The Mutiny on the Bounty and the Myth of the Hero

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

On the red eye flight to Tahiti, I did indeed watch parts of The Wolf of  Wall Street, but I did not finish it.  It was, after all, the red eye, and I fell asleep.  When I awoke from my slumber the movie was over.  Being unable to resume my sleep, I then cast my attention to some of the informational videos about Tahiti itself.  As chance would have it, one of the videos was about the Mutiny on the Bounty and I proceeded to watch it.  

For those who do not recall the details about the Mutiny on the Bounty, please see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty

In reading the Wikipedia article, one will find the following two sentences:  

"Meanwhile, the mutineers sailed for the island of Tubuai, where they tried to settle. After three months of being attacked by the island's natives, they returned to Tahiti."

The part of the informational video that was shown on the plane actually focused on these two sentences.   However, the perspective presented was from the Tahitian perspective and was not quite as straightforward as the second sentence implies.  As depicted in the informational video, the mutineers who sailed for the island of Tubuai were a rowdy, lazy, and undisciplined bunch.  They were overly aggressive in pursuing the Tahitian women for sexual favors; they were ignorant of and insensitive to Tahitian customs; and they lacked integrity in their words and deeds.  These failings in the character of the mutineers led to a tumultuous existence on Tubuai.  Blood was spilled and a long term existence on the island was destined for continued hostility and ultimate failure.

Also as depicted in the movie, Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutineers is a weak and compromised leader.  His desire to return to England to present the case against Bligh ran counter to the belief held by the other mutineers that a return to England meant only certain imprisonment and possible death.  So slowly, but surely, the authority assumed by Christian began to be undermined.

Being on the red eye, I again fell asleep before the video ended.  However, by the time I did fall asleep, the notion that Fletcher Christian was a hero had begun to wane.  In the end, it seemed that by leading the mutiny, Christian had lost legitimacy.  And, in later reading about the fate of the Bounty on Pitcairn Island, it seemed to me that Fletcher Christian not only lost his ship, his country, and his life but, to a certain extent, he also lost his soul.

I suppose the moral for me in learning this latest bit about the Bounty is that we can never be fully certain about those we consider to be our heroes.  There is often a hidden history and a hidden persona that does not make the history books and is not publicly portrayed.  Ultimately, the safest route is not to idolize others as our heroes but rather to make ourselves our own heroes and to our selves -- to our own inner heroes -- be true.

Peace.

Bad Behavior Glorified, Part Two

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

On the red eye flight to Tahiti, I saw parts of a movie entitled The Wolf of Wall Street.  I suppose it was a cautionary tale about the perils of being a corrupt Wall Street broker, but as portrayed in the movie the lifestyle afforded to a bad behaving broker seemed pretty appealing.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolf_of_Wall_Street_(2013_film)

On my last night in New Zealand, one of the few available television stations played a documentary late at night.  It was the 2010 Academy Award winning movie Inside Job which details the financial shenanigans that led to the 2008 financial meltdown.  Depressingly, as the movie showed, it seems that the bad behavior depicted in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street was not fiction but rather all too common in our financial services industry.  And the most tragic part of it all, is that, unlike what happened in the Wolf of Wall Street, no one has really been held accountable for their bad behavior -- bad behavior that almost destroyed this country and did destroy many common folks lives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_Job_(2010_film)

Contributing to this notion of not being held accountable for bad behavior, this morning, while driving into work, the local public radio profiled the prevalence of rape in college fraternities.  One of the speakers, Caitlin Flanagan spoke about the power of fraternities and how that power has enabled countless young men to begin their adult years by getting away with the crime of rape.

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/02/the-dark-power-of-fraternities/357580/

Later, I see that Ms. Flanagan recently weighed in on the Bill Cosby matter, noting the similarity of the patterns that have been seen historically when discussing the issue of rape.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/caitlin-flanagan-article-1.2019677

On top of all this, while in New Zealand, in conjunction with reporting on the G-20 summit, the latest big news from America appeared to be the latest display of Kim Kardashian's "assets".

http://perezhilton.com/2014-11-24-kim-kardashian-paper-inspired-memes#.VHYa0DHF-VY

And on my first day back in the States, I caught the "tail-end" of the American Music Awards show with Jennifer Lopez beginning her dance routine with a pose that left little to the imagination.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/events/amas-2014/6327569/jennifer-lopez-iggy-azalea-booty-amas-2014-video-live
Sorry, but after experiencing the beauty of French Polynesia and New Zealand, and marveling at all the blessings that God has bestowed upon this planet and its inhabitants, I have found it disconcerting to be once again thrust into the muck and the mire that exists.  But hey, I just got back.  Give me a week or two to become re-acclimated to the way we do things here, and I will be fine.

Peace.

