I was struck by the reflective writing in the Post-Dispatch on a slow news day (Tuesday) this week. Both “Heaven is a field for shattered and stolen dreams” and “As Lou Grant, Ed Asner gave hard-working journalists a face” looked back to the 1970’s and ’80’s to describe how the slower processes of baseball, lournalism and publication gave us pause to think about life as it unfolded. Like most nostalgic pieces they criticized explicitly or implicitly the unreflective processes driving our actions and our writing today.

The educational philosopher John Dewey gets credit for theorizing how we re-think or analyze our actions. He coined the concept of “reflection,” ‘the active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends’ (How We Think;1933: 9)

The important elements for reflective thinking are time and opportunity, something our culture has lacked for generations. The loss of the institution of the Sabbath, the new institution of the 24-hour news cycle, and the proliferation of news and cultural media are among the causes of overcrowding of thought that deny us time and opportunity for reflection.  We do not reflectively choose how to spend our time or with whom we spend it.

Whom do we blame for the lack of reflective thinking in our judgments, actions and writing today? Why is it always the youngest thinkers—currently Generation Z— who get the blame for unreflective action, because of social media and lack of reading skills? What about their parents the Generations X and Y and even their grandparents, the Baby Boomers? Are we off the hook?

In his article “Heaven is a field” David Chartrand mentions Jim Rome, the sports radio commentator, as a critic of the corn and schmaltz of the so-called “Field of Dreams” competition between the White Sox and the Yankees.  Rome is an astute observer of sports, but he ridicules those who disagree with him, and his opinions are generated in a 24-hour news cycle, giving sports fans opinions manufactured in short order. Not much reflection in sports-talk radio, a format that tells sports fans what to think.  Rome is also a firmly entrenched member of Generation X.

Rome is an astute commentator, who found his niche in sports-talk radio. We could argue that news-talk commentators like Fox’s Tucker Carlson or CNN’s Brian Stelter have offered pre-digested opinions in the same short news cycle. These are not youthful media observers, and their audiences are typically Baby-boomers and Generation X-ers.  The same might be said about experts in the fields of fashion, finance, consumerism and religion.  Baby boomers and Generation X-ers  are told what to think and why we should think it.  Time, opportunity and freedom are lost or squandered.

Baby-boomers and Generation X-ers are the models for Generation Z.  We abandoned reflective thinking decades ago, when we adopted formats like talk-show radio, 24-hour news  and sports analysis, and Dear Abby and abandoned the forty-hour work week, sabbatical  practices (rest and reflection), forums for divergent thinking, and in-person church-going.  We should realize that the squandering of time and opportunity began with us. Our kids and grand-kids only inherited the social media and 24-hour news cycle from us. In fact we invented the businesses.

It is folly to think we can turn back the clock on these institutions and cultural trends, but it is valuable to own the folly, the loss of time and opportunity. We have not lost the capability for reflection, but we need the motivation to pause and consider our lives, to evaluate who shapes our opinions, and find the time to shape our own opinions and beliefs.  The writer David Chartrand says of Field of Dreams: “it asked us to wonder what happened to dreamers whose dreams are shattered or taken away.” We can still avoid becoming those dreamers if we can find time for reflection.

There was a hurricane forecast a week in advance.

• The grim anniversary of Katrina coming up.
• The exposure of your property on and into the Gulf.
• The warnings of state and local governments.

It all sounded like doom, and yet the shore residents of Louisiana battened down to withstand the storm.

What were they thinking? Did they always gamble when the odds were so much against them?

I think probably the answer is “yes,” and maybe a number of them had gone unvaccinated as well.

In retrospect the residents of LaPlace and Grand Island, to name two locations, had no reason to be confident, but some decided to ride it out.

Sure enough, they were swamped and calling out for rescue on Monday, the day after Ida hit. Their cellars and first floors were deluged. They had weeks of power outages to look forward to, as the temperature and humidity soared.

