I’ll always remember my first PASS Summit – it was a sort of quiet existence punctuated by my old manager from many years before that PASS – Andy Kelly showing me the ropes, inviting me to lunch with some superstars that embarrassed me to be eating next to. I met Erland at a SQL Server 2005 event at the space needle and got some SWAG (I liked SWAG then still 😉 ). It was good. I discovered Shiro’s (back when Shiro still ran the place) and fell in love with REAL omakase (I should have eaten the receipt and all evidence, too!!) I was just another DBA someplace. I felt a bit alone other than hanging around with Andy probably too much – but it was great.

I also remember the first PASS I went to as a speaker and blogger and someone who knew people in the community and Twitterverse. I had to change my plans for the first couple of nights – my wife’s grandfather passed away, and I wanted to be there for the scheduled services when I was due to be there. I think I canceled some pre-cons and a couple of nights of hotel. I remember walking into registration, and Wendy Pastrick saw me walking in. We had chatted on Twitter a lot – the SQL Server Twitterverse – back then. She ran up to me, gave me an “I’m sorry” look and a hug. Almost makes me tear up now just thinking of that. Papa was an amazing larger than life figure, and I missed him and had my wife and kids on my mind. In the years since, I’ve learned about Wendy. Her great personality. Compassion. Kindness. The way she worked her tail off for those SQL Saturdays in Chicago and all she did as a volunteer for PASS. Kind soul, lover of life, and friend to many.

That may have been the first PASS I met Lori Edwards, too..Though it could have been earlier. It was at a SQL Sentry party. She and the person she was with hit it off, chatting with me. We just got along. In the years since I’ve known Lori to be fun, have a bit of a “make you blush” (well, at least makes me blush!) sense of humor. She is great to be around. She gets along with folks across all stripes and walks of life. She also has devoted a large percentage of her non-working days to giving back from her tireless time on the program committees to always volunteering in some way.

Grant Fritchey!!! What can you say about him? The dude is larger than life, he is magnanimous, and there’s not a soul around that doesn’t love the guy instantly. He came up to speak as the first speaker at our SQL Server user group in Portsmouth, NH – I think to this day, he was the biggest draw to the event – by a lot. I remember really getting to know him while working on hosting the best (and most expensive per capita attendance 😉 ) SQL Saturday ever(!) at Babson College in MA. We weren’t the ones truly in charge; that was Adam – but we worked well together, and Grant was just a helpful guy – he’s a scoutmaster kind of guy – but you should ask him about his various career life stories before SQL Server. Such a stand-up guy. He’s given me private support when I was diagnosed with MS, and he’s there for you if you’re feeling down. And talk about giving back! User Groups. Speaking. Helping PASS. Sharing tips. Private mentoring.

I can’t tell you when I first met Tim Ford – but it probably started on the Twitterverse. This guy is funny, smart, and compassionate to others. We have our disagreements (as I do with most other humans I share this rock with. We’re all different.) I remember praying for his family at times. I remember him encouraging and supporting me through international adoption and the MS diagnosis. Family man. Lover of nostalgia (at least I gather that from chats) and an encourager. Since I’ve known Tim – he’s been helping in some role or fashion with the SQL Server community and PASS. Giving back. He’s got a great family who he’s shared with the SQL Server family in many ways. I’ve spent time praying for Amy, Trevor, and Autumn as Tim has shared their stories and lives with the community he loves and gives back to.

And if you are ever on Twitter between 6 AM and 9 AM EST – you’ve probably gotten a broadcast pep-talk tweet or two from Chris Yates. The man is a walking encourager. If his parents named him Barnabas the Encourager – it would work. Just needs a little drawwwwllll. Stand up, guy. Loves everyone he meets – and I don’t mean “Hey, you’re special” – I mean a deep and abiding love. I know I’m not the only one who’s had an “I’m praying for you right now, what can I do for you to make your day better?” direct message from Chris. And you know he means it. And again – a long, long, long resume of giving back to PASS. Not to build a brand, launch a business, or gain anything – just to give back and pay it forward.

I’ve had quite a few encouraging conversations with Mindy Curnutt too! She’s smart. She’s building an amazing business – and she has always been there giving back. I met her first when we were both quieter folks amidst some well-known names in the industry helping create the SQL Server 2012 and 2014 exams (sorry for the XML questions 😉 ) for a Microsoft Contractor. She was persistent, tenacious and she lobbied for the candidates, for the process, and the SQL Server community. As far as I’ve seen her – she’s been a loyal champion for this SQL Server community.

I don’t really know Melody or Hamish that well – but what interactions I have had have been centered around them giving back to this SQL Server community. Taking up their roles with passion and a drive for the SQL community.

And you know. I’ve never met Judy Christianson – But I’ve interacted with the very hard working past and present members of her staff who make up PASS HQ. And, as a business leader, I know that culture comes from the top. If that’s true for PASS HQ/C&C – then that says a lot. The HQ folks are amazing, talented, and we aren’t just a “client” of theirs – I feel they have treated me (as an attendee, as a volunteer, as an MVP, as a speaker, and as a sponsor) like I mattered. Like I was important to them – and that can’t be faked. I also know that PASS has survived ups and downs and done well until a global pandemic struck the world and governments shut everything down – killing in-person event organizers and folks who primarily drive revenue that way. I’m in some business leader mastermind groups – and I’ve seen folks who are in that space start figuring out what other talents they have. But PASS has been more than an event in some respects – though they’ve struggled as I freely have pontificated about here and on my straightpathsql.com blog.

As a business leader, I also know that I don’t just worry about the 6 mouths (plus dozens of animals’ mouths at the farm). I worry about the other 14 people who make up Straight Path and are full-time employees. That’s a sea of probably 30-45 people who depend on Straight Path’s success to cover their living expenses. WOW that’s a responsibility. I can’t describe it. It’s overwhelming.

…

And I’ve served on a Board before. And I am privy to private moments and conversations guarded by NDA or HIPAA in my business life or my Firefighter/EMT life. I’ve wanted to completely 180 things in past lives only to realize that the gears in the real world turn more slowly than I want.

And if you want to read a sob story and see some of my “make up” today – look at those posts about father’s day and my dad here on this blog – they’re my earliest posts here, and from the heart, you can search, I won’t link. I’ve been around allegations that are less than truthful. I’ve been around situations where the truth is somewhere in the middle of what each side accuses.

I guess – I’ll end it here. I’m writing this and naming some (only some) of the names – because there’s one thing in common among alllllll the folks involved in all the open letters, blog posts, tweets, and thoughts. They’re all people. They’re all someone to someone. And they’re all good and decent people as far as I know. Kind people. Passionate people. People I love. People I care about. And I’m sure there are rules and laws in place that prevent the wholesale change from coming immediately. I’m not here defending anyone or taking a “side” – other than the side of “We’re all people. And that matters.”


As someone who is maybe a little right of the “acceptable place to be” these days – and someone whose faith makes some people assume things about me – and someone who has been too vocal at times about things in the wrong way – I know how it feels to being stuffed into a box labeled “Others” – and one of the things we teach our kids is – that’s not a label that exists. We’re all image-bearers. We all matter. We all are someone to someone. And what makes us different also makes us unique – and the more we resist the urge to stick the “Other” label on folks – the more we notice the “peopleness” of the people around us. Sometimes I pine for “SQL Family Circa 2011/2012,” though there were probably others there that I didn’t realize was stuffed into the “other” box – and that’s unfortunate and not right. Anyway. I am praying for all of the people involved here. I sure hope those people who resigned or those people who stayed don’t feel like others. You are each valuable members of this SQL Family, and a lot of people here love you and thank you for your service.

