Recently, I've had some confrontations with a couple of fine men and women who wear bullet proof vests, heavy boots, flashlights, and guns and drive cars with flashing lights. In fact, two within 24 hours.
Wednesday I delivered recycling and garbage to the dump and was on the way to pick up some more shavings for Charis from the lumber yard. Chris and I call it the wood store - they have all this "scrap" wood that we collect. So far we have used it to build a deck and two book shelves. I guess I did not come to a complete stop at the one stop sign in Colfax, and bang went the blue and red lights. The young police officer was a kind gentlemen and only gave me a warning: it helped to be a Colfax resident. In the conversation with him, I found out in Wisconsin trucks must have their registration in the truck, but cars are not required to have their registrations. I asked why. The answer: "That is the rule."
Thursday I took our new-to-us Prizm to be inspected. It is a salvage title - we bought it from a man in Minnesota who fixes cars that have been totaled; only the hood and side panel were replaced. It was approved for title and safety in Minnesota before we bought it. Wisconsin does not accept other state approvals and has their own tedious process. I spent a nice hour with a very kind lady who is a state patrol officer and performs the car inspection. We did not pass because the license plate light does not work. Therefore, I am not allowed to drive this car (my current license plates were removed) until it is fixed and brought back for a second inspection (by appointment and only on Thursdays). I asked about trying to drive our new child home. She told me that it is against the law to drive it and to "call an ambulance." I asked why. The answer: "That is the rule."
Both of these folks seemed like fine people. I started thinking; what if these two officers started questioning the rules that define their occupation? It would turn their world upside down. If they truly started questioning the rules, could they still serve effectively as police officers? (Typing this I taste the bitterness of irony - I teach in a school system that I completely disagree with and question every day, yet still serve as a teacher there.)
Thinking about questions/experiences that turn the world upside down, I began reflecting on the experiences that turned my own world upside down:
- hearing the alto saxophone played professionally (yes, it was Spyro Gyra, but it was a gateway)
- "The Grand Inquisitor" in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelly and questioning which character was really the monster
- Environmental Philosophy class in the Adirondack Mountains
- being in Ecuador with joyous people who live a totally different lifestyle than I do
- beer, and that - hey - it's not evil (I grew up with Nancy Regan - "just say NO")
- The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
- a beautiful, intelligent woman who looked like she just got off the boat from Sweden and made (makes) my heart and mind swirl
- The Plies: thought, action, questioners, loving
- The Jacksons: opening their home and family to two (of us) poor homeless souls
- Monday night dinners: community and support unmeasurable
- hearing the Mel Brown Sextet for the first time at Berbatis Pan
- Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time by Marcus Borg
- being a part of the multi-age community-based Cedar Lodge classroom
- traveling in Italy
- staying with relatives in Sweden
- living in community with Becca and Chris and making permanent, intentional choices that are pro-community and pro-health (earth and body)
- Ellis
- our birthing classes and the excitement that comes with expecting our child
I would truly like to hear and know what experiences, events, books, etc. have triggered a radical change in your world view.
I am waiting excitedly for the biggest event to ever turn my world upside down. Charis is experiencing mild "practice" contractions as I write.
Jay
Friday, August 04, 2006
Questions and events that have turned me upside down
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6 comments:
Am I allowed to leave a simple list after Denny wrote an eloquent and moving speech? Wait a minute...YOU PEOPLE don't make the rules that govern my comments on blogspot!
Harry Potter (maybe this doesn't change my world view, but it certainly changes the way I feel in/about the world)
Portland
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Taking a seven week drive around the US
Robert - him specifically and also the act of trying to plan a life with another human
PSU instructor Jeff Edmundson (who taught my Curriculum and Culture class)
Jack Flanders and the Fourth Tower of Inverness, as well as Jack's subsequent radio drama adventures (thanks, Todd)
This is a fun challenge, Jay. Thanks for putting it out there!
Dealing with the rules is the great struggle of living in a group, Jay, no question about it. One the one end of the scale is Orwell's super-controlled state, on the other is complete anarchy. If you and your wife are zipping around the highways with no light on your license plate, how in the Hell is an officer supposed to call in your number (no doubt a vanity one, something like 'THLNOUS') when he has you in hot pursuit and calling for backup? What then, Jay?
