I don’t comment on school, church, or workplace shootings. Unfortunately there’s so many that I wouldn’t be able to keep up. But today, I can’t help hanging my head now and thinking to myself, “Maybe I should have said something, maybe I could have done something…”

Yesterday’s shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, however, was poignant in a number of ways. First and foremost, I’ve attended more UU services than I can mention while living in Terre Haute, Indiana and Durham, North Carolina, as well as having been to political meetings at my current local congregation, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh (NC). While I don’t describe myself as Unitarian-Universalist any more, UUism still holds a place close to my heart. Happening geographically close to home in the Unitarian Universalist Association’s southern “Thomas Jefferson District” and having a number of friends who’ve been personally affected by this action have made the feelings associated with this incident seem nearly crushing.

Anytime something like this happens, there’s a natural tendency to think, “What do I do?” While I mean no disrespect to my UU friends — some of the most colorful, joyful, peaceful, best coffee making people you could ever hope to meet — I’m afraid the collective answer about what to do may be misguided.

When considering next steps, UUs need to follow the suggestion of Thoreau and “strike the root”. Not all of the details have been released as to the suspect’s motives, but we do know the following — he was unemployed, he was alone and had little or no social support, his basic needs of food and shelter were being taken from him, he lacked self-esteem and a feeling of success in his life. While this man could have lashed out in violence at any number of groups or individuals, it’s sadly ironic that he chose to assault an institution with such a long standing committment and fervent dedication to helping the poor and the downtrodden. Unfortunately, making a stand on issues brings both wanted and unwanted attention to those things you advocate.

Being both a theologically and politically liberal denominational body, there might be more of an emphasis on beating swords into plowshares, but that’s not the answer. Violence has never been the fault of the tool. Mankind is creative enough (and depraved enough) that if every gun was destroyed today, by tomorrow morning humans would already have a new-and-improved favorite way to kill.

The solution for UUs and their family, friends, and neighbors is found in three things that are not very far away. First, as a community of similarly-worshipping people, individuals can find solace and provide comfort to one another. Second, as a spiritual body UUs can look to the wisdom of the past to emphasize the spark in each one of us, the same spark that is extinguished when we believe the world, and not spirit, is the ultimate reality and power over us. Third, as an institution for social change, UUs must accelerate those efforts to find those who feel they are without hope and bring them into a welcoming, accepting, and loving community.

While this won’t prevent every possible episode of violence in the near future, it’ll go a long way. Even though, UUs were targeted for their beliefs, I think that in the recovery process, UUs will reflect upon their successful advocacy in the areas of human rights, religious tolerance, and social justice and understand that the good they have unleashed upon the world is far greater than any evils one man can commit.

Today I wanted to blog for the first time in about a week. But after getting all my errands done, I found out that my Internet and cable was down. And since I use Internet phone technologies instead of traditional landlines, I wasn’t able to call the cable company. I wondered what I would do when that happened. This was the first time in a long while that the cable was out and I knew it wasn’t a billing problem.

Once I got to a location with Internet, I started chatting online with a Time Warner representative, having the following exchange:

Michael Smith: Thank you for choosing Time Warner Cable’s Online Chat, My name is Michael. Please hold as I pull up your account information.

Michael Smith: You are in an area that is experiencing an outage. We are aware of the problem and technicians are working to correct the issue as quickly as possible.

Johnny: Thank you. Is there an ETA on restoration of service.

Michael Smith: The technician are working on its earliest resolution.

Johnny: Thank you. Have a nice day.

I was about to ask again if he knew *when* service would be restored. Just as long as it was up before I had to telecommute the next morning, I would have been totally cool with whatever he said. Of course, I probably threw him off, since ETA wasn’t what I was asking for, since ETA is “Estimated Time of Arrival”, which had nothing to do with service restoration, and everything to do with getting somewhere on an airplane.

Anyway, the total outage was four or five hours. Not a big deal, in the end, I guess.

My favorite news article from today was this summary and analysis of alternative party candidates and their stances on economic issues at the “Amateur Economists” website. While I disagree that people’s McCain and Obama dissatisfactions stem from their lack of economic knowledge (since most people don’t really understand economics anyway), I do agree that economics is important enough to do a little extra research to make an informed decision.

After reading this article, I’m still in the Barr camp. I agree that it would be great for more emphasis on Fed policy and oversight. I think that indicates a deeper knowledge of economic theory and application to include the Fed in any economic considerations. I’m sure most (but definitely not all) Libertarians are fine with his economic views. His slightly more conservative social views are another issue, however.