The Trayvon Martin situation, needless to say, is an extremely unfortunate ordeal. Not only for the parents, friends, and other family members of Trayvon but also for the neighborhood watch organizations and for the race issue as a whole. My heart goes out to Trayvon’s inner circle, especially to his parents.

Not About Race

Like nearly all crimes today where a white person harms or kills a black person, the issue of race is brought to the spotlight. But when I listen to the media and the outspoken react to this tragedy, it is evident that racial discrimination and profiling are taking the stage over a more important issue: Common Sense and Courtesy.

I have a hoodie that I wear pretty regularly. It’s a Ralph Lauren that my wife bought me a couple Christmases ago. She liked it so much she bought herself one just recently.

The reason I bring this up is that while I do use my hoodie, I also am mindful of when and where I do. Anytime I am near people or in an environment where wearing a hoodie might offend someone or make someone feel uncomfortable I remove the hoodie. Let me assure you that if I am walking down a dark street I am probably taking off my hoodie for the simple reason that it decreases the likeliness of making a passer by feel threatened.

Kind of like wearing a hat indoors. It’s common courtesy to remove your hat when you are indoors, and especially when you sit at the table to eat. I mean, it goes without saying and if you don’t know this then you are ignorant.

Wearing a hoodie falls into a similar category, but one that is even more stigmatic because the hoodie is associated to hoodlums, hooligans, and criminals. You can argue all day long that it’s not fair to say that, but it’s true and no one single person can be held accountable for the stigma wearing a hoodie can cause. That’s just the way it is and if you do not recognize that then you are ignorant.

Does this stigma mean that everyone that wears a hoodie is a hoodlum? Absolutely not. But there is little any of us can do to change this stigma. The stigma got there for a reason and that reason is because putting on hoodie is an effective way to make your face more obscure when causing mayhem or committing a crime, and that’s what people do.

That said, it only takes a little common sense to recognize that there are times when wearing a hoodie is inappropriate, and from what I can gather, the hoodie on Trayvon’s head put him in a vulnerable situation because of the stigma that it caused Zimmerman.

This alone doesn’t make it ok to shoot someone and Zimmerman most definitely needs to be arrested and tried for his crime, but the fact of the matter is that when you wear a hoodie you need to be mindful of the fact that you could be putting people in an uneasy situation which is most likely what led to Zimmerman’s overreaction that led to this terrible tragedy.

Regardless of the law, and justice, and fairness, poor judgement has consequences and unfortunately the consequences here are irreparable and tragic. There is nothing we can do to bring Trayvon back, but like all high profile events like this we as individuals are faced with a choice.

The choice here is whether or not people will recognize that this isn’t about race, but rather about discernment. If anything, it’s about stereotypes and while stereotypes are not always fair or good they are real and they influence peoples’ decision making.

RIP Trayvon. You paid the ultimate price to give the people of our nation a chance to grow. It’s in our hands now. God help us!

Just signed up for Pinterest. At the very end it wanted me to Pin my Tweet or something or other. I felt like I was in a Dr. Seuss book.

You can feel it in the air. You can smell it in the room. Things are beginning to change. The winter has been mild, the economy is showing signs of light, and the political landscape is taking form. The new year began nearly a month ago. How has the new year been for you thus far? Are you a leaf floating down the stream or are you the stream carrying the leaf?

The following is a slightly modified version of the original Liberal-Conservative Divorce Agreement from a supposed Law Student named John J. Wall. I have modified it to my own taste.

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950’s for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let’s just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don’t like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. We’ll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and biodiesel. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore, Rosie O’Donnell, and the likes.

We’ll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens. We’ll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s and rednecks. We’ll keep the Bibles and leave you with NBC and Hollywood.

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we’ll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we’ll help provide them security.

We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We’ll keep the SUV’s, pickup trucks and over-sized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find. (For the record, I own a Forester and do not take offense to this.)

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We’ll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We’ll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I’m sure you’ll be happy to substitute Imagine, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World.

We’ll practice trickle down economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot.

Since it often so offends you, we’ll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, if after a few years you find you want to try our traditional way of life then we shall welcome you with open arms. 

Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American

P. S. - You won’t have to press 1 for English when you call our country.

This month I began a new venture with an exciting and promising company called HookLogic. You can read my post about it on the AutoConversion blog.

My new role has me building and maintaing relationships in the auto industry while applying my technical expertise. It’s a great opportunity for me, my career, my family, and possibly even for AutoConversion too. But that’s a tricky story in and of itself.

I could go on all day about how great this is and why I am doing it, but none of that really matters except the fact that I am doing it. It was time for a change and I am glad that I am able to do it. 

In a way, it is like stepping on to a faster-paced moving sidewalk that is complimentary to everything you are doing.

The whole opportunity is bittersweet though because there are remnants of the past at play. There are relationships that have been on pause for several years, and this new venture will un-pause some of these relationships.

In addition to this, we must also relocate. We love it where we are now, and fortunately where we are going is a place I am familiar with - Ann Arbor, MI where not coincidentally I lived for more than 10 years. Needless to say, this was a significant factor in deciding to do this. Sometimes you have to roll the dice. In this case, the roll comes with family.

Ok well…wish me luck!

Ever wonder why our great grandparents had such fond memories of their youth? Well… I’m surprised they remembered anything at all!!! Forget Tums & Tylenol. Forget Aleve & Benedryl. Look at the cool stuff they had back then!

