Dc @ MindSay

 

This is not Photoshopped.  I took this today while we were sitting in a paddle boat in the middle of  the Tidal Basin.  I'm still not sure I know how I managed to do that.  But it sure does look mighty windy out there...

While in D.C. , I went to a presentation at the Library of Congress titled "Avoiding the Fate of the Mayans". The speaker was a man named Tom Sever whose job title was NASA archeologist.  He talked about using satellite imagery in the non-visible range to identify the "footprint" of past civilizations.  The jungles of Central and South America do not lend themselves to easy exploration by land in search of ancient ruins.  It is now believed that the Mayan empire included a population far larger than previously believed- millions....   They found a way to manage the water supply in this area, farm the swamp lands, and divert water into collection areas to protect against years of drought.  This allowed them to survive the eventual climate change that they created through deforestation... for many years beyond what a population that size could endure today.

The current deforestation in this area is visible as razor-sharp political boundaries between countries that allow it and those that protect the rainforest.  The climate change is evident again.  The talk was fascinating.

The statement that haunts me, though, came at the end of this speech....
Mr Sever told of how he was asked to teach a class at a university... how he was sure it would be overlooked, convinced that young people would not be interested in this new realm of archeology and ecology.  Quite the contrary, however, he found that the of few people who took his initial class- half changed their majors to environmental studies and the popularity of the class exploded to where he is now teaching four sections.  He says that it reminds him of the 60s- of the enthusiasm for making a difference through the impact we are having on our planet- on our futures.

People our age (my age), he said, often have an optimistic, unconcerned view of the situation... an attitude he attributed to a lack of investment in more than a foreseeable future- the 20 years or so they have left here.....
young people, on the other hand, see the importance and urgency of making a difference for the many years they have ahead of them!

I HAVE been relatively unconcerned... convinced, I thought, that human intelligence will see us through whatever dilemmas we find ourselves facing... that we will find a way to correct and move on.  I saw this optimism as one of experience and confidence in the human race.... is it, instead, a product of my own subconscious sense of mortality?  Do I discount the impact I could have on a new generation ready to spring into action because I am not concerned for change in my lifetime?

In my classes I have seen students approach environmental issues with a nonchalance and lack of interest.... they look at the information as one more thing to "remember".  I have been discouraged at the challenge of convincing them that the green movement is worth their time.   The "me" generation seem unconcerned about carbon footprints or potential remedies.

Perhaps I need to devote more energy into sparking the realization that they can each make a difference- that the condition of the world in their lifetime depends on what we do NOW. 

Maybe I need to be more concerned about what I can do to make the world a better chance for my grandchildren.....   Maybe I need to rethink my optimism.

The politicians in DC are supposed to decide (again) whether the riverboat Delta Queen's wooden superstructure is such a fire hazard that she is now making her last trip. Given the politicians' track record, they will manage to get it wrong no matter what they do. As for me, I'd feel safer spending the night on the steam-powered DQ than driving from one side of Atlanta to the other at the posted speed limit.

It was Thursday, April 30th at 11:20 PM.  As I sat at my desk listening to my police scanner in the background a call comes through that I had heard before but never quite thought about the same way.  A local man, just seconds before dispatch had put the call out, had placed a gun to his head and blew his brains out.  From every direction, police headed towards the scene.  The call was coded as "Critical".  The final call into dispatch (of any real substance) was to code the call out as a "66" for Suicide.  "But", the officer remarked, "It could be a 64 (homicide), we're not ruling anything out".  It turned out to be a suicide, had all of the earmarks of a suicide like no foul play, suidical ideation, and all of the various signs of a death being ruled a suicide, rather than a homicide.

 

Over the last few days, I have really been thinking about that guy - what was going through his mind at that very moment, what pushed him to the edge and then over?  Being the last day of the month, did he not have rent to cover the next month?  Had he lost his job? Did he not have food?  Why was his situation now "critical" when it should have been "critical" long before he made that decision?  What was his last thought?  How did he decide what his last thought would be?  *sigh*

 

The next morning, Deborah Jeane Palfrey took her life in the shed on her mother's property.  The DC Madam was facing prison time, but relatively speaking, not that much.  Most professionals speculate that it would have been less than 10 years and that at 52 years old, she would still have quite a few years to enjoy her life.  She wasn't to be sentenced until July.  At the very least, she had a few more months of freedom.  While reports state that she always said she would kill herself before going back to prison, what made her give up those last few months?  Why would she allow her mother to find her? 

 

Finality is just so difficult to deal with and it's always unfair to those of us who watch from afar.  What we wouldn't give to just tell Ms. Palfrey to enjoy those last few months.  What we wouldn't give to keep that guy from pulling the trigger.    The truth of the matter is - suicide is often the victims way of saying, "Everything else in my life has gone to shit, but I'll be good and god damned if I'm not going to be in control of this decision".  The unnamed male victim and Ms. Palfrey made the choice that they were going to write the terms to their death - that this wasn't one that fate was going to get over on them.

 

I've heard quite a few homicide, shootings, tragic accidents (including decapitation), violent carjackings, and far worse on the scanner in the past year - but nothing jarred me quite like this suicide.  In all of the aforementioned situations, the victim probably had no choice in the matter.  In the latter, the victim had all of the choice yet chose to give themselves "no other choice" at all. 

 

I am not one to judge.  I too have fought suicidal thoughts and I know how dark it can be inside one's head when they feel like nobody and nothing can help them.  I just wish that suicide victims would choose not to make the "only choice that they feel they can make"

 

 

We (av, socKs and myself) have posted several pictures over the past few years of one of our favorite art installments in the DC area -- as well as the planet.  It's an interesting statue called "The Awakening" which, until today, resided at Hains Point, the park which divides the Potomac River from the Washington Channel.

It was at the base of Hains Point since 1980. It was one of those statues you could easily see from an airplane landing at National Airport right across the river.  We took pictures there. Climbed on it. Had picnics there.

We'll miss you, big submerged giant bearded man.  Good luck in your new home across the Anacostia...


(Photo taken by socKs)