So I wrote the post below this one… Apologizing for careless typing and thoughtless torch and pitchfork bearing. Sadly, the one below that one is the post in question. A few more random thoughts have been on my mind regarding PASS, C&C, The Future, And other stuff…

In no specific order, just some thoughts to consider. And I certainly hope that the incoming board considers things like this. My pitchfork was quite dull compared to some of the pitchforks out there – and some folks wielding them are interested in a seat there…

• I think PASS hurt themselves a little in the transparency game. Though if you look at things – it seems they were starting to head there. But then we had Covid and that changed everything.
• It’s a HUGE event. Can you imagine the work that goes into contracting the event spaces years in event, fighting for the best deal and then dealing with having to cancel at the last minute and not be forever in debt because of serious cancellation issues? I would probably never vote for a board member who said “Oh, just leave those negotiations to me. I can handle them.” You don’t plan an event like this overnight. And you don’t back out of it overnight.
• If C&C were truly evil and secretly pilfering money from PASS – they’d have left us long ago. Once they saw the writing, they would have done other things and sought other associations and work and been done with us in a heartbeat. Yet. They are still there. I can’t imagine what the HQ members are being paid. I can’t imagine what the leadership is doing to make sure their HQ staffers are being paid and keep money in the org.
• I do want to have an independent and permanent independent director maybe – who outlasts the board and is hired by the board and can help work with HQ properly and keep them open and transparent – but I don’t think that is because there are issues. It’s because way too many of us seem entitled to know – and no matter who goes to the board we somehow don’t trust them. Look at the caliber of the people we keep sending there!! SQL Family through and through – they work tirelessly and care deeply about this little SQL Family. They aren’t going to sell their soul for a volunteer BoD position. This isn’t a call to “sit down and be quiet and don’t ask for transparency.” more a call to “consider and use a reasonable person test.
• Let’s make sure the folks joining the board care about PASS and the long term future of PASS. Not just hoping to be the “one to finally deal with” some problem we all perceive without understanding.
• There are issues. They need to figure them out. PASS Pro was something we wanted long ago. It’s being rushed out a bit – but it has some meat and it will hopefully have more.
• Let’s figure out what we can all do to help.
• Thank you. Thank you PASS HQ. Thank you board. You are doing an impossible task!!

The Bible is supposed to be a lamp to guide our path. It’s also a sword. Sadly a lot of people think that sword is a purely offensive weapon. When used properly, it’s a pretty nasty sword that cuts to the marrow. Except it’s supposed to cut to your own marrow.

As I write this post, I’m more than well aware of my last post which sits right below this one, unedited. And the book of James (actually, a very challenging book for this motor mouth with a broken filter to read). In James 1, James speaks of a “Double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

But here I am. A double-minded man of sorts. Actually, I’m not double-minded about these things. I’m more fork-tongued on it. I speak – I type – without a ton of analysis. And I allow myself to get carried along. And I mean to convey my full heart and end up conveying only part of it. Often the part I’m most incensed about at that moment. Lately, you could maybe call that a presidential trait… But it’s not one I admire or aspire to, yet. Here I am.

While I still stand by my words below and my ponderings – I never really took the thought anywhere. Steve Jones recently posted “I want PASS to survive.” So do I.

Sure….

We can (and do) spontaneously organize user groups, local and regional SQL Server events, big conferences like SQLBits, online “communities” like #SQLFamily. We even see spontaneous things where “veterans” of the SQL Server world invest and offer their time to mentor folks just coming in the world of Data and the Microsoft Data Platform. We have GroupBy. We have folks making phenomenal content out there independently.

But…

There’s just something about that PASS. PASS is an old friend – but it’s more than an old friends. In so many ways – PASS has helped to shape my career. The people of PASS, like I said on that post. But you know what? The people of PASS includes the people who run it. It includes the people who put on an event that is way larger than any of the events that community volunteers put on. It’s also the relationships between Microsoft and the community.

I’m an Idiot

I get carried away. You know what? And this is going to really suck to say it because it’s really embarrassing – because I’ve also been railing on and on about how annoying the pitchfork and torch mentality that permeates the media and our political landscape is. Why do folks get incensed about something because of a headline deep understanding of it?! And here I am, not quite with a frothing pitchfork in my hand as sharp or a torch as bright as some (whose posts I won’t share) “angry” at what some “nameless” “faceless” company is “doing‘ to PASS. OOPS. I’ve become the very thing I claim to hate. I sit here judging this or that for doing something and then I duck down, slink under this standard I’ve set up, and I’ve engaged in the same behavior.

You know. C&C is not a nameless, faceless organization. They are the faces you see running around everywhere like crazy at the PASS Summit. They are the organization paying for the audits. They are the organization setting up the sites. They are the ones getting chapter leaders e-mails setup. They are the one managing a huge membership list and serving us. They are the ones trying to work with the Board to carry out a mission and watch a budget. I can tell you that GDPR is a pain, more than a couple folks who make and engage in training content have learned that – PASS is compliant there. They protect our data. They receive payments for events and pay speakers for their Pre-Cons.

You can’t do that all with a volunteer organization. Sure. You can run a Group By with one, or with a company volunteering their time to run it – with a potential (and well deserved!!!!) return on that investment in terms of a niche client. You can run a single – smaller than PASS – conference a year with an all-volunteer organization. And put on an AMAZING event (that one of these years maybe I’ll be able to speak at! – SQLBits/DataGrillen/etc) But I don’t think you can run an organization like PASS that way. So we can either bounce around from Association Management Company to Association Management Company and have a different experience each time potentially and have the board in “Next Management Company Search Mode” all the time. Or we can be married (for good or for bad, in sickness and in health) to a company that actually wants us to Survive – actually needs us to survive. You see. In that other post, I picked up on the negative aspect of that. That doesn’t have to imply a parasitic relationship, though! It could be a symbiotic one! And I think it is one!

And you know what. I love PASS HQ. As an often-time speaker, as a user group leader, as an attendee, as a member – HQ staff work their tails off and it shows. And I will miss their faces this year. And the fact that I even KNOW their faces and will miss them – says something.

As I sit here and think of my conclusion – I think PASS is more than just one of the things. I really think it is an organization with merit and value. At my company, I just hired 5 new Support Team members over the past year and a half. All brand new to the SQL world. And when I think of what organization would I want them to know about and learn about? It’s PASS.

So…

My old friend, PASS, is sick. Heck, I contributed to the sickness by that missive below this one (Yes, I had good points and I stand by the ones that are good 🙂 ), but I don’t want to see my friend die. I want to see them survive and pull through.

Our current board is great. They are people who don’t care about hiding truth or doing selfish things. There are no conspiracies. There are pressures, there are budgetary decisions, there is the added hatchet that is CoVid and the summit canceling.

Somehow I got into this funk. This anger. And I wrote my friend off. That’s happening way too much in America right now. I want to stop doing that so far as it depends on me.