This is the essay I wrote which I had to submit as part of the process of becoming Black Belt. I spent a while contemplating how to approach it and this morning I jotted down some notes to see what I wanted to say. Then I had to tie it all in together, without being cliche. It was an interesting process and it came out pretty well, I think. 

On the Way to Black Belt

Like many things in this world, Martial Arts is symbolic and allegorical of life. As the Asian philosophy of yin yang suggests that “polar opposites and seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world,” so too is Martial Arts a perfect harmony of many things.

For starters, there is balance. In the first couple months you learn how to do the Forward Stance, which is awkward in the beginning. Then, just as you begin to grow comfortable with that, you are a Yellow Belt being taught the Back Stance. It seems like everything you just learned suddenly is put to the wayside. 

As you learn the basic kicks, your balance is constantly being challenged. Each kick and each stance requires your body to find new ways to hold itself up, without wobbling. Even at the higher belt levels as you near Black Belt, you are always working to improve your balance for each and every single move. This striving for balance and harmony in your Taekwondo never ends. You are always making improvements.

To accomplish this, you must of course have resilience, and patience too. Martial Arts training is not for the weak and impatient. You will hit wall after wall as you work your way towards Black Belt and every belt level presents its own unique challenges which are different for each and every one of us. 

I recall working with a fellow student one day after we had just earned our Red Belts. We were doing our One-Step Sparring, and he was not able to execute the Hook Kick over my arm. For me, this move came more easily but for him it was like a mountain had suddenly appeared. It was funny to us both really, and we laughed about it. At Red Belt, we knew this was a road block that could be surpassed with enough practice, but at the lower belt levels something like this could be discouraging if you let it get in the way. This is only one example, probably the funniest one, but we encountered obstacles like this all the time. 

For instance with me and my rolling. When we first started learning how to roll during one of our 4-hour Double Black Stripe sessions, I was the only one in the bunch that could not roll properly. It was humiliating in a way because it seemed so easy, but I had mental road blocks getting in the way and the pressure was on because I would have to be doing some rolling for this test in a few short months.

So just like in life where we have glory and defeat, peaks and valleys, so too on your journey towards Black Belt you will encounter these same experiences, obstacles, and accomplishments too. There are many parallels. 

When I first started my training with Master P during the week between Christmas and New Year’s in 2008, Black Belt was not on my mind. I was in it for the fitness and for the first many months that is what motivated me. But about a year into it, while I was Blue Stripe, I decided to put my training to the test at the World Class Championships in Buffalo. 

I competed in Form, Board Breaking, and Sparring and I got last place in all three. It took me five attempts to break the board doing Back Kick, and after my sparring match I was so delirious that I wasn’t sure how I was going to get home. My opponent knocked the wind out of me with a Round House kick about 10 seconds into the first round, and I spent the next 80 seconds trying to figure out my left foot from my right. It was the most physically excruciating thing I had experienced since Varsity Football 17 years earlier.

But after a few days as I began to recover, the idea of Black Belt began to take on a whole new meaning. Suddenly, my Taekwondo training wasn’t just about fitness. It was about something more. It was about achievement, excellence, and victory. I made the decision that I was going to go back next year to WIN GOLD, which I did. Two in fact. One in board breaking and one in sparring.

I didn’t feel any better physically after my sparring match, but I did accomplish my goal and that felt good.

All-in-all, the Black Belt (for me) is about the journey, not the destination. Your First Degree Black Belt is a symbol that shows you know the basics. But to learn these basics and to execute them effectively takes time, patience, and persistence.  Some things seem impossible when they are first introduced to you, but eventually they become more attainable. That’s what makes it all so special.

The science of Taekwondo comes from training and practice. The art of it comes from digging deep and getting to know your self so that you can express your self in this form. None of this is an instant process. Nobody can give it to you, but nobody can take it away from you either. 

For Master P’s World Class Tae Kwon Do Black Belt Test 

Saturday September 24, 2011

Today on the radio I was listening to people on the air report on our energy supply and consumption levels over the next 25 years. The picture was quite grim. 

What I heard was that at our current rate of consumption and our rate, or lack thereof towards using more renewable energy sources such as wind and hydro, our costs for non-renewable energy can be expected to increase nearly 50% very quickly, like within just a few years. Imagine this world in a few years with gas at $10 per gallon.

Another disturbing report suggests that over the next 25 years, only about 10-15% of automobiles on the road will be hybrid and electric vehicles or something other than a gasoline-powered vehicle. I would have expected this number to be drastically higher.

These are but two examples of several that were all grim. 

What puzzles me is how difficult it is for someone like T. Boone Pickens to be struggling to implement change in the way we produce and consume energy in the United States. If anyone should be able to do it, Pickens is the one. (Some would disagree, vehemently).

Assuming that Pickens one day is able to implement his plan for America where we use Natural Gas for more of our transportation needs, thus reducing the amount of oil that we use, and then use more wind, solar, and hydro to make up for the energy hole left from shifting our use of natural gas, I believe we could turn things around. We would create jobs and it would give Americans something we can all believe in because we have everything to gain. In a way, it seems so obvious, and simple, like our energy future “lies beneath our feet”, as Boone says.

The choice is up to us, as citizens, defined by our actions. If we choose conservation and push for change as a people then we can achieve new heights. If we don’t stand up as a nation, then even people like T. Boone Pickens will be working in vain. 

I guess the ball is in your court now.