Category: Fresno Bee Religion and Ethics Columns

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Restroom politics

We all need clean, well-lit place to heed call of nature

Fresno Bee, April 30, 2016

  • Transgender toilet issue points toward larger question of bathroom ethics
  • Equality, access, justice and basic hygiene are important issues
  • Recommendations for restroom reconstruction are considered

Transgender people appeal to a basic principle of excretory equality. We build special stalls for the handicapped. Why not also help transgender people? A bathroom revolution would help trans people and the rest of us as well.

Lavatory access is far from equal. Those long, slow lines for the ladies room at public events are not fair. Women suffer from a toilet deficit. The men who wait for these ladies suffer also.

Unisex bathrooms would solve these problems. This works at outdoor festivals, where the port-a-potty lines are gender neutral. Our home toilets are not segregated by sex. A unisex bathroom revolution seems like a no-brainer.

Critics worry about public safety. The Rev. Franklin Graham opposes transgender bathroom access, warning that we need to “protect young girls, boys, and women from sexual predators and perverts.”

Of course, perverts can haunt mono-sex facilities. One solution is bathroom attendants. Unisex toilets in European cities are staffed by attendants. That might deter the predators. Attendants also keep the place clean. This is as important as equality and safety. After we solve the transgender issue, let’s move on to basic hygiene.

You can judge the quality of a culture by the cleanness of its commodes. I’d love a politician to promise an unsoiled seat for everyone and soap in every dispenser.

While we’re at it, here are some reminders of toilet etiquette. Be discrete, be quick and be clean. Flush when done. Keep the seat dry. If you use the last piece of paper, change the roll. And don’t forget the most important imperative of lavatory virtue: wash your hands.

As we reconstruct our toilet culture, I suggest eliminating urinals. They are messy and, frankly, a bit weird – especially the open-trough variety. In the meantime, some men need lessons in urinal decorum. Leave a space, where possible, between yourself and the next guy. Stand as close to the device as you can. Don’t look at what the other guy is doing. Please don’t start up a conversation. And stop pretending that using a urinal absolves you from the need to wash your hands.

The challenges of excretory ethics could be solved with proper education. Universities are leading the way. Unisex bathrooms already exist on some campuses. In dorms on some campuses, there are co-ed bathrooms where men and women attend to their needs side by side – yes, even showering in closed stalls.

I’ve heard that this helps keep things clean. Men do a better job of cleaning up after themselves when they share the facilities with women. After all, that’s how it works at home. A gentleman always puts the seat back down.

THE GOLDEN RULE APPLIES IN THE BATHROOM. LEAVE THE TOILET AS YOU WOULD HAVE OTHERS LEAVE IT FOR YOU. WHEN YOU MAKE A MESS, CLEAN IT UP. WASH YOUR HANDS. AND HAVE COMPASSION FOR THOSE WHO DON’T HAVE ANYWHERE TO GO.

Basic bathroom justice should also be considered. The transgender issue is an important reminder of the need for access. But there are fewer transgender people than there are poor, toilet-less people. About 700,000 people in the U.S. are transgendered. Nearly three times that many Americans do not have a working bathroom. 1.6 million Americans live in homes that lack indoor plumbing. Another half a million are homeless. That means that about 2.1 million people lack a private, indoor toilet.

Meanwhile, the affluent enjoy luxurious facilities. The number of toilets per house is growing. It used to be standard to have one bathroom for an entire family. Newer homes now have three and even four bathrooms. The average person goes to the bathroom once every four hours. In some houses you could use a different toilet each time the need arises, while just down the street homeless people can’t find anywhere to go.

It must be tough to be transgendered, homeless or toilet-less. Imagine the indignity of finding yourself locked out when nature calls. We all need a clean, well-lighted place to heed the call of nature.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/andrew-fiala/article74494232.html#storylink=cpy

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Earth Day

Earth Day reminds us of the challenges of cooperation

Fresno Bee, April 22, 2016

  • Earth Day was not always on the same date
  • The history of Earth Day shows us the challenges we face
  • The goal is peace, justice and living well on a stormy Earth

 April 22 is Earth Day. Or is it? People disagree.

One version of the Earth Day story begins with a peace activist named John McConnell. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, McConnell came up with the idea of pausing for a “Minute for Peace.” This idea evolved. In 1969, McConnell proposed the idea of celebrating an entire day dedicated to what he called “Earth-keeping.”Activists celebrate the global climate change agreement reached in December 2015 in Paris. Officials from more than 170 nations came to New York on Earth Day to sign the pact in a ceremony at the United Nations.

McConnell was inspired by a picture of the Earth taken from space that appeared on the cover of Life in 1969. McConnell designed an “Earth flag” using that image. He set the date for Earth Day as March 21, 1970, the vernal equinox.

