Our Milgram Experiment

We like to think we are good people. Relatively speaking, we certainly are. There's always someone we can point to who is worse than us.

But then someone like Stanley Milgram comes along, and says things that upset us. You probably heard about this in your freshman psychology class: Stanley Milgram was the Yale psychologist who did a famous/infamous experiment in the early '60s, showing that we're not quite as good as we like to think we are. In the experiment, a student was instructed to push buttons delivering various levels of pain to another student, out of sight in another room, based on how they answered questions. It was supposed to be a "learning" experiment, but the truth was that it was testing whether a student was willing to torture another person. In reality, no-one was actually getting hurt, that was really an actor in another room. But the student did not know that. He just knew that he was told to push button #3, he did so, and a cry of pain came through the intercom.

Invariably, the student would proceed to push those buttons when instructed to do so. The whole test was to see how easily the human conscience could be "turned off", when we hand over the responsibility for our actions, whether they be right and wrong, to someone in authority over us.

Don't be so shocked - we're all susceptible to gradual compromise of our morals. It becomes easy when someone in authority over us is pushing us to compromise. And the bottom falls out when our community around us is pressuring us to do so.

I think of the church in Germany between 1935-1942. Where were they? What were they doing? What about the church in the American south during the slavery years? Where were they? What were they thinking?

It's all about gradual compromise. You've heard the analogy: if you drop a frog into a pot of boiling water, he will immediately jump out. But if you drop him into a pot of lukewarm water, then gradually turn up the heat, degree by degree, he will end up boiling to death, because he never realizes a drastic difference. He slowly adjusts to the warmer and warmer temperature, until he dies.

Could that happen to us?

What if you found out the government had been spying on you for the past 6 months, not because of anything you've done, but because of the church you go to. What if they had been recording your phone calls, with no search warrant. What if they snatched you out of your car one night, and flew you off to another country, where you were tortured. Yes, tortured. With no arrest warrant, no proof of evidence, not trial by peers, no conviction, and no release? Shocking? It has all happened under American authority.

That's what we've come to. The frog is floating belly-up in the pot of boiling water, victim of a gradual errosion of rights, all in the name of the "war on terror".

But you say that would never happen to us! That is only done to terror suspects. The really bad guys who deserve it. Right?

And it's all OK, because...it's...them...not us...them. You know, "them". As in, the muslims. Or the poles. Or the jews. In fact, why don't we just make this simpler and put stars on them, so they are easier to identify.

I speak as a "conservative Christian", a member of the evangelistic church movement. There were, of course, many who did recognize the warning signs, and protested loudly (my sister being one). But many of us in the church sat back, trusting in the president as a wise man of faith and convictions, saying we should let him do his work with our full trust. That was me. I was there.

And you know what the scary thing is? Not just that it happened, but that we let it happen. We didn't question it. We aquiesced, accepted the reasons. Since when is there a just reason for suspending constitutional rights? Since when can we justify dropping constitutional protection from people? Since when are there people who don't qualify for those protections? Isn't that how the germans justified their treatment of the jews? "They're not part of us. It doesn't matter what happens to them."

We let this happen. Even though many of us disagreed with it, what did we do to stop it? I even found myself at times afraid to open my mouth, stir up argument, for fear of being labeled or ridiculed. We're afraid to think for ourselves, recognize when the government has gone too far, and to speak out.

And as my children study history, seeing the shameful mistakes of our past, I'm not so sure we can say it is all behind us. If we so casually accepted the notion of torture being done by Americans, what else are we capable of? As President Obama rolls back many of the compromises made over the past several years, we realize just how far we've come. For a moment, we find ourselves as that college student in the experiment...who just pushed the button. Now we have a taste of what we are capable of, so what will we do?

Living Out the True Meaning of Our Creed

I'll admit, I didn't vote for Obama, as I don't see him standing on the right side of the abortion issue. But there is one thing that does bring joy to my heart this week. Having grown up in the south, much of that time in racially divided towns, I grew up with my own minor demons to deal with. To this day, I have to work hard to not see people through the lens of race.
But as I look at this milestone in our nations history, I feel a joyful contentment. Our children will grow up in a land where truly anyone (any man at least) can become president. Amazing. I grew up knowing that THAT top rung of the ladder was always there; not that I ever expected to climb that high myself, but I always knew there was no ceiling imposed on my ambitions. And yet all my childhood, I also knew that the other half of the population, those who didn't have my skin color, did not have such an opportunity. Sure, technically, legally, anyone could become president, but the facts on the ground spoke something different. And now, for the first time, the playing field has become level.
That makes such a huge difference for young men growing up - to know that anything is truly possible. Although Obama is a flawed man, like the rest of us, this milestone brings a change for everyone. Our nation will not be the same, and I believe we will be a better people for this.

