​Hard to believe, but Star Trek – the television show – debuted in 1966. That’s 32 years ago. Technology has evolved tremendously since then.

When you watched Captain Kirk back in that original series beaming down to a planet with Spock, or flipping open their communication devices to speak with someone back on the ship, you never thought that’s something that could possibly occur. Hear someone on a phone through space? Huh? Dematerialize, then rematerialize matter in another place? Yeah, sure.
 
Science fiction is the art of the possible, in many ways. A future scenario is thrown into the public arena by a creative-type and the idea, concept, story-line, piece of technology either sinks or swims in the coming years. We have found the past 20 years or so that technology compounds on itself and one innovation begets another until finally, for example, we are talking almost seamlessly across space to one another on smart devices and sending data that magically appears out of thin air on the screen of someone 4,000 miles away. It’s all pretty damn incredible.
 
But back in 1966, not that I saw the first Star Trek shows (watched the reruns in the early 1970s), you didn’t project forward. No one thought, “Wow, we’re going to have phasers we can set on stun.” Or, “We’ll be able to fly a spaceship at warp speed.” Or, “I can’t wait until someone creates invisible shields.”
 
Yet when you see how far we’ve come in transmitting images and data through thin air, is it so pie in the sky that some of the other technology imaginations from the show will become reality? You have to wonder.

My personal favorite in terms of healing is the medical device that McCoy deployed. He turned on a small scanner, ran it over the affected part of your body, then read the output of your diagnosis. Then the remedy for your malady was scanned over the injury and POOF, you were better. Imagine that. Imagine if we could develop technology to so quickly figure out what is wrong with your body and introduce the immediate healing powers to bring you back to 100 percent.
 
There’s an implicit message from the medical community today that you can be fixed through drugs, surgeries, vaccinations and therapy but nothing with the speed inherent in that scanner. It would be a miracle if instead someone could invent the instantaneous body fixer scanner. Boy, could we all save some money, headaches (literally and figuratively) and time.
 
An even better invention if someone could get on this was the deporting machine. You or an object were dematerialized, then you rematerialized at specific coordinates where you wanted to go. Great stuff. Think about having that today and getting all those semi-trucks unnecessary cars off the highways. We’d probably reduce world air pollution by 60 percent or more. Painful stuck-in-traffic commuting would go away.
 
Personally, I don’t now if I’d want my atoms scrambled and put back together. My face might end up where my butt belongs. Sending PRODUCTS through the machine though? That would be darn good, IMO. Some brilliant engineer needs to focus on this intently with a powerful team of compadres.  Elon Musk?
 
Star Strek and other science fiction show us a path for technology and human development. It’s a starting point for certain futures that improve lives here on earth.
 
 

​Most of us can point to times in our lives where extreme emotional, psychological or physical pain hit us. We don’t escape painful situations in life. They’re different for all of us.
 
We lose parents, friends, siblings, perhaps children. A traumatic car accident could injure you, or you or a loved one comes down with a major disease at an age where no deserves to deal with something like that.
 
We learn to adapt to the situation, honing our coping techniques. Going through life, most of us figure out these major issues and start to come to an understanding we all must deal with hurt.
 
But there are also incidents that you never consider which also cause you great sadness. I’ve told the story to friends about the two most depressing days in my life – situations that I never expected to encounter because you don’t know you’ll face it until you get there. They may sound trivial to the reader, but they should resonate with you as well. You probably have something similar when you look back on your life.
 
My first was giving up playing basketball. I loved playing – the release of energy, the sky high feeling from sprinting up and down the court, the joy of being a good teammate, executing a special play. There is no other sport I’ve gotten that type of high from in terms of that pumped up feeling.

Letting go of the round ball occurred at age 46. Two foot injuries occurred and it took three months of rehab for me to feel decent again. I thought about that, and said, “Something worse is going to happen next. Better give it up.” It would not surprise if I dealt some mild depression for a long time afterwards until I reached a stage where basketball was in my past and something not quite as good would take its place. Coping took time.
 
My second, and you’ll probably chuckle at this, was my last annual physical. For the first time since I was 21, I measured under six feet tall. Now that may sound amusing. But for some reason it was nice to reach 6’1”at my peak height before the shrinking stage of life started.
 
Over the past 5 years or so, my height steadily declined. But I took pride in still being over six feet. Now, no more. I’ve shrunk.
 
Whether odd or silly that this body change struck me in a depressing way doesn’t matter. The reality is that it deeply saddened me. You kind of think you’re going to be a certain height and all of a sudden you’re not and it makes you re-examine priorities in life.
 
I’m about a tenth of an inch under six feet now in my bare feet. If I did a few more pull-ups or had my spine decompressed, perhaps I could gain just enough back to crest the six foot tall barrier again.

But no, that’s not going to happen, because it’s best to address reality and adjust to what’s next. Look ahead. What’s the next best thing I can be doing with my time – serving others, growing and developing, honing some talent or skill.

