The World We Live In

Every now and then I like to bring out my philosophical side. It is nice to dust it off and spend a few minutes thinking about what is going on in my life and what kind of world my children are inheriting from me.

Yes, I used the word inheriting but don't worry I am not about to die today. If you must know I am convinced that I am going to outlive most of my friends and relatives but that is a separate post about longevity and loneliness.

The impetus for this moment in time comes from posts I have read at Treppenwitz and BeFrank.

Trep's post discussed what a small world it is and that caught my eye for a multitude of reasons not the least of which is that I find that my small connection to him is interesting.

For all intents and purposes our lives have been spent in different areas. He is an East Coast guy and I am a West Coast guy. He suffered from not having real sports teams and I was blessed wit the Dodgers and The Lakers. C'mon David, you don't really consider the Sox to be a team do you. ;)

And there is a small difference in age that is significant enough that had we gone to the same university we would have definitely missed each other there. But the reason I know that we have a connection is that he used to work at a pizza place in Jerusalem that I used to frequent.

It is 20 years since a bit of dough and cheese made our paths cross and I never could have or would have guessed that one day we would meet in the blogosphere, but here we are. It is not a huge connection, but it is not one that is easily anticipated and I find it interesting. My blog, my rules.

On a more serious note BeFrank's remarks really made me think about things. He is a cameraman for a local station here in Los Angeles so he gets to cover all sorts of things and I'd guess that there are far too many that are not sunshine and roses.

Anyway in the post I referenced he referred that recently he has covered a lot of shootings and the impact that made upon him.

"A buddy of mine mentioned to me last week that my blog was getting a bit heavy lately. I'm have to agree with him, but really, it's not like I'm making this stuff up. There have just happened to be lots of shootings recently in the LA area and I just happen to be the lucky photog picked to cover a fair amount of them.

It gets to be a downer at times, but it helps me a lot that I manage to keep it all in perspective. I've got a good life and I'm determined to enjoy as much of it as I can.

Friday I covered the shooting death of Loli Castaneda. He was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Ralph's market at the corner of Vermont and Adams. This wasn't the first shooting I've covered recently. It wasn't the second or third either.

It's like there's two different worlds. There's the one that I live in. It's the one where people play by the rules and there's peace and happiness as long as you're willing to work for it.

Then there's the world I see when I go to work. I don't live in that world. I'm more like a ghost, just bearing witness to events that I don't have any control over."

It really made me think about my own involvement in the world around me. Prior to becoming a parent I was very active in different groups that would engage in various activities to help my community and those around me. That type of involvement has slowed down because working with Habitat for Humanity or soup kitchens is tough when you are chasing a small boy or holding onto a beautiful baby girl who is teething.

But that doesn't mean that you cannot do things to help and it really reminded me that I need to make a greater effort to do something and to make sure that my children learn that we can impact the world around us.

We don't plant fruit trees for ourselves. We plant them for our children and their children. We build for the future because it is the right thing to do and because the work that goes into building for a better future does resonate among us today.