http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress Idaho Common Sense® Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:02:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Welcome to - The truth as I see it™. Dr. Bosley writes sociopolitical columns with a conservative view that is well articulated and defended, provoking thought and discussion without telling people what to think. He poses questions, while offering his personal views and reasoning for them, allowing readers to better understand his opinions as they develop their own. His advice to himself - "Writing the truth as I see it; trying not to offend those who will disagree." Craig L. Bosley, MD no Craig L. Bosley, MD webmaster@craigbosley.com webmaster@craigbosley.com (Craig L. Bosley, MD) 2010 Craig Bosley The truth as I see it™ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/category/moralityvalues/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2012/02/mediocrity-and-entitled/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2012/02/mediocrity-and-entitled/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:00:43 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=1784 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2012/02/mediocrity-and-entitled/feed/ 5 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2012/01/avoiding-consequences/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2012/01/avoiding-consequences/#comments Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:03:06 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=1770 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2012/01/avoiding-consequences/feed/ 1 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2011/03/a-state-religion/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2011/03/a-state-religion/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:02:06 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=1695 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2011/03/a-state-religion/feed/ 0 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/09/going-home/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/09/going-home/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:36:37 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=1586 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/09/going-home/feed/ 2 Christmas,Emergency department,family,High school,Nebraska,Omaha Nebraska,Parenting,Swimming pool For several months, I have been spending some time working in an emergency department in a suburb of Omaha, Nebraska; a few weeks ago taking a day off and driving 210 miles to the small town where I was born a little over 60 years ago, Holdrege, For several months, I have been spending some time working in an emergency department in a suburb of Omaha, Nebraska; a few weeks ago taking a day off and driving 210 miles to the small town where I was born a little over 60 years ago, Holdrege, Nebraska. It was 52 years ago that we moved from Holdrege, and this was my first visit since that move. Following my brother's directions, I found the home where I was born and lived in during the first months of my life. I asked the owner if I could see the home and take a few pictures. It was a yellow painted cinder block house of about 500 square feet, little changed from 1950. And just a few houses down the street were the homes my dad built during summers off from teaching high school history and coaching high school basketball. Both homes were still there and by comparison, they were "huge," nearly 700 square feet. I talked with the owner of the brick front home I lived in and she gave me a tour, showing me where they removed a wall, adding one of the bedrooms to the living, dining and kitchen area to create a great room. She also showed me the original oak hardwood floors they discovered when they were replacing some carpet about 15 years earlier, the oak as tight as the day dad laid it 60 years ago. My oldest brother helped dad pour the concrete foundation, mixing and pouring one wheelbarrow load at a time. Dad did everything himself, except the electrical, the plumbing and digging the foundation. Still decorating a wall in my garage are many of the tools dad used to build those homes. My oldest brother told me the reason dad built two homes. The first was the larger of the two because dad thought he could afford the mortgage payment. When he realized he could not, he put it up for sale and built a smaller home next door, the one I remember living in. Dad asked $22,000 for the larger home, but it was not selling. One day, a man offered him $20,000 and dad agreed. When the realtor listing the home learned about this, he came to the house, relieved when dad told him he had not signed any papers because that meant dad was not legally bound to the agreement. The realtor told dad he could get $21,000 for the home, but dad explained that he could not accept the higher offer because he gave his word. The realtor, not realizing the discussion was over, pressed his argument for the higher offer. According to my brother, dad finally got "fed up" and told the realtor in very understandable language to get out of his house. The $1,000 dad turned down to honor his word? It was equal to about six months of his income. The homeowner also showed me what used to be my bedroom window, which faced the backyard. Mom's mother, grandma Gerbeling, lived with us, and although I did not know anything was wrong at the time, she had Alzheimer's and became one of my best friends. Whenever I got in trouble, and it seemed I did with some regularity, dad would send me to my room. Shortly after, Grandma would sneak in to my room, the two of us able to open the window so I could "escape." Then, when dad would head out the backdoor to "fan me," all four foot ten inches of Grandma would run behind him hollering, "Don't you touch him. Don't you touch him. I did it. I did it." Looking around the backyard, I could still see the aluminum ringed, 3-tiered strawberry patch in the backyard, along with the large garden that dad maintained with his rototiller. When I was about 3 years old, dad could not keep the rototiller running. Finding dirt in the gas tank, he told me if it stopped one more time I would get "fanned." Mom said I came running into the kitchen, telling her I knew it would stop again and I needed her to spank me so when dad came in she could tell him I had already been spanked. In fact, she said I made her spank me three times, each time telling her it was not hard enough to convince dad. Living in the home next door, the one dad sold, were the Fowlers. Craig L. Bosley, MD no 8:57 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/08/spoiled-dependent-entitled-indentured-enslaved/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/08/spoiled-dependent-entitled-indentured-enslaved/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:38:59 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=1573 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/08/spoiled-dependent-entitled-indentured-enslaved/feed/ 2 Education,England,Indentured servant,Lyndon B. Johnson,Politics,Poverty,Slavery,socialism,Star Parker,Uncle Sam,United States,War on Poverty Are spoiled children born that way? According to British writer Roald Dahl, "Some children are spoiled and it is not their fault, it is their parents." Spoiled children have parents who give them everything they want instead of teaching them to earn wh... Are spoiled children born that way? According to British writer Roald Dahl, "Some children are spoiled and it is not their fault, it is their parents." Spoiled children have parents who give them everything they want instead of teaching them to earn what they want, instead of teaching them responsibility and independence. Quite simply, parents of spoiled children fail to heed the advice of "The Country Parson," Frank A. Clark, who said, "The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them." Well, my dad did not have a problem teaching us how to get along without him. He supported my dreams, saying I could do anything I wanted and I could have