We’ll see what the future holds for the 5’11” and three-quarters+ inch man. Maybe I’ll ask for shoe inserts for my next birthday.

​Several weeks back, I got into an email dialogue with a couple of close friends regarding pay for sports officials. Four top referees have left the NFL this off season, as the announcing booth beckons for the next step in their careers. Going from the field to the booth entails a jump in pay.

As we emailed back and forth, our discussion ranged from the many demands and pressures placed on high level officials, to the financial rewards if you excel and reach the highest pinnacle. In the case of these four, it was the referee of the crew, and reaching the Super Bowl at some point in their careers.
 
It’s a tough gig. It takes many years to get to the top and the rewards are mostly in knowing that you do a consistently professional job so that huge men can hit each other in various ways and stay within the rules. Not many people can fill that role well, and there’s a reason when they reach elite status that you’re paid more.
 
As the emailing evolved , we brought up how various industries/businesses/non-profits/governmental agencies reward people salary-wise. There is much data published on this. Though slightly outdated, it paints a rudimentary picture on what we value in our society and what we don’t.

For example, should a major league baseball star make more money than an executive of a corporation with over 5,000 employees? It’s a close call on who earns more, and depends a lot on the company, bonuses, and stock options, and which baseball player you’re talking about. Let’s just say the player would be in excess of $34 million a year and the corporate executive higher.
 
Contrast that with some of the more basic jobs many of us hold – school teacher, janitor, fast food owner or manager, electrician, plumber, a line worker in a manufacturing facility. All are dignified jobs or professions in their own way. Any person working in any of those positions deserves to make an honorable wage.
 
And yes, most (if they’ve work and hard enough in their field) rise to a reasonable level of pay, with the line worker and janitor probably staying at the lower rungs while the potential for a skilled electrician or the owner of a fast food franchise has higher income potential. When you scale to what a CEO of star pro baseball player makes though, their pay pales.
 
We’re a free society. I get it. We can pursue fields we think are important. You can follow your passion and work for years at what you are good at, and hopefully at some point you reach a decent level of income.
 
A CEO may have gigantic responsibilities for thousands of people and that may not be the case for a janitor. But when you think of a school teacher and the importance of educating the next generation or the person who ensures safety procedures at a nuclear power plant, their value contribution is much more to society than an entertainer or baseball player.
 
In the years ahead, there are going to be major demands for many professions that contribute to the important infrastructure of a modern society. Let’s hope those fields are incentivized so people choose to enter and pursue those jobs that build a stronger society for all.

​Over the weekend I worked at our local food pantry. A little before we closed for the day, a guy walked in and gave a check to the woman who handles everyone who comes in the door.

This happens fairly frequently. People don’t ask that their names be written down. They don’t want accolades. They come in and give us money so we can continue to serve food to needy people in the area about 30 miles west of Milwaukee. You’d think things are okay out here, and for the most part that’s true.

But spending time putting together food packages for those in need surprises you. You see young families, single men and women, middle-aged women bringing their mothers in, single fathers raising a special needs son. Until I began volunteering, this was hidden to me. Spending one day for a couple of hours once every few weeks serving others tends to open your eyes.

When you read statistics, that’s all they are – numbers. The numbers say that one in six children goes hungry (without a meal) at some point during the week. That should never happen in this country. But it does, and there are a myriad of reasons. It could be the parent of a family works a full-time job for $8 an hour and at that level of paycheck, food can’t be regularly put on the table. It could be the breadwinner in the family has become injured on the job and workman’s compensation doesn’t cover the bills.
 
Regardless of the specific reason for any individual or family needing help to put food on the table, the ability to provide for others rests on dedicated help from committed people, and the random acts of kindness demonstrated by the man that morning.
 
I don’t know what dollar figure he wrote the check for. It could have been $100 or $1,000. It doesn’t matter.

Beyond the check, he did something else. Three people were in the building picking up food at the time he entered. After handing in the check, he walked up to each and gave them a twenty dollar bill, then walked out the door.
 
The responses of each person were fascinating. One blessed him. One thanked him. The third stood stunned, unable to reply.

I watched their reactions from the back room and thought about what this guy did and how we can change the world for the better when we connect with others. In today’s argumentative and finger-pointing environment, this man’s actions made my day, lifted my spirits, and gave me hope that we all should work to maintain in our personal lives.
 
We’re not going to instantaneously lift people out of poverty. Life doesn’t work that way. But we all can contribute. We all can learn about the circumstances others face in times of hardship and do our little bit.
 
Random acts of kindness do make a difference in the lives of others. You can be cynical and say, “Yeah, that guy who gave out the twenty dollar bills just wanted to feel good about himself.”
 
Or you can take the perspective that he wanted to do his part to lift others up and increase their chances ever so slightly to improve their lives. I choose to take this second view of the world.