Bad Behavior Glorified, Part One

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

I returned to this country only to be met with some of the most disturbing news.  Topping the list is what is occurring in Ferguson, Missouri. While I partially understand the anger, I am still wondering just how many times the town of Ferguson must be destroyed to ease the pain of the angered few. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/us/ferguson-missouri-violence.html

Just on the heals of the Stephen Collins sexual indiscretion "therapy confession" comes now the lurid sexual assault allegations about Bill Cosby

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/bill-cosbys-legacy-recast-accusers-speak-in-detail-about-sexual-assault-allegations/2014/11/22/d7074938-718e-11e4-8808-afaa1e3a33ef_story.html

And while such allegations now make me cringe, I am even more amazed that so many continue to support Bill Cosby despite the evidence that continues to grow

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/we-love-you-bill-cosby_b_6204616.html?flv=1

And as a corollary to it all, is the just reported death of Marion Barry, the former Mayor of Washington, D. C. whose use of cocaine did not disqualify him from office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/us/politics/marion-s-barry-jr-former-mayor-of-washington-dies-at-78.html

President Obama has thankfully condemned the violence in Ferguson.  But where, oh where, are the religious and political leaders who can speak out against the tendency to glorify the bad behavior that seems so prevalent in our society and our country today?  Have we become too tolerant or have we just lost our own moral compass?

Peace.

The Dreams of Our Youth

Monday, November 3, 2014

Glasgow Air Force Base, Montana is now the small community of Saint Marie.  The run-down Air Force Base ceased to be a vital military operation sometime in the mid-1970s and, in the 1990s, it was opened up for public residential purposes.  Apparently, it is much cheaper and more strategic to have a multitude of missile silos sprinkled throughout the land rather than archaic military bases. So when I returned to Glasgow Air Force Base in September, it was nothing but a worn out shell of what it once was even though there are now a smattering of units that have since been reoccupied.  I suppose that the lesson I garnered from visiting the ruins is that single purpose communes whether they be military, racial, religious, or sexist are likely to cease to exist over time if they are not able to expand into the outside world and to adapt their missions to the social fabric of an evolving world.  

What I also learned from the trip is that it is not so much the place but the ideas, the ideals and the dreams that stay with us forever.  In my own particular case, Glasgow is where I first spent a great deal of time dreaming. In the winter, when the snow was high and the temperature frigid, and before the Youth Center was built, I spent a great deal of time reading and dreaming about the life ahead. I spent many an hour sitting on the steps inside our unit just dreaming about the military campaigns I would one day wage, or the space flights I would take or the the athletic accomplishments that I would achieve. For the most part, not much became of those dreams came true.  Somewhere along the way, I became conflicted about waging war.  Going to space became a not so desirable goal when one develops a fear of heights and a deep aversion to water.  And as for athletic accomplishments, well, maybe I just have not found the right sport ... yet.

However, there was one dream that began in Glasgow that never died.  For some reason, during the winter of 1962-63, my Mom took me to the Base Theater.  I think it was an outing for both our family and another airman's family.  The other airman was a black G.I. with a Japanese wife and the star of the movie showing that evening had made a movie a few years previously that may have resonated with them.  In any event, in that movie, a ground breaking production for its time, I got my first panoramic glimpse of a world far, far away and entirely different from my own.  Having previously lived (at least in my memory) in the not so scenic towns of Victorville, California; El Paso, Texas; and now Glasgow Air Force Base, Montana, up to that time the landscape of life had been bleak.  But there, up on the screen, was a place of paradise.

The movie we saw was Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando.  And after seeing it, my daydreams became more vivid and visiting such a locale became one of those dreams to pursue.  

It has taken some 52 years, but tonight I board a plane, to fulfill that dream.

Thus, ultimately, the lesson from Glasgow and the lesson for the road ahead is never stop pursuing your dreams.  Many may not come true. But some will, and if not, your life will be enriched by the pursuit itself.

For, as the proverb goes, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars."

Peace.

Sankofa and the B-52s

In my last email about my return trip to Glasgow, Montana, I stated the following:
"I found the best way to frame my feelings about my return to Glasgow was most recently enunciated my that suddenly profound actor Matthew McConaughey and what has become a rather talked (and ridiculed) commercial. You can find the commercial at In response to this last comment, one of my college mates mentioned Sankofa as being the term most applicable to what I was describing. While I may be a student of African history, I had never heard of Sankofa so I looked it up at 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankofa

What struck me most about this concept was the associated proverb

 "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten."