Now there are plenty of reasons not evacuate: the traffic jams, lack of gasoline for vehicles, no where to go, but, in the final analysis, there was no good alternative to evacuating. They were going to be swamped and without power for weeks. This much could be anticipated.

I don’t want to blame victims or even suggest that these folks don’t deserve the best rescue and recovery services Louisiana and the federal government can offer. But can they learn from this hurricane the lesson that Katrina failed to teach them? They are not invulnerable, and nature is stronger than all the human grit they can manage.

Everyone loves a human being with fortitude, the one who defies the odds. But “human vs. hurricane” is a plot that has a bad outcome.  I’d rather read the “human flying to safety” story that shows the wisdom of preparation for disaster. I’d rather read about humble people, admitting their vulnerability, packing up their essentials, and seeking shelter. I’d rather hear about the ample provisions on high ground made for a coming disaster. My heroes are the Red Cross and FEMA.

Heroism easily crosses the line into stubbornness. If you live on the Gulf of Mexico, you need to have an emergency preparedness plan, and when a Class 3 or 4 hurricane is predicted, execute it. Learn to accept your vulnerability and light out for high ground. Let the hurricane claim its shore targets without its human victims.

This is the kind of headline I would like to read : Shore Residents Safe from Hurricane X!

Let’s face it: no one likes to wear the face-coverings required to keep out the Delta-Corona-19 virus. In St. Louis County, where I live, we have been in limbo for two weeks following the Council’s vote against the Director’s mandate that we wear masks in enclosed public spaces.  The conflict went to court, where a judge arbitrated the issue, until finally it ended with no county mandate for masks.

The result is sporadic requirements in restaurants, theaters, and churches throughout the county. When I enter a public space I hold my mask at the ready, but I am more than happy to stick it in my pocket and not wear it, even in the crowds at the MUNY, where the theater seats are outdoor, but the crowds stream together as we enter the space. Masks are uncomfortable, especially in the hot, humid weather of August. They impede natural breathing and speaking.

Is this an argument for no mandates for masks? That we are uncomfortable and have a right to our comfort, regardless of how it affects the spread of the virus? Quite the opposite. It shows the need for a mandate. We are unwilling to wear the suffocating things in public without a mandate.  We need the requirement to enforce our own health needs.

This shows the callous disregard for public health shown by the governors of Florida, Texas and Arizona, who designed laws to prevent schools and cities from issuing a mask mandate for children as they start the school year. Masks are proven to cut the virus’s spread among children if worn consistently, according to Dr. Jessica Snowden. a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital [“GOP, schools clash,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 21, 2021].  “She said the delta variant infects children more often and makes them sicker than last year’s variants.”

Governor DeSantis’ threat to cut school funding, if schools issue a mask mandate coddles his political base at the expense of children’s and teachers’ health. More callous yet is his ultimate goal of gaining a foothold on the Republican nomination for the President in 2024.  Political ambition trumps, yes Trumps, the health of unvaccinated children who are required to gather in disease-susceptible places in August, 2021.

In spite of such threats the Miami Dade Public School District, the 4th largest school district in US and largest district in FL, opened with a mask mandate. It is heartening to hear that schools are not intimidated by a ruthless politician and show a higher regard for protecting the health of children and all who they come in contact with.  Similar acts of defiance are taking place in Dallas, Houston and Phoenix, seeking to prevent the spread of the Delta-variant among their school children.

The governors of Texas and Florida seem impervious to the higher spread of Corona-virus cases in their states: 28% of all U.S. cases, while their population is 15% of the U.S. population.  The news reports of overcrowded ICU’s and over-taxed nurses and doctors make no impression on these callous politicians. They trust their citizens to wear masks if necessary.  How absurd to think we would wear those constricting face-coverings if we didn’t have to!  Even our common sense can prevent us from taking proper health measures. Before the Corona virus how many of us religiously washed our hands after coming in from public exposure? How many of us do it now?