I'm assuming this registration failure also means you don't have the proper registration stickers to put on the plates (which is, indeed, a bummer; in the last two weeks, even though we had the stickers in our respective glove boxes, both vehicles at our house sustained some manner of citation for not displaying them).
My suggestion for the interim weeks that it will take to get the light wired and connected to your fuse box is for you to buy one or two very small flashlight s(they make cheap plastic ones that hold only a single AA battery) and some J.B.Weld fast hold epoxy (that stuff is probably good to 100mph). You may need to shape the edge of the flashlight a bit to cast enough light on the plate but, anchoring it off in one corner (note: make sure the switch is facing up and is free of epoxy), you can at least drive about announcing the absence of your registration tags without being a complete renegade tearing about the countryside with dark plates.
That's what I'd do.
I'll think on the upside-downsing of Robert for a while and get back to you on that later.
Amen, Dad!
I am with you, Collins. We are in the same boat of apologetically and politely enforcing rules that make no sense. I mean, I can't understand why they wouldn't just give you the darn license and tell you that if you drove at night without illumination, you'd get cited.
Just pray that they don't come for our firearms 'round here. I won't tell you all of our plans, but here's a hint. Keyword: tanktraps.
Also, I think I'd like to put Robert on my list of life-changing events.
Julianne
All I have to say is thank goodness we have the state of Wisconsin to protect us from ourselves! In fact, I'm taking my homemade slingshot into WDOSS (Wisconsin Department of Slingshot Safety) as soon as its doors open tomorrow for my $50 slingshot inspection so I don't SHOOT MY EYE OUT!
Cheers, everyone! Great comments!
Charis
I love reading what you all are writing, everyone! Nick, I can relate to what you're saying. I have to admit that since going rural I have definitely become more of a "get that gov'ment man offa my land" type, probably because of what you outline in your #3 about the myth of independence, and also possibly because the cops/bureaucrats here seem desperately in need of something to do, and have more time on their hands to hassle innocent civillians who are minding their own beeswax (ask Julianne about her recent nightmare in this arena).
However, that said, I also really appreciate and admire the true socialist democracies in places like Sweden. Now I know things aren't perfect there, and that taxes are high (though are actually surprisingly close to what we pay here). I'm sure there's corruption and wasteful spending, etc. but I have to say that I love how the system there works as far as their priorities go - that mothers have a paid year off from work to raise their babies, that the schools the government funds are often small and community-based, that health care and education are free and generally quite good (from what I understand), to name a few. I guess some of their success, in my mind, has to do with the fact that Sweden is a small, relatively homogeneous country, one that is already steeped in community-based relationship, and not very concerned with individual rights as a culture. Also, Sweden isn't very very busy making ludicrous war with other countries, and therefore has more money to spend on the good of its own people.
So I go back and forth too. I believe this country is dissolving into a stealthy kind of capitalist fascism - designed to keep the uber-wealthy in power with everyone else under their thumb, while somehow maintaining that this method of governing is a way of preserving our freedoms(!) In other words, I think some form of government is necessary, but I sure don't trust mine!
Thanks for keeping my mind off of not having a baby, everybody!
CC
Dang, you people too deep for me! I am currently a class one hothead when it comes to political issues. I see Nick's point, but also I do side with Char in her last posting. I don't see that our government (especially here in Oregon) is making wise decisions as far as whose freedoms are being infringed on in order to protect and please the powerful. Charis is right that what works in one place doesn't necessarily work everywhere - therefore, a law that makes perfect sense in an urban area becomes ludicrous when enforced in a rural one, and vice versa. Also, small town cops are way too bored. Anyway, I am very close to becoming a registered libertarian. Nick, check out what's going on in the libertarian party right now if you haven't been keeping up - I think you'll be interested. There's been some kind of radical moderate takeover and they're rewriting the platform.
Meanwhile, I started thinking about my list of life-changing events, and realized that I am not like Jay - at least, not anymore. They all seem too personal to post. Some of them are too painful to see in writing. Also, they look kind of silly when not attached to a back story. It made me appreciate that Jay has remained militantly open-hearted and allowed all of us to examine and question and criticize and celebrate even his most personal experiences and thoughts. Thanks, Jay - you are going to be an awesome dad!
JA
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