Meanwhile, Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, had a similar idea. In 1969, Nelson proposed the idea of a national environmental teach-in to be held on April 22, 1970. Nelson called this “Earth Day” without giving McConnell credit. McConnell was encouraged to sue. But a lawsuit was against his idealistic principles.

Nelson is now widely viewed as the father of Earth Day. He explained his vision of Earth Day in 1970 as creating “an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all other human beings and all other living creatures.”

For many years, the United Nations commemorated Earth Day on the equinox, as McConnell had imagined. But the April 22 date has caught on. This year, for example, the latest international climate change agreement – the Paris Agreement – was open for signatures Friday.

The date of Earth Day is unimportant – after all, Nelson and McConnell were both on the same side and agreed about much. But the fact that we squabble about a date reminds us that there is always more than one point of view – even among like-minded people. McConnell was an idealist. His original Earth Day proclamation called for love as well as peace and justice. Nelson was more pragmatic and political. He was more strategic and incremental in his approach.

OUR PETTY SQUABBLES AND POLITICAL MACHINATIONS ARE MERE DUST IN THE COSMIC WIND. THE STORMS OF EARTH WILL EVENTUALLY OVERTAKE EVERY SPECIES. THE CHALLENGE IS TO LIVE WELL WITHIN THE MAELSTROM.

If this sort of conflict arises among folks who basically agree, we might despair of creating truly planetary cooperation. But we might also suggest that friendly disputes and mutual competition are actually beneficial. They provide us with motivation and inspiration. At any rate, a good idea remains a good idea, no matter who thought it up. And Earth Day is important regardless of the date.

To my mind, the vernal equinox is nicely symbolic as a moment of planetary equipoise. The April 22 date has no symbolic resonance. It was originally chosen because of practical scheduling concerns. Some critics complain that April 22 is unfortunate because it is also Vladimir Lenin’s birthday.

But on the other hand, this is the day after John Muir’s birthday, which is April 21. Long before the Earth was photographed from space, Muir had imagined viewing the Earth from a cosmic vantage point. He wrote, “when we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.”

Muir’s image is worth consideration. He sees beauty in the cosmic storm. The Earth is indeed a tempestuous planet. It is a closed ecosystem containing antagonistic elements. There is conflict throughout the whole. The shining dewdrop of earth also contains nature red in tooth and claw. Competition is woven into the web of life.

Our petty squabbles and political machinations are mere dust in the cosmic wind. The storms of Earth will eventually overtake every species. The challenge is to live well within the maelstrom.

McConnell’s Earth Day proclamation wanted to create “a global feeling of community” and awareness of “our mutual dependence on each other.” This may seem like a nostalgic hippie dream. But more recent globalization means that viruses, pollution and new ideas are of planetary concern. We are increasingly aware of our terrestrial interdependence.

This should lead us to be more sensitive to the fragile balance of the whole. We have no choice but to care for the Earth and each other. The storm clouds are gathering. And there is nowhere else for us to go.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/andrew-fiala/article73310167.html#storylink=cpy
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Tax Reform

Couldn’t we find a better way to collect taxes?

Fresno Bee, April 15, 2016

  • The tax system provokes anxiety
  • A simplified tax code would inspire confidence
  • Tax day could be a patriotic holiday

Revelations about offshore tax havens and tax evasion do not inspire confidence. A recent story indicates that 20 percent of profitable American corporations don’t pay any tax. Loopholes and exemptions benefit some. But most of us pay, without imagining ways to evade the tax collector.

Taxation leaves us cold. Voting warms the heart. The Fourth of July is fun. But no one celebrates tax day or pledges allegiance to the IRS. The country might benefit from a rebranded tax system.

April is certainly a good month to reflect on taxation. According to the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day will occur this year on April 24. That’s when we will have paid off our collective tax bill. April 19 is Patriot’s Day, which commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord, fought in 1775. Emancipation Day is celebrated in Washington, D.C., on April 16, commemorating the emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia in 1862. These holidays are among the reason our taxes are not due this year until April 18.

Why not combine all of this in a patriotic holiday that celebrates liberty and the need to pay for it? Some libertarians may object that taxation is a form of slavery. But real slavery involves whips and chains. Taxation may be a drag. But it is not slavery. Instead, it is the cost of living in our country.

Of course, no one pays more than the minimum. And if you don’t pay, you’ll get arrested. If taxation is not quite slavery, it is also not a freely given gift. But taxes pay for obvious benefits: schools, roads, insurance and protection.

Not everyone agrees about how our tax dollars are spent or how much should be collected. Our elected representatives are supposed to make sure that there is no taxation without representation. They might also consider simplifying the tax code.

Even for those who understand taxation as a civic obligation, tax documents are infuriating. Those brave and deluded souls who file their own tax returns confront a system as convoluted as anything Franz Kafka could have imagined.

