By's Musings

Personal

By 4 Comments

An important announcement concerning Higher Ed By Baylis LLC and By’s Musings

I begin this post with a very important announcement: Due to health considerations, I am taking a hiatus from Higher Ed By Baylis LLC, and temporarily suspending its operations until at least the beginning of 2015. I plan on continuing my blog By’s Musings, posting as often as I can.

I have been so preoccupied with a number of things that I didn’t realize that it has been six months since my last post. During those six months, I have had to deal with a number of health difficulties. In addition, I have also experienced myriad feelings which combined the negativity of sadness, frustration, burden and concern, with the positiveness of joy, determination, encouragement and hope. More on the health difficulties and the cloud of feelings later in this post, and probably in subsequent posts. I am keeping the website and name going so that I can pick up operations again when I am able.  One of my last posts was a December, 2013 post entitled  Update on my Health .

The seven months since that post have been a journey. The headaches that began in October have continued constantly since this post. The intensity and location of these headaches vary throughout each day. Although there is no universally accepted definition or explanation of referred pain, my medical team believes that some of the headaches are referred pain, that is pain that is originating in one place and being expressed as pain in another location. For example, recently I wrenched my left knee when my foot slipped off a curb and my lower leg buckled. After a few minutes of very sharp pain in my left knee, the knee pain went away. Almost immediately, my continuing head ache switched locations from my left temple area to the area above and behind my right ear and increased its  intensity from a “4” on the pain scale to a “6”.

In my December health post, I mentioned that an October 2013 MRI indicated a new growth in the hole left by the removal of the meningioma in March 2009. A follow-up MRI in December 2013 showed no change from the October 2013 MRI. In consultation with an oncologist, it was decided that the best approach in handling the new growth was a one-shot, mega-dose of radiation. That treatment was scheduled for March 2014, and went off without any glitches. However, within the next two weeks, I had two unscheduled trips to the hospital ER. On both occasions, I was admitted and spent a couple of days in the hospital. The two ER trips were only marginally related to each other and the radiation treatment. As a result of these stays, my hospital admission’s “rap-sheet” lists the following problems: TIA, localized seizure activity, dangerously high fever, unidentified infection, severe reaction to medications, and extreme exhaustion.

Following my second discharge, I started writing a follow-up to my April, 2013, post “Beware the Ides of March.” However, I ran into a number of road bumps and detours. The first was an eye infection which greatly limited my ability to read or write. Since mid-April, my online computer time has been limited to one hour a day. That’s hardly enough time for me to read and answer my normal, daily email traffic. Currently, I have a backlog of more than 1000 unanswered emails, many of them unread. This weighs heavily on my mind, as I am afraid I will begin to lose contact with people and higher education.

The above hints at the reasons for my feelings of sadness and frustration. I have been working on this post for a whole week.   In many ways, higher education moves slower than a snail. But, in some ways, things are changing daily, if not hourly. There is so much reading that one must do to stay current. In the midst of these health difficulties, my mind has not shut down completely. I have accumulated more than 400 ideas for blog posts and essays.

Whenever I attempted to use pen and paper to flesh out these ideas, I find myself needing a reference that is buried in the bowels of my computer. After a few minutes of digging, my eyes become too tired to focus properly. I shut the computer down. Fighting a headache, I try to turn off my mind and take a nap. This post has taken me more than four days to bring to completion.

So much for the negativity. To finish this post on a more positive note, I am determined to recover and return to work and writing. I am thankful for God’s protection and care through trying times. I have had a number of doctors tell me there are no medical or scientific reasons to explain why I am still walking and talking. I may not be back to my pre-tumor condition. I may never get all the way back to that position. However, I pray that I can live as Paul commanded the Philippians to live:

“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” (Phil 4:4, KJV),

or as the weeping prophet, generally assumed to be Jeremiah, wrote to the suffering Israelites,

“This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.  It is of the Lord‘s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lam 3:21-26 KJV).  

We should rejoice in the trying times as well as the good times, and seek Him at all times.