I won’t be voting for anyone who is coming at PASS with a pitchfork and a torch at the BoD season. I was actually tempted to run myself – but I don’t want to – I don’t deserve to serve on the board of PASS right now. I need to be more single-minded and learn to articulate my thoughts. Plus I’m trying to lead a 14 (or is it 15? I don’t know) person SQL Server consultancy and that’s hard enough for this person who is still learning what it means to be a leader. And someone who needs to read the book of James once a month and remember to “listen instead of speak.” The board doesn’t need more spittle and foam-mouthed speakers. It needs more people like the thoughtful and listening members we have right now.

I don’t know what’s right long term. But I don’t think the answer is “Make PASS a purely volunteer-driven organization.” I think that’s actually the worst thing we could do for the long term success and growth.

I’m going to follow in Steve’s steps. I’m going to get that pro-membership for myself. I’m not going to even ask them – but just buy one through my company for each of the aforementioned support folks also once I click “Post” on this blog post. I’m also going to sign up to attend the Summit. I may not see the content live – we’re busy 🙂 but I don’t care, I’ll see some. I’m going to see how we can get the support team to attend and see if any Pre-Cons are right for my team and figure out how to help hold down the fort for each other while we attend sessions. And I’ll offer the rest of the team pro-memberships as well and buy those tomorrow.

I want PASS to survive. And I want to see what we do to change our future. Maybe we don’t do a big annual summit. Maybe it’s a big summit every 2 years and smaller ones. Maybe it’s more local and regional. Maybe more content goes up onto the Pro Site – from folks who love PASS and want to share – for the sake of sharing and helping the next generation. Maybe more online stuff. I don’t know.

But I’m laying my pitch fork down. I’m laying my torch down. And, frankly, I’m embarrassed that I even picked one up. Some recent posts and chatter made me realize how I’ve been clanging in the wind. I’m sorry for that.

Now. Let’s figure out how PASS can survive.

I wrote a thread on twitter. Steve Jones had some good comments and started some conversations over at SSC and linked to my thread. I’ll probably get there at some point. I’m going to try and write this one slowly. But since my twitter thread was used to introduce the posts there, I figured I should finally clarify those flying thoughts into one (hopefully more cogent) post. Yes. I know this is one more post among many with many thoughts. I put it here because I’m not looking to pile on or drive hits, just clarify my own thoughts for myself and for anyone who cares to listen.

I want to declare a few things up-front that will be vital to understand some history behind my tweet thread and my post:

1. I love the “People of PASS” This includes the current and past volunteers who serve on the board, the HQ staff who work their tails off (and even recently took a cut in pay to do so) to put on an event that I’m sad to leave each time I leave, the myriad volunteers who put the event on (full disclosure: I’ve been one of those), the User Group leaders & SQL Saturday Organizers (full disclosure: I’m both), the speakers (I’ve done that a few times too), heck even the WSCC staff who I can still picture always there serving the summit when it is there. I love the people in this organization. A lot.
2. PASS was instrumental in instilling a passion in me early. Were it not for PASS in the “pre-social media days” and before Steve and Andy gave us SQL Saturday (and then donated that to PASS – I was there the day the key was transferred speaking at that SQL Saturday) – I may not have been as involved in the community.
3. SQL Family is #SQLFamily in large part because of PASS. We are the vibrant community we are because of PASS. But not actually because of “PASS” – it’s because of the People of PASS. The early BoD. The early contributors. They gave us such a wonderful community (no it’s not without flaws. There are plenty posting the flaws in the community, and we ought to want to work on resolving those.)
4. I harbor no ill-will. This post and my twitter thread – they aren’t born from any anger towards the people of PASS or even the organization. But more a “dawning” that’s been tugging at me for a few years.
5. I Wasn’t Going to Post this. But I opened my mouth on twitter. I feel like this is a tough time to be posting the thoughts that my mind is driving towards. An organization is in peril, and there’s a company full of dedicated people who have stapled their existence to the organization’s existence. This is a potentially/likely sad moment and a lot of folks are piling on and throwing some fuel on this fire – I even sense some schadenfreude. I’m actually sad that my conclusions are my conclusions here. I have this lump in my chest and I have since I started my thread and then a week later when I added to it. I sort of feel like an old friend is suffering a terminal illness. Not nearly the same degree of sad. I’ve seen that and lived through it – the lump is much larger there. But it’s an analogue of that. Because, I love PASS and what it stands for.

Don’t Bury The Lede…

I type and speak too fast. So I mutilate the point with words too often. I’ll state my “where I’m at” here briefly and then spend some time explaining:

PASS as we’ve known it appears to be “dying”, it likely has been for a bit now. While this saddens me, I am not sure if this is ultimately a bad outcome.

The Problem

The problem with PASS is well stated in many spots. There are a number of factors and my next section will sort of explain why I’ve reached the lede above. But the main point I have is –

• PASS has strived to be more than just the things we all list off for as long as I remember. But the mold is set. Primarily PASS is the Summit. There is a bit of an identity crisis here as PASS has contemplated lots of ways to diversify, they have come back to the fact that to many they are the Summit. Full stop. Many SQL Saturday attendees don’t even equate PASS with SQL Saturday. They just equate SQL Saturday with a user group (and sort of forget it’s part of PASS) and a day of free training and social time. But each time some new effort is discussed, it nearly turns into the reality that the budget is primarily about the Summit. The things that PASS is other than the Summit all are signs pointing towards the Summit and engagement opportunities to remind folks of the Summit and try and get registrations. That’s not bad per se – but it’s the reality.
• Microsoft is perhaps a part of the problem also. PASS, ostensibly is supposed to be a group that helps collectively give feedback to Microsoft and get the word out about things to help the community. But in reality, I don’t see that value – it may happen, but it doesn’t seem to hit the public spaces as much as maybe each organization would like. In some respects, PASS almost feels more like a megaphone that Microsoft can use their founding/donation influence with to tell the users what to focus on and what to invest in. I love Azure, and help many clients move there to PaaS and IaaS – but it feels like the influence from Microsoft is more “Please talk more about this. We’d like to see more people use this.” than “Let’s make our product better, PASS let’s let this “Professional Association of SQL Server (Data Platform) Users” speak to us in a unified voice so we can improve and change. That just doesn’t seem to be the case. Yes there are focus groups at PASS. Yes there is AMAZING Microsoft involvement. But this feels more like influencing to get sales in the areas that they are focused on than feedback.
• In a time without social media and nimble organization of in-person and online events, a large “mother ship” was vital and necessary to make sure that the communities met and organize places and ways for us to all reach out to each other and do the social thing while learning and growing. I can’t help but wonder if, with the diversity of technologies in the data platform space, the diversity of interest and skills, and the ease of organizing locally and the rise of great online and physical events organically is spelling the end of the big mother ship approach. In fact, there may even be existential conflicts between the two approaches. If the mothership requires a healthy attendance to a big national event, well organized and run local/regional/online events rip into that funding base. Which means that it becomes a cycle – less (full price) attendees = less budget = cuts to event experience = less attendees next time = less budget again = more cuts = how long can this cycle continue?
• PASS HQ needs the Summit. This is hard. So many great people who love our community and have poured into our event, going insane leading up to it and during it – working hard. These people are great. And I feel terrible thinking “PASS is dying, and it’s probably right” because I care for those people at C&C. But I fear for them – there’s no diversification for them. And really none for PASS – and I think the critical point has been passed already, and likely were it not for CoVid, this moment was single-digit years away anyway. But this business model, in this social media and “easier to self-start” age – this model doesn’t scale.
• PASS has loyalty – but it’s not to what used to be the acronym and is no longer an acronym. I think it’s to the history of what PASS means to people and the nostalgia of the Summit. This means that “annual fees” or “certification ideas” or other “pay for ____ ” options are likely to fizzle out. I think they’ve typecast themselves long enough as “The Summit (and some other cool things that are related to it)” so that any other attempts to monetize this group in this age of democratic access to content and learning will likely flop. In the past, I’ve seen surveys and folks ask about a “Certification” – but I actually blame Microosft for that just not working out. Microsoft has shown a level of callousness to certs and “premium” certs to such a degree that this is the exact wrong community to try and market those to. Even if they were better certs (without all the XML questions 😉 ), I think the ship has sailed there.

