Solomon's Private File #409
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 34 in this story, in the Spring of 2060.
Solomon's Private File #409 "BaseBalled"
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the process of firing a Glock pistol at High School baseball umpire. I
had just notified the Oakland, California, Police Department, and some
officers were on their way. The players were sent off of the field. I
said to all, "There is no danger now. I won't let it fire. The shooter
is in time stasis, waiting for the police to arrive." The home plate
umpire walked over to me, and said, "His aim. Was I his target?" I
said, "Do you need to know that right now?" He grinned, and said,
"Thanks. He didn't like one of my calls?" I said, "You could say that.
A lot of them, actually, but one in particular, about an out at home."
He said, "Was I wrong?" I said, "Without video review, the umpire is to
be unchallenged. No, I won't show you while the game isn't finished, or
I would have to do that continuously forever." He grinned, and said, "I
understand. Would his shot have been a strike?" I said, "Better wait
for the police report. Either way, it's an attempted murder, and
endangerment of children. One thing we don't know is how many shots he
would have used, and who else they might have hit. Dugout is in the
path. Yes, I know what he intended. Well, it was in his mind. Future
decisions weren't included." He said, "You know I was thinking that." I
said, "Knowing all, means just that, but it doesn't mean what hasn't
yet happened."
He said, "Not a Corps action?" I said, "All of those of us who can do
a time freeze were occupied, and I wanted to do this one for a
broadcast lesson." He said, "Parents!" I said, "Oh, yes. Extreme
example here." He said, "Is he going to get a consequence?" I said, "I
prevented what would have required that, which is usually reserved for
crimes that can't receive proper justice, and it should be related to
the crime. Pelting him with baseballs just doesn't seem appropriate."
He grinned.
Police arrived. I told them what happened. One said, "Would it have
struck him?" I said, "I'll show you the trajectory in an illusion only
you can see. Keep your observations to yourselves. Your bosses should
be the proper people to authorize anything made public." He said, "Yes
sir!" I showed them, and gave them recordings. Umpire would have been
hit. I said, "Note the trigger is pulled. I removed the primer from the
cartridge so it wouldn't fire. Also the dugout is in the line of fire.
I'm going to unfreeze his time, but he still won't be able to move
much. I want to have a talk with him. Unless you object?" He said, "No
objection at all!" Umpire tried not to laugh. The perp looked around
and saw us.
I said to him, "What's the matter, you don't like the umpire's
clothes?" He said, "I wasn't really going to fire! I just wanted to
scare him." I said, "You scared a lot of kids, but not him. You lied to
me. Do that again, there WILL be a consequence for it. The police
officers can see the trigger is pulled. What you did isn't in doubt.
Why did you do it?" He said, "He called my son out when he wasn't!" I
said, "Why do you think he did that?" He said, "Favoritism. He doesn't
like my son's team." I said, "No. I know his mind, just like I know
yours. He didn't have any favorite teams or players. He doesn't even
notice them much as individuals. He watches the ball and the plates,
mostly. Another thing. He can only judge what he can see, which looks
different from other angles. But all that isn't really the issue here.
Why did what you think he did, cause you to want to kill him?"
He said, "He shouldn't do that! It'll hurt my son's career!" I said,
"Killing the umpire would have REALLY hurt his career. Who would sign
him, with a trigger happy father babysitting him?" He looked very
surprised. I said, "And that's if he survived what you were doing. Look
at the line your gun is pointing to. That's his dugout. Dead sons don't
have baseball careers, or any other kind." He said, "I didn't mean it!"
I said, "I warned you. Now you'll have it. Every time you would tell a
lie, you will loudly say EEP instead. There's another issue where
you're wrong. Your son has NO desire to play baseball for a living, but
you did, but were too bad at it to keep people from laughing at you.
You pushed him into it, and kept pushing." He said, "EEP!" I said,
"Well, that works." Umpire tried not to laugh. I said, "You succeeded
in making his life miserable. So much so, he tried to kill himself,
instead of killing you. Of the choice of life between the two of you,
you know which one I'd pick. You almost killed an umpire who didn't do
anything wrong. You could have killed your own son in that, too, and
other kids, and you still don't care!" He said, ""EEP!" I said, "Hmm,
you're getting good use out of that consequence." Umpire had to cover
his mouth.