 

 

 

 

 

By 1 Comment

The Edamame Menace Part II: Boutique Mentality

In Part II of The Edamame Menace, I begin looking at the concept of the Boutique Mentality, a riptide cultural phenomenon that is sweeping across the world dragging millions of people into waters that are way too deep for them.

In today’s world we are being acculturated to develop an insatiable desire for expensive things. Everywhere we turn, we are bombarded with shows of wealth, luxury and exclusivity. We can’t escape it.

This constant pressure is overwhelming families from every social-economic status. Elementary school aged children must have designer shoes and jeans. If they don’t have the latest, greatest fashion, with a famous name splashed all over it, these children claim they will be ostracized by the other children in their school. Never mind the fact that these very expensive shoes will have to be replaced two or three times during a school year because children, in the course of being children playing on paved playgrounds, are very hard on shoes and wear them out quickly. In addition to these shoes breaking down, it ignores the fact that their feet will grow one or two sizes during the school year, Personally, I find it reprehensible to pay for holes in new jeans that would naturally appear through the hard wear. However, many responsible parents will not permit children to engage in childhood play in these expensive jeans. “You’re not wearing those jeans outside to play in and get dirty.

However, parents are not immune from the same marketing pressure as their children. Conscientious parents who want to help their children get ahead socially or educationally in school, get caught up in the brand name frenzy, and buy into every fashion or technological fad that comes along. Every elementary school child must have his or her own game boy and smart phone. If you don’t have a facebook page by the time you’re twelve, you’ll never be part of the in-group or A-crowd.

So that their children do not lose out academically in school, these parents buy the latest technological advances and educational add-ons . They pay for tutors to help their prize children achieve their full potential. Private music, dance lessons, and summer camps for high achievers are in great demand.

The pressure is intensified when the students reach Junior High School. Now they must have the latest, in-vogue sneakers or boots, and the most recent fashion releases from their teen-age sports or music idols. Fads are sparked by celebrities appearing on television. The fans must look just like their idols. So they have to have the brand name clothes. Only the authentic will do. They “wouldn’t be caught dead, in any cheap imitation.” They must also have the expensive pit tickets to their idols’ concerts. You’re not part of the action, if you get stuck in the balcony or have to wait to see the concert on the DVD or the pirated Youtube video.

For the boys who want to be sports stars, their sneakers must bear their sports idol’s name. This generally means it must come from an exclusive and expensive store, a sporting boutique. We are continually sold a bill of goods. “It is the shoes that makes the kid jump higher and run faster.”

This is the American dream. There’s one problem with this dream. It is a reality to only at most 20% of the American population.  For the rest of America, it’s really only a nightmare. Far more than half of the American families only see pictures of this life style. They have no opportunity to participate in it. Their family incomes are at or below a subsistence level of living. The cities they live in are falling apart, taxed to the max, and wracked with drugs and crime. Their schools are bankrupt and in disrepair.

In the next posts in this series, I will speak to what happens when children reach high school and college age. Unbelievably the pressures don’t decrease. They only intensify. What happens when young adolescents find themselves under the gun to succeed in a world for which they are not prepared?

Later in the series, I will also speak about the pressures on adults and organizations, including churches, schools, corporations, governments, and the health care industry. Where can we turn for answers and remedies? I am reminded of the modern folk classic “Turn, turn, turn.” written by Pete Seeger, who relied extensively on Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes.

 

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late

It seems to return us to the last line of the Shaker hymn, Simple Gifts, “Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.”

 

By Leave a Comment

The Edamame Menace – Part I

Please do not worry. This series of posts is not an attempt to create a sequel to the cult classic “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.” These posts are my response to the growth of a boutique mentality that I see infecting much of today’s culture. The title is derived from a New York Times op-ed column entitled “The Edamame Economy,” written by David Brooks.

In his column Brooks chronicled the rise of a new fad in the hospitality industry, the boutique hotel. Even before I read Brooks’ column, I was composing a post I tenatively entitled “The Boutique Mentality.”  This post was inspired by a blog posting entitled simply “Boutique.” The post was written by John Assunto, President & CEO of The Hudson Group, a specialized, executive search and business coaching firm. “Boutique” was a combination commentary and advertisement for The Hudson Group and their process for helping educational institutions fill their C-level positions.