What If There Were No PASS?

I’ve done this thought exercise a bit. What would the larger SQL Server Community miss out on if PASS were to be gone tomorrow?

• There would be no PASS Summit.

That’s it. That’s a lot. But that’s really it. The PASS Summit – as we know it – would stop. That sucks. That makes me terribly sad. Yet, at the same time, there’s a part of me that is sort of wondering if it makes sense to move on from the PASS Summit. I had not planned on submitting to speak this year either way, and I knew I’d not be an MVP (I voluntarily gave it up and asked them to not consider me for renewal, so in a week or so I’m done, 9 years was probably 9 years more than I deserved I figured…) and I would have let someone else use the chapter leader comp (that’s the only reason we are a PASS affiliated chapter. Sad to say, but that’s 100% the truth. That’s not right).

That’s enough to be concerned for. I enjoy that week of #SQLFamily get together and the conversations and hallway times. In truth, though – the same content, the same togetherness, the same “fringe benefits” can be had at a number of other national events, and a number of regional events and international events (Think SQLBits.).

… But What About …

• Microsoft getting the word out about new features? I don’t think they’ll have trouble there – they already do this well enough. Plus the MVPs are good at that. You can see the jockeying to be “FIRST!” to post something after the MVP Summit. There are two kinds of questions when new stuff is described to the MVP community. One is “Tell me more about this/how will it be licensed/etc.” and the other is “WHEN CAN I POST ABOUT THIS?!?!” and you even see it with the “NDA” tweets as folks sort of unofficially “claim dibs” on talking about what they are learning about right then at the Summit… Big Microsoft will still get the word out about features, I promise.
• SQL Saturdays? PASS didn’t give birth to these. They were handed the franchise and the regional folks do 98% of the lifting for them, and 100% of the fundraising for them. Regional events will 100% go on with or without PASS. I’ve bene in quite a few chats with folks who have said “What if we had a SQL Rally like event again?” And the couple times I’ve heard this, the thought wasn’t PASS trying to run it or own it – but folks in the region doing a combination paid and free event. In fact, I wonder if without a PASS these may end up happening more – since you really can’t get a big national event without a big organization with the budget and infrastructure PASS has/had.
• User Groups – Sadly enough, I imagine I’m not the only person who runs a User Group and keeps it affiliated with PASS just for the chapter leader comp. I’ve put my own money and time in before we had sponsors and even after sponsors at times – for that one thing. There is really no other benefit to the local user groups/meetups to be affiliated or not, in my opinion. I’ve thought this for a long time. Most members never go to Summit because of work/budget/time/there are enough regional and local events – so they don’t really even know what “PASS is” to them anyway.
• SQL Community/Togetherness. I really don’t think PASS has a monopoly here. Live streams, Slack, Google Hangouts during pandemic, study groups, local meetups, folks getting together for dinner – all of that is happening and will continue. The big thing we miss is “Data Camp” – but then it can still be there in parts.
• Various Online Events. These are already happening. A LOT. And with some great content. There are streamers in the space starting. There was just a deep dive internals conference.

Where does that leave my thoughts?

PASS means a lot to me. The people of PASS mean way more. I can’t help but ponder, though, if there’s a sunk cost fallacy going on. Part of me wants to register for the virtual summit even though I know I won’t likely attend many sessions. Because of what PASS has meant to me. But then I think about sunk cost fallacy. It’s almost as though I’d be giving the money to try and help an organization that used to mean all of the things above – and was the primary or only source of many of these things – stay afloat. But the reality of the situation in 2020 is, these things are being done and most of these.

The reality of the situation is – I don’t think we need to have someone fund a SQL Saturday website. That will happen. We don’t need one org to host online events – that is already happening. We don’t need to be told what to focus on by Microsoft from a side “user association” – Microsoft will get the word out – and if PASS were doing a tremendous job here, they’d maybe have a bigger stake in the org because of the ROI demanding it.

I think, maybe, PASS as I once knew it is a relic of the times we needed one big voice and big org to reach folks with email lists and without social networks. Back when “SQL Server” was “Just SQL Server” (mostly) and the acronym was still a thing. The Data Platform is very wide. No one company can effectively sell services into all areas of the Data Platform well (Go read Essentialism or The One Thing). No one membership organization can easily serve the diverse needs of the wide data platform. And a bigger organization actually stands in the way, a bit, of a democratized “build what you need” model that is happening alongside the organization anyway. Because of PASS’ one big revenue source, they will forever be trying to do what they can to drive that source. And that has in the past likely impacted other ways to monetize the organization, and it may be too late now.

I think PASS as we knew it is likely not a thing for the future. And, big sigh, I don’t know if that’s a bad thing. 🙁

What Should Happen to “PASS”?

I honestly don’t really know. I think the Summit is a great event. But I wonder if attendance has been continually dripping off, and if it will continue doing so as more and more competition continues to emerge. I also think we’re going to be looking at “Weird travel” next year and some knee jerk fear from a large event. I think the small and regional event model works nicer for the “Community aspect” also – I’ve spoken at one Microsoft Ignite – and I never want to go to Ignite again. Too many people for my taste. Too annoying and sardine-like – with or without a pandemic around.

So if the attendance keeps dripping off, that means the investment has to also since it’s the biggest revenue source and biggest expense source. At some point, C&C has to realize that PASS as the one big thing isn’t smart business and they’ll need to diversify which means that their touch decreases as well.

So I don’t know. Does it become “Just” a competition to SQL Intersection or SQL Connections? Does it become “just” and advocacy vehicle to collect and share feedback with Microsoft? Does it become a smaller Summit event holder? Does it shut down?

One doesn’t simply just shut down a big organization that is the largest provider of the budget for a company the size of PASS HQ. This would be like my company having just one customer and if that customer started using us less and less I said the answer is “Shut the company down!” but I keep racking my brain trying to think strategically for PASS and say “What can they do to increase their revenue?” And I come up short. Because, as a side effect of the spirit of volunteerism they influenced, there’s not a lot that we need a “big organization” with a big budget to do.

Focus on become a truly volunteer organization and still help MSFT meet the goals that were worthy of their co-founding. But the focus over time shifts from a big national event to bigger, better regional events. With enough money raised to support those events and maybe help keep the national organization going…

One Idea?

I don’t know what should happen to PASS at this point. I’d love to see the spirit of volunteerism continue, I’d love to see organic growth of events. I think I’d even love for their to be a PASS Summit – but not at this cost. Not with attendance potentially sliding (is it?)