I said, "And there is yet something else. Even if you had missed with
your shots, the game wouldn't have continued, and your son would have
never even looked at a baseball game after that. Your childish selfish
actions have grievously harmed your son for years, and severely
frightened his friends today. How will they think of him now, that his
father could have killed them? You didn't just steal his future, you
took away his friends! You don't care at all about your son as a real
person. You don't love him. He was just a tool for you to use to live
the life you desperately wanted for yourself, through him. That's
really not going to happen now. He still loves you, even after all
this, BUT YOU DON"T DESERVE IT! If you have anything to say to your
son, your daughters, and your wife, better do it now, than from a jail
cell. Well?" He said, "EEP!" I said, "For the record, you were going to
say you were sorry. A lie. You disgust me! They should throw the book
at you, but I like books. Bricks, not so much. Would be interesting if
they have them in court. So, got a truthful comment to offer to your
family?" He said, "I was wrong." I said, "You don't believe that, but
still, it's a beginning. If you're freed on bail, you will NOT return
to your home, or to anywhere your son lives. You wait here."
I said to the umpire, "Call the players to attend me." He went to do
that. I said to the officers, "I'm going to release him. Cuffs?" Nods,
and they took the gun and cuffed them. The players came to me. I said,
"You noticed I prevented the parents from coming with you. I'm speaking
to you now, not them. Sander is NOT responsible for what his father
did. In fact, he's not going to have one for a while. He needs his
friends, and new friends, to stand up for him in this difficult time.
You know that's what you would want for you. Keep the Golden Rule
shining!" They nodded, and some had tears.
I said, "Sander, you are NOT your father! You are you, a unique
person, and a pretty good one in my opinion. Oh, yes, I've got a lot of
those." Some had to chuckle. I said, "Your future is YOURS, not
somebody else's, no matter who they are." He said, "Do you like
baseball?" I said, "In my group, we don't do much team sports. And not
baseball at all. I hit a ball, there's likely to be a broken window in
another county." They had to laugh. I offered to hug him. We did. I
said, "Should I hug the others?" He said, "Yes." I did that. None
refused. I said, "There is a game to be finished. You don't want to be
quitters, do you?" Sander said, "And me?" I said, "You started. In
said, "I'm proud of you." He said, "Wow!" I said, "I hear that a lot."
He grinned back to the dugout.
I said to the umpire, "You've got work to do." He said, "I have to
know!" I said, "You called what you saw, accurately. You couldn't see
he was safe." He said, "Thank you!" I said, "Please tell them this is
going on the news." He grinned, and said, "I will." He went to join the
game. I said to an officer, "I will speak to the parents now." He tried
not to grin. I said, "Careful! I do sympathize." He nodded, and brought
the parents who had been there, to me. I said to them, "See them
playing the GAME of baseball? Notice it's not YOU playing there? Get my
meaning?" One said, "Yes. Support, not pushing." I said, "And not a
thing against another player or team. They're not professionals, and
you didn't pay for the privilege of harassing players who earn millions
to put up with that. You see how far that can go with some parents. You
know who NOT to be like. Parents live FOR their children, not through
them."
One said, "I have to agree. We have two adopted children. We had to
go through a lot of approvals and training." I said, "I think all
parents should have that. Yes, I've adopted. So have some others of our
group. With love like ours, we just have to share it with more at home,
too." She nodded, in tears. I offered to hug, and she accepted. Then
the other parents did, including the men. I said, "You knew your kids
were watching." Embarrassed grins. I said, "Wasn't that bad, was it?"
One man said, "I have to say, no it wasn't bad at all." I said, "This
is going on the news." One said, "I suspected that, because it was you
here, and not a Corps action." I said, "Important lesson, dramatically
illustrated. Not going to waste that!" He said, "Good! Thank you!"
There was more of that.
The school principle said to me, "Thank you. I wasn't here when it
happened. Could I have a recording for the school records?" I said,
"You can have what I will show on TV, not the full analysis I gave to
the police. Don't share it until after the show tomorrow." I gave it to
him. He said, "Of course. Thank you very much for all you do for us!" I
said, "You're welcome. Shooter probably isn't feeling that generous."
He said, "He's going to be called Mr. Eep now." I said, "Who would want
to call him?" He grinned, and accepted my offer of a hug. I shifted
out.
Mario introduced the show, and said, "This action takes place in
America. Actually, it involves what's been called America's pastime." I
said, "I know what people spend the most time doing." He said, "What's
that?" I said,
"Trying to sleep." He said, "I meant a sport. Baseball." I said,
"Actually, the general activity that most people do the most of,
besides sleep, is raise children. And besides sleep, it's often what
they least know how to do well. Anybody who can have sex, can have
children, and they really do!" He chuckled. I said, "Kids don't come
with an instruction manual. There are books, but most don't use them.
Most of those who do, just use them while their children are babies.
Well, babies don't communicate well. It's difficult to know what they
want and need, without some kind of guidance. Parents assume they know
how it was when they were kids. Not usually. They remember some things,
but rarely do they remember how it was to BE a kid, fully. They can't.