IN THE END, THEY KNOW WHAT WE OWE. SO WHY CAN’T THEY SEND US A SIMPLE BILL, AND SAVE US HOURS OF TEDIOUS TAX PREPARATION?

Kafka’s characters often suffer at the hands of alienating bureaucracies. Kafka once said, “the chains of tormented mankind are made out of red tape.” The tormenting red tape of April flows out of the dreaded 1040 form, its inscrutable instructions, and its tiresome schedules.

The problem begins with the impersonal and unimaginative name for this document. Why is it called “1040”? For that matter, who named the W-2 and 1099 forms? The authors of these torturous documents should be given a course in basic composition. Alienating and bureaucratic jargon infect the whole. The taxpayer is victim to indecipherable prose.

Leaving rhetoric aside, you would think that the government would simply tell us what we owe. Other bill collectors send an invoice. But income tax returns are different. You tell the government what you think you owe.

The IRS already has some idea, of course. They have our W-2s, 1099s and the withholding taxes we’ve paid. It is up to you to inform them of adjustments, deductions and exemptions. The process is absurdly convoluted. When you make a mistake on your return, the government sends a correction. In the end, they know what we owe. So why can’t they send us a simple bill, and save us hours of tedious tax preparation?

One explanation looks to the interests of tax accountants. A 2013 report from the Sunlight Foundation indicates that the tax preparation industry spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying against proposals to simplify the tax system. According to one industry website, the tax preparation industry generated $9 billion in revenue in 2012, with expected growth toward $11 billion in 2018.

April is certainly a good month for accountants. It is also a good month to reflect on the cost of good government and the need for a transparent tax system. Our byzantine tax code and its loopholes provoke angst and outrage. Liberty is lost in this labyrinth.

They say that nothing is certain except death and taxes. But there are better and worse ways to die. And there should be a better way to collect taxes.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/andrew-fiala/article72043462.html#storylink=cpy
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Education is the solution to climate change, Syrian refugees and ISIS

The Fragility of Civilization

Fresno Bee, April 2, 2016

  • Climate change, religious extremism are related challenges
  • Recent events expose fragility of civilization
  • Education is needed to preserve civilization, history

The archeological record is reassuring. We build things that last thousands of years. The Parthenon and the Coliseum provide consolation for our mortality and give us reason to hope.

fiala2(2)But malice and indifference could destroy much of what we take for granted. The rising seas of a warmer world could inundate major cities, leaving them lost, like Atlantis beneath the waves. And human destructiveness has already been unleashed against the monuments of ancient civilization themselves, as we’ve seen in Syria.

The climate news is ominous. NASA reports that Greenland and Antarctica are losing billions of tons of ice per year. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is at 403 ppm and rising. That level of CO2 last appeared 2.5 million years ago, when Earth was warmer by 3 degrees Celsius and sea level was 5 meters higher.

Climate scientist James Hansen warns that climate change may be faster and more severe than previously predicted. Rapidly melting ice could raise the sea level by several meters within 50 to 150 years. Superstorms may be generated by permanent changes in ocean currents.

In a recent paper, Hansen and co-authors warn, “It is not difficult to imagine that conflicts arising from forced migrations and economic collapse might make the planet ungovernable, threatening the fabric of civilization.” In a video explaining his conclusions, Hansen warns that his predictions may mean “the loss of all coastal cities, most of the world’s largest cities, and all of their history.”

The human toll of superstorms and flooding coasts is difficult to imagine. The loss in terms of human history when coastal cities are inundated will be incalculable. Cities like New Orleans may be forever lost beneath the tides.

The human dislocations of a warmer, wetter world will be significant. Poor people in developing countries will have difficulty adapting. Environmental refugees will flood our borders, looking for sanctuary. Some argue that Middle Eastern refugees inundating Europe are fleeing drought, as well as political persecution.

Even if we overcome apathy about climate change and avoid the deluge, malice remains a threat. The fragility of civilization was exposed recently when Syrian forces recaptured the ancient town of Palmyra. Hundreds of thousands have been killed in the Syrian war. In Palmyra, ISIS’ sinister ideology turned against the archaeological record.

Statues and reliefs were smashed. Monuments were toppled. The Roman Arch of Triumph was blown up. Torturing and beheading human beings is evil. Iconoclastic attacks on historical artifacts expose a sinister strand of nihilistic extremism.

Somehow all of this is interconnected. The oil economy is part of the history of colonialism and militarism. This has created backlash and religious extremism. Globalization gives us global capitalism, global terrorism and global warming.

Some wise pundits may connect these dots in more detail. But beneath all of this is a flaw in human nature. We are not rational. Nor are we good. We fail to plan for the long term. We succumb to stupid ideologies and get-rich-quick schemes. We singlemindedly pursue our agendas, indifferent to the consequences. Power, profit and political inertia prevent us from doing what is right for each other and for Earth.