anything I wanted. All I had to do was pay the price, which always involved sacrifice and hard work. He saw many of the complexities of life as relatively simple, work hard and pay your own way. And if you want more? No problem; work more. How well is our parent government teaching us to get along without it and to stand on our own? Is it teaching us responsibility and independence? Is it teaching us to work hard and pay our own way? Or is it teaching us to depend on it for our wants and needs, teaching us we cannot get along without it, and spoiling us all the way to socialism? More than any other president, Lyndon Johnson led this charge with his "War on Poverty" he claimed would "lift people out of poverty." His plan included massive numbers of welfare programs, which, rather than lifting people out of poverty, taught them to depend on the government for their needs rather than standing on their own and paying their own way. And to ensure that people did not try to regain their independence, the government changed the name from welfare to entitlement. We are entitled to this or that from the government. Moreover, we cannot feel bad receiving an entitlement; it's a right. Have decades of entitlements "lifted people out of poverty?" No. They created perpetual poverty, perpetual poverty through dependence on the government. Political commentator Star Parker wrote a book about government entitlements, "Uncle Sam's Plantation," comparing entitlements to Southern slave plantations. Our socialist-minded politicians created lifetime entitlements, not short-term aids to "lift people out of poverty." The government designed entitlements as career choices, not as a means to gain independence, not as a means to "get along without it." The government designed entitlements not only to last a lifetime, but also to be passed on to the next generation like an inheritance. The socialist-minded politicians created perpetual poverty, perpetual entitlements, perpetual indentured servants, servants Ms. Parker writes, who are dependent on "Massah Uncle Sam." Ms. Parker "found her way out" of welfare entitlements, moving from the indentured servitude of socialism to "wealth-producing capitalism." But, as she writes in a recent column, the government is back on the path to socialism, back on the path to "Uncle Sam's Plantation" where people remain dependent. And this path to "Uncle Sam's Plantation" is short and our government understands this all too well. It courts the entitled votes, the dependent votes. It promotes bussing the entitled to the polls. It promises ever more entitlements in exchange for votes. It cannot deport illegal aliens because they are 12 million potential entitled voters. The government does not court the votes of dreamers and builders. It fears them. It fears dreamers and builders. It fears responsibility and independence. And it works to suppress those traits by "sharing the wealth" with those who are entitled to it. Spoiled. Dependent. Entitled. Indentured. Enslaved. This is what the government needs; otherwise we might dream of leaving the plantation of "Massah" England, "Massah" South, or "Massah" Government. The price of getting our wants and needs met for free? Our freedom. The founding fathers thought the price too high. Craig L. Bosley, MD no 4:29 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/08/things/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/08/things/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:27:23 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=1565 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/08/things/feed/ 0 Attractions,Games,Home Depot,Mother's Day,Recreation,Roller coaster,Steve Martin,Theme Parks In the movie "Parenthood," the family's grandmother offered advice to her son who was distraught; he quit his job and his wife was pregnant. Of life she said, "You know, it was just so interesting to me that the roller coaster could make me so frighten... In the movie "Parenthood," the family's grandmother offered advice to her son who was distraught; he quit his job and his wife was pregnant. Of life she said, "You know, it was just so interesting to me that the roller coaster could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it." Steve Martin looked at her like she was nuts, but was she trying to tell him something important, something that more than 90 years of life taught her? The current poor economy has affected most of us to some extent. There are things we used to do that we no longer do. There are things we used to buy that we now postpone. Looking at a potential purchase, my son told me that he and his wife ask if it is a want or if it is a need; they only buy needs. I tried it. I don't like it. How was I to know that a new fly rod is a want rather than a need? The economy changed the rules. What was affordable a few years ago is not so affordable now. My 14-year-old vehicle with 130,000 miles is good for another 100,000 miles. And the fly rod? Well, maybe it was a want rather than a need. But does that mean the new Colt 45 is also a want rather than a need? How many things do we need for happiness? How many toys must we buy to find it? Which new thing will be the one that gives it to us? What catalog sells it? What store stocks it? Didn't we work hard? Don't we deserve it? Just tell me how much it costs. When the economy was good, did we give up times of happiness for more time working so we could buy what we thought we needed for happiness? Sounds a bit odd, but could it be true? Is it possible to find happiness without seeing every new movie as soon as it is released? Is it possible to find happiness without a new fly rod or a new gun? How often do we need a new car? How many times a month do we need to eat out? How big a home? How many toys? How many things? What did we do before we learned about the things we needed to be happy? Was I happy when I lived on Kraft macaroni and cheese? Was I happy selling "my stuff" to pay for tuition and books? Maybe fly rods, guns and other things are not the source of happiness. Art Buchwald suggested, "The best things in life aren't things." Is he right? Could it be that simple? Maybe happiness is in my backyard having lunch with my wife. Maybe it is a Sunday afternoon picnic in the park followed by holding hands while walking through the zoo, no schedules. Maybe it is getting a hot dog from the vendor who is sometimes across the street from the courthouse, eating it while sitting on the grass watching traffic. Maybe it is an early morning mountain bike ride, seeing a moose along the way. Maybe it is a standing date with my wife to go to a movie on any "dollar" Tuesday I am not working. Was grandma right? Do we want the merry-go-round when the real fun in life is on the roller coaster? Do we need to spend more time together and less time buying things together? There is a difference. My wife and I do carry over a tradition from the "hard" times. On Mother's Day, we go to church, get a hotdog at Home Depot for lunch and go to a movie. Am I cheap? Probably, but could this be the happiness we are trying to find with the "things" we buy? You decide. Printable Page (http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/20100823-Things.pdf) (http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=dbd7903f-46d6-46b9-bbe8-7d6e60a46007) Craig L. Bosley, MD no 3:51 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/08/rape-rape/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/08/rape-rape/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 06:08:39 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=1491 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/08/rape-rape/feed/ 1 Domestic worker,Dominican Republic,Human trafficking,Illegal drug trade,Slavery,United States,Whoopi Goldberg,Women's rights Whoopi Goldberg said of producer Roman Polanski and his rape conviction of the 13-year-old girl he drugged and sodomized, "It wasn't rape-rape. It was something else but I don't believe it was rape-rape." Whoopi Goldberg said of producer Roman Polanski and his rape conviction of the 13-year-old