I think we as a Microsoft Data Platform community are that point where we’d be okay without the PASS Summit. And we’d be okay without PASS. We’d miss the Summit more – but I think we’d end up with 4-6 REALLY BIG regional events in the United States on par with SQL Bits, and we’d get our “Data camp” experience – with less attendees – meaning less expenses – meaning less risk to continue – funded and organized locally. I’d be fine if there were a group of folks who love the SQL Community and this spirit loosely at the helm of this helping to make sure the local folks have the resources (not financial resources) they need, helping to share website experience, lessons learned, tricks to success, etc. Sort of a small federal head of these regional things. We can even call it PASS and have them carry Microsoft’s water and let Microsoft take the keynotes and speak their product lifecycles to the masses at these regional events. This group could help run GroupBy and make it bigger and give it a wider audience. And it can be done with a lot less budget because the big regional events would be funded by sponsorships that go straight to those events and donation, and the free Saturday would be funded by a few days of paid learning, maybe some pre-cons.

You get that going, and I probably wouldn’t even miss “Big PASS” as we know it today. Because we’d get the benefit. With a lot less cost and even require more volunteers – which brings us back to the spirit of volunteerism.

Anyway. That’s just one idea… I love the people of PASS. And I’m sad that I can swallow hard and say “I don’t think we need the PASS as we know it today.”

I’ve decided to write my post election blog post before election day. This is for my believing friends mostly. And just a place to ramble without polluting facebook more than I already do.

America Is Not a Christian Nation

We’ve never been a Christian nation. But we’ve been a nation that has sort of by and large pretended to be one.  It’s sort of been the “in” thing to just assume folks were. It’s still like that some in some places like the South or the heartland. But it’s changing. It’s turning.

America isn’t. No nation is. We really haven’t ever been. This is something that isn’t more true today because ___________ won the election. This isn’t more true today because _______________ lost the election.

It’s always been true. God deals with nations (see my next heading). God is sovereign over all. But he doesn’t “have” nations any longer. That passed with the New Covenant.

We’ve been tricked a lot to think that we are a Christian nation. The moral majority and “religious right” and “evangelical leaders” like to remind us that we are. And then they tell us that to prove it we must vote a certain way. They are no different than the image of Rome fighting the reformers. Politics first. God as a tool or weapon of politically minded men to control those who just follow.

The change this year shows that we aren’t Christian more than many years have. For the first time ever the GOP has put forth an admittedly immoral man. A man who has said things that make me have to mute my TV if I want to watch the news in front of my daughters. A man who has said rotten things about people. A man who uses a paint roller instead of a broad brush when talking about groups of folks. He has accurate points in that roller around laws and policy, don’t get me wrong, but he’s careless in his words.

For the first time a national candidate could sit there in a debate and unequivocally say that she absolutely unequivocally supports abortion. And not just abortion – but even the more visibly grotesque (all abortion is grotesque mind you) form of abortion called Partial Birth Abortion. And it didn’t hurt her.

We live in a time where morals are brushed aside. Where moral relativism reigns. And the only accepted absolute is that there are absolutely no absolutes (except they say it with straighter faces).

So…

I don’t know who won yet. But I can tell you that neither candidate represents Christ. Neither deserved the full-throated endorsement that the “evangelical” “leaders” gave to Trump. Neither deserve to have their morals overlooked.  I couldn’t endorse either. I did vote for one of them though. I voted for the one that is least like the same system that has been ruling over us all these years. The one least likely to commit boots to faraway wars because it isn’t in their best business interests. But it wasn’t an easy choice. It was that or no top portion of the ballot and if I could do it again I cannot say for sure I would do it again.

So what do we do on Wednesday once _______________ wins?  We pray. They need it. Our nation needs it. We read our Bibles. We realize that we have more power over what happens in our lives by living Godly lives. We put off our sins. We look at Psalm 51 and look at our own sin as more disgusting than that of others. We purify our hearts. We ask God what He would have us do. What we should have been doing all along.

We should change what the charlatans have done to bring the “church” down. We should listen to Isaiah 1:17 – learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed.

We should love on those who voted for her. We should love on those who voted for him. We should love on those who voted for the other him. We should love on those who decided to not vote because their consciences wouldn’t let them.

America didn’t lose when ________ was declared winner later today. We lost when they were nominated honestly. We probably lost well before then.

But God can work with that piece of clay. The Potter knew that __________ would win. This is in His Plan A. Because He has no plan B. He works ALL things out for His will.

It’s cloudy at times from our perspective. But go on an airplane trip during the day on a really cloudy day. Low ceiling. Low visibility. It’s hard to see while you are taxiing. From our perspective there is no end to the clouds. No end to the dismay. Then we get into the clouds and it’s a lot worse. Eventually? You get out of the clouds. On top of the clouds, and you need sunglasses. You can see as far as your eyes will let you. It’s clear. To me whenever I fly on a cloudy day, I think of God’s will and purposes and plans. Every time.

So.

We aren’t a Christian nation.
We never have been. It’s more clear now.
That should call us to repentance of our laziness and lack of concern for the souls around us. The political parties look like Rome in the dark ages – courting religion as long as it helps them.
The solution to what ails us isn’t political.
God is in charge no matter what.
We should pray. For our leaders. For our nation. For our friends who don’t believe. For ways to live out our faith more.
Know that God is still in charge.

Use the election of _______________ to inspire you to prayer. To humility. To urge one another on to Good works for Him. Tell a lost and dying world that ________ isn’t going to answer the real problems. Or the suffering in their heart which is at enmity with the God who created them. Only Christ’s sacrifice can ease that pain. Only God is good all the time.

A psalm to close:

Lord, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.

Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us!
Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.

Psalm 85 (ESV)

It’s September 11th. It’s 2016. 15 years after the events that have forever changed the meaning of the date and given it recognition and significance. To some it’s a day they celebrate the time they succeeded in an attack. To some it’s a day their parents talk about and remember and they vaguely understand what happened. To others it’s the last day their loved one was alive.

I’m sitting in an airport. It’s the second or third time I’ve ended up traveling on 9/11 after the events that beautiful September day. I’m watching the interactions. I’m watching the conversations – I’m a people watcher. As I do this, I found myself struck by two thoughts. Not really spectacular thoughts, but just thoughts I wanted to explore in a blog post.

Before a Tragedy…. Normal

Most of us don’t have the blessing or curse (depending on perspective) of knowing “Today is the day I’m going to die” or “In 3.72 weeks, I’ll be dead”. We don’t get the chance to plan, to close relationships. Most of our deaths will be a surprise to those around us. And to us, in a sense, though I don’t know how long the surprise is.

As I sat at a restaurant at the airport I watched the folks around me. I watched the folks at the gate adjacent to the restaurant. Each scene wonderful in its own way because it represented a life. It represented a human being. Created in God’s image. With unique circumstances and perspectives and burdens and expectations.

Next to me was a couple playing Gin Rummy. They were maybe in their late forties or early fifties. They were laughing. Giving each other a hard time. Being playfully competitive. You could say they were flirting while they played. Laughing. Having fun. Their conversation kept darting to “remember that time a kid did this?” or “remember that mother’s day?” I don’t know how old their kids are but they have some and they aren’t here with them.

