The way it is

The last couple of weeks have been crazy in our country, but that should not be a total surprise because we live in crazy times. I know it is an old cliché, but the only aspect of our society that is predictable is its unpredictability.

Where do we begin? The obvious place is the terrorist attack in Boston on April 15. In only a matter of seconds, a simple sporting event was turned into the most significant terrorist attack in our country since 9/11. Even if some of our leaders refuse to say the words ‘War on Terror,’ this situation clearly demonstrates the war continues.

However, there were other events that took place during this time that were significant, but they got lost in the shuffle somewhat because of the Boston crimes.

For example, someone mailed letters laced with ricin to President Obama, a Republican senator from Mississippi, and a judge from Mississippi. Under the right circumstances, exposure to ricin can be extremely harmful, but the judge was the only one of the three to actually come in contact with one of the envelopes.

As this incident shows, terrorist attacks are not just limited to bombs. Tainted mail can cause a lot of trouble if handled in a certain way.

On the local level, a threat forced the closing of a high school in Nashville. Because of a threat on social media, Father Ryan High School decided to close its doors for a day and cancel extracurricular activities. Though officials there were tight-lipped about the exact nature of the threat, schools cannot be too careful when it comes to these situations.

Perhaps the proximity of the threat to the anniversary of the Columbine mass shootings factored into the closing of the school. The shooting at that school back in the late 1990s seems to have taken school threats to a whole new level, and it is another unfortunate sign of the times.

All this news is sad, but it is just the way it is. This is the world we live in, and it is fractured and bleeding. The unfortunate aspect of all this is that events like this will happen again.

If we are not too careful, we can get so afraid of these events that it will impact how we live our lives.

However, we cannot do that. We cannot live our lives hiding under our desks because events out of our control might happen. Though we do not always realize it, we live under these circumstances every day.

In fact, we are put in situations that are out of our control every day that could be very dangerous. I am sure everyone reading this is a careful driver, but what about the other people on the road? We cannot control whether that other person is paying attention or not. Despite this, most of us do not think twice about the peril we face simply by driving.

The same principle should apply as we consider the events in our country the last couple of weeks. A terrorist attack could happen anywhere including here. After all, an event as large as Bonnaroo could be a juicy target for some idiot looking to make a name for himself. The people in charge of Bonnaroo will use state-of-the-art techniques to make sure the event is safe, but if some nut wants to try something crazy, he will.

The bottom line is we have little control on whether mayhem will enter our lives. We can plan all we want, but the whirlwind sometimes comes our way. Proper planning is important, but we can only do so much.

My advice is to relax and enjoy life.

‘The Office’ ending nine-season run with strong finish

The end is soon.

The Office is in the final weeks of its nine-year run on NBC, and there has been much discussion about whether the show can recapture its past glory as it ends. Can it raise itself back to the high level of its prime years?

To a certain degree, the answer to the question has been ‘yes.’ Though the show has meandered somewhat this season, shows in recent weeks have been consistently funnier than most episodes of the last couple of years.

In recent weeks, the show has been working to resolve long-running storylines as it heads to its finale on May 16. As those storylines continue to unfold, the show is reminding us just how funny it can be.

The April 11 episode was probably the funniest episode since Steve Carell left after the seventh season. The show was both funny and dramatic as it dealt with different characters.

On the funny side, Stanley (played by Leslie David Baker) stubbornly refused to go out on a sales call, which forced Dwight (played by Rainn Wilson) to stoop to ridiculous levels to get him to do his job.

How ridiculous? Dwight shot him with three bull tranquilizers and dragged him down a flight of stairs to get him to the sales call on time. With Stanley still groggy, Dwight guided him through the sales meeting with fine laughs provided.

On the dramatic side, the marital problems between Jim (played by John Krasinski) and Pam (played by Jenna Fischer) continued to unfold. While the end of this storyline is a tightly-guarded secret, it is hard to imagine them not pulling it back together. Their romance and subsequent marriage has been one of the most pleasing aspects of the show, and if their marriage ends, the show will be on the receiving end of a lot of raspberries.