The solution is as obvious as our fatal flaw. Education is the cure for the twin diseases of indifference and wickedness. Indeed, education is an act of preservation and conservation. We need to learn more about science, history, politics, religion, art and ethics. We need to criticize greed, hatred and indifference. And we need to understand the fragility of civilization.

It is difficult to imagine civilization crumbling. Our achievements seem permanent. But historical and geological education reminds us that none of this will last forever. Civilizations rise and fall.

If we don’t take care to preserve the accomplishments of civilization, they will fall faster, brought down by stupidity, arrogance and selfishness. Of course, human beings will adapt. Life will go on – albeit in a different form – once ISIS is destroyed and the oceans rise. Our grandchildren will remember New Orleans and Palmyra as lost gems. But they will rightly blame us for failing to protect and preserve what our own ancestors so painstakingly created.

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Eternal Life

Eternal life and the meaning of life

Fresno Bee, March 26, 2016

  • Easter is a good time to contemplate the possibility of eternal life
  • A good life includes resilience in the face of adversity
  • Friendship, culture and perseverance are keys to happiness

Belief in heaven remains strong. According to the Pew Research Center, more than 70 percent of Americans believe in heaven as a place where “people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded.”

Easter is a good time to contemplate the possibility of eternal life. Even if you are not a Christian, thinking about eternal life helps clarify the meaning of life in this world.

Some imagine paradise as spring break without a hangover. But sensual pleasure is not sufficient for a human being. Pure hedonism distracts us from higher goods. An eternal life of sensual pleasure would quickly become boring.

14129765799_e904af13b7_bBeyond sensual delight are the goods of ethics and culture. It is unclear how ethics would work beyond this vale of tears. But social relations and loving friendships are an important part of happiness. Of course, even the deepest romantic love may wear thin in eternity. Whom would you really want to spend eternity with?

Maybe cultural activity is the key to eternal happiness. Music, art, sports, philosophy and science are all activities done for their own sake. In these activities we create and discover meaning. Visions of eternity usually have included the goods of culture. Socrates imagined the afterlife as a place of unending philosophical conversation. Christians imagine music in heaven, with harp-strumming angels and choirs singing hymns of praise.

Perhaps heaven is a place to do activities we love. For skiers, heaven may be an eternity of untracked powder. For dancers, it might be a place of perpetual graceful motion. A golfer may dream of birdies, eagles and holes-in-one.

A MEANINGFUL LIFE RESTS UPON THE NARRATIVE ARC OF THE TOTALITY OF OUR DEEDS.

The problem is that play – like sensual delight and friendship – becomes dull when imagined in the context of eternal life. The happiness generated by human activity is connected to our need for variety and challenge. No human action is perfect. And every joyful activity must come to an end.

Conversations and songs become tedious after a while. At some point skiing, singing and dancing become boring and exhausting. And if every drive landed in the cup, golf would cease to be interesting.

A meaningful life requires more than completion and consummation in the ecstasy of bliss. In addition to play, we need practice. We also need failure, loss and the challenge of overcoming obstacles.

The enjoyment of the choral singer includes the process of learning the song, the camaraderie of the rehearsal, and the delight of the performance. Skiing, golf and dance are lifetime projects. Golfers seek out challenging courses. Skiers look for black diamonds. Dancers create new styles.

The joy of philosophy and science is not found in dull repetition of facts and theories. Rather, our inquiries are driven by questions, puzzles and paradoxes. And friendship grows through shared suffering and the process of overcoming disagreement.

EVEN IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN HEAVEN, LIVING WELL IS ITS OWN REWARD.

A meaningful life involves surmounting challenges and mastering new skills. Perseverance and tenacity are important, as are thinking and problem solving. The bliss of the moment is less important than a life of labor. We build happy lives through discipline, disappointment and diligent work.

A meaningful life rests upon the narrative arc of the totality of our deeds: the good and the bad, the painful and the redemptive. Through the whole, we become who we are. Perhaps in the afterlife, we simply reflect upon our earthly lives – our triumphs and tragedies.

The reward for living a good life may be the memory of that good life. Even if there is no afterlife, we should hope to look back on life with pride, celebrating our successes, and satisfied with how we handled failure and defeat.

There is no meaningful progress without suffering and loss. But we can turn tragedy into triumph. Every skier falls. Every dancer stumbles. And everyone we love will end up dead. Happiness is about resilience and perseverance. It’s not about how many times you fall but about how quickly you get back up.

Life without loss, risk and failure would be boring. Which is why heavenly bliss is so puzzling. Perhaps there is an afterlife. But even if you don’t believe in heaven, living well is its own reward. Joy is fleeting. Character endures. And if death comes tomorrow, you’ll want a good story to tell at the Pearly Gates.