Outside in the gate area was a young couple travelling with an older relative, perhaps a mother of one of them. Good looking couple. Smartly dressed. The wife was tall, blonde and had an addictive smile. She had a baby carrier on, and in it was the most precious little girl. I’d say she was about 2 months old, if not younger. She had an overfull head of hair. Reddish and curly. Reminded me a lot of one of our daughters when she was a baby. The baby was a little cranky, but the smiling mom was dancing to the pop music playing at the restaurant. Walking up and down, dancing with the baby. Holding her hands. Twirling. Trying to get the baby to dance. A few smiles and laughs broke out.

I was in a high seat at a counter. Sort of beneath me was a couple at a table. I think they had a fight earlier. She was giving him that look. He seemed a bit broken and sad. They talked to the waiter, but not to each other. He wouldn’t look at her but the look was palpable. Their phones were busy. I’m sure they love each other very much. I’m sure he deserved the look even. I imagine they both knew it would blow over, tomorrow. So they didn’t care about fighting the cloud of frustration.

Next to me on the left was a busy business man. On a Sunday night still making work calls. Still sort of rushing whoever he was talking to in some office somewhere. I couldn’t tell the business, something to do with energy or maybe energy commodities trading. He was quick with the waiter. The waiter was there to serve him and this man didn’t have the time for pleasant conversation. I’m sure he has a family. I’m sure he is sweet and nice in certain situations.

Near the entrance to the restaurant, a family on some trip. Tired kids, slightly cranky mom, sort of clueless dad meandering along (man that family looked familiar). They were deciding on eating there or going for snacks.

Behind them a woman with an adult in a wheel chair and the wheel chair attendant from the airport. Maybe the adult in the wheel chair had Cerebral Palsy, maybe advanced MS or something else that affected both the body and the mind. I don’t know if the woman travelling with him was a wife, a friend, a relative. But she cared a lot for that person. I can’t imagine their experience traveling. The extra screens. The wheel chair hassle. She was happy. And pleasant to the attendant and to the hostess.

Here in the Sky Club now that my meal is done. I see a lot of folks with nose in their phones like I am here in my laptop. I see a couple folks chatting. A black woman with a beautiful smile and really pleasant demeanor is in a conversation with an older greying man sitting in a chair she was walking by. They started talking about the Giants/Dallas football game on the screen. But now they are just talking about life and family and life experiences. Engaged. Hands flying. Laughs. Smiles. Loud talking. Makes me smile to just watch them smile and talk.

Between me and them is an older woman by herself. She’s smiled at me a couple times and I at her. She doesn’t seem like a chatter. Just a smile and nodder. So I smiled and nodded. In fact I just did again while typing this. I don’t know her story. She may have Parkinson’s – just a slight head shake. She’s just waiting for her flight.

I could keep going. All these people. Thousands of them at the airport, hundreds or more in my terminal alone. All with stories. All with lives outside of the airport.  All of them, well at least almost all of them, if not all, have one thing in common. Well two. They are about to jump on airplanes. But they all have lived their lives today like they have another day tomorrow.

They are all assuming that there isn’t going to be a sudden heart attack. A plane crash. A terrorist event. A car crash leaving their next airport heading home or to their hotel.

Is that bad? I don’t think so. But watching them having normal days on 9/11 made me think of those who also had normal starts to their days 15 years ago today. The mother and baby. The playful couple. The angry couple. The friendly strangers. The flight attendants with great plans when they got to LA, maybe one who was about to be there for the first time. The parents eager to go home and give a stuffed animal to their kids. The tender and caring caregiver who is everything to a disable family member. The self important business person with a tender side. All of these types of people were on planes or in offices on that clear morning 15 years ago. Completely unaware that their day would change.

I’ve been to many car accidents or untimely deaths as a firefighter and EMT. Same thing with them all. They had stories and weren’t living knowing that “today was the day”.

So.. What?

I don’t know. Let me ask you. How are you living today? Are you living with a sense of your finite state? If that couple at the table in front of me down low knew today would be their last or one of their lasts – would they be doing the silent thing about whatever small thing it is? (And it is small. If they love each other and the thought of today being it would cause them any pause, it’s small. It may be big. It may be huge! But it is smaller than them being apart forever by death or dying together in a tragedy). I suspect that couple next to me playing Gin wouldn’t change a whole lot, but maybe they would have been home with their kids.

I could probably write an equally long post about the things I would have done differently today and yesterday and the day before if I knew that today would be my last. Or my wife’s last. Or my parents last. Or my kids. Or the person I bump shoulders with on this next flight.

Moses said in Psalm 90, verse 2 “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

That’s a wise saying. I don’t think we should live our lives in this fragile “I could die today!!” anxiety riddled worrisome state. But we should live lives that are pleasing to God. To the humans we interact with. To the humans we are intermingled with.

So. What about you? What would you do differently? What would change if you knew?

We have a unique opportunity because we are still alive. We have a chance to think about these things. Even if the end for us would be in 3.5 days, because we are alive now to ponder and act on it.

I’m happy I’m Christ’s and I’ll enter His Kingdom. That I trust in Him for my salvation and have given my sin burden to Him. But there’s more than that. I mean that’s most important. But there is more than that. There are a few dozen things I could have and would have done differently just this weekend if I knew.

So let’s take advantage of the opportunity. Get right with God. Get right with our loved ones. Treat others with decency and kindness, even when we are different and disagree about things. We’re in this game of life together.

Alright. Time to board.

Love,

Mike

I don’t know how to express what I’m trying to express here. But I feel like I have to put the thought somewhere lest I get too distracted by it. Last weekend, in Florida, a man went into a nightclub and shot a lot of people. 49 people are dead. Many more wounded. A news report yesterday suggests that there are still 4-6 critical patients who may sadly add to the death toll, or carry severe lifelong disability. This club was nightclub for the gay community (I don’t know the proper/PC term to use here). He used several firearms – including a semi-automatic long rifle with detachable magazine, and a couple handguns. He is Muslim. He made claims of inspiration by several Islamic terror groups to 911 operators, and his own backstory is complicated to say the least as the stories are pieced together.  This week the news, the social media talking heads, the politicians – they’ve all been on overdrive. And it’s a real mess out there. It’s with that backdrop that my mind has been dwelling on the content of this post. I’ll try and keep the thoughts together, and maybe I’ll even manage to come up with a title. Dislcaimer – Perhaps this is hypocritical. To write and publish thoughts like this while being frustrated with the media, the social media, the hyper charged partisan environment, the ignoring of pain. I acknowledge that and apologize, but I’m comforted by the fact that this blog of my personal is much more rarely traveled than my technology blog..  Here Goes.

Dear Person Who Would Seek to Terrorize America,

Stop. It’s a waste of time. I understand the various motives that exist. Perhaps you are frustrated about our involvement in the Middle East. Perhaps you don’t like our warrant-less foreign drone killing program. Maybe you adhere to an orthodox version of your faith which seeks physical subjugation and conquest to spread your ideology. Maybe you are a racist American who thinks this nation is wrong for (sort of) getting over the Civil Rights struggles. Whatever reason. Let’s just stipulate that you want to destroy America. You want to weaken our foundations. You want to turn us into a barren and smoky wasteland where once a great nation stood. Maybe you think that some great event or series of smaller events will make the news focus on the fear, the terror and the horror and that Americans will become too afraid to do anything and thus commerce will grind to a halt and you can shout about how you terrorized us. About how you paralyzed us.

