So what is even more dangerous than DWI or Texting while driving? How about having a backseat driver?  Not just any backseat driver will do though only that special person who seems to refuse to believe the laws of physics and decides to shoot the driver while on the highway.  As a tip to anyone having an argument with the driver while on the highway. Don’t shoot him until after the vehicle has come to a complete stop or better yet just win the argument with your rapier wit and stunning logic.

If you are a driver faced with an unruly backseat driver then try these tips to keep from getting shot:

1. Distract the passenger with a subject that they would be interested in. In this case maybe a stirring discussion on the type of hand gun each person prefers or what happens when a car going 65 MPH suddenly loses its driver.
2. Use a little humor to lighten the mood and get your point across.  I am guessing that the passenger in this case was lacking in that department.
3. Turn up the radio so you can’t hear the person.  In this case I am certain by playing “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion and making sure to hold the high notes extra long the passenger would have shot himself instead.

I think I have decided that there are two types of tough…those of us born before WW2 and those born after.

Those of us born after WW2 measure toughness and nerves of steel very differently.  For example, a heroic feat of bravery and nerve might be going to that local Sushi restaurant that keeps getting shut down.  That Alpha male in the office is the guy that once spilled his triple pump soy latte on his hands and didn’t even flinch! Don’t get me started on those brave & daring men that skip using facial moisturizer.  The sad fact is that there are 80 year olds that can probably beat us up and take our lunch money.

Consider Ester, who at age 87 was enjoying a nice day on the porch.  When going to open the door a rattlesnake thought he would show her who was boss and bit her.  So how does this octogenarian react?  Fly into a panic and call 911? No.  Get a broom and chase the snake off? He wishes.  With venom already coursing through her veins, she grabs the snake and strangles it with her bare hands.  Thats right, where most of us would be scrambling for help she is punishing this reptile for inconveniencing her day.

Not to be out done, Gordon (age 69) is driving with his wife through Kruger National Park.  While driving he feels something rub against his leg and assuming it is an insect he brushes at it.  He then looks down and sees a highly aggressive spitting Cobra wrapped around his leg.  So not only can it bite you it can spit venom up to 8 ft highly accurately which would cause permanent blindness if not treated immediately.  So this is where I call it a day and just hope that the snake dies in the ensuing car wreck that will surely happen.  Gordon not only stays calm but drives 100 miles with this snake trying to find help.  Few of us would dare drive 100 miles with kids that don’t have their PS3 and a full assortment of DVDs for the in car entertainment system.  Gordon drove 100 miles with a Cobra whose head came up to his knee and was wrapped around his leg while “being tailgated on a narrow mountain pass in busy traffic” trying to get to a snake expert.

Image from African Reptiles & Venom

Gordon said “Fortunately I’m not the panicky type. My wife immediately put her feet up on the dashboard…I just had to drive on and hope not to get bitten”  So maybe they go lucky and this was a rare docile Cobra.  This species is actually considered the 2nd deadliest snake in Africa and is nervous high strung snake.  After they found a snake expert to remove it from the car they said “It was very aggressive and immediately spat enormous amounts of venom at us”.  Gordon’s quick thinking and calm in the face of danger saved his and his wife’s life.

Finally, in keeping with the reptile theme, Eliud (age 70) was putting her groceries in her van when a carjacker decided she would make an easy target for a for a quick score.  So when her van starts taking off she jumps in and put the guy in a choke hold.  This ninja Grandma said:

“I think he was trying to get me to fall out of the sliding door…He swerved one time and the door slammed shut and then he was mine.”  Yes you heard that correct, this 70 year old said…”He was mine”.  She goes on to say: “He kept telling me that he was going to kill me, and that he had a gun in his pants,…I told him, ‘You can’t reach it. Your pants are at your ankles.’ ”

Her daughter summed it up the best:  ”By the time I saw her, I was laughing…When she started telling me about how his eyes were poking out and how hard it is to break somebody’s neck, I knew she was fine.”

These are just a few ways to illustrate that our sense of hardship and sacrifice has been skewed by our relative comforts.  This apparently isn’t a recent trend though.  A few interesting notes on our ancestors:

• Roman Legions completed more than one-and-a-half marathons a day carrying more than half their body weight in equipment.
• Athens employed 30,000 rowers who could all exceed the achievements of modern oarsmen.
• Australian aboriginals threw a hardwood spear 110 meters or more (the current world javelin record is 98.48).
• Some Tutsi men in Rwanda exceeded the current world high jump record of 2.45 meters during initiation ceremonies in which they had to jump at least their own height to progress to manhood.

According to Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister:

“We don’t see that because we convert to what things were like about 30 years ago. There’s been such a stark improvement in times, technique has improved out of sight, times and heights have all improved vastly since then but if you go back further it’s a different story.

“At the start of the industrial revolution there are statistics about how much harder people worked then.

“The human body is very plastic and it responds to stress. We have lost 40 percent of the shafts of our long bones because we have much less of a muscular load placed upon them these days.

“We are simply not exposed to the same loads or challenges that people were in the ancient past and even in the recent past so our bodies haven’t developed. Even the level of training that we do, our elite athletes, doesn’t come close to replicating that.

“We wouldn’t want to go back to the brutality of those days but there are some things we would do well to profit from.”

So next time you wimp out on a health challenge because it is too tough…consider our past.

