The Violence is Mind-Boggling

Being an idealistic liberal arts student I dropped out of college in 1965 and applied to the Peace Corps. After 4 months of intensive training I found myself in Honduras with the assignment of rural community development. Honduras proved to be one of the poorest countries in Central America. That country experienced repeated revolutions but I was lucky to be there during a stable time. Political stability allowed my work to be fulfilling for me and a number of projects were completed successfully. The best part of the experience became the way the Honduran people embraced me, cared for me and worked with me. That time stands out as one of the best of my life. Recent news reported in the San Francisco Chronicle makes me sad:

Killings have escalated drastically in Honduras as the drug cartels have expanded their presence and an overall climate of lawlessness has emerged. Honduras now has the highest per capita rate of homicide in the world – 87 murders per 100,000 people. The second largest city, San Pedro Sula, has been declared the world’s most violent city. The Chronicle reports the Peace Corps has pulled out the 158 Volunteers working in the country. How many relationships, how many badly needed projects, how many inroads into a peaceful world were dashed by this action that shouldn’t have been necessary?

Honduras has become the preferred route for 84 percent of the US bound cocaine. Crackdowns on drug trafficking in Mexico and the Caribbean pushed the trafficking to Central America. Why do we need all that cocaine in the US? Are people so un-happy they need to be high all the time?

Meanwhile in Aurora, 12 killed and some 70 shot in the movie theatre. In Oakland the number of citizens killed by gunfire has reached beyond 60 for the year. In the heart of the Silicon Valley, San Jose, 2 people found shot to death in their home a couple days ago. Think back to Tucson and the shooting that left Gabby seriously injured and others dead. And the killing goes on in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and many other locations around the world.

What are the reasons for this seemingly senseless violence and killing that goes on and on? I don’t know what happened to my dream of a peaceful world when I joined the Peace Corps. Violence reigns in movies, in digital games, on the evening news and in the newspapers. There is apparently a huge market for drugs in the US that drives that violence. Why is that?

No simple or single answer to my questions exists. I believe we each must do what we can to make this a kinder, more gentle and caring world. Most of us can only do that in our own relationships, whether it is with family, friends, work associates or people on the streets and highways. Every action has ripple effect.

Stan the Man 

Nature in the Bay Area

Apparently there are a mind-boggling number of outdoor attractions in the San Francisco Bay Area. These attractions are of the “Sunday Drive” type and appear in the San Francisco Chronicle every Sunday. The author, Tom Stienstra, provides information on his chosen area along with detailed driving directions. He also writes a column on the outdoors that appears below the Sunday Drive. He’s a good writer, informed and has a sense of humor.

We’ve been reading these articles since our arrival in the Bay Area and finally decided to follow the most recent one. We headed to the Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area. The first part of the drive took us across the San Mateo Bridge for the first time. At 7 miles long it is the 25^th longest bridge in the world. It is mind-boggling to me how they can build a bridge that long that is able to handle the approximately 93,000 vehicles that cross the bridge on a typical day. We were glad an earthquake didn’t take place when we were in the middle. Since our arrival in the Bay Area this journey was our first to the East Bay.

Following the directions provided by the article we drove down Interstate 880 then through the suburb city of Union City. According to the directions we should have been arriving at the lakes any time but we continued to drive through heavy residential and business area. Just when we thought we had taken a wrong turn the entrance to the Recreational Area appeared. I must use the term mind-boggling once again. Three lakes, hiking trails, grass and flowers appeared just blocks from the developed areas and the rumbling traffic. There were few humans to be seen at first but the numbers grew. The transition was mind-boggling. These lakes lie nearly in the sun-baked hills of the East Bay but are only a mile or two from San Francisco Bay. Characteristics of desert, mountains and bay-country all co-exist side-by-side. The peace and quiet of the place was interrupted every few minutes by the commuter train, BART whizzing by on the tracks bordering the east side of the recreation area. Another example of the mind-boggling mingling of nature and development.  

It was hot but with a pleasant breeze. We hiked the trail that follows a route around the lakes (2.66 miles) taking our time to observe the variety of birds, vegetation, and people. A dragon boat race was taking place on one lake. The swimming areas became more populated as the day wore on. Bikers, hikers and fishermen did their thing. We enjoyed a beautiful rose garden in full bloom. Our exploration was completed with a picnic lunch sitting on the carpet of green grass under a small shade tree.

For our trip back home we decided to drive around the South end of the Bay, through San Jose where we had never been before. We ended up being lost and wandering about for some time in Silicon Valley until we found a familiar freeway that transported us back home. This was not a wilderness experience by any means. We did decide, however, that utilizing the “Sunday Drives” from Tom Stienstra in the Chronicle will be an excellent way for us to get familiar with all the Bay Area outdoor resources. For more on East Bay Parks go to www.ebparks.org .

Stan the Man