girl he drugged and sodomized, "It wasn't rape-rape. It was something else but I don't believe it was rape-rape." Have our values so deteriorated that we no longer recognize rape? Polanski is a free man, living in Europe where the cultures are more enlightened, progressive, understanding and tolerant than ours, the very words used by our progressives when they demand we accept each new debased definition of right and wrong. Where does this attitude of "it wasn't rape-rape" lead us? What happens to our ability to see wrongs when the line of right and wrong is just a blur? If we cannot recognize rape, what other degradations of fellow human beings go unnoticed? Sindiswa had AIDS, tuberculosis and was three-months pregnant, left to die on a street, no longer of value. Less than a year earlier, a woman offered her a job in a neighboring town, only to sell her to a human-trafficking syndicate. She would die in the next few days while listening to the roars of the soccer fans at a World Cup match in South Africa where billions of dollars were spent preparing for the event. Human trafficking ranks second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable crime, generating billions of dollars each year. It spans the spectrum from ten-year-old girls sold into sex slavery to men and women sold as indentured servants, never able to pay their claimed debt. More than 30 million human beings are slaves in the world today, more than at the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade with the early American colonies. Children are favorite targets of sex traffickers because of their demand and because they can be more easily indoctrinated. Traffickers target them, recruit them, extract them from their home community and control them with extreme violence, often including repeated gang rapes. Every day the traffickers threaten to kill their families if they do not willingly comply. And when they are finally broken, finally compliant, they are sold. We like to think human trafficking only happens in places like Thailand, where travel agencies advertise "erotic sexual adventures." In 2003 the country had 11 million foreign visitors, about two-thirds unaccompanied men. Do you really think that millions of men were in Thailand just for business ventures? We convince ourselves this is just an Asian, European, Central American or African problem. That's where the human trafficking occurs. Really? The CIA estimates that more than 50,000 people are trafficked into or through the United States each year. Nena Ruiz, a retired Filipino schoolteacher was enticed to come to Hollywood to work for a wealthy couple as a domestic servant. She had her passport taken, spent years sleeping on a dog bed, worked 18 hour days and cooked gourmet food for the couple's dogs while she ate several-day old leftovers. The motion picture vice president's wife was sentenced to three years in prison. In the United States, human trafficking is more in the form of forced labor masquerading as domestic servants, agricultural migrant workers, hotel workers, construction workers and even strip club dancers. Just how difficult is it to "buy" workers in America? A business owner in any American city can make a phone call specifying age, race and number of women needed for a strip club and the women arrive within a few weeks. No problem. In 2009, a group of Missouri employers were indicted for human trafficking. They imported workers from Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and the Philippines, charged them exorbitant fees for their travel, gave them substandard housing and leased them to big name hotels. The workers were indentured servants; they were slaves. This can't be true. Not in America. The domestic servant came here willingly and she could have escaped if she wanted. The strippers had to know what they were getting into and could have left if they wanted. Craig L. Bosley, MD no 4:49 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/07/subject-or-citizen/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/07/subject-or-citizen/#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:43:17 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=1363 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/07/subject-or-citizen/feed/ 2 Conservatism,Freedom of information,government,Government Operations,Great Britain,John Adams,Politics,United States "Oh posterity, you will never know how much it cost us to preserve your freedom. I hope that you will make a good use of it." - John Adams, second U.S. president American statesman Dean Alfange, born in Istanbul in 1899, "Oh posterity, you will never know how much it cost us to preserve your freedom. I hope that you will make a good use of it." - John Adams, second U.S. president American statesman Dean Alfange, born in Istanbul in 1899, reflected the values of an American citizen when he wrote, "I do not choose to be a common man; it is my right to be uncommon . . . if I can. I seek opportunity . . . not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the State look after me. I want to take the calculated risk, to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole; I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence, the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of Utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid, to think and act for myself, to enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say: 'This, with God's help, I have done.'" We faced the wrath of Great Britain and risked our lives for these values. We had been subjects. We demanded to be citizens. We knew the price of being subjects, of security. We knew the price of becoming citizens, of freedom. The founding fathers decided to pay that price for our freedom, for our citizenship. They willingly traded security for freedom. Do we still want to be citizens? Are we still willing to pay the price? Perhaps Alfange's words no longer matter, no longer are relevant. Perhaps the thought of a "mother" government deciding what's best for us and making decisions for us is what we want. Maybe the price of freedom is too high, the security of a subject preferable. Maybe we claim to want freedom, but really want "caveat" freedom, freedom with the caveat, "but only as long as." We demand independence - but only as long as handouts continue. We demand freedom - but only as long as it's easy, no hardship. We demand a government subservient to us - but only as long as it does not require us to sacrifice. We demand the freedom to dream and to build - but only as long as the government accepts the risk if we fail. We demand to experience the joys of life - but only as long as the government guarantees to build our "Utopia" if we cannot. We demand our pride and dignity - but only as long as government subsidies continue. If Alfange reflected today's values, might he disappointedly write, "I choose to be a common man; it is too hard to be uncommon . . . and I no longer can. I seek security . . . not opportunity. I expect to be a kept citizen, willingly humbled and dulled by having the State look after me. I will not take a calculated risk. I do not want to dream and to build. I will not risk failure to succeed. I will always barter incentive for a dole. The challenges of life are too hard; I want a government guaranteed existence. I have no interest in the thrill of fulfillment; I want the stale calm of Utopia. I will always trade my freedom for beneficence and my dignity for a handout. I will cower before my government and I will bend to its threats. It is now my heritage to crouch, ashamed and afraid, to no longer think and act for myself, to no longer dream of new creations and to no longer face the world and say: 'This, with God's help, I have done,' . . . because I traded my freedom to the government." I am a subject. Again. Printable Page (http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/20100719-Subject-or-citizen2.pdf) (http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=e42a8289-b2db-4893-b951-2387f713fc49) Craig L. Bosley, MD no 4:12 