over the phone. The next morning we met the truck towing the kayaks at a centrally-located Walgreens (Mile Post 9) and proceeded on the 40 minute drive to where the kayaks go in. There are other choices as far as location. There is kayaking on the Currituck Sound, for example. There is a sunset kayaking excursion. I chose the one I did because it was guaranteed to be calm water – no chop – AND I wanted to be in a quiet and isolated place.

We surely were. A few strokes into the reserve and there were only the sounds of the forest and the paddles.

Our guide, Rod, himself a product of North Carolina, having lived everywhere from Cashiers to Wilmington, had everyone give themselves an animal name that began with the same letter as their own – a nice little name game. So we had Jaguar (Julia), Red Wolf (Rod), Aardvark (Annie), koala (Kerry), and Bobcat (who else? Bob). Our expedition consisted of two novice families.

It was very quiet, and therefore easy for Rod to tell us about the nearby defunct town, the moonshiners who used to run whisky through this formerly-dry territory, the peat fires that periodically burn in the reserve, and the old railway line that was still evident in some parts of the reserve. There was a little politics in the lesson, but only the neutral instructive kind.

Much of the kayak route was in open water, but the second half of the adventure was through a narrow channel in the swamp. In some places, kayaks would get stuck, but every one of us novices was able to extricate ourselves from these situations and move on.

The expedition took three hours. But you wouldn’t know it, it was pleasant exercise. My daughter had to take a nap later, but other than that, no problem.

It’s not that there aren’t some…issues. Our guide told of some days when the deer flies were so bad that he refused to go out. But even in a place where the heat can be oppressive, this was shaded, or had a nice breeze over the open lakes.

Oh, about the alligators. They are there, but we didn’t see any. There is other wildlife, but we didn’t see any. There was an interesting sign on the way in. It said that tonight’s howling was canceled. There is a transplanted population of red wolves in the reserve, and you can get nighttime excursions to howl with the wolves. That would be different, don’t you think?

It’s No Secret: The Cause of the World’s Problems is Bored Young Men?

Today's world, like past times, is beset by crime, violence, poverty, and injustice. It is a complex task to establish the causes for violence in different parts of the world. Historians, sociologists, and geographers grapple with these issues. Politicians, world organizations, and non-governmental organizations try to do something about them. Although it is a tough sell to claim to identify a unifying cause, the manpower for violence in the world is found in one factor. In today's world, as in the past, the combination of hard times and disillusioned young men make for a violent mix.

The common denominator for violence in the world is the lack of opportunities for young men. This is true in the inner cities of the United States and it is the main cause of high crime rates. This is the case in violence-prone trouble spots around the world. It has also been true in crises throughout modern history. Unproductive lives of young men lead to violence.

In the inner cities of the U.S., the main cause of high crime rates is underemployment of young men. The unemployment rates in poor urban areas of the U.S. tend to be two or three times that of the national average. For young men, it is even worse. In Southeast D.C., the unemployment rate for young men is around 40%. When men do not have jobs, they cannot support a family, and both men and women do not see the advantage in marriage. Therefore, children tend to be raised by single women, with little support from the men. A startling fact is that the poverty rate in America for children whose mothers wait until they're married to have children, wait until they are 20 year old to have children, and obtain a high school degree is seven percent. For all others, it is 85%!

When men do not have to get up for work, and do not have family responsibilities after work, what will they be doing late at night? With little at stake, they take on risky behaviors that are violent or lead to violence.

It might be argued that the women have an equal role in the pathologies of the ghettos. Even though the crime rate for girls has climbed, and even though irresponsible behavior among girls adds to the degradation of inner-city life, the violence is particularly a male domain.

In poor nations, violence is caused by under-productive young men. Besides the crime situation, similar to that of inner-city America, there is the political violence that destroys societies in many places around the world. In Haiti the unemployment rate for young men exceeds 50%. Available jobs are government jobs obtained by the party that wins an election. So elections are not peaceful civic affairs like we know them. They are matters of providing productive livelihoods. Young men intimidate voters, and if their party loses, use violence to try to change the results.