I am not passing judgment on  your goals here. We disagree, but let’s just leave it at that. You don’t need to bother. That’s all. I’m trying to save you time, effort, physical pain and the expense of training and equipping. We seem to be heading towards the desired ultimate outcome of paralysis, inability to execute, etc. on our own…  I’ll explain in light of the recent shooting. This shooting caused no fear. And we were too busy to even notice what we noticed on 9/11. No patriotic songs will be written. No bipartisan renditions of patriotic hymns. Sure a few vigils here and there, some genuine vigils, some a combination of genuine and “issues oriented rah rah rally”, mostly, though, we’re too busy to be terrorized.

Now the American spirit isn’t one that gets easily terrorized anyway. I mean 200 years ago, a bunch of farmers, former Royal soldiers, lawyers, bakers, inventors, pastors and philosophers decided to fight the worlds’ most powerful army – and won. We have a steely resolve and we can’t be terrorized, it’s just not in our DNA. But I’m not talking about that here. We haven’t even been able to go into our “You can’t terrorize us!” mode, like SNLs “Is it okay to be funny again? Why start now?” response after 9/11.

We’re too busy to let you terrorize us. I don’t mean that flippant “I aint even got the time to be terrorized” use of busy.

I mean we are too.busy.to.be.terrorized.

Too busy…

… Giving litmus tests
… Taking litmus tests
… Judging (please note I’m not saying read Matthew 7:1 and stop reading)
… Blaming
… Fighting over nuanced positions
… Doing what the politicians on our team tell us to do
… Watching CNN’s voyeuristic replay over replay of the footage of bullets with interviews designed to make two politicians fight over soundbites and stoke interest and make you sit there, or MSNBC’s repetitive footage about why guns are bad and Republicans are bad. Or FoxNews’ repetitive coverage about why Islamic extremism is bad and Democrats are bad.
… RTing, sharing, posting all this nonsense that the others in our corner shared
… Fighting about Presidential politics – which are especially weird and Kindergarten like this year
… Arguing about why this is a perfect example of why our pet issues (guns, gay rights, anti gay this or that, anti gun this or that, immigration policy, Islam vs other faiths, Watch lists, FBI effectiveness) matter.
… et cetera

Basically – we cannot be terrorized. We’re too busy to even notice. We’ve mostly been too busy to even notice that fellow human beings are suffering. There are 5 stages of grief, well that’s what some psychologists say (Denial/Isolation, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance). Nationally we seem to only know two. “Anger, bitter Anger bordering on hatred…” and “Next!”…

So you can’t terrorize us. We won’t even notice we are supposed to be terrorized. We’ll just yell and scream at each other.  Normally, I’d suggest to you that that is still an effective outcome. And you should still try and get to us – inspire this loathing. Inspire this yelling. Inspire this bitter divisiveness through giving us attacks to fight over. But I have to be honest with you, save your energy for some other nation.

Here’s what I mean.. That shooting in Orlando? It didn’t actually create a single new fault line. It was just a frost heave that moved a few around and brought a new one to the surface. That would have happened with another news story if not this one. It didn’t cause Americans to start doing these things. It didn’t actually cause CNN, Fox or MNSBC to change their formatting. It didn’t really change the dialog nationally about these issues. Basically, you just need to be patient. Relax, enjoy the weather wherever you are. Be patient and wait us out. We are imploding all by ourselves here. The 24 hour news cycle, the social media proliferation, the politicians invading our sanctuaries (whether that is a church, a social club, a group bonded together by some common social issue they fight for, etc). The “Either Or” nature of the world. We’re doing it to ourselves.

So just stop wasting your time. The hatred, rancor and anger is far worse than anything you can do here. And in all honesty? You run a risk of a serious enough attack actually uniting us on one ore more of these fronts. There is actually a risk that something could be so drastic that you’d make us have a period of unity across these fissures which society, politicians and social media tell us to be apart over. Then your goals are set back even a bit further.

A Plea…

I can’t end it there. As a Christian. As a human. As a father. As a husband. As a son. As a friend. I can’t leave it there. But I have to say – some exaggeration and hyperbole aside – I believe those words above are truer than they aren’t. And truer now than 10 or 20 years ago.

My plea is that we’d stop. My plea is that we’d listen. Sure I have my pet issues. As a believer there are things I believe in adamantly. But one of those things is this sense underneath it all that I am to treat others with dignity. Even when we disagree on something so critical or central to what may make us up. Even something so core that if you don’t work a little at it and don’t remember the love and dignity and respect first that it should be something to divide over and break friendship over even. But yet I manage to have friends who aren’t believers. Friends who are but don’t read the Bible as I do. Friends who are gay and see no Biblical prohibition or problem. Friends who are and say “whatever”. Friends who are Muslim. Friends who are Yankees fans. Friends who like Oracle as a Database Platform. Friends who think farm raised eggs are weird because they can’t fathom getting food from anywhere other than a supermarket. Friends who think Global Warming is completely man made and the data they look at shows it. Friends who think the data is faked there and think it’s a scam. Etc.

So I say this as someone who has sincerely held beliefs. Who believes things that are disagreeable to probably more of his friends than agreeable.. Stop. Let’s stop.

We have to stop this rancor. This bitterness. This divisiveness. This go team stuff. We need to realize that to some extent “things are going to be what they are going to be” .  We all have so much to change with ourselves, our own families, our own jobs. We can stop trying to change the whole world ourselves and work on these things.

As a Christian, I exhort my fellow Christians to remember who is over all things here. Who is the ruler who rules over rulers. We serve the God who overcomes and overcame and will overcome all things and all evil. We should work to make this world a better world for our fellow humans whether they believe or don’t. I believe God uses us for common grace offered to all. I believe that as Christ’s elect we have a special duty to be kind and gentle to those created in his image who don’t yet acknowledge His rule. Partially in hopes that they are his elect and just don’t know it yet. Partially because we are to be decent and loving and repay evil with kindness and repay negativity with positivity.  Partially because we who have tasted grace should know all the more how much grace means – how it works. We should remember how little we deserved it ourselves and should be aware of just how true Romans 3 is of our natural selves.   (I’m not saying be a welcome mat, but loving a neighbor who is different isn’t being a welcome mat, even if our political team spokespeople want to make you feel like it is. And that’s the problem. Our litmus tests and urge to categorize has many people snowed that “being decent and loving to another human who disagrees on maybe even core issues is tantamount to aiding and abetting the enemy.” IT ISN’T!)

And when we stop. We need to start something else. We need to look around and see other human beings. With beating hearts. Bills to pay. Stress at home. Family situations that are sad. Loved ones dying. Pains. Struggles. We need to see that we are all in this thing called life together. That we are more similar than the “spokespeople” and rabble rousers let us realize.

Sure I believe Truth exists. Sure I am confident that the Word of God is the only true and infallible rule for faith and practice. I’d die before denouncing that. But part of that rule for faith and practice says I’m to be at peace with all as much as it depends on me. Part of it says I am to walk an extra mile when pressed into walking a mile for a soldier who has subjugated me. Part of it says I am to walk across the street, go to the stranger who belongs to a group that would normally rip me apart and tend to their needs..

We aren’t doing that. And if you don’t have this raw, eye watering, sore throat feeling when you stop and think about what happened in Orlando last weekend, I pray that you get it. If you have to pause and say a few caveats first. If you won’t accept grief from another because they haven’t passed enough litmus tests to be acceptable to you I pray that you’ll change your heart.