Liberty does not always appeal to sensible practices.  It is all well and good to say, “Texans, not government, should decide their best health practices,” as Governor Greg Abbott said regarding his ban on local mask mandates. But somebody has to enforce common sense in order for all of us to comply. Otherwise the few irresponsible will infect the many responsible.  This is why we have public health regulations and a government that enforces them. How hard is that to realize?

The answer is that the governors of Florida, Texas and Arizona know very well that public health regulations like mask-wearing, are necessary, but they pander to their political base anyway.  It is hard to believe they will stubbornly adhere to their penalties against school districts while their local ICU’s fill beyond capacity and schools close down from the spread of Delta-Corona-19.  But political ambition may have no limits.

There are no countries supported by our military that would collapse if our military was withdrawn.  A country that depends on our military support to exist would be considered “occupied.”  Occupation was the state of some nations following World War II, but it was the urgent goal of the Allies to put those countries back on their feet.  “Occupation” was always viewed as a temporary status.

Afghanistan has been an occupied nation for twenty years. We now know how dependent it was on our occupation, since it collapsed as soon as we declared our intention to leave.  There was no “Afghanistan” apart from the funding and military presence of the United States. That should not be the permanent status of any sovereign nation.

Virtually no one among the political pundits favored the “nation-building” that was required for us to keep a military presence in Afghanistan or Iraq, but keeping a country on “life-support” with our military presence was considered necessary and without time limits, if you listen to the armchair critics now.

Probably the worst mistake of the Biden administration was over-estimating how much the sitting government would be able to assist in the withdrawal of American citizens.  President Ashraf Ghani fled before the Taliban even reached the gates of Kabul, leaving a total power vacuum for the Taliban to walk into, and leaving U.S. citizens to fend for themselves in their exit of a country they propped up for twenty years.

No one seems surprised that the Republic of Afghanistan vanished overnight, and that U.S. citizens and their military had to manage their own evacuation. Everyone seems to think propping up such as government with a minimal occupying force was a good investment of American lives and foreign aid. So many legislators and journalists in the past have spoken loudly against “nation building” in the Mideast, but apparently there is more appetite for keeping nations on “life support.”

This is not to say that the Biden administration should not have anticipated how fragile the existing Afghanistan was and how inept they would be in assisting the evacuation. Clearly the preparations for evacuation should have rested entirely on American shoulders, and they should have begun in earnest months ago.  And yet I wonder how many outside the Biden administration imagined how quickly and completely the Afghan administration would vanish once it was clear the paychecks from America would be cut off.  Now you see them, now you don’t.

There were never any good choices in cutting off a nation on life support.

Jack Flaherty

Chris Sale

My pitching heroes made a splendid return to their pitching rotations this weekend, both with at least five-inning wins in which they were in control the entire time.

“In control” might be an exaggeration for Chris Sale, as he allowed two home runs and threw a couple of pitches that could have gone to the backstop, except for the alert snags of Christian Vasquez, but he was unfazed and worked in his constant quick rhythm the entire six innings. He threw a lot of pitches, but he also struck out eight batters, which always requires a few extra pitches to accomplish.

John Flaherty, on the other hand, went six innings and showed pinpoint control, walking none and striking out five. He probably could have gone another inning for his ninth victory, but the Cardinals were understandably cautious with his oblique injury. How about nine wins at this point in the season after missing two months of it?

Sale’s return might be a little more momentous, since he had Tommy John (elbow) surgery two years ago. Elbows are more recoverable since the ground-breaking surgery of Tommy John in 1974. It is a tendon replacement known as ulnar collateral replacement. Sale’s performance indicated a full recovery. He averaged 93.3 mph on his fastball, virtually the same speed of his fastball in 2019.

