Vacation Lessons For Life

We went to Chicago and one of its suburbs for vacation this year. There were several parts of our vacation that lent some light on life.

When in Chicago, one should take a boat tour that comes off of Lake Michigan into the Chicago River at night.

As shown in the above picture, coming into Chicago via the river at night exhibits forest of lighted buildings. And one is tempted to evaluate the city by appearances like the one above just as we often view potential life partners. In reality the real beauty of either a city, and that should include our elected leaders,  or a life partner is better determined by characteristics like compassion, especially that which is being directed those who have a lesser position in life or work and to the vulnerable. The Christian concept of compassion for others should be based on our willingness to acknowledge our own faults and thus our need for receiving compassion from others.

I learned here that there is conflict between the Chicago Bears football franchise and the city of Chicago as to where the Bears will play their home games in the future. At least some in the Bears organization want to relocate the Bears to a stadium to be built well outside of the city. Certainly, if built, the stadium will be impressive. But the true measure of a city, and people, can be found in how compassionate they are to those who have nothing to offer in return. And the question becomes will appeasing the Bear organization affect the city showing such compassion to those in need?

Another worthwhile place to visit in Chicago is the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. One of the most important exhibits to see is the U-Boat that was captured by the U.S. Navy  during WW II. That capture yielded a great deal of intelligence especially about the coding machine that the Nazis used, 

As we were walking alongside the submarine, I thought of the current wars being fought by the "civilized" nations and I said to the wife: 'we ˋhaven't learned an f*#@ing thing.' And this is despite the Russell-Einstein Manifesto (click here for the document). The basic jist of that manifesto is that in a nuclear age, we have a choice between relying on war to resolve our differences or survival. That the continued reliance on war in a nuclear age will lead to the use and then exchange of nuclear weapons which has no end. The lucky ones in a nuclear war will be those who are immediately killed by the explosions of nuclear weapons. The survivors of those exchanges will die agonizing deaths. 

The more armed conflicts that take place between nuclear powers, the more probable the eventual use of nuclear weapons will take place. The more armed conflicts that occur between lesser powers who have friends with nuclear weapons, the greater the chance that there will be an exchange. And the more conflicts that the powerful force on the less powerful, the motivation that the less powerful will have to obtain some kind of WMD. Because technology is a whore, our exclusive reliance on our advanced technology is foolish in the long term.

Of course the source of all of the conflicts between nations and even non-state groups is the unwillingness to share power and wealth. And what drives that unwillingness is a propped up sense of entitlement. In addition, with the recent rise of authoritarian regimes, like the ones taking place in Hungary, Poland, and the U.S., the more leaders we have who are resistant to share power and wealth.

Finally, we get to a brief respite from the world's problems during our vacation was supplied by a visit to Wrigley Field to see my Red Sox beat the Cubs in the getaway game of the series.

Like it or not, Baseball is the team sport in which the most sportsmanship is displayed during the game. With that sportsmanship, we see a personal trait that is also an endangered species: self-restraint. And contrary to the kind of competition which we see in the 'Free Market' and Wall Street, stiff competition in baseball does not imply the absence of self-restraint and respect for others.

I very much enjoyed the time at Wrigley Field. My team won the game and the fans were very friendly. However, most of the fans there cheered for the wrong team. 

Contrary to the expectations of some, there are life lessons to be learned during vacations.