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On Aging and Profiling
By Bob Davidson, Canton
When God Tells Me?
When an athlete's physical skills decline with age, no one has to tell them. The results are clear. Even the great ones like Ali and Michael can see and feel the results of aging.
Unfortunately for some companies, political parties, and even churches, often the old dogs at the top don't know or refuse to admit when they have lost their bit. Old CEOs and directors can hamper progress, but because of their power no one dares challenge them. Politicians in their 80s and 90s who can hardly stay awake at meetings are allowed to vote on national defense and civil rights.
What is even more troubling at the moment is the failure of "men of God" to know when it is time to retire. Almost all clergymen believe they are "called" by God to a life of service. Not all lay people are convinced that it was God who always did the calling. I, for one, do not believe God ever called a pedophile or a sexually active homosexual to serve as a priest.
Equally troubling is when men who likely were called by God, like the Pope and Cardinal Law, say they will serve "as long as God wants them." Well, gentlemen, when you are so feeble you can hardly walk or talk, when you have many others called by God suggesting you can no longer serve effectively, don't you get the message? God is telling you something!
When you can no longer function to solve problems and refuse to get out of the way, you become part of the problem—in business or in the church.
Profiling People with Green Hair
Just for the sake of discussion, let's suppose that people from a certain part of the world all had green hair and only one ear. Now let's imagine that all ten people known to be responsible for murdering 3,000 innocent people had green hair and only one ear.
Would it not be only logical to be considerably more cautious about allowing people with green hair and only one ear to roam about? Would it be unreasonable to treat them differently? If those from that green-hair-and-only-one-ear country, who are innocent, want to rid themselves of suspicion, they could best do this by encouraging "profiling" until it became obvious that it was a bunch of wealthy, misguided, religious fanatics who murdered the 3,000 people, not simply green-haired nationals.
As long as the evidence shows that persons with a certain appearance were exclusively responsible for the horrible atrocities of 9/11, then common sense dictates that our government should be especially alert in observing, questioning and tracking all persons who fit that profile. We should be more concerned if they fail in this effort than we are about occasionally annoying the ACLU.
It is unfortunate that those who are innocent may be occasionally inconvenienced. They should do their very best to encourage the leaders of their native land to seek out and destroy the evil members of their country. Then profiling will not be an issue.
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