Gerrit Hansen
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Youth and Current Events

9/28/2017

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Have you noticed how much political rhetoric is being put out on news and social media? Oh my gosh—everyone has an opinion! In fact, I would venture to say, though I haven’t conducted a survey—not even a scientific one—to verify my opinion that Americans are slightly opinionated. What do you think? Wait, no need to answer that. But, have you noticed how ill-informed and diabolical some of those opinions are? Especially those on “the other side”? 

Amidst all the confusion and ill-informed arguments, it’s no wonder our country and world are in such a mess. Not only can our best, brightest, and strongest NOT agree on how to solve our problems, they can’t even present a united voice on the brink of international disaster.

My college-student son pointed this out recently, reminding me about the Sokovia Accords. I was impressed that he was not so ill-informed on current events as I had thought the youth of America to be. In fact, he knew the details quite accurately—far better than I did. He knew all about the issues—the right of individual conscience and liberty balanced against the need for international security and order. And I was so proud when he sided with the American envoy, who, simply walked away from the negotiations, refusing to sign. Almost all of the other signatories agreed to curb personal liberties for the sake of ensuring political stability. 

“Now wait…,” you may be saying. “I’ve heard of the Sokovia Accords. What are they again?” 

Well, I thought you’d never ask.

But before I answer the question, I want to bait you like all those advertorials on the internet where if you click to find the answer, you have to go through a thirty or sixty-minute presentation to get a myeh answer to the question that hooked you in the first place. (Okay, cat’s out of the bag—yes, I’ve clicked on enough of them to know they’re a black hole that sucks your internet time into infinity.) Was that a rabbit trail or what?

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: If you already know what the Sokovia Accords are, then you pass as a well-informed up-to-date citizen of the modern world. If you don’t know, I can only shake my head sorrowfully.

The Sokovia Accords were proposed in May 2016 because a group of vigilante Americans thought they could do whatever it took to take down the bad guys of the world. A battle occured in Sokovia. The city was pretty much destroyed in the process, and countless lives were lost. So, to prevent similar tragedies, the Sokovia Accords were drawn up. Surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly), Hollywood stars, who better understand political issues than the rest of us, took a prominent role in bringing this agreement to the table. Unfortunately, even they were split. A showdown between America’s virtuous envoy, Chris Evans, supported by Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, and a couple others, and Robert Downey Jr.’s gang of superheroes was inevitable. 

Yes, folks, you can learn all about it in Marvel’s documentary, Captain America: Civil War. Of course, nobody knows (except the screen writers, directors, and actors) how this superhero civil war will resolve itself in the next Avengers movie, but whatever the case, I admire Captain America for doing the right thing, even though his decision cost him personally. After all, who can fault Captain America (other than Tony Stark)? 

After the enlightened conversation with my son, I didn’t bother to test him further on his knowledge of current affairs. He might have exposed my ignorance even further. Or, I could have exposed his lack of knowledge. Shoot, MSNBC found that Gary Johnson, 2016 US presidential candidate, didn’t even know what Aleppo was, and look how badly he lost the election. I figured that testing my son’s knowledge further presented two scary possibilities: One, my son could fail at his university studies, and two, I could fail in my tenuous role as wise, intelligent father to my son. In light of those unacceptable risks, I settled for being schooled in current affairs by my bright, intelligent son (chip off the old block, if I don’t say so myself).
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Kids Can Reveal The Most Inconvenient Truths

9/14/2017

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​More than once as my kids were growing up, they’d spill private information to friends that I wish they hadn’t. Probably gave those friends a good laugh—and something to talk about.

For example, maybe a friend was visiting, and out of the blue, my son might ask something horrific like, "Do you sleep in your underwear?"

The friend might laugh and ask, "Why are you asking me that?"

Answer: "Well, my dad does."

(Just for clarification sake, I hardly ever slept my underwear. But, I lived in Indonesia for 26 years where it can get downright sultry at night, and if you were sleeping in Indonesia without air conditioning like I did,  you’d probably have slept some nights in your underwear, too!)

A more likely reveal would be something like, “My dad is the one who eats all the cookies in the house.” To which my friends would have laughed and said, “But he’s skinny and can afford to.” To which my kids would have said, “But he’s OCD about the scale. He weighs himself all the time.” Then, perhaps, my friends would have really had something to snicker about. 


This weekend was photo time for the catering business I’m starting. To take pictures, I had to bake several recipes. Pies, cakes, muffins, cookies. But, with my two oldest kids away from home and my youngest moving to Seattle on Saturday, there was no way we were going to be able to eat everything I made (I can no longer afford to eat them all). So, we did what good neighbors do—we brought our unwanted food to a few neighbors. At least this unwanted food was high quality. That’s what we tell ourselves, anyway. 

One family has young elementary school children whom we adore. So, I gave them what I knew were their favorite cookies, along with a couple of other yummy treats. 

The following day, the mother came by and thanked us for the delicious treats. Half an hour later, her kids came walking home from school, accompanied by a teenage cousin. I was painting the fence outside, and as they passed by, I asked them how they liked the treats.

“My mom won’t let us have any,” the younger said sadly. “She says they’re for the lady downstairs.” 

Now, I don’t know if the mom didn’t like the treats and therefore was giving them away, or if she wanted to limit her kids’ intake of sweets (perfectly understandable), or if she and her husband were secretly hoarding them for themselves. Maybe there’s another explanation. It doesn’t matter to me, nor does it bother me that the two stories seem to be at odds. But, I’m clearly amused. Kids can reveal the most inconvenient truths. 
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    Photo (above) by 
    Gerrit Hansen: Karimunjawa Islands, Indonesia

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