So around mid-June I was at Baltimore Airport waiting working my way through the throng of people trying to find a seat.  As I settled in I, like those around me, was busy with the normal time killers of checking email, making phone calls, eating, etc. while waiting for our plane to arrive.  As I had  finally settled into my rhythm I hear someone shouting “Excuse me I need everyone’s attention” over the microphone at the gate next to me.  Slowly the din subsided and he makes an surprising announcement.

On the flight about to land from Ohio there were about 20 WW2 Veterans who were part of a Tour of Honor sponsored by the Honor Flight network.  He went on to explain that the Honor Flight provides to WW2 Veterans a cost free trip to Washington DC to see the World War 2 Memorial.  He asked that as they exited the airplane that we show them the honor they deserve by giving them a round of applause.  Then slowly they came out one by one and I was pleased to see that as far as I could see people had stopped what they were doing and were applauding.  Some walked out on their own, others with help, and some in wheel chairs.  The veterans showed their appreciation of the greeting with warm smiles, waves, and a general sense of pride that beamed clearly on their faces.  The crowd, in turn, never stopped applauding and in fact grew even stronger towards the end.

Upon reflecting on the event I couldn’t help but think that here I have spent the prime of my life doing things that help fulfill me spiritually, start my own family and build a career with the only hindrances being the ones i placed on myself.  These honorable soldiers gave up many of their prime years and put family and career on hold to fight for something greater than themselves.  Many of their friends never left Europe or Asia and here they are in their golden years being given an opportunity to see for the very first time a memorial build for them.  Having been to the memorial many times it is a beautiful monument to the heroes that served when called upon and those how sacrificed all that they had.

I want to also mention the Honor Flight network who puts these tours together at no charge to the veterans.  From their website:

The Honor Flight Network program was conceived by Earl Morse, a physician assistant and Retired Air Force Captain. Earl wanted to honor the veterans he had taken care of for the past 27 years. After retiring from the Air Force in 1998, Earl was hired by the Department of Veterans Affairs to work in a small clinic in Springfield, Ohio. In May of 2004, the World War II Memorial was finally completed and dedicated in Washington, D.C. and quickly became the topic of discussion among his World War II veteran patients.

Earl repeatedly asked these veterans if they would ever travel out to visit THEIR memorial. Most felt that eventually, somehow, they would make it to D.C., perhaps with a family member or friend.

As summer turned to fall and then winter, these same veterans returned to the clinic for their follow-up visits. Earl asked if they accomplished their dream of visiting the World War II Memorial. By now, for most of the veterans he asked, reality had settled in; it was clear to most that it simply wasn’t financially or physically possible for them to make the journey. Most of these senior heroes were in their 80s and lacked the physical and mental wherewithal to complete a trip on their own. Families and friends also lacked the resources and time to complete the three- to four-day trip to the nation’s capital.

I was surprised to learn that in 2008 they transported 11,137 veterans and have the abitious goal of transporting 25,000 in 2009.  There their motto really sums up my thoughts on that day as they passed by.  We can’t all be heroes. Some of us have to stand on the curb and clap as they go by.” –  Will Rogers

Is money tight? Do you feel you practically live at the mall (or wish you did)? A group of inventive artist decided that they would do just that. In Providence, RI this group of artists went to the parking garage of a local mall and created a false cinder block wall to create a 750 sq foot space.

Secret mall apartment

They added a very plain looking utility door some furniture, a tv, a waffle iron, and even a PS2 to pass the time and they had their own little island in the local mall. All in all they secretly brought in over 2 tons of materials to build this secret hide away. There they lived for about 4 years. Life in the mall

The group spent time walking the mall and documenting various aspects of life in the mall from the number of signs to surveillance cameras to the water lines to cataloging what items stores carry and rating them for a project called “Malllife”. According to one of the artist, Michael Townsend, “The mall has something really positive to offer, something that has nothing to do with shopping….” Consider that there are many social firsts there for many families in sub-urban life. Where do you go to spend your first paycheck, or meet people that are not your neighbor or hang out with classmates? According to Townsend, the mall is designed from the ground up to be an escape from the pressure and grind of daily life and offer a sort of vacation away from work and daily life.

I admire their ingenuity and their ability to take a portion of the “mall experience” and make it their own in finding ways to find comfort in a center of commerce. However, I tend to find the idea of living in a mall and cut off from the world of nature depressing. If our lives are now so limited that we to look to malls as our source of experiential connection with the world around us then we have lost touch with what matters.

Imagine that you were in an accident and left paralyzed. Your first thought is likely similar to mine, that is, the impact of not being able to walk on your life style and being able to get around and interact as easily with friends and family. I would have to relearn how to interact with major portions of my life. People that can overcome tragedies like these have my respect for having the persistence to move past these

However, what if you were left a quadriplegic? How would you life change then? I would have to relearn how to interact with even the most basic of elements in my life. Eating, working on the computer, calling people are all things I would have to relearn how to do. I would could it a success if I could get my life as close to its previous state as possible. Taking up new endeavors would seem forever out of reach.

Enter Eric Mohn. I was at a local festival visiting some of the artist booths with my family. We were attracted to the paintings in one booth and began to intently scan the prints. Impressed by the images of Americana, historical rural life I began listening to the person at the display talk about the artist. To my surprise, this painter was not only a great artist but a quadriplegic. After being injured he was determined to not let the injury keep the creative vision locked in he head forever. With great perseverance he learned how to paint using the brush in his mouth.

You can visit his website here and see a video interview. His online gallery is here.