Also, the impact of the “documentary” that has been shot about the Dunder Mifflin office continues to develop, and it is my gut feeling it will be a major player in resolving the differences between Jim and Pam, as well as other storylines.

The show’s resurgence has been a relief to long-time viewers. When Carell left, he left a huge hole. Though the ensemble cast is one of its strengths, he was clearly the glue that held it all together.

In its eighth season, the show struggled mightily after he left plus Fischer missed several episodes while on maternity leave. New characters like Robert California (played by James Spader) did not work, and viewers could almost see the actors trying to pump water out of a sinking lifeboat.

This is what has made this recent resurgence satisfying. Instead of going out with a whimper like other long-running shows, a little bit of fire is being breathed back into it.

During its prime, The Office was one of the finest shows on television. While that may be faint praise given the current state of network television, the show’s quality was high. Beginning late in its second season through its fifth season, the show rarely delivered a clunker.

However, like most long-running shows, there are only so many situations that characters can be put in and remain fresh. We have seen it happen to shows like The Simpsons, M*A*S*H* and others.

It appears the five- or six-year mark is the most appropriate life span for a television show. Shows like the old Dick Van Dyke Show and Mary Tyler Moore show knew it was best to get out while on top.

This is easier said than done. After all, with success comes money, and it is not easy to say ‘no’ when executives start offering piles of money to people.

Seasoned with salt

When we do not choose words wisely, the problems in our lives become much more intense. Seriously, who among us has never gotten into trouble for words that carelessly tumbled out of our mouths? “Foot-in-mouth disease” is a malady not for the weak of heart.

Culturally, it seems we have gotten much looser with the words we say to each other. In politics, Democrats and Republicans often throw terms at each other that make us cringe. In these situations, it is funny how often the person speaking negatively winds up being the one looking bad.

All this political rhetoric would not be so destructive if it did not impact other parts of our culture. We have a lot of negative communication taking place. When we hear somebody speaking negatively on television or the Internet, it becomes that much easier for us to do the same.

We certainly see this in entertainment. There is a lot of emphasis on “reality” programs on television, and a staple of this type of programming is conflict. Makers of these shows apparently believe verbal jousting is a one-way ticket to good ratings, and many times, they are not wrong. After all, they keep making these shows so somebody must be watching.

Despite this, choosing our words wisely is one way we can make life go more smoothly for ourselves and the world in general.

This is an important concept. For example, The Holy Bible has this to say about our speech in Colossians 4:5-6: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

As with everything in the Bible, context is important when looking at just a couple of verses. This comment was directed at believers and the approach they should take when talking to other believers and non-believers. However, this has a universal application.

The words “seasoned with salt” is the phrase that especially leaps out. One biblical commentary correctly summed up the importance of this phrase when the writer stated: “This image carries with it several ideas, including preservation and something that is necessary to life. Down through the centuries salt has been used as a food-preserving agent because it destroys what is harmful in the food. Likewise, our speech should preserve by destroying harmful ideas with the truth, which we speak with love. Like salt, our speech should also provide what is necessary to life.”

The interesting aspect of that comment is it does not say we should not boldly stand up for what is right. The key point is we must commit ourselves to delivering these words with a heart of love that keeps the well-being of who we are talking to as a priority.

Too often in the arena of debate, the sole focus is on the making of a point without care for the person we are taking to. When it comes to swaying opinions, a popular technique can be the attacking of the person instead of the content of what is being said. While the credibility of a speaker is important, this approach is often used as a crutch to justify a “win at all costs” approach to conversation.

Whether this debate takes place in the political arena or a conversation between two people, the principle remains the same. We are all in this together, and unless it is an extreme case, we better be willing to keep the well-being of others in mind rather than just steamrolling them with our ideas.

We can make our points but still respect other people.