Brooks’ began his column by waxing nostalgic about a simpler day in travel dominated by railroads. He continues by giving the Hilton chain faint praise for creating a sense of familiar luxury experiences that are the same no matter where you travel. He also paid lip service to the discount hotel chains, down the street and around the corner, that provide you all you really need for a night’s stay at one third the price of the luxury suites in the upscale chain hotels. However, the boutique hotel provides a unique experience, usually at double or quadruple the price of the typical luxury suites.

Brooks explains his choice of the column title by noting that edamame is the pretentious name for soy beans. It signifies something distinctive and decidedly different from the common farm crop that is used as animal feed, the basic ingredient for a common milk substitute, cooking oil, and Oriental condiment.

Assunto’s post and ad for his executive search firm attempted to drive home the point that if you wanted the best, you had to deal only with the best. This idea carries to the extreme the logo of Mercedes Benz: “The best or nothing.” This mentality has infiltrated almost every aspect of today’s culture. This constant pressure is over-whelming organizations of all sizes and families from every socioeconomic status.

In future posts in this series I will speak to a threat that I believe The Edamame Menace poses for American family life, religious life, business enterprises, financial/industrial complex, health care industry and higher education.  In the meantime, I leave you with the lyrics from an 1848 Shaker Hymn, “Simple GIfts, normally attributed to Elder Joseph Brackett:

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be.
And when we find ourselves in place just right
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend, we shan’t be ashamed
To turn, turn will be our delight
Till by turning, turning we come ’round right.

By Leave a Comment

A New Year’s Post – 2014

If you’re looking for the typical New Year’s Resolutions in this my first post of the new year, you won’t find any here. Those types of resolutions have never changed the world. It takes  a revolution to change the world. During this past several weeks, as I prepared for this New Year’s Post, I struggled with the words resolution and revolution, and the large families of words associated with them. I also struggled with health concerns that derailed my intention to post a New Year’s Post on or close to New Year’s Day. Another New Year’s Resolution bites the dust.

The words resolution and revolution have many things in common, other than nine letters. One of the most interesting commonalities to me is the fact that each word has a number of distinct, and very disparate meanings.

The word “resolution” has at least four distinct definitions. The first is the common meaning associated with New Year’s Resolutions. It is simply a statement of intent to do or perform something. If you believe the numerous surveys conducted concerning New Year’s Resolutions, then for most people a resolution is nothing more than the statement of intent. There is no firm commitment to follow through. In other words there is no resolve to really do something.

The second meaning of resolution has some relationship to the first. A resolution is a formal legal statement of a legislative body expressing an opinion or intention, such as the United States Congress declaring New Year’s Day, January 1st, as a National Holiday.

The third meaning is a stretch from the first two. It refers to the act or process of separating something, such as an image, a chemical reaction, musical work or an argument, into its constituent parts or elements. For example, the recommended screen resolution for many desktop computers is 1024×768. This means there are 1024 pixels or dots horizontally and 768 pixels vertically, creating the image seen on the screen.

The fourth meaning brings the word “resolution” back closer to the word “solution”, which is one of its base words. A solution when dealing with problems refers to the settlement, completion or conclusion of the matter. A “resolution” in this sense is the process of bringing a situation to a conclusion. The “resolution” of an injury lawsuit can result in a financial settlement for the plaintiff.

The word “revolution” has multiple meanings also. The first is a fundamental change in structure. In human history, these revolutions may be political, social, economic, technological, religious, or various combinations of these factors.

Examples of political revolutions are the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Boxer Rebellion, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, the Chinese Civil War, the Cuban Revolution, and the many ethnic cleansings throughout human history. All of these revolutions included violent upheavals in the affected societies. Examples of social revolutions include the abolition of slavery, the rise and fall of Prohibition, the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, the sexual revolution, the dismantlement of the Apartheid System in South Africa, and societal changes brought about by groups such as feminists and the LGBT coalition. Many of these social revolutions were accompanied by violent upheavals in society.