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/05/gratitude-is-a-burden/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/05/gratitude-is-a-burden/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 12:46:16 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=1109 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/05/gratitude-is-a-burden/feed/ 3 Business,Complaint,Customer service,Education,Educators,High school,Positive feedback,Quarterback "Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure." Tacitus, 56 AD - 120 AD, Roman historian Does this sound a bit too much like today, suggesting we may have progressed little this past 2, "Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure." Tacitus, 56 AD - 120 AD, Roman historian Does this sound a bit too much like today, suggesting we may have progressed little this past 2,000 years? Is gratitude still a burden? Is revenge still a pleasure? Is complimenting difficult? Is complaining easy? Think of the signs in stores pointing to the customer service department, the successor to the original complaint department. Have you ever seen a sign for a compliment department? I haven't, and even if they existed I doubt people would stand in line waiting to offer a compliment. Maybe we do better in restaurants. How often do we complain if the service is poor? More important, how often do we compliment when the service is good? Do we want the answers to these questions? What about the business world? Maybe we do better there. Businesses do put a lot of effort and resources into teaching and getting staff to complement one another, even providing drop boxes with forms designed to compliment fellow workers. Nevertheless, we need no reminders to point out when something is wrong. Speaking for myself, I know I can see what's wrong much more quickly than I can see what's right. Does complimenting require more effort than complaining? Needing a real-life example, a few weeks ago I became my own good "bad" example. My wife and I had some difficulty with a business I believed had treated us unfairly. Anticipating the worst-case outcome, I prepared a letter of complaint to the owner. But, before I could even proof the letter, my wife received a call outlining how they wanted to deal with our concerns. I was excited when she told me what happened but disappointed with my response. In my excitement I said, "Now I don't need to send a letter to the owner." But I should have added, "Instead, I am going to send a letter describing how well his staff solved the problem." And adding insult to injury, I didn't even realize my oversight until I sat down to work on this column. I was quick to revenge, slow to gratitude. Is retaliation easier than repaying a kindness? Is revenge easier than gratitude? Is complaining easier than complimenting? I suspect our answers to most of these questions leave us uncomfortable. But maybe that's just the way we are and we have no choice. Not necessarily. Years ago, when I was the team physician for Highland High School athletes, I watched a coach deal with his quarterback on the sidelines. The quarterback made a dumb mistake during a critical game. The coach motioned the quarterback off the field and I waited for what I assumed would be a lot of hollering. But there was none. Instead, the coach put his arm around his quarterback and walked him away from the sidelines saying, "You're doing a great job out there. Let's talk about that last play and what we might do differently next time." Where did he learn that? Grade school. Remember grade school? I know that coach must have learned more in grade school than most of us. It was a wonderful time; teachers dwelled and thrived on telling us what we did right. They were masters of positive feedback, intuitively knowing how to get us excited to do more and to do better. Remember the stars the teachers drew or stuck on our papers? I know I got lots of stars I didn't deserve. More important, I can't remember why I got the stars; all I remember is how great the stars made me feel. Now that we are "grownups," how often do we get stars? More telling, how often do we give stars? Are the answers disappointing? Gratitude is a burden Print Page (http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/20100517-Gratitude-is-a-burden.pdf) Craig L. Bosley, MD no 4:05 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/04/forgetting-the-evil/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/04/forgetting-the-evil/#comments Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:22:34 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=1096 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/04/forgetting-the-evil/feed/ 0 Edmund Burke,Extermination camp,Gas chamber,History,Holocaust,Jew,Josef Mengele,Soviet Union "I ask nothing of the Jews except that they should disappear." - Hans Frank, Nazi governor of Poland Last week I apologized to a Jewish friend for again forgetting the evil, the third year in a row I promised myself I would not forget. "I ask nothing of the Jews except that they should disappear." - Hans Frank, Nazi governor of Poland Last week I apologized to a Jewish friend for again forgetting the evil, the third year in a row I promised myself I would not forget. I am exactly what evil wants, what evil needs to succeed; wondering if Edmund Burke might have described me when he said, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." By ignoring, by standing on the sidelines, by not remembering, are we not condoning evil? In 1982, Congress acknowledged the Holocaust with the "Days of Remembrance;" this year observed on April 11. Have you heard of this? How much attention does it get? Will the anniversary of Michael Jackson's death garner the same brief attention? What is there to remember? Only that the Nazis controlled territory that is now 35 separate European countries, those countries once home to nearly 8 million Jews, the slaughter successfully eliminating 6 million. 6 million Jews? Come on. Are we really supposed to believe that? Do we even know if it really happened? Some people suggest it was nothing more than war propaganda, like the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Further, Iranian leader, Ahmadinejad, claims the Holocaust was a "myth," created by the Europeans to legitimize stealing Islamic lands for the Jews. Was it real? Was it the evil I was taught? Abraham Malik described the police coming to his home saying, "They started banging (on) houses . . . One baby started to cry . . . The other baby started crying. So the mother urinated in her hand and gave the baby a drink to keep (her) quiet. (When the police had gone), I told the mothers to come out. And one baby was dead; . . . from fear the mother had choked her own baby." Eliminating the Jews with guns was inefficient, time consuming and wasted needed ammunition. The Nazis created a superior "final solution" for disposing of the Jews, hydrogen cyanide gas chambers. These were a tremendous advance, the pride of Nazi efficiency, some camps "processing" up to 10,000 Jews a day, only slowing long enough for other Jewish prisoners to pull gold-filled teeth from the corpses on the way to the incinerators. The smoke bellowed overhead day and night, the unimaginable stench drifting over neighboring towns making it impossible to not know what was happening. But the world did not want to know. The world did not want to believe. The world remained silent. And the extermination continued. Perhaps the "lucky" Jews, if one can pervert the definition of lucky, were those who believed they were being "relocated in the east," arriving at the death camps with their luggage. Hastily, they were ordered to disrobe and enter the "delousing" showers; twenty minutes later dead and dumped into incinerators. Others were not so "lucky." In the Soviet Union near the city of Kiev, over 33,000 Jews arrived for their "relocation in the east;" the notice said, "Failure to appear is punishable by death." A truck driver watched as the Nazis ordered the Jews to undress and enter a ravine that was about 150 yards long and 15 yards deep. They were forced to lie down on top of the Jews who