Many countries do not have working democracies, so that young men do not have any outlets for their frustrations. In places like Palestine, with unemployment hovering at 60%, young men are easily led to radical politics. The manpower for terrorism comes from the refugee camps and jail cells. Young, largely-uneducated men are easy marks for political demagogues; they follow these radical leaders thinking it is a way to be important when the society around them indicates that they are not.

Besides the examples in modern-day America and around the world, history holds examples of great trouble being caused by unproductive young males. In the 1930s, with severe, world-wide unemployment, young men were on the city streets, panhandling or looking for work or merely hanging out. The political radicals of the time such as Adolf Hitler of Germany and Benito Mussolini of Italy were able to motivate these men into being the instruments of terror for fascist governments. In Germany, the SA (Storm Troups) and SS (Shield Squadron) were young men given a mission and a purpose. In Italy, the Blackshirts (CCNN) manned Mussolini's police state. Earlier, in czarist Russia, young idealistic men with no discernible options for changing Russia, turned to the Bolsheviks and other radicals. They, along with disillusioned young soldiers, provided the manpower for the first communist revolution. Modern history is replete with examples of men being motivated toward violence by the lack of economic opportunity and political voice.

Some might argue that young men could not have succeeded if they acted alone. For example, Hitler’s ascension to power depended on older people and women voting power to the Nazi party. That is true, but the Nazis would never have been in a position to be voted in if it were not for young men and their tendency to be duped by radical nationalist politicians. One might argue also that once Hitler took power and unemployment fell to seven percent, that the young men would no longer be motivated to extreme politics. But by this time, the police state was in place, the propaganda was flowing, and the damage was done. In fact, many Germans were grateful for Hitler raising German pride after the defeat of World War I and the Great Depression.

A common thread runs through the problems of the world: the feeling by young men in difficult times that they are not worthy. In American inner cities, unemployed men seek quick gains through gangs and violence because their view of their own futures is not bright. In poor nations around the world, political violence appears in places where young men are increasingly frustrated by economics and politics. But it is not a new phenomenon; there are historical examples demonstrating this to be a long-running problem. In looking at trouble spots in our nation, throughout the world, and throughout history, a common denominator is populations of bored, unproductive young men.

America in 2010: What we are not

Reporter and author David Halberstam, who died in 2009, once said, "America is a generous and strong country. It is fashionable to make fun, but it’s true." You can see this generosity all over the world. In Africa, between our government's aid and private initiatives by people such as Bill and Melinda Gates, we spend more to combat AIDS than any African government does. Even the totally self-indulgent NBA is contributing to fighting malaria. Its Nothing but Nets program provides African families with mosquito netting that cuts malaria cases by 80 percent.

Around the United States, volunteers are working in locations in need of housing, education, and environmental clean-up. This is an important part of the American character. But as we begin the next decade, we should take note of a couple serious flaws in that character. We should face the things that we are not.

(1) We are not a people who play by the rules. Every presidential candidate talks about it; every president refers to it. We are, they say, a people who play by the rules, and as such should be treated fairly. But that is not who we are.

In some very important ways we do abide by the law. After Supreme Court decisions on divisive issues, Americans who may disagree vehemently will still accept the decisions. After elections, we abide by the results.

But in day-to-day matters, we show a blatant disregard for the law. You need go no further to see this than to take a ride. Speed limits are the law, but we do not follow them; worse, we do not tolerate people who do. It is against the law to tailgate, and aggressive driving is a crime. No matter; both are commonplace. People make up their own traffic rules. As a result, we lose 43,000 Americans a year in car wrecks. The number one killer, more even than alcohol, is speed. Fact: if we slow down, we save thousands of lives. But we as a society have made the decision that these deaths serve our freedom to drive how we want. And yet, how often do you see someone speeding, tailgating, and weaving dangerously in and out of traffic only to roll up next to them at the next light? Thousands of lives lost and nothing gained.

People cheat on their income taxes - that is to say, people violate the law to the tune of about $350 billion a year for individuals and maybe another $250 billion for corporations. You’ve heard the arguments. The tax code is unfair. Why shouldn't I get away with things if big corporations and rich people do? My tax money goes to things I oppose. It is merely the law, and we see ourselves above it.