Wish List

Well the holidays are upon us, and everyone enjoys that. Probably the only part of the holidays that everyone dislikes is to see them go, and I'm no exception. Seeing the holidays pass is a bit depressing, as it's a reminder of time, and life, passing before my eyes. How many more Thanksgivings will I have? Even if I have 50 more, will that final one arrive in the blink of an eye, to find myself in a nursing home, wondering where the years have gone? Aging scares me, growing old scares me. I want to live a full life, and I fear missing out on life. So to confront that fear head on, I've made my own "bucket list" - the top things I want to accomplish during my time on this earth. I don't know if I'll accomplish all these things, but I believe that knowing I was actively pursuing them should give me some contentment. I believe we were all created for a purpose, and so far as I can tell, my own ministry is investing in the lives of young men, to point them on the straight & narrow path (my own "calling", if you will). But beyond that are several smaller things, little points that tease my heart. They are (in no particular order):

• Join a band (whether orchestral, church, jam, whatever)
  
• Sing in a choir
  
• Travel (Hawaii, Ireland, Italy, Israel)
  
• Become a *good* cook
  
• Write one book for my kids


• Volunteer for hospice


• Dance, and become good at it.


• Go backpacking in the mountains


• Live near the water

I'm sure I'll think of more later, but right now, that's what I'm looking at.

Two Feet of Topsoil

I recently heard someone describing "the blues" as a funny twist of sad lyrics with an upbeat tune, such that you start with the sad story, but you can't help but walk away feeling better.

I was reminded of that while listening to Brad Paisley's "Two Feet of Topsoil". To start off with, yep, it's a breakup song; his girl done left him. But everything else about it is so FUN. It's definitely country, with a fast-paced twang, but it also seems to meet the definition of "blues". Just read these lyrics:

Two Feet of Topsoil by Brad Paisley

Yesterday I thought that I was low as I could get
I had hit rock bottom
ever since you up and left
But this morning when I saw with somebody else,
well needless to say
That's when I started sinkin' even lower
And as far as where I'm at today

Well, There's two feet of topsoil
A little bit of bedrock, limestone in between
A fossilized dinosaur
A little patch of crude oil
A thousand feet of granite underneath
Then there's me

I was kinda hopin' I could dig my way back out
A couple dozen roses maybe get you back somehow
But the love in your eyes as you talked to him today
was plain to see
So I ain't gonna get involved, but should you
change your mind
Well you know right where I'll be

Well, There's two feet of topsoil
A little bit of bedrock, limestone in between
A fossilized dinosaur
A little patch of crude oil
A thousand feet of granite underneath
Then there's me

Embrace

"A fool bailed out never learns..."

Why is our country in this financial mess? You could point to lots of fat-cats at the top, but beneath all of that is a host of foolish credit decisions at the grass-roots level. People buying more than they can afford, and banks trying to get rich off of them.

Do we have the money to resolve this mess? Of course not. The country does not have $700 billion sitting in some account.

So how are we trying to get out of this mess? The same way we fund the war in Iraq, resolve social security, and deal with a host of other issues: we hand the bill over to our children (in the form of national debt), and proclaim victory. We are handing them a truly massive load of debt that they will be no more able to pay than we are. What kind of victory is that?

A bailout (READ: borrow debt our children will have to repay) is not the answer. The answer is we need to do the right thing for once: acknowledge the truth, that we are in this mess because of poor financial decisions, start taking responsibility, tighten our belts, and endure the pain. Let poorly run companies fail. The economy may suffer, but the market will eventually correct itself. Just as it always has. And it's the natural "fires" that burn away the waste, leaving a stronger, healthier system in their place.

The scariest part of all of this is the denial of responsibility on the national level. If we can not recognize our responsibility for getting into this mess, then how can we hope to resolve it?
We must deal with the mess, instead of just footing the bills onto our children. They already have far more of a mess headed their way than they can afford.

Todd Agnew

The more I hear of Todd Agnew's music, the more I like it. This guy is amazingly real, and his lyrics are so nitty-gritty, you'll find yourself stopping and asking, "Did he really just say that?" And then there's that deep, penetrating voice. As one reviewer described it, "This guy is not background music. You just can't ignore his singing."


If You Wanted Me

I'll admit I'm glad we're not disciples
Out on a lake paralyzed with fright
Cause I'm afraid I might have laughed at Peter
Until he stepped into that stormy night
If You wanted me to walk on water
Why'd You make the solid ground seem so right?

And I'll admit I'm glad I'm not King David
Ruling over everything I see
Cause I think I've fallen for more than Bathsheba
Your creation's a temptation for me
And if You wanted me to love You only
Why'd you make the moonlight sparkle in her eyes?

I'll admit I'm glad I'm not John the Baptist
In a jail cell waiting for my day to die
Cause at least down here I know what we're chasing
And it's hard to trust Your dreams are so much better than mine
But if You wanted me to die to myself
Why'd You make me fall so deeply in love with life?

If You wanted me to surrender
Why'd You make these hands able to hold on so tight?
So tight?
And if You wanted me to be like You
Why'd You make me like me?