Assume

"Curiosity killed the cat." "Cats have nine lives." Which one is true?  Both.   Life is a gamble. I go for the "nine lives" part because of a strong curiosity.  It has served me well as a news guy, but it also is immensely satisfying personally. Was standing in line at a store check-out behind a man wearing a black silk head covering.  There were numerous elaborate tattoos on his arms.  "Nice ink," I said.  He turned around, looked me up and down and turned away.  Later, in the parking lot, he thanked me and said the tats honor a buddy killed in Iraq. Waiting for my food order at Schlotzky's, spotted four police officers at a table waiting on their order.  Walked up and posed a question that I'd wanted to ask for a long time: What's that radar-dome-looking thing on the roof of some police cars? A sergeant explained it.  I promised not to tell. Attended a lecture at SMU featuring Stephen Hawking.  The lecture hall was packed with physics and quantum mechanics and astronomy students.  Completely out of my league,  I took  lots of notes hoping to figure out the subject matter later.  Didn't help. Covering a shooting, arrived before the ambulance.  Asked the victim lying on his back if the wound in his abdomen hurt.  He said it didn't because it was only a .22-calibre bullet.  Did he know the shooter?  Yes, and the wounded man vowed to kick his butt later.  Why?  For being stupid, he said. I could have assumed that the guy with the tattoos was a thug.  Or that the police officers were to be avoided.  Or that the lecture would enlighten.  Or that the wounded man would curse such a question. What they say about the word, "assume," remains true. Mostly.

Church

I went to church last week and spent a few days there.  I go about twice a year.  It never fails to lift my spirits. My church has no steeple, no pews, no organ, no stained glass, no preacher. My fellow parishoners are bears, deer, wolves and other creatures, plus certain other humans. I discovered this church only recently.  A series of revelations led me there. One revelation occurred when I accidentally shot and killed a snowy owl.  I had never seen one until this gorgeous bird fell out of the tree.  From below, mostly hidden in the canopy, it looked like a vulture.  I have hunted before, but killing that magnificent creature broke my heart. Another revelation came when I was a boy learning the Bible.  When I read that God gave us dominion over the Earth and every living thing therein, the idea stuck. Aboard a 727 climbing out of Weir Cook Airport (now Indianapolis International),  I saw dirty grey air pollution until we passed ten thousand feet.  Decades later, it was noticeable up to nearly twenty thousand.  Yup, we humans sure know how to dominion. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound infuriated me, as it did many people.  For the next ten years I boycotted Exxon. Have you ever been to a landfill?  Actually climbed onto it, looked at it and smelled it? You've probably seen video of that giant collection of garbage floating in the central North Pacific Ocean.  Human stewardship at its best, I tell ya. Anyway, I spend a few days in the Rockies a couple of times a year.  And every time, I come away thinking, "You should go to church more often."