Amazing Architecture.

 After Surfside What About These...

Somebody sent me the video below. You have to wonder after the disaster in Surfside just how any of these buildings will be standing after 40+ years. Architecture has come a long way.

It is difficult to imagine the horror if some of the highest you will see came down.

Wonders never cease.

#thebrewsterblock

Surfside: Where was God?

 The BIG Question on Surfside

Before lighting into me, I have already heard this question asked of a Rabbi on TV. I only repeat it here but I do frequently pose the question.

In all disasters like this, you have to wonder why. Why if there is a God, was this allowed to happen? I heard him answer in a typical fashion - he deflected the question. He cited all the other faiths' holy leaders who rallied around the event and the affected families. This is where God was. A poor answer.

If God - your God - represents goodness, then this should not have taken place. Saying that God works in mysterious ways does not cut it. If you believe that God punishes, perhaps this level of punishment on one or two guilty or evil parties can be argued - not an entire half of a building.

There will be more claimed acts of God as hopefully, people are found alive. The same question applies.

The immediate cause could have been:

- Aging material like cement or steel
- Nature as in a sink hole or soft ground under the foundation
- Sabotage. A structural engineer said only one strategic column failing or demolished could cause this
- Faulty or second rate material used in the first place
- Poor maintenance

It does not matter. God as portrayed could have prevented any of these. He/she/it/they did not. For me punishing innocent families like this brings the entire notion of a supreme creator and guardian into question.

Think about it. Tonight when you retire, you could wake up under fifty feet of mud or water, or solidified forever in molten lava. If you muster one final thought I'm sure you will ask "Why me?"

This morning close to where I live an innocent (presumed) man lost his life on a freeway after his car stalled and it was rear ended by a truck. Was God involved there too? If there is a purpose perhaps it is to make all of us realize that we are fortunate and that we should spend more time, effort, and care on others and less on ourselves.

Enjoy life and those around you while you can whether you are religious or not! Life can be snuffed out by many things and events in an instant. This bit of truth requires no book, faith, preacher, diploma, or service to understand or witness.

Start now.

#thebrewsterblock

The United States vs. Billie Holiday

USA, Lower your Head and your Flag in Shame

Last night I watched "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" on CNN. I thought it was good and that the performance of Andra Day was fantastic. Some of the others were not so great and it was classic Hollywood throughout. You can read the reviews yourselves. Overall they said it focused on only the negative in her life. I thought that was the point.

For me the take away was her song, "Strange Fruit" which I already knew was about lynching, and there was one horrific lynching scene. To drive it home during the credits there were several disgusting facts about the history of antilynching legislation in America.

In brief there have been some 4500 - 5000 people lynched in the USA and over 200 attempts to pass bills against the practice. Most recently both the Senate and the House have approved a bill on antilynching. It took over 100 years but now Senator Rand Paul is delaying it.

Of all the negatives associated with America including its gun mentality, this has to be one of the worst. How can anybody of any political stripe not want to pass laws to outlaw such a barbaric practice? It seems that some still anticipate a day when the practice might be used again. Are they attempting to protect themselves from future or even past acts?

How can such a country all but eliminate capital punishment, which at least is designed to be quick and humane, fail to totally remove now and forever these vile acts? People were hung, mutilated, tortured, and burned at the stake.

So never mind the bitterness between both parties today and issues like voting rights. Both sides were guilty of lynching and both should unite to erase the stain.

Maybe Mr. Paul should be forced to watch documented cases of some of the worst cases just like a kid having to watch horrible road accident videos when they drink and drive. He mouths words of disgust but his actions belie his words.

Politics itself bears strange fruit sometimes. Paul is living proof. 

#thebrewsterblock