Born with kindness, or what?

Today's Tids Issue 4,604

Make someone happy:

I could be kind if somebody gave me a Dove Chocolate. Preferable dark chocolate. With sea salt caramel. Hey! That’s not being very kind…demanding free gifts with defined specifications.

Maybe there is hope after all. Beyond the entertainment promotional machines, there are libraries. It turns out that a new Gallup poll says more people in 2019 made trips to the library “than any other cultural activity,” which the poll described as going to the movies, seeing a live sporting event, seeing live theater or music or visiting a national park, museum, casino or theme park. Gadzooks!! Who knew? How impressive is that. Libraries…ahead couple of small competitors called Google and Wikipedia. and Amazon books.

If cats could drive, toll booths would have to have fee-lines! Obviously, I don’t spend a lot of time in libraries.

Do brains come standard with built-in kindness? Only to be attacked with the vagaries of society’s malware. Or is kindness learned by earliest environments. I think it is innate. Do people who take advantage of those who may be kind and trusting have kindness in their soul or are we destined to live among inherently unkind people? So many questions that shouldn’t have to be asked.

A lot of people like to sleep with soft music playing or sounds of calmness like rolling seas or breezes through leafy branches of trees. I like to sleep listening to static on my radio to prepare me for the harangues of the coming day.

Something in my brain is saying that Biden has it. In life, there are just some things that look inevitable.

The Question:

Name four of Stanley Kubrick’s Movies. Bonus: What do you think were the 10 largest companies in revenue in 1960, versus todays’ Top Ten? Extra Bonus: Two NFL Hall of Famers who both played on the great Steeler’s teams of the 1970’s, have the same birth day. Name them (I doubt if tis answerable most. But it was interesting to me when I found it.) Hint: One was involved in a miracle, and the other was smooth, Mr. Nice Guy whose last name is somewhat avian.

The Headlines:

--US Stock Markets May Be Headed To Emergency Room; World Markets Tank, Oil Sinks As Efforts To Stop Virus Seem to Falter.

--Jobs Report Outstanding, But That Is In The Past.

--New Class Of Scammers Taking Advantage Of Covid 19 Scare.

--Kamal Harris Goes For Biden, Jesse Jackson For Bernie Ahead Of Mini-Super Tuesday; Bien Has Huge Advantage Over Sanders In Michigan; Amy To Be Biden VP?

--“R” Word Creeping Into Financial Analysts Vocabulary.

March madness could be sadder if CV get’s badder. I imagine there is a lot of handwringing in the broad rooms of the NCAA and college basketball leagues across the country as the big money-making playoff tournaments emerge over the next several weeks. Stands with out fans? But many college fans are so rabid they throw caution to the winds. But can league and NCAA management be so cavalier? These tournaments are big events, really big, from the Div III playoffs to the Div I leagues’ championships to the revered Madness games. How mad will we be?  How much hypocrisy will we see?

Hey lunkhead politicians – politicizing Coronavirus isn’t good for anybody!

There is spreading, and then there is spreading like a rampage. So we hear regularly that CV is spreading from state to state but far from what you would call rampaging. So, there are statistics which we can use to minimize the threat, like deaths from CV in the USA of 19 (3,500 worldwide), versus 20,000 USA deaths (As of Feb 29, CDC) from our annual regular influenzas, still an ongoing threat. But all of that said, there are people in danger areas sequestered in their own homes, frightened and certainly inconvenienced for the good of the public. People on cruise liners with nowhere to go, sitting in small rooms in what may be a possible disease incubator. Stats mean nothing to the single person who is faced with the choice, will I or will I not make it.

Conspiracy Theory of the moment. Anti-Trump Media is sensationalizing CV to bring down economy ahead of the elections.

If somebody at my funeral said, “He was a kindly, old quirky guy,” I would be happy.

A great CD is Bach orchestrated by Respighi.

Kindness is fun.

There’s a lot of classical music that gives me pleasant chills. Now I have worry if that means I’m coming down with a virus, or just getting the most out of music.

Arnold Palmer would never have condoned a trophy for all society. Yet, Arnold was known as one of the kindest people ever. And he knew that the greatest gift would be giving anybody a chance to accomplish on their own, and against the greatest odds.

There is a horrifying video just making the rounds of news outlets showing a gang of 13 or 14 teen boys punching, tackling, pounding and throwing a 15-year-old girl to the ground to steal her Air Jordan Sneakers. Should we stop and frisk for evidence. But there is another point here aside from the pure savagery of humans. Or should I say in-human’s? For no rational reason. This is the antithesis of kindness. Is kindness rejected by fear? Do some of the attackers resist an inner sense to help the innocent girl due to implied threats of retribution?  Will kindness do more for the attackers than punishment. Or is punishment a true act of kindness? As long as understanding is part of the punishment.

When I think too deeply, I get confused.

I remember an incident once from way back in my High School football days. During a scrimmage, I charged out from my backfield position and crushed a guy. I looked at him. Held his arm to help him up, said are you all right? The coach immediately yelled at me, “get back in the huddle. He’ll be ok. Nice block.” Punishing those of the opposition with hard tackles, blocks and fierce running is part of the game. Caring for those left strewn upon the field of battle is a part of life.

That “Service Now” TV commercial with the confetti machine really gets under my skin. And that Progressive Insurance commercial about the loser with the sign is an assault on my brain.

Kindness is what you love in a person. Facial features is what you see when you look at a person.

From the comic strip “Rhymes With Orange” -- College: Assisted living for young adults.

I have read lately that a big concern of artificial intelligence scientists is the ability of an out of control, man-made intelligence system looking at humans as just atoms and water, materials that it can appropriate for sit own use and progress. So, scientist are now focused on teaching kindness, friendliness and respect for naturally created masses; that they are special.

The Answer:

Stanley Kubrick wrote directed many classic movies, but died relatively young at 70 just after editing his last pic, “Eyes Wide Shut”. His first real noted success was Spartacus. But he really caught the eye of the public and critics with a series of films beginning with Lolita and Doctor Strangelove. He clicked with Clockwork Orange and awed with 2001: A Space Odyssey. And then he chilled with The Shining. Bonus: The biggest corporations by revenue in 1960 were General Motors, Standard Oil (Exxon), Ford, GE, US Steel, Mobil (Exxon), Gulf Oil, Texaco, Chrysler and Amoco. Companies Like Goodyear, Firestone, Bethlehem Steel and Westinghouse were right behind. (Unfortunately, the original 1960 Fortune 500 List was adapted to use names that currently represent old corporations I tried to research then older names as best I could.) The biggest in the USA today are Walmart, Exxon-Mobile, Apple, Berkshire-Hathaway, Amazon, United Health, McKesson, CVS, Ford and General Motors. Note: VW is the largest car maker followed by Toyota. Extra Bonus: Pittsburgh was known after NY as the city with the most Fortune 500 corporate headquarters. And the Steelers were the four-tome champs with many great players including two with the same birthday – Franco Harris and the incomparable Lynn Swann!

Giant George Westinghouse’s giant electric company was the head to head competitor with Edison’s General Electric. Of note, the first Woman Mechanical Engineer in America was Westinghouse employee Bertha Lamme. She was a member of an engineering brain trust that included some of the greatest minds of the day, including Nikola Tesla.

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, because for you never know how soon it will be too late.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

It really bothers me when I miss opportunities to be kind. Maybe it isn’t so innate, after all. Maybe you have to work at it.

If I was kind, I would have made this Tids shorter.