The Bible suggests we should weep with those who weep. We should mourn with those who mourn. We used to be a nation that did that. Yes, if we start doing this, then we’d potentially be susceptible to terrorism and terrorist antics, we’d actually notice the impact. But then our unity and indomitable spirit would be the reasons why it wouldn’t work. Instead of ” don’t bother we’re already imploding all by ourselves.”

First… A disclaimer.. I struggled with a title for this post. I wanted to say “Flint is lucky” then I wanted to say “Flint won the lottery” then “South Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore Need Lead in their water”.. I also struggled with the tone. My wife tells me I’d stay out of trouble more if I kept quieter. I’m sort of breaking that rule here. What I have to say could sound a bit offensive to some. To others it will sound like I’m embracing the full depth of “It takes a village” or going off the deep end and Feeling The Bern.. I’m not trying to be offensive or insensitive. I’m not trying to minimize the real health and physical difficulties the folks in Flint are facing. And I’m not all of the sudden saying that money alone fixes everything. So if you read angry right wing racist rant – then, well I guess – who are you and why are you one of the 3 or 4 people who read my posts. If you read this as progressive democrat or socialist then I ask you to wipe your goggles a little.

My Premise

I was driving to the airport this morning, and I ended up tuning into a rebroadcast of the Rachel Maddow MSNBC town hall in Flint, MI (seriously, I’ve not gone full moon bat. I actually didn’t like some of the political tone injected into event. but this post isn’t about that). It was interesting. I understand lead poisoning can have many effects, some life threatening or longevity effecting. But one of the major focus points was on the gradual and harder to fully quantify impact. They were talking about the cognitive issues, the learning disabilities, the impact on graduation rates, the fact that the kids of Flint who have detectable lead levels are at greater risk now of being left behind. They are at a greater risk of cognition challenges. They are at a great risk of impulsiveness, violence. Basically the experts on her stage were talking about them having an uphill battle to take their education and apply it.

That breaks my heart. For many reasons I have a heart for those who have learning disabilities and challenges succeeding. I know the makeup of Flint in a socio-economic manner of speaking. You can see the statistics. Here’s the deal – the kids in Flint already had a tough road ahead of them. Statistics don’t say much good about their potential graduation rates, their avoidance of violence, their college acceptances, their ability to string an education into rosy futures.

The panel was talking about how it’s incumbent on the educators to watch ever so carefully. For the parents to get their kids to the pediatricians and get involved in their schooling and look for the signs so they can get learning challenges identified and get plans in place to plow past them.  The pediatrician talked about how there was a real lack of great food options in many of the effected neighborhoods and areas and how nutritional support isn’t there and how key that is to developing minds. They talked about how no school in their district has a school nurse and what that means. They talked about some true education funding challenges they are having (* huge asterisk here.. I’m not a fan of money = problem solved, more money = problem more solved… And there are wastes in education, some union led by paying for teachers who should be gone, some bureaucracy induced…).

And everyone is listening. And everyone is watching. And heads are rolling. And people are being held accountable. And with all the eyes on them? They are going to get what they need.

I have a friend whose wife is an administrator at a school in the south that is a Title 1 school – most of their students are on free or reduced lunch. They have struggles. They have learning disabilities. They have to work hard to get parents to the table to partner in their kids’ education. And they get funding. But the funding our schools get often comes with so many strings. You want to give every kid an iPad? There’s money for that. In fact.. There is money that comes first, and then you must use it to get the iPads. There are mandatory items to spend on that don’t help and just add frustration. Not to mention the emotional and fiscal cost of the testing for NCLB. But you want an art teacher? Or a music program? Crickets.

We’ve taken education out of the control of the folks who know what is best and we’ve led DC decide what is best. It may very well be well-meaning people who start an idea. But by the time it gets into the mixer, beat to heck and then sent through the sausage grinder – it doesn’t look the same at all. It looks like most of what comes out of DC – and then it gets thrust onto the states, one size fits all/

But I digress..  My premise is – Flint was screwed before the lead.  They were screwed by me. By you. I can’t begin to understand that. Most of my friends can’t either. I grew up in a middle class world. Mostly white. Mostly two parent families. Mostly intact communities. Athletic boosters, decent budgets to the enrichment opportunities and I lived in towns where what happened in Flint wouldn’t have been allowed to go on for more than 1 month because the multi-generational poverty wasn’t there, most of the community had education, had voices and when we spoke we were listened to. We could advocate for ourselves and do so in a way that would get attention (See my father’s day series when I first started this blog..  That was just one middle class white kid who could string thoughts together to paper and a copy machine and a lot of stamps that started a media firestorm)

Flint was screwed already. Those kids? So many of them would get the outcomes that folks are worried about. Some of it is the school funding. Some of it is the economic status of the parents. Some of it is broken families. Some of it is a multi-generational curse because our programs don’t help lift up and out and teach tools to do something different – it is easier for the system to just keep someone down and “surviving” it seems.

It’s not just flint though. Detroit. Baltimore. Philadelphia. Parts of NYC. Neighborhoods in Boston. Swaths of LA. The south side of Chicago. These other cities don’t have a water crisis (which for the record.. I’m pissed about the injustice of the water crisis in Flint. I think the governor should resign. It isn’t all his fault and it isn’t a party problem – it’s a “gub’mint” problem). These other neighborhoods with the same make up. The same socio-economic challenges, the same feeling of abandonment from those who have moved on.. These cities are all just as screwed as Flint was.

We won’t talk about those neighborhoods. Because there just aren’t headlines about a huge inept government challenge. There aren’t politics angles and actual people to blame and castigate so clearly in those areas. You see.. In Flint? We have a scapegoat. And that scapegoat isn’t all of us. We will never allow the scapegoat to be all of us. It has to be someone with a face, a name, a job title and an R or a D after their name.

Well.. Flint was screwed already because of us all. I’m not saying that the socialism of Bernie Sanders is the answer. I’m not saying that the policies out of our federal DOE are the answer. But I am saying that we all live here together. We all share this space. We are all created in the image of God. Maybe responsibility sounds like too strong of a word to my more strict Libertarian friends – but we do have a responsibility to one another. It’s in the Bible. All over the Bible. Now I don’t think that has to be the by force contract the government has with us. But I think we’ve all looked the other way.

We’ve abdicated our responsibility to a government. And then we look away when it doesn’t get it. And we just get frothed up and blame the party we don’t support and then move onto the next news cycle. Our guilt eased because government stood up and said “I got it… just give me a few of your bucks, but don’t worry I’ll take more from people who make more than you” and we sort of shrugged and said “cool” but inside we sort of know it’s not helping. Now don’t get me wrong. Government is good – it’s ordained by God for a purpose. And it can be a force to help and a force for Good. And a social contract isn’t evil on its face.

But we’ve been failing whole communities. Whole classes of people. Even, perhaps most sadly, colors of people for generations. And we think this is working.

I don’t know what to do here. But we can’t let Flint’s conversation be ONLY about the lead and horrible policy of emergency city managers. Because if we keep the conversation there we may fix Flint – for a decade or two – but we won’t move the needle on anything else.

I keep coming back to this verse with injustice. But let it speak to you here.  Let it speak to you as you think about the least of our citizens. What a crying shame that we are letting so many get left behind.

Isaiah 1:17 (ESV):

Learn to do good;
seek justice,
    correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
    plead the widow’s cause.