A mature mind is different from an immature mind. They seldom are able
to understand each other. And being a parent is MUCH different than
witnessing some of it, and more so, with an immature mind."
I said, "Foster parents, and adoptive parents, usually have to go
through home inspections and training, and some supervision in the
beginning. It's the law in most places. Why them, and not all the other
parents? It sure does help! That's why it's required for people
desiring children not their own. So many children are born to
incompetent parents, and raised by abusive parents, not so much because
the parents wanted to be bad, but because they didn't know any better.
That's society's disgrace. We're supposed to protect children! People!
All you out there! If you have problems, or don't know how to raise
your kinds, ask for help. Your places of worship will help you. Your
communities have programs that can help. The schools, too. You can even
ask other parents! Don't let pride make a destructive fool of you. And
that's why I'm here today, to show you just such a situation that
people could SEE was likely to happen, but didn't want to interfere
with another parent's so called rights."
Mario said, "They knew he was that way with his son?" I said, "The
whole community did. All their friends. They even knew the boy was
suicidal, and why. But there was no legal recourse. What was happening
wasn't against the law." They showed the action, with some breaks. Then
he said, "I see what you mean now. Are there a lot of parents like
that?" I said, "Millions! It's like an endemic of adults pushing young
people into mostly adult things, to fulfill their own selfish desires.
And part of what's fueling some of that desire for many of them, is
money and fame. To me, that's abuse. A real sin. Exploitation of
children. It harms them!"
He said, "You couldn't give him a consequence for the crime with the
gun because he didn't harm anybody with it, and the law will punish
him. But the lie. I see now you WILL find a way. But eep?" I said, "He
had too much false pride. Not so much now. He can still lie, but it
comes out differently, so people aren't taken in by it. He lied so
much, he couldn't stop, even when he knew it wouldn't work. This will
train him to not do that. Yes, my consequences are actually for self
improvement, not just punishment. If I had just made him unable to lie,
that wouldn't have been as effective." He said, "A lot of us are going
to have to rethink a lot of your actions." I said, "Good. Thinking is
useful. There should be more of that in the world. I think so." He
grinned us into a break. Then he paid attention to his earpiece.
Back on air, he said, "Our verifier staff has told me that a lot of
your consequences are as you said, to train the people to be better.
Even the serious ones, you allow them to kill themselves earlier of
they do good things. That's like training them for their next
incarnation." I said, "Exactly, and it's happened. One with such a
serious consequence accepted it so much into who he was, he was freed
of it, and didn't have to kill himself, which he wasn't going to do,
anyway. So it really is possible to improve oneself beyond where the
consequence would continue." He said, "So you're saying that if those
people don't kill themselves, they could actually be free of it in
time?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Wow!" I said, "That word's been used in
that area." He grinned.
He said, "Why don't parents like to interfere with other families?" I
said, "They don't want it done to them. That's why such laws aren't
made and passed. But you know it would be different if children could
vote. Most people don't have much control over their lives, which we
all want very strongly. But we control our children. We have to, being
responsible for them. We become VERY defensive if that's challenged.
It's instinct. So is not interfering with other families. But we're NOT
animals. We are NOT slaves to our animal instincts. We have free will.
Animals don't. That comes with the responsibility to use that free will
to be good human beings. Our purpose is to ensure the continuation and
advancement of the species. Humanity needs us to do it well, for the
future, which is for our children to create. Remember, you're coming
back. What kind of society do YOU want to be born into? What kind of
parents do YOU want to have for you, that you're creating now in your
children? If you need to be selfish, do it for this, in creating a
better future, for your own rebirth!" We closed the show.
Mario said, "Wow! That was different. We haven't heard anything like
that before!" I said, "That's why I said it." He grinned, and said, "I
suppose it is. How are your people taking it?" I said, "Smothering me
with affection, and cheering. I'm trapped there!" He laughed. He said,
"I just had a strange thought. Do some parents, when possible,
reincarnate into their own children?" I said, "It's happened. Father
dies after conception, before the fetus has a soul. One case was even
stranger. Wife had an affair. Husband killed himself, not knowing she
was pregnant with the other man's baby. He's in it now. Close call,
though. Husband didn't want to be judged until he made peace with his
wife. We did that, and he was gone in an instant. Right to that baby.
Didn't tell the mother." He said, "You lead a very interesting life!" I
said, "A lot of lives, actually, all over the multiverse. Filling up
our new channel. You know these off camera discussions are off the
record?" He said, "Oh yes! That's the rule, unless you release
something." We hugged, and I shifted out.
After the celebration died down, Mom said, "I wish I had thought of
what you said at the end. Harnessing selfishness! What an idea!" I
said, "We'll see of it actually does anything but activate more talking
heads." Grins and hugs.
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Grant
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