Enron's Empty Cupboard
Enron's Empty Cupboard
After September 11th I told many of my friends that this "life-changing" event would be old news in six weeks. I wasn't arguing that it should be, but that it would be. I was wrong. The day that changed the world stayed the top story for twelve weeks. What bumped it off? Scandal. I don't know how this one will play out, but I have a few vague suspicions. First, W. is covering something. Second, Republicans will look the other way because whatever it is he's hiding, they will think, it really isn't that bad. Third, guesses one and two will prove conclusively that conservatives aren't principled, they just want to win. Fourth, Christians will continue to support the Republican party. Fifth, the liberal media will keep this story alive until the next election. Six, most Americans will miss the real story.
A company juggles its books, jerks around its employees, goes to Washington for special favors, and drops dead. That's an old story. It has plenty of black hats to go around, boo hiss and all that, but it's an old story. People are always tossing principle aside for the short term financial game.
What is astounding is that a company whose single greatest asset is their honesty would sell the future value of that for short-term gain. Arthur Anderson, the accounting firm that sold the bogus numbers to Wall Street, is done. Would you invest in a company whose audit was done by these clowns? If you ran the company, would you ask them to do an audit, when you know even dimwits like me know it can't be trusted?
There is more than one kind of capital that one can consume for short-term gain. Moral capital not only disappears fast, you can never buy it back again.
Wake Up Call?
All knowledgeable and wise Christians having derived their belief about God from the Scriptures instead of the latest Christian teen rock band devotional that can be found at your local Anchor Book store realize that everything that happens is caused by God. The biblical Christian serves an all-mighty, sovereign God. That is why none of these disciples, after the bombing of the World Trade Center, said anything remotely like, "Well, God had nothing to do with that," or "God did not have control of that." These well—meaning folks did themselves and the church no good service. Being well intentioned doesn't excuse the fact that that buckets of gasoline you just threw on the fire made things worse.
Those who know the Scriptures adequately assess the whole September 11th tragedy as an act of God (i.e. the terrorists were used in the same way that the pagan nations were used in time past to get Israelis' attention.) The only part of that intelligent response that I am beginning to question is when said theologian's state that the WTC bombing was to get America's attention. Some have even stated that it was to get the church's attention.
I agree with those verdicts. But I am beginning to be more persuaded that 9/11 was just a warning. God did not hit America were it really hurts-which would be a wake-up call. Think about it. What has happened since terrorists flew planes into those buildings? What has been the response? The reaction has not even come close to repentance. Instead, leadership has thrown money at the problem. Our nation's savior is the all-mighty dollar. We have propped up the airlines, insurance companies, affected businesses, and families of the victims and financed the ongoing search for the masterminds of the attack with our money.
The heart of America is not directed toward God but to mammon. You cannot serve two masters and our nation is definitely not serving God. So, I think that what happened last fall was not God trying to wake up the nation or the church. I think that God is smarter than that. When He wants to get our attention, it will be through our wallets and purses.
People who Read People
In this space I confessed a year or so ago that I read People magazine when I'm at the doctor's office. As such, the following tirade is directed at me as well, though my excuse is I only do it when I'm sick. What is the deal with celebrity gossip? Today I was at the doctor. He didn't have People, but he had the next best thing—Newsweek. And there I read that Eminem, the rapper, is dating Kim Basinger, the woman who plays the rapper's mother (who in real life sued her son for talking not nice about her on one of his records) in a movie about this young thug. She is, by the way, old enough to be his mother.
That little story made Newsweek because they are interested in selling magazines, so it seems safe to conclude that people are interested in that stuff. (We'll have to wait to see what the story's inclusion in these pages does to our circulation.) My question is, and I have no answer, why in the world do we care? Celebrity gossip is a major industry. There are celebrities who are celebrities because they seem to find the best gossip. Suppose Eminem could sing, and Miss Basinger could act. Go ahead, stretch yourself a little. Now why would that make me interested in their dating life? What do we gain by having this information? What drives this hunger?
I don't know the answer. I don't know even whether the answer will come from
a shrink, a pastor or a sociologist. I do know that when I read this kind of
stuff I not only feel guilty for killing time, but I feel vaguely unsettled,
not because I have invaded the celeb's privacy (they have publicists whose
job it is is to make sure they get into the gossip), but because there is just
something dirty about it. Somebody send me an answer. And please also send
the cure. I may have a mild dose, but it's more than I want.