(2) We are not a civil society. Someone asked me to download 'lil Wayne's latest, No Ceilings. I couldn't. It was n-word this and f-bomb that and weapons and weed. Nothing uplifting, nothing positive anywhere on the CD.

Look at the blogosphere. In a typical chat room or blog, there may be an attempt at discussion, but it very quickly deteriorates into personal attacks and obscenity. The subject hardly matters. You can look at a blog on the Chicago Cubs, one you would think would be wholesome and baseball-oriented (though, admittedly, depressing). But quickly you find out what graphic acts fans want to administer to the general manager - and his family! - over some measly trade.

Last week I was being passed on the highway by an elderly gentleman, who was going 60 to my 55 mph. A motorcycle roared up behind him. As soon as he could, the biker whipped around the car, giving him the finger and cursing at him. For what? For driving the way he should. Besides the lawlessness, traffic is another example of the incivility we have become accustomed to.

In 2010 there are two ways we can make our own society better and safer, and it will not cost us a thing. We can make up our minds to obey the law and we can try to treat each other civilly. That’s all. Are we willing to do that?

A Necessary Wart

From Iraq to Afghanistan, Will History See It Any Differently?

Victorious English general Oliver Cromwell, Britain's Lord Protector, leader of the New Model Army and victor in England's Civil War once told a portrait painter, who assumed he would be covering over anything unsightly, to paint him "warts and all." And so Cromwell has come down through the years full of warts - physical imperfections, yes, but also more long-lasting ugliness: brutal treatment of Ireland, unforgiven by the Irish still; the execution of a king (who, as monarchs of the time go, wasn't so bad); and an oppressive Puritan reign. No dancing, no colorful art, no fun.

Fast forward to our place and time, we find an American leader faced with a decision regarding Afghanistan. President Obama had promised to get the troops out of Mr. Bush’s war in Iraq, and send them to Afghanistan where we join other NATO forces in fighting one of the unquestionable evil forces in the world, the Taliban. Of course, Mr. Bush sent our troops to topple another unquestionably evil force, Saddam Hussein. Which they did. All that got the then-president was about a 26 percent approval rating and a legacy-loss for John McCain in 2008.

The current presidential portrait of Barack Obama is a pretty one. Some luster has come off the President's image by way of a nasty health care debate, but forces seem to be rallying toward some sort of health care reform. But for Americans, war tends to un-do presidencies. President Johnson had his Great Society social programs unravel at the feet of Vietnam. President Carter was done in by a failed military mission over Iran. The senior President Bush’s successful campaign leading an international coalition to oust Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait left him with soaring popularity ratings, but the glory was too short-lived for a second term. The junior Bush’s adventurism in Iraq turned into a long-lasting insurgency; Iraq is a foreign policy wart that will endure for a long time.

Even as Obama acknowledges his Nobel Peace Prize, he is pursuing what he calls "a necessary war." Which is to say, a necessary wart. Losing American lives in the faraway Hindu Kush, over a long struggle, with little chance of a democratic Afghanistan, will not be what wins a second term for Obama. How can he minimize the blemish? He can keep NATO involved to take some of the heat, and win some big ones at home - on health care; on energy; and on economic recovery - using his domestic victories to mask the wart that will be Afghanistan.

Firoozeh Dumas: Her Funny Book, Funny in Farsi, Made Her an Enemy of the State in Iran

Firoozeh Dumas is a very funny Iranian. Check that! She is a very funny American who happens to be an Iranian immigrant. Her book, Funny is Farsi, is a story -- rather a series of stories -- about growing up as an immigrant. But it is about more than that. It is a book about growing up -- as an immigrant; as an Iranian; as the target of hate (following the hostage situation in Tehran in 1979); and as a kid who didn’t fit in. Mostly it is a bunch of stories by a humanitarian. But not some preachy spiel; these are funny stories. She’s also spreading the message on the lecture circuit. The message preaches tolerance. Correct that! It is a collection of stories that point to the importance of tolerance.

Ms Dumas came to Fairfax, VA to speak with social studies teachers about her book, but also with a message about how to view other cultures. She mentioned a possible homework assignment: have students watch the news for a week, and then come to general conclusions about the United States based on the news stories. They will find, she said, that the conclusions will be pretty darn depressing. Now, we live here. We can counterbalance the news with our own experiences. But when there is news of the Middle East, it is all negative, and most of us do not have that experience to provide ballast. And so the stereotype of the Middle East does not include lightheartedness, humor, fun, and playfulness.