had already been shot, neatly stacked layers of death. A Nazi marksman walked across the bodies, stepping from one to the next, shooting each one in the head as he passed by. The "unluckiest" Jews, the children, held a special fascination for Dr. Josef Mengele, who had the children call him "Onkel Mengele." But he saw them as nothing more than research animals, there for experimentation. Survivor Vera Alexander remembers "Onkel" taking twins Guido and Ina away. When they finally returned, she heard their death screams, the twins surgically turned into Siamese twins, their backs sewn together. The screams continued day and night until they died, after which Mengele dissected them, just as he would any other lab animal. To the Jews of the world, I apologize for forgetting. We must forever remember. Craig L. Bosley, MD no 4:46 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/02/well-intentioned-missionaries-or-criminals/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/02/well-intentioned-missionaries-or-criminals/#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:06:48 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=631 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2010/02/well-intentioned-missionaries-or-criminals/feed/ 0 Caribbean,Child,Dominican Republic,Haiti,Human trafficking,Idaho,Orphanage,United States This is the question Haitian courts will answer to determine the fate of the jailed Idaho missionaries who tried to take children out of Haiti illegally. When arrested, the missionaries initially claimed they were trying to "rescue" orphaned children f... This is the question Haitian courts will answer to determine the fate of the jailed Idaho missionaries who tried to take children out of Haiti illegally. When arrested, the missionaries initially claimed they were trying to "rescue" orphaned children from the disaster caused by the earthquakes. But, the changing story makes it difficult to decide how truthful they are. First, we heard they were taking orphans to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. When authorities learned most of the children had families, the missionaries quickly claimed the families willingly gave them their children. Then, their attorney in the Dominican Republic fired their Haitian attorney amid rumors he was trying to bribe officials to release the missionaries. Not long after, the Dominican Republic attorney himself faced questions about his possible link to a human trafficking case. Now, questions are surfacing about the group's organizer. Reportedly, she was near-obsessively determined to open an orphanage in Haiti's neighbor, the Dominican Republic, planning to use the orphanage as a base to arrange adoptions by Americans, the Haitian earthquake simply accelerating her plans. Prior to leaving the United States, she repeatedly contacted a couple in Kentucky who had already received permission to adopt three Haitian children, telling them she would "like to pick up their kids" for them. Despite the couple's continual refusals, the missionaries went to the orphanage where the children were living and tried to convince the caretakers to give them the children, the couple saying she even told the orphanage she was a family friend. When this failed, the missionaries went to other orphanages literally begging for children, despite the reality that those children were already receiving needed care. That failing, they expanded their search to include children from intact families - families they claim freely gave them their children. With 33 children, only 13 of them orphans, they headed for the border where authorities stopped them and arrested them - potentially for child trafficking. Why was the group, or at least the group's organizer, recklessly trying to get children out of the country? The many unanswered questions, the many coincidences and the ongoing changing explanations make it hard to believe all they were doing was trying to help. The seriousness of the questions parallels the vagueness of the answers. Are these missionaries, as the Journal suggested, rescuers rather than criminals? Are caring and good intentions enough to enter an area like Haiti? Was their goal to save children or something more? Did they have the right to take children from their families in the midst of this crisis? Did the families who gave up their children really have a choice? Imagine being in the parents' situation. Imagine losing everything, no home, no income, nothing. Imagine the fear of not being able to care for your children. Imagine life an unreal blur. And then, just when you lose hope, strangers approach, explaining the many wonders they can offer one or more of your children. All you have to do is give them your children, receiving nothing more than a promise that one day they will return. What might you do? How easily could you be convinced to give away your children in this situation? Did these missionaries offer families hope or did they offer coercion? Unfortunately, similar situations occur in our hospital emergency departments with families crushed by unexpected tragedies. It is difficult to help people in a crisis sort through the life and death decisions they need to make and well intentioned is not enough. Without skill, experience and the proper motive, you could easily get people to agree with what you think best, rather than helping them decide what they think best. These missionaries set out to find children for American families, and find them they did. But, what they did was neither proper nor defensible. Craig L. Bosley, MD no 4:26 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/12/christmases-past/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/12/christmases-past/#comments Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:53:55 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=124 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/12/christmases-past/feed/ 0 Alarm clock,Christmas,Christmas Eve,Christmas lights,Christmas tree,holiday,Holidays,Holidays and Special Days,Kids and Teens,Marriage,People and Society,Santa Claus December 26th my wife and I celebrate our 28th anniversary.  The year we married I was a single father with a three-year-old son, whom my wife later adopted.  And, this year is the first Christmas it will be just the two of us. December 26th my wife and I celebrate our 28th anniversary.  The year we married I was a single father with a three-year-old son, whom my wife later adopted.  And, this year is the first Christmas it will be just the two of us.  After cutting down our 28th Christmas tree, we reminisced about some special Christmases past. Our son's eighth Christmas was difficult.  He was having doubts about Santa Claus.  He was too young to lose that belief and he desperately wanted his friends to be wrong. So, we called Santa Claus, aka Bob Simons.  Bob spent every Christmas as the "real" Santa.  His was not the Santa suit we dads buy; his was the expensive, perfect suit, with the perfect beard.  I told Santa our problem and asked for help.  Our alarm clock awakened us at 5am Christmas morning.  We opened the front door and there was Santa, in his best suit with a red velvet bag slung over his shoulder.  We filled the bag with presents and  then woke up our son and daughter, telling them we heard something.  Jeff crawled down the hall on his stomach, Kim following; and with bugged-out eyes, they watched Santa carefully putting out their presents.  We finally convinced Jeff he could talk with Santa without risking Santa taking his presents away.  Twenty-three years ago at 5am Christmas morning our children spent time with Santa Claus, sitting on his lap, talking with him and even pulling his beard.  They met Santa Claus.  Last year, Bob's wife Carol sent us a Christmas card with a professional photo of Bob in his best Santa's suit.  This year my wife framed one of these for each of our children.  With it, she wrote the story of the Christmas they caught Santa Claus.  Well, that Christmas was all Jeff needed; he saw the "real" Santa and that was that.  His unwavering belief continued all the way into Junior High School.  