The biggest concern following Tommy John surgery is not velocity, however. It’s control. Strike-throwing ability is usually the last thing to return post-elbow reconstruction, and, on Saturday, Sale threw 60 of 89 pitches for strikes, or 67.4 percent. Between that and the velocity, there were positive signs abound. https://pressfrom.info/us/news/sports/-788388-chris-sale-strikes-out-eight-in-season-debut-for-red-sox-and-first-mlb-start-in-two-years.html

The notion of “reparations” falls far short of the justice called for in racial oppression or injury. “Reparations” comes from the settling of injuries following a war, and it has a strong economic basis, a “payoff” rather than an attempt to settle grievances. That is why reparations will never bring a settlement to racial injustice.

The notion of restorative justice, commonly connected with a criminal offender and the community offended, comes much closer to the need for peace among the races. “Restoration” seeks to reunite the offender with the offended, not just settle a score. Restoration should be the goal, not retribution, which is the basis for satisfying the grievances of offended people. The grievances of offended people run far deeper than retribution will ever be able to heal.

Instead of retribution, the principle that governs the penal system, restoration, the principle that brings the offended back into society as a forgiven citizen.

Jesus, many mystics, Indigenous cultures, and other wisdom traditions show an alternative path toward healing. In these traditions, sin and failure are an opportunity for the transformation of the person harmed, the person causing harm, and the community. Mere counting and ledger-keeping are not the way of the Gospel. Our best self wants to restore relationships, and not just blame or punish. This is the “economy of grace” and an operative idea of restorative justice. https://cac.org/restoring-relationships-2020-09-06/?utm_source=cm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dm&utm_content=summary

Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest, explores restorative justice in a full week of reflections, of which this is the first.  Here he reflects on the connection of restoration to the Gospels and many other religious traditions. The goal is always restoration, which does not ignore past grievances, but looks forward to the transformation of both offender and offended to a whole community in the sense of “healed” and “forgiven.”

The metaphor of “restoration” places the white and privileged races in the role of “offender,” a possible sticking point for those who feel justified in their relations with other races. To some degree their self-justification makes sense, if they are opposing prejudice in their communities, but there is a legacy of prejudice that remains their burden. There is a reason that black and white communities live removed from each other, that segregated schools offer inferior education, that Black entrepreneurs can not gain a foothold in business, that Black candidates can not achieve public office. It is the legacy of prejudice that the privileged inherit as sure as they inherit their wealth.

What restoration offers is the dismantling of this legacy by the “economy of grace.” We can believe in transformation by our sincere repentance and the grace of God. We can not expect restoration without repentance and grace, because generations of white people have failed to accomplish it with all their protests about being good people with good intentions. Restoration demands more than “good intentions.” It demands repentance for our legacy and Grace.

There is much more to repentance than I want to go into here, but here are some key principles from “restorative justice.org”

1. Crime causes harm and justice should focus on repairing that harm.
2. The people most affected by the crime should be able to participate in its resolution.
3. The responsibility of the government is to maintain order and of the community to build peace.

“Repair” should not be confused with “reparations.” Repair is about healing of relationships, in this case racial relationships. Racial relationships have been damaged, and all of us, especially the privileged need to actively “participate in its resolution.”

By the grace of God, we will be healed.

This weekend appears to be an overdose of comeback fever for a Boston-Red-Sox-converted-St.-Louis-Cardinal fan.

Two disabled pitching stars are making their first starts with the success of the ML Baseball home stretch hanging in the balance.

On Friday Cardinal ace Jack Flaherty returns to service following two months sidelined with a torn oblique muscle. Here’s the good news from Mike Claiborne of Sportsgrid.

Mike Claiborne reports St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty will start Friday against the Kansas City Royals.

Flaherty has been sidelined with an oblique injury, last pitching in a 9-4 Cardinals loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 31. He went five innings, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out nine batters. Making 11 starts this season, Flaherty has an 8-1 record with a 2.90 ERA, 26% K rate and a 1.03 WHIP. He has struck out six or more batters in eight starts this season as a top arm in the National League.

Meanwhile, the legendary left arm of Chris Sale will be deployed in the Major League for the first time in two years, when he steps on the mound against the White Sox on Saturday.