Ms Dumas told of a woman who was surprised to learn that Iranian parents hold birthday parties for their kids -- just like Americans! Even at McDonalds!

In marketing her book, Ms Dumas was told by literary agents that Americans would not buy a funny book about Middle Easterners. People wanted the stereotype -- the terrorists, the oppressed, the brutalized and the torturers. Not birthday parties. But her book was published, and a funny thing happened: it became a best seller in the U.S., and a very popular book in Iran. The gatekeepers of American books by and large called it wrongly when it came to what Americans wanted. And stereotypes took another hit in Iran. The people (who, contrary to popular belief in this country, tend to like Americans) ate up the book. The radical Shi’ite government -- not so much. She cannot go back to the country of her birth because the government does not share the people’s sense of humor.

The message to educators was about news bias, but also about taking care not to insert preconceptions about kids based on cultural stereotypes.

A note about educators: Maybe because in any situation where someone is at the front of the room talking, that someone is usually the teacher, when we are not up there, we don’t know how to act. Just as teachers typically make awful students (in classes full of teachers, we tend to do all of those annoying things that we won’t let our students do, from the audible yawns to texting in class to talking too loudly), they also tend to be rude audiences. In the midst of Ms Dumas’ wonderful talk, there were teachers on their Blackberries, teachers looking at their watches, teachers holding little meetings. During the question-and-answer session, one woman gave a speech, as if to say, "You are but an internationally acclaimed author and award-winning speaker, but now you have had credibility conferred upon you by an eighth grade civics teacher. You are so blessed!"

Ms Dumas spoke of the need for tolerance and diversity, and told of the nastiness she saw when some people reacted to the Iranian hostage situation in 1979. But fully embedded were glowing testaments to the American system. She spoke in almost spiritual terms about the idea of a library, a place filled with books that one may borrow. In Iran, no library…no books! Human rights for Ms Dumas are not something to be taken lightly; when she talks to people in Iran, they long to be free to read, to write, to dress, to Cerf the Web as they see fit.

Funny in Farsi is about funny things that happen to a family. It is also a book that takes tolerance, diversity, inclusion, cultural understanding, our shared humanity, all the things that people have in common seriously. When she addresses groups, she does the same in a very engaging way.

Growing Together -- More Choices, More Cultural Homogeneity

We may not see how the choices we have in today’s world reflect how homogenous our society is becoming, noisy town hall meetings notwithstanding. But a recent moment in the White House found a country music star singing a song to the nation’s first black president -- a song inspired by and about him; a song with Civil Rights referenced; a song extolling the global world. It was more than a moment; it was a signature moment. When Brad Paisley sang his hit Welcome to the Future to President Obama the moment underscored two key notions: choice and homogeneity. We have choices that cross cultural boundaries, and these choices are bringing us closer and closer together.

Young people who’ve grown up on the Internet, "music sharing," cable TV, and Facebook take these for granted. But it is a quantum leap in communications from a generation ago. Truly there are significant problems with these technologies, but they provide people today with an incredible gift: choice.

A generation ago, news was owned by three main networks (and perhaps a single local station). Information was hard copy -- one had to dig up information in books, magazines and reports. The EM spectrum was a carefully controlled and monitored as a vital asset in the Cold War. But today information flows freely.

Last week I was driving across country. Whenever we needed directions (GPS, one a security priority, can now be utilized with your phone), opinions about restaurants, or tickets to some event, we could use a phone, from the car, for instant results. What is available online today is astounding.

When it comes to music, the technology makes the choices endless. At your fingertips you have current music and past music, local music and world music, urban music and country music -- along with reviews of songs, and the means to make your own music.

Yet with this wonderful portal of music choice, with its possibilities for using music to better understand people from all over the world, some people still use music to divide. "This is OUR music, and if you are one of us, it is YOURS too." And "If you like another style of music, you are not one of us." It’s music-as-a-weapon.

It is like bigotry. The generation with the greatest access and closeness to people different from themselves, the most diverse generation in history, seems to be the one using the language of intolerance and prejudice.