But, the teasing of other kids was again leaving doubts, until one day when he and my wife were driving home, he asked the dreaded question.  We had agreed when he asked again, we would tell the truth about Santa and what it meant.  Jeff was betrayed.  His parents were liars.  Santa was a liar.  It was so painful for both of them, my wife pulled the car over and they cried together, only interrupted with Jeff's accusations.  Christmas left him that day and he wanted nothing to do with it.  It was a fraud and his world was destroyed.  We did not know what to do for him or how to help him. That year I worked in the emergency room the day before Christmas; a beautiful day snowing into the late evening.  I came home after dark and parked in the garage.  During those years, our street was on the Christmas light tour and buses were already driving by. As I entered the house, all the lights were off and all I could hear was my wife crying.  I went upstairs, finding her sitting at the kitchen table crying.  She had no words; she just pointed to the window. I looked out the window only to sit down and hug her, tears running down my cheeks too.  The past week Jeff had hibernated in his bedroom, not talking to anyone, barely eating; but thinking. Earlier that evening, without talking to either of us, he went through the boxes of Christmas decorations, remembering a Santa suit I wore when he was very young.  He donned the suit, found a bunch of candy canes and was standing on the corner, covered with snow and handing them out to the children on the tour buses. He was Santa.  He understood.  For years to come, each Christmas eve we lost our son to the street corner, handing out candy canes.  He figured it out.  It was about people.  It was about children.  It was about giving.  It was about caring.  It was about family.  It was about believing and it was about faith.  He showed us "do unto others."  He gave us the gift of Christmas.  He helped his parents put the "Christ" back in Christmas.  Merry Christmas. Print Page (http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/20091221-Christmases-past.pdf)  Craig L. Bosley, MD no 4:16 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/12/what-is-public-and-what-is-private/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/12/what-is-public-and-what-is-private/#comments Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:21:08 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=122 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/12/what-is-public-and-what-is-private/feed/ 0 Atlanta Journal-Constitution,Defamation,Freedom of speech,Mass media,Media,Newspaper,Press freedom,Richard Jewell,Thomas Jefferson,Tiger Woods Does the public have a right to know everything?  Does freedom of the press have any limits?  Is anything private?  Is everything fair game?  How might Tiger Woods answer these questions?   "Yes, no, no, yes."  Moreover, Does the public have a right to know everything?  Does freedom of the press have any limits?  Is anything private?  Is everything fair game?  How might Tiger Woods answer these questions?   "Yes, no, no, yes."  Moreover, these questions have little to do with any claimed right to privacy, and all to do with the Constitution.  As it turns out, most anything the media reports is constitutionally protected by "freedom of speech" and "freedom of the press."  You would assume this scrutiny is reserved for a public figure, whatever that is.  But public figure is a legal term used when suing for defamation of character.  Moreover, if the court decides you are a "public figure," proving defamation is not enough, you must also prove the media acted with "reckless disregard for the truth," acted with malice. Adding more difficulty, defining a public figure has grown far beyond politicians and celebrities.  It also includes "limited public figures," people who might voluntarily become publically involved in an issue.  And as long as the media reports focus on their involvement with that issue, that person is a public figure. Further, you can also become an "involuntary public figure," resulting from publicity, even if unwanted and uninvited.  Probably one of the saddest and most famous was Richard Jewell, who hit the media spotlight first because of the lives he saved during the Atlanta Olympic Park bombing in 1996.  He then quickly became known by the newly popularized term, "person of interest," a thinly veiled suggestion that he may have planted the bomb. For 88 days, the media turned his life inside out.  He sued several news agencies, three settling out of court.  But the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper fought and won because Richard Jewell was a public figure and they did not report with malice. With this history, Tiger Woods has little prospect of maintaining any privacy.  And as long as the media does not show any "reckless disregard for the truth," most anything goes. But in defense of the media, it is a tremendous benefit to the people, a part of the checks-and-balances to government, and rightly so.  The press was considered so important to the Founding Fathers that Thomas Jefferson said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." The press is vital to our freedoms, but why is the implosion of Tiger Woods' life worthy of front-page coverage?  Have you ever seen a full-page article on Mr. Woods' charitable work?  Did you know he has a foundation working with inner city children?  Did you know a sponsor learned that part of the agreement to get his endorsement was a contribution to that foundation?  Why are these wonderful activities not as newsworthy as his supposed extra-marital affairs? Has the media started treating us, the people, the way it treats the government, a sort of checks-and-balances on society?  You might assume news includes the good and bad of life.  Does it?  Moreover, whose fault is it?  Is it the media or the consumer that thrives on bad news, on gossip masquerading as news?  Would we be riveted to non-stop television coverage of Mr. Woods' charitable work the way we are his personal problems? Yes, he may deserve all that is going wrong in his life; he may have done all that we hear.  But when is enough enough? The differences between mainstream media and tabloid media used to be clear.  But that line has all but blurred into oblivion.  Does the mainstream media research and investigate something wonderful about someone with the same attention used to catch them, to bring them down? The public's right to know?  Guess what?  I just heard on Fox News that a fourth woman has come forward to discuss a claimed affair with Mr. Woods.  Won't that be a great interview?  I can't wait to see it.  I wonder how much more money he will offer to pay his wife for this one. Craig L. Bosley, MD no 4:17 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/10/the-entitled-generation/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/10/the-entitled-generation/#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:07:40 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=114 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/10/the-entitled-generation/feed/ 0 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/09/values-and-common-sense/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/09/values-and-common-sense/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:54:02 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=112 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/09/values-and-common-sense/feed/ 0 Arts,Common sense,Education,Emergency department,Fashion,Human,Literature,Peter McDermott,United States,Youth Do you ever wonder about our lost values, our disappearing common sense?  Where is our foundation, our cornerstone, showing us the values that are America?  Our foundation is crumbling and a cornerstone is hard to find. Do you ever wonder about our lost values, our disappearing common sense?  Where is our foundation, our cornerstone, showing us the values that are America?  Our foundation is crumbling and a cornerstone is hard to find.  