Reading Lists

When I went off to college I wondered how my preparation for study compared with my classmates. Although I had read broadly as prescribed by school curricula, I had read beyond to satisfy my curiosity. That did not extend, however, to history or classic literature. Modern literature, yes. 

Then at campus I rubbed shoulders with people from the Midwest, a majority from the Chicago metro area. They came to campus with a huge appreciation for the literary classics. Our bull sessions at night demonstrated their passionate grasp of history as well. They recounted historical eras with the panache of telling a tale! Those tales were filled with personalities, well developed and understanding for how they reacted with the events of their day. Gad! I had never been taught history like this. I hadn’t realized how exciting this process of understanding the past was! It was dynamic.

It helped me understand history as we were experiencing it during that period. The Kennedy Presidency, the Nixon Era, the Civil Rights Battle of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s; and of course, the dawning of the Viet Nam War Era. Building world views and historical scenarios, helped me see the world in a way that I could understand it moving forward. Interesting. 

Once graduated and the career started, I found myself with time during the weekends and evenings to read. I began to build a library of core literature: history, religions, philosophy, politics, art and English literature…the basic building blocks of a maturing mind. I read every day. I learned to read during commutes to and from work. I developed a practice of reading on a consistent basis from that point on that has lasted a lifetime.

Sometimes reading was put off while career development reading occurred. Sometimes a return to school prompted different reading regimes. But eventually I returned to reading on a concerted basis. It was diverse. It pulled the mind through many thought processes. It posed new riddles and puzzles for the mind to ponder. Not many answers, then; but later those came.

Now in retirement I still come across classic literature that I haven’t read. Bought an electronic reader; it came with 100 classics embedded in its memory. Then we learned to expand the reading list by ‘checking out material’ from the library. New books and old. Lots more reading. All electronically. (I still missed holding a book and turning its pages!)

I also re-discovered my own library. I began to re-read it. Slowly. Interspersed from new books bought or checked from the library. Re-reading old novels and classic literature. The old stories now familiar, but the points, the senses alarming anew and fresh! Well worth reading the second and third time. Hmmmmm. 

I have a renewed reading list. But then, writing for the newspaper – articles, white papers, news analysis, opinion columns and editorials – I have attracted a little attention and local readers have loaned me books they have found interesting. These are not books I would ordinarily have chosen to read: Decision Points by George W. Bush; The Soul of Leadership by Deepak Chopra; Bill Clinton’s newest book, Back to Work; The Help; Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. Each interesting. Each offering ideas. Each challenging in their own ways. And not always of my take on things. 

As I continue to write this blog I am forced to focus more tightly, challenged to be more logical, enticed into consistency. These provide literary benefits I use in writing this  blog. It may not seem so to you, but there is travel, development of thought, of logic and shifting conclusions going on. It is a dynamic journey that is happening. It empowers me to write each day. On broadly differing topics.

Topics. Different yet connected. Hot and cold in consecutive days. Topics fighting for attention. Soaring one week and crashing the next. But popping up again and again until we realize they have legs, they have value to be kept in our focus.

This is the unfolding of facts and ideas and challenging concepts. This is building muscle in the brain so we can communicate and understand each other.

The world is a complicated place. We must learn to live with that fully. But we must not let it intimidate us and make us go silent. The challenge to understand is age old. The enigma of gathering wisdom rarely comes intentionally. Only by chance intersections do we begin to understand better. Rarely fully. But better.

How’s your reading list? Is it challenging you to fresh thought?

January 31, 2012  

Changing Others, Not!

We each grow throughout our life times. Big and little changes. Physical maturation over the first 16 years, then significant emotional maturation to age 30. The following years evolve into phases of life as change is spurred by personal interaction with ‘the world’ around us. Those phases place each of us in competition with many ‘world views’ – those we construct internally for self understanding of the universe, and those other people construct for their internal use.  

Their world view versus mine. Differences. Tension. Incoming facts. Pairing those with world views. Wondering. Playing with ideas. Developing rationales that explain the differences. Looking for similarities. Trying to know, to understand. Seeking. 

But some don’t seek. They stopped seeking at some point. The rest of us continued on. We reasoned with new material. They stopped doing so. We stuck with the struggle. They didn’t. 

A new vantage point of seeing the world and why we contend with tension. Some continue to try to understand, others give up or are unable to press forward. 

So dichotomies build between people. The commonalities we once used for communicating begin to dissolve. Some are lost to connecting. They are frozen in place; the rest continue moving forward. 

In time communicants are lost while new ones join the process. Slowly over the years and decades and centuries, understanding advances. Sometimes quickly; most times with fits and starts and backward slips. But generally understanding is advanced and the human race goes along on the ride. 

This is a long introduction to the point I wish to make: We come to our own conclusions about understanding the world as it affects us on an individual basis. As we mature throughout the continuum which defines our particular life journey, we intersect with others on their journey. Some intersections are collisions while others are pleasant compatibles. We thrive on the latter and are perplexed by the former. The former we ponder on from time to time; if fruitful new ideas spring forth, we absorb them as new compatibles. If not, we avoid and move on to more fruitful relationships.

That paragraph helps me understand why family relationships are so difficult at times. Some people simply make their presence so unpleasant that we avoid them. They, of course, understand this as un-familial behavior without understanding why it occurred. Eventually they cannot even accept peace offerings. They remain black sheep. 

I hadn’t encountered many relationships described above before the age of