The Police and Fireworks

Blog posting has been slow. We are on "vacation" this week, so there was the sprint at work to get ready for some time off combined with great weather, followed by a home sprint to get the deck power washed and stained, the driveway power washed and sealed, along with a couple parties, workouts and a little time to go see Ratatouille (a really fun little movie that I'll hopefully post on later).

Tuesday night the 3rd the whole family got to go up to St Paul to see "The Police" in concert at Excel Energy Center. Great venue for a rock concert and it was full of a lot of screaming fans. Here is a detailed review of when they were in Dallas for those interested. The factual stuff in the review of dates, songs played, etc are pretty much the same. The order was mixed a bit, but they made it through all the hits, there were some different arrangements, but I had no complaints. Sting and Stuart Copeland the drummer looked especially good and high energy. Andy Summers is maybe showing his age a bit more, but then WHO AM I TO TALK!!! Being there brought back some of the early '80s, and it was pretty cool to be there with a 15 and 19 year old Son that loved the music as well. Given good enough earplugs, even my wife enjoyed it.

I'm not a giant rock or certainly rock concert fan, but I enjoy the experience from time to time, and it is a great spot to observe people and see technology interact with art and the masses. It is very hard to beat a modern rock stage set, jumbotrons, and industrial grade amplification for allowing 3 people to impact 10's of thousands of people (like 10K in the St Paul case) in a live situation. Is it a great use of all that power, technology, money, etc? From an intellectual POV, of course not, but "Man does not live by bread alone"--experience is part of our existence as well.

Do I agree with anything close to every idea expressed by The Police? Of course not, but I'm not out to have labels along the line of fundamentalist, ideologue, pharisee, moralist, etc applied to my life. "Being in the world, not of it" is one of those classic admonishments that shows the true degree of difficulty of the Christian life. It is pretty easy to be "one or the other". A moralist for whom all activity is cut and dried and known, or a libertine who is simply "not under any law".

There is an immense connection between Christ and the US that is not often called out, but the combination of Rock Concerts and Fireworks provide a unique opportunity to do the mapping. In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville does a good job of pointing out the dangers of "the Nanny State", which could just as easily be applied to the Nanny Religion:

Above these [citizens] an immense tutelary power is elevated, which alone takes charge of assuring their enjoyments and watching over their fate. It is absolute, detailed, far-seeing, and mild. It would resemble paternal power if, like that, it had for its object to prepare men for manhood; but on the contrary, it seeks only to keep them fixed irrevocably in childhood; it likes citizens to enjoy themselves provided that they think only of enjoying themselves. It willingly works for their happiness; but it wants to be the unique agent and sole arbiter of that; it provides for their security, foresees and secures their needs, facilitates their pleasures, conducts their principal affairs, directs their industry, regulates their estates, divides their inheritances; can it not take away from them entirely the trouble of thinking and the pain of living?
Subjection in small affairs manifests itself every day and makes itself felt without distinction by all citizens. It does not make them desperate, but it constantly thwarts them and brings them to renounce the use of their wills. Thus little by little, it extinguishes their spirits and enervates their souls....

I grew up in a "Nanny Church" that ignored the freedom provided by Christ and attempted to make decisions on alcohol, smoking, movies, television, music and even dancing. Unfortunately, like all such churches it seemed to never realize that eating too much and exercising too little was just as harmful and maybe more so than drinking and smoking, so that area of my life is doomed to require more in the way of self-discipline for the rest of my days. Such is life, more freedom always requires more discipline. Fixed rules and regulations from a "Nanny" may make life "safer", but in the end there is a huge question as to if what was lived was a life at all.

Here we live in a country where our founding fathers gave us the immeasurable gift of freedom; yet many would seek to nibble at those freedoms in everything from fireworks bans, trans-fat bans, smoking bans, regulation of political speech through campaign finance laws, higher taxes, and even "fairness doctrines" to decide who can present what speech--because apparently "the Nanny" feels that we are incapable of the independence of America.

Likewise, an infinite God died on the cross to free us from sin AND the Law! Many would choose however to create "a new law" to enslave Christians even more deeply in some set of human created morality. The Devil is indeed in the details, and he is more than willing to help us ensnare ourselves in any number of "good rules".

So does that make me a Libertarian for whom there are no rules? Of course not. Christianity and America both recognize that the road has two ditches. "In the world NOT of it". Freedom applies HUGE responsibility on the individual. To be both considerate and tolerant--2nd hand smoke providing a great example. MUST the STATE tell us how it must be done? Have a free people really lost the ability to interact civilly at the level where the mix of "toleration and consideration" can work successfully? Apparently so.

For Americans and especially Christian Americans, the 4th is a good time to reflect on the issue of Freedom. It absolutely is never free--often that means that blood is required to maintain it, but more subtlety, it means that vigilance at every level is needed. We need to stay out of BOTH ditches--fireworks laws that don't allow sparklers, or "anything goes" with the general public firing up 16" mortars? Seems like moderation is required. The road is often slippery and narrow and the ditches on both sides are far to easy to skid into.