And we have fewer anchors to look to for help understanding what we are, and what we should aspire to be. Nearly 30 years ago, I met such a man, such an anchor, although I did not realize it at the time.  Our first meeting was in the emergency department of Bannock Memorial Hospital.  He was a bit confused when I very kindly, but firmly, asked him to please read, and sign, about 500 pages of consents.  With a boisterous voice, he suggested that might be excessive; I suggested it made a great deal of sense. Through these years of our friendship, we have developed a heartfelt respect for one another.  I found myself admiring this man who could approach his work with the values of justice, mercy and grace.  Justice--getting what you deserve; mercy--not getting what you deserve; and grace--getting what you do not deserve. Moreover, he handed these out with wisdom and common sense, knowing when each of these values applied. I saw the true greatness of this man when I tried to help a young person who was in trouble.  I watched my friend work.  I was in awe.  He did not need to know all that he did about this person.  He did not have to care as he did. He had well-defined rules he could opt to follow. Why was my friend devoting this much time and attention to one person?  Why was he wasting his time listening to my arguments; why was he even tolerating my arguments?  He knew I was wrong.  He knew he was right.  But, nonetheless he listened and thought and worried about what was best for this person. His job was justice, but he saw it as more.  He saw an even greater duty.  I watched all that is good about this country's values as he diligently decided justice, mercy or grace.  Mercy was out.  This young person had committed too many wrongs.  Justice would be the safest bet.  No risk of second-guessing.  No risk of embarrassment.  No angst of interjecting a human being into the decision. His answer to this young person? "I have known and respected this man for nearly 20 years and for reasons I cannot understand, he has decided to lay his reputation on my desk for you.  You will be allowed to do what Dr. Bosley requests."  The young person changed her life.  My friend took a chance.  He changed a life.  He saved a life.  That day I witnessed grace. Many years later, working with another person in trouble, my friend gave a wonderful lesson on common sense; common sense applied in a fashion that caused me to smile with admiration.  My friend repeatedly asked this person to sit quietly and listen.  He even offered this person the opportunity of a very clear verbal education. Lacking in judgment, this person decided not to listen, instead erroneously assuming challenge was the best approach.  He could not have been more wrong. This person still learned the value of sitting quietly and listening, which he did for the remainder of his time working with my friend; although it took a novel, common sense use of duct tape over his mouth to finish the important lesson of sitting quietly and listening when told to do so. Values and common sense. My friend? Retired Judge Peter D. McDermott.  We need more Peter McDermott's in this world, more values, more common sense. When most of us retire, we will not have excelled as the judge did.  But he is a model, a goal, a reminder of what we can do.  Thankfully, we occasionally have the privilege of knowing a Peter McDermott who reminds us.  Thank you Your Honor. Print Page (http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/20090928-Values-and-common-sense.pdf)  (http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3d91174d-3773-470e-ac1b-c102be8afd62) Craig L. Bosley, MD no 3:58 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/09/our-children-violence-and-murder/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/09/our-children-violence-and-murder/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=110 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/09/our-children-violence-and-murder/feed/ 0 Adolescence,Advertising,Anti-Gun Rights,Canada,Child,Gun Control,Gun politics,Gun violence,Murder,Roy Rogers,South Africa,United States What is happening to our children? Children with guns murdering children. Does this support the need for gun control, as advanced by the media and the politically correct, both with a fanciful capacity to not allow facts to interfere   with their opini... What is happening to our children? Children with guns murdering children. Does this support the need for gun control, as advanced by the media and the politically correct, both with a fanciful capacity to not allow facts to interfere   with their opinions? But if the data shows guns are not the cause of violence, and gun control does not work, why then have we witnessed rises in all types of school violence during the last several decades, including bullying, non-gun violence and gun violence. Maybe school violence has always been with us, just more publicized now than before. But the types of school violence we now see did not start until the late 1960s.   What happened that led to the rise in school violence? In 1972, the surgeon general offered a look at a possible cause, issuing a report on "The Impact of Television Violence." This was followed by a confirmatory article in the 1975 Journal of the American Medical Association. Think about it. We do not allow cigarette advertising on television because of the risk to children, but we freely advertise murder. By age 12, the average child has witnessed over 8,000 murders and over 100,000 acts of violence on television. Does this desensitize children to violence? Can there be a link? Ask Nike, Toyota, Budweiser and others if television influences behavior. An interesting analysis published in a 1992 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association offered a causal relationship between television and escalating child violence. The authors first pointed out   that younger children cannot distinguish fact from fantasy, "accepting the images on television as how the world really is." Moreover, as children get older, even though they learn to distinguish fact from fantasy, the "deepest impressions have already occurred." The authors then analyzed   television access and homicide rates in three countries--the United States that got television about 1945, Canada that got television about 1950, and South Africa that did not get television until 1975. The findings? Comparing the United States to South Africa, the homicide rate in the United States doubled 10 to 15 years after introducing television, while the homicide rate remained stable in South Africa. Comparing Canada to South Africa yielded the same results.   Why 10 to 15 years? If homicide was mostly an adult crime and if television exerted its most negative influence on young children who could not distinguish fact from fantasy, it would take 10 to 15 years for those children to become young adults and commit murder. Further, if the authors were correct, children would also behave differently throughout their growth years, throughout the 10 to 15 years after their introduction to television. And they did. Younger children who had been exposed to television had higher rates of bullying, followed by escalating non-gun violence in adolescence, culminating in rising homicide rates as they became young adults. Television changed lessons in life. Roy Rogers and Trigger quickly gave way to violent cartoons along with Marshal Dillon and boot hill.   Before television, if we hurt one of our friends while playing, our parents taught us it was wrong to hurt other people. But television brought different lessons to young children who blurred fantasy and reality; lessons on killing and murdering without anyone teaching them that hurting people was wrong. We parents did not think that was needed because we knew television was make-believe. Ignoring data to the contrary, we continue the myth of blaming guns. Why? Maybe we do not like looking back, accepting responsibility for allowing our children near unlimited access to television violence. Maybe we feel guilty we have not had the courage to challenge the media greed that promotes violence for profit, while hiding behind the claim of defending free speech.   