People should realize that as a society we are becoming more and more homogenous. In today’s world, nowhere is unaffected by the rest of the world. In the excellent Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ, a showcase of Native American culture, there is a film about the Havasupai of the Verde River canyons. They chose to be isolated in the beautiful canyons, and yet they spoke English, wore jeans and t-shirts with rock band logos, and rode Toyota four-wheelers.

The people of this nation have been pulled together by three main forces: service in the military, education, and the Internet. The military was the first great integrating force. Not without problems, it nonetheless brought people of varying backgrounds into a merit-based system. The nation’s education system today teaches tolerance. Ninety-one percent of the nation’s children go to public schools like Edison High School in Northern Virginia. It is a high-performing International Baccalaureate school with a minority white population. Elite private schools, once lily-white, show a different, more diverse, more integrated face today. The newest trend is online education, where you can take classes in which you communicate with people all over the world in your "virtual classes."

This leads to the culturally-unifying force of the Internet. You wish to buy authentic Navajo jewelry from the Navajos themselves? You used to have to go to Arizona; now you can go online. I once tried to buy a product made in a city I was visiting. The woman at the counter told me I would be better off ordering on the Internet! Improbably, the language of the Internet is now known everywhere. It is a cultural commonality, in a homogenous world.

Today we have more choices than ever before, in a world brought together by these choices.

Solving Our Problems: Let’s Go "Multi"

Perhaps you’ve heard the old joke that goes: There are two types of people in the world, those who divide people into two types and those that don’t. One of the smartest people ever, Steven J. Gould, wrote about people’s disturbing characteristic of dividing things into two’s. That makes it easier to say that someone is for us or against us. This dualism adds to our dueling.

It also prevents us from seeing solutions to our problems. In local school districts, it’s either whole language or phonics (in reality, just about any reading program has both). In politics it’s liberal versus conservative. In Washington, DC politics, it’s black versus white. In the Bible belt, one finds Christians versus anyone who isn’t.

The radio bands are cleanly divided into liberal and conservative camps, and ratings depend on one side demonizing the other. The country isn’t served by this. When pressed on his liberal credentials, then-President Clinton said, "That dog won’t hunt anymore." Like him or hate him, his effort to blur the distinction might have merit.

Around the Internet there is a campaign to paint the world as a coming battleground. The Muslims are coming and coming fast! Soon they will take over Europe, then "Islamify" the US. Then won’t Christians who ignored all the signs be sorry!

In matters of race, we have issues, but we show progress. The quiet progress comes from interracial marriages and mixed race neighborhoods. Moreover, it comes from mixed race people. Tiger Woods signaled, by his notoriety, a change in our concept of race. Black/white distinctions are being blurred by the idea of multi-racial.

Our true selves as Americans show up not as blots of black, white and other, but as a mix. If Tiger by virtue of his parentage is cool, having a mixed-race president is way cool.

Religious distinctions, products of our minds and not physical characteristics, should be easily bridgeable. But we insist on exclusivity. Maybe it’s time for "make it cool" to be multi-religious. Mike Mansfield in his book The Japanese Mind describes how the Japanese can, with no internal contradictions and no social discomfort, be of several beliefs. They may be Christian, Buddhist, and Shinto at the same time, choosing rituals from each, as they deem fit.

And why not? Why can’t I choose a theology drawing on the Wisdom of Solomon and David, the meditative awareness of the Buddha, the poetry of the Quran, and the humility of Jesus? Religion at its best creates community, and our diverse society is rich in the wisdom of the ages.

Yet we feel we must choose one and only one.

I know someone whose wife is a Muslim Moroccan who followed her white, Christian husband to the U.S. from Spain. She believes in celebrating everyone’s holidays. She enjoys St Patrick’s Day with the relish of the Irish, Christmas with the sense of joy experienced by Christians, and Eid with the reverence of her own faith.

But that we all could embrace such an outlook. But we seem stuck in our dualist nature. Pro-Con. Go-No-Go. We argue to argue. We can, however, be more than the residue of our little philosophical encampments.

I admit there are limitations. One cannot, for example, be both a Red Sox and Yankee fan. That would be silly.