December 2012 – TheTimeDok

The news of the day is horrific. We may never know the motivation behind this young person. Not only have over 20 families been affected by his actions but the entire nation! The debates will rage on over guns and with enough of these types of actions some misguided fool may actually try to solve it by a knee jerk reaction to remove guns from law abiding people.

The problem is much deeper than guns. The world would be such a better place if gun powder had never been invented. I would happily sacrifice fireworks to not have any more weapons of this type anywhere. Of course you know that if you want to kill someone there are thousands of ways. A gun is simply more expeditious than a slow supplement of antifreeze in the ice tea.

We live in a society that is filled with violent rhetoric. On top of that we glorify movies and video games that have as a main theme, violence. We actually are transfixed on shows like CSI, which is always about murder! It is my contention and I will be surprised if it is not the case that if you looked at the history of these shooters, you would find a common thread of violent video games. If you are unaware of them, go to the nearest electronic superstore and see what the kids are playing. They are playing mock war games where the player has automatic weapons in a war type situation and is killing people, for hours at a time for many weeks or months until someone writes an even more graphic game. How much of that do we have to expose ourselves to until we take it one step further, if we become angry?

This cretin not only took out his mother, but executed several kindergarten aged children. The news is not in totally and we don’t know the entire story.

If you are buying your children such a game for Christmas you might want to re-think this. A message needs to be sent to game makers that these are not games, these are simulators and training tools and after a while, they (the children, your children) will be trained to do what? This person today was “very efficient” in his actions according to local law enforcement. How did this 20 year old become “so efficient?” We know that people who hijacked airplanes in the past learned to fly via Microsoft flight simulator so why not learn to “mass murder” with “a game”?

Will everyone that plays these games go psychotic one day? Of course not, but why chance it? What ever happened to the day when we got a puppy for Christmas? There are thousands of puppies that need homes, take back the game for a refund, and buy the only kind of love that you can purchase legally, it has a cold nose, four paws and a wagging tale. It also loves you even when you are in a bad mood. How much better would the world be if everyone turned off the games and got a puppy? How much better would the world be if kids had to feed and walk the dog and oh yes learn the responsibility of cleaning up after it.

Several dogs need Furrever homes and several children need to be outside walking the dog, playing with the dog vs sitting on their butts killing virtual people.

-Best

Communication has always fascinated me.

With a simple look your child or spouse will know if they have done something that you approve of or have disdain for. With a look they will know if you are joking or are serious. In poker an astute player will know if you are bluffing or not, simply by a look, tic, or other visual cue.

There is in fact a science built around body language that absolutely enthralls me. Recently one of my good friends was talking about another and while his words and facial cues spoke one thing, his fist in his unclenched hand; told another.

When we speak over the phone we can still tell by the tone in ones voice if that person is serious or kidding or angry or what have you.

Today we have e-mail and texting along with other texts forms of communication such as this article or social media. You in fact can only guess what I am feeling as I write this, or for that matter why I am writing about such a mundane subject as communication.

The simple facts are that we can bring others up or tear them down; with words. Words are powerful weapons in the skilled hand of the writer or orator. Hence the phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword.”

Here is the reason for this epistle. When we text or e-mail we absolutely loose those visual cues. Hence the “LOL or emoticon” was invented. Even with these wonderful little things, it is incumbent on the reader to give the benefit of the doubt to the writer. Did he or she mean this or that, are they mad at me?

Having run the gambit of communication; from Morse code to texting, I have fallen in many traps. Recently one such trap that I fell into is that I was joking around and even though the entire content of the text was rich with levity, the end result was one phrase was taken out of context, and then a phone call was necessary to mend things up.

Something I learned as a child and most probably needs to be spread around are these few simple rules.

Is it true, is it nice, is it necessary? No to any of these, and it is probably best left not said; or in this modern day, not texted.

-Best to you and those that you care about.