Although the research nicely explains rises in most types of school violence, Craig L. Bosley, MD no 4:26 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/08/can-claiming-racism-be-racist/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/08/can-claiming-racism-be-racist/#comments Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:46:45 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=103 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/08/can-claiming-racism-be-racist/feed/ 0 Associated Press,Bob Dylan,Henry Louis Gates,Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy,New Jersey,Police officer,Race-Ethnic-Religious Relations,Racial profiling,Racism Four police officers and two men; one black, a noted Harvard professor, and one Jewish, a famous singer --each with a recent police encounter. Returning from a trip, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates found his front door jammed. Four police officers and two men; one black, a noted Harvard professor, and one Jewish, a famous singer --each with a recent police encounter. Returning from a trip, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates found his front door jammed.  He tried to force it open and then he and his chauffeur got in through the back door.  According to Officer Figueroa's police report, a neighbor called the police saying she saw "a man wedging his shoulder into the front door as if to pry the door open."  And contrary to media reports, she did not identify the men by their race.  Further, Figueroa, the second officer on the scene, is also black. The first officer on the scene, Sgt. James Crowley, teaches a class on racial profiling and race relations, picked to do so by a former police commissioner who is black.  Sgt. Crowley was responding to a possible "crime in progress" and found two men inside the house.  Shortly thereafter, Figueroa arrived and witnessed the professor's behavior.   According to his report, professor Gates was yelling at Sgt. Crowley, calling him a racist and saying, "This is what happens to black men in America" and "You don't know who you're messing with." The encounter ended with the professor's arrest.  The next day President Obama issued a surprise summary judgment that the police "acted stupidly," this following an admission that he did not know all the facts. Although overlooked by most media, the president is a friend of professor Gates' which explains why Obama berated the police.  The next day when the president felt the backlash of his statement, rather than apologizing to the police as he should have, he said, "I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning Sgt. Crowley."  Is that true or was the president intentionally degrading the sergeant? The second man is Bob Dylan, a famous singer who is Jewish.  He was killing time before a concert in New Jersey and left his hotel to take a walk.  The Associated Press reported "a resident said a man was wandering around a low-income, predominately minority neighborhood." The resident called the police and a young officer arrived who had never heard of Bob Dylan.  He asked Mr. Dylan his name, what he was doing, and for some identification.  By then a second officer arrived, just as with professor Gates. Because Mr. Dylan did not have identification with him, the officers asked him to accompany them back to his hotel to verify his identity.  He willingly complied even though he had not done anything to justify this attention.  In contrast, in professor Gates' case the police believed they might be responding to a crime. We have four police officers interacting with two men who reacted differently.  Professor Gates shouted racism while Bob Dylan, a world famous singer, cooperated with the police. He did not shout, "Racism."  He did not shout, "This is how Jewish men are treated in America."  He did not shout, "You have no idea who you are messing with." I agree with the president; this is a "teaching moment."  It's just that the president missed the lesson. Who reacted racially, Sgt. Crowley or professor Gates?  Who behaved appropriately, professor Gates or Bob Dylan? Perhaps professor Gates was unable to bury past hurts and still sees racism everywhere, even when it does not exist.  Perhaps the professor's past brought him to this encounter with an attitude that the officer did not have the right to question him? Was professor Gates modeling how to ease racial tensions or was he, perhaps unknowingly, acting racist? The real lessons to consider?  Can past hurts lead to present misconceptions?  Can people of any skin color be racist? Can shouting racism when none exists be racist?  Can viewing today through the window of the past be unproductive?  Can we move forward if we spend all our time looking backward? It's worth some thought. Print Page (http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/20090824-Claiming-racism-can-be-racist.pdf)  Craig L. Bosley, MD no 3:56 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/08/abortion-call-it-what-it-is/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/08/abortion-call-it-what-it-is/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 06:12:07 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=102 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/08/abortion-call-it-what-it-is/feed/ 0 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/06/the-best-man-i-ever-new-fathers-day-2009/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/06/the-best-man-i-ever-new-fathers-day-2009/#comments Sun, 21 Jun 2009 07:35:08 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=96 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/06/the-best-man-i-ever-new-fathers-day-2009/feed/ 0 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/06/give-me-the-youth/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/06/give-me-the-youth/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:40:14 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=97 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/06/give-me-the-youth/feed/ 0 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/06/dr-tiller-the-murderer-is-murdered/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/06/dr-tiller-the-murderer-is-murdered/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:53:28 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=95 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/06/dr-tiller-the-murderer-is-murdered/feed/ 0 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/05/remembering-good-days/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/05/remembering-good-days/#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 13:48:35 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=90 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/05/remembering-good-days/feed/ 0 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/04/the-intolerant-demand-tolerance/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/04/the-intolerant-demand-tolerance/#comments Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:39:47 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=89 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/04/the-intolerant-demand-tolerance/feed/ 0 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/03/who-decides-right-and-wrong/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/03/who-decides-right-and-wrong/#comments Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:35:32 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=4 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/03/who-decides-right-and-wrong/feed/ 0 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/03/responsibility-and-self-respect/ http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/03/responsibility-and-self-respect/#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:25:05 +0000 Craig Bosley http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/?p=7 http://www.craigbosley.com/wordpress/2009/03/responsibility-and-self-respect/feed/ 0