In the context of my return to Glasgow, that is largely what happened to me.  Yes, there were fond remembrances of learning to play baseball for the first time at the Air Base baseball field and the summer when I caught 18 frogs at a nearby water filled ditch and put them all in an empty milk carton.  There was also memories of enjoying school so much that I woke up early one morning and walked a mile to school in the bitter cold only to find out that I was an hour early. There was so much associated with Glasgow Air Force Base that I certainly enjoyed revisiting.  Fondest memories were of the on-base Youth Center where I first learned how to play chess, the game of Risk, bumper pool and shuffleboard games and where, for the first time in 1964, I heard music from a band from England that was dominating all the record player time.  It was a group called the Beatles and by the time I left Glasgow in the summer of 1964, I knew all the words to "I Want to Hold Your Hand".  Yes, indeed those were transformative times for me... but in "going back" I had to reflect on whether those times were really good times.  And sadly, the answer was "No".

You see, we arrived in Glasgow at the end of the summer of 1962 just in time to begin school.  Soon afterwards, the base went on a military alert and became a very busy place with a steady stream of planes (the B-52s) flying in and out.  In school, -- my nice new, integrated school -- a sudden emphasis was placed on learning how to duck and cover, not for protection from an earthquake as my California raised children have learned, but rather from the very real possibility of a nuclear attack.  You see unbeknownst to me at the time, there was a crisis going on involving an island nation in the Caribbean which brought this country seemingly very close to nuclear war. Even with all the spectre of ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Ebola, there is nothing quite as terrifying as the very real prospect of a full fledged nuclear war.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_missile_crisis

I was only eight when we arrived in Glasgow and was only nine in 1963.  In those days, playing out in the field catching frogs was far more satisfying than being at home watching the news.  Heck, you could not get me to watch the news when I was nine years old and there was sunlight.  So I missed seeing what happened in Birmingham with the  dogs mauling some black folks that looked like me and I missed hearing Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.  But I do remember fully hearing the principal speak over the intercom one November day to inform the class that the President - that nice looking Kennedy man -- had been assassinated in Dallas.  I remember watching my first televised news show that day and, in retrospect, my age of innocence seemed to forever disappear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy

In my return to Glasgow and seeing the now weed invested  baseball field where I once developed a taste for the game, it did not escape my attention that at the same time that I was learning how to catch a baseball and play first base (and learning so pitifully how hard it can be to hit a ball when you are afraid of it), in other fields elsewhere in this land people were literally laying down their lives in order to provide me with the rights and opportunities that I now enjoy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Summer

So yes, returning to Glasgow brought back some fond memories of youth but it also brought into play some historical perspectives which made me realize that the Good Ol' Days are really the days of today -- the moments of the right now -- and that even these days will one day pale in comparison to the Good Ol' Days of tomorrow.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Peace.

Eid-al-Adha and Yom Kippur: Sacrifice and Atonement

Friday, October 3, 2014

Today, October 3, 2014, is one of the rarest of days.  Today, at sundown, two significant religious events begin, the Muslim Eid-al-Adha and the Jewish Yom Kippur.  You can read about these two religious events at 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/03/eid-al-adha-2014_n_5927040.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/02/yom-kippur-2014_n_5920678.html?flv=1

Whatever your religious persuasion (or non-persuasion) may be, I suggest that it would be a beneficial act of humanity to reflect on the meaning of these religious traditions and, perhaps, consider what it would mean if we could all share in these traditions together in love, peace, and harmony.

Take care my friends and have a blessed weekend.

Peace.

Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia, and ISIS

Thursday, October 2, 2014

On September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers executed an assault on the United States that has led to the deaths of thousands of Americans and an untold hundreds of thousands of Afghanis, Pakistanis, Iraqis and Syrians.  However, oddly enough not one of the hijackers who participated in the assault on the United States was an Afghani, or a Pakistani, or an Iraqi, or a Syrian.  No, most (15) of the hijackers were from the country that is perceived to be a friend of the United States, Saudi Arabia.  Please see   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijackers_in_the_September_11_attacks

In the aftermath of the 911 attacks, an effort was made to distance the hijackers from their Saudi origin by disavowing their actions. However, others began to question those disavowals by pointing to the State religion of Saudi Arabia -- Wahhabism -- as being a contributing factor to the mindset of the hijackers.  Indeed, after the 911 attacks great concern was expressed about the Saudi support for the spread of Wahhabism throughout the world.  Please see

http://www.pewforum.org/2005/05/03/the-global-spread-of-wahhabi-islam-how-great-a-threat/

It is now thirteen years after 911, but the concern about the spread of Wahhabism seems to have been placed on a back burner ... until now. The abduction of over 200 school girls in Nigeria by Boko Haram and the "sudden" appearance of ISIS has brought to the fore, once again, the problem with the spread of Wahhabism.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boko_Haram

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant

Indeed, last year during the height of the Syrian crisis at least one Syrian official issued a clarion call with regards to the real threat posed by the Saudi sponsored spread of Wahhabism

http://en.alalam.ir/news/1545075

Now, America is once again preparing to place American soldiers in harm's way to fight a war on terror again in Iraq, and possibly Syria. The problem is that it would appear that the true enemy may not be in Iraq, nor in Syria.  The true enemy may be our friend.

Peace.