Reflection 

by Al Bautista

March 2000

I have been spending more time than I should on line reading news commentaries and response forums, especially on what happened to Jon-Benet Ramsey; why one six-year old child killed another; what happened at to two kids that caused them to kill several other kids and a school teacher, etc. Congress and the president will again discuss new gun laws or teaching methods and school guards.

The population rate has certainly grown at an exponential rate since I went to school in a small town of less than 50,000 or probably more like 10,000 population. And yet from the time I started elementary school to the time I left high school, I knew personally a school mate that was executed for murder of a neighbor that was sent to San Quentin for kidnapping, a young man who I once played sand lot baseball with, ended up in a ditch full of bullet holes and was known as California Joe .,, and later read about the son of a close neighbor and friend who was arrested on a serious drug charge all of the people that I knew about, personally. . What about those that I didn't know about in this small town which now has a population between 250 and 500 thousand. And what about all of those that we didn't read about in US alone which has grown exponentially from about 25 million to 250 million.

The one thing that I do know is that someone made money Book Sellers, Writers and editorialists, Congressmen and their staff, and the media in general. All that I can think about is that "What goes around, comes around."

There were no computers or Cyber space when I was growing up, which, of course, I wish there were. But I have four children, 10 grand children and One Great Grandson who is our favorite. At least one of my heirs will be able to take advantage of what I now know about Nembutsu and Sukhavati.