In the history of mankind, a list of the most significant technological revolutions would have to include the invention of simple tools, the invention of writing and paper, the invention of steel, the invention of gun powder, the invention of the printing press, the harnessing of electricity, the invention of photography, the invention of the internal combustion engine, the invention of the airplane, the invention of radio, the invention of the telephone, the invention of rocket propulsion, the invention of television, the harnessing of atomic power, the invention of the computer, and the minification of electrical devices. All of these inventions have greatly affected society, warfare, economics and even politics. The impact on society and history of these revolutions could be considered immeasurable.

The first great economic revolution was the invention of money and a switch from a bartering system to commerce based on monetary exchanges. A second great economic revolution was probably the Industrial Revolution which  brought about a switch from an agricultural based economy to a capitalistic economy. A third impactful economic revolution was the Information Revolution which brought about a switch from an economy based on manufacturing to an economy based on technology, data and information . Since there were many concurrent, social changes, it is difficult to say whether the economic revolutions were the cause or the result of the social and technological changes.

There are two types of religious revolutions. The first consists of large scale societal changes which we can label macro-religious revolutions. The second type is confined to individuals. In these micro-religious revolutions, individuals completely turn their lives around from one belief structure to another.

There have been numerous macro-religious revolutions throughout human history. One of the first was the rise of Judaism and its reaction to the polytheism of the world around it. A second was the rise of Christianity, reacting against not only the almost universal pagan culture of the day, but also the Jewish culture out of which it developed. A third revolution was the battle between the three major world religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam,  whose roots are firmly grounded in the Middle East. A fourth revolution was the splitting of Christianity into at least three segments, Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and the Reform movements. A fifth revolution in the Muslim world has pitted two main segments of Islam, the Sunnis and the Shiites, against each other and against people of all other faiths. These individuals are labeled infidels. In the modern world, there is a new revolution that pits a growing segment of the population that wishes to either deny the need for any religion or to accept all religions as equal avenues to truth, happiness and paradise. All of these religious revolutions have included significant changes to patterns of societal thought, beliefs and behavior. Many have also resulted in violent upheavals of the social and political structures.

The second definition of the word “revolution” is related to the physical motion of an object spinning or rotating on an axis. One example of this is the rotation of the earth one time each day on its axis. This creates a period of day and night every 24 hours, at each location on earth with the exception of those regions near the polar ends of the axis. In these polar regions, light and darkness may last for months at a time. A second example of a rotational revolution is the earth rotational motion around the sun once each year. This movement creates four seasons each year for most locations on the earth’s surface.

This definition of revolution does include the concepts of motion and change. However, one important difference between this type of revolution and the complete structural changes of the first definition is that after one complete revolution, the spinning object has returned to its original position. In one sense this represents no change. In structural revolutions, the structures and outlooks have completely changed. Thus a structural revolution could be considered half of a rotational revolution.

The second type of religious revolutions, the micro or individual religious revolutions, have occurred daily throughout human history. I have labeled them micro revolutions because I want to focus on the difference that these changes make in the lives of individuals, not large groups of people.

In most orthodox, post-reformation Christian churches, the most important question a person faces is, “What is your relationship to God?” Scripture teaches us that all of us enter into this world estranged from God. Romans 5:12 says

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (JKV).

To be reconciled to God, we must accept the free gift of his atonement. In Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, we read:

2 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2: 1-10 JKV)

This passage shows the revolution that must occur from walking in darkness to walking in the light. It’s not enough to resolve to walk in the light. We must do it, which can only be done through God’s power. Paul’s epistle to the Romans teaches us that:

14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25; JKV)

Thus, coming to salvation and living a life pleasing to God takes far more than a resolution. It takes a revolution. Have you joined the revolution? Although these are micro revolutions in that they involve only one person at a time, the sum total of these micro revolutions is world changing.

 

 

By 2 Comments

Overview of By’s Musings

You have reached my blog, which I intend to use for writing about my passions. I am working on a schedule of publishing a new post at least once a week, usually on Monday mornings. Please check back regularly or subscribe to be informed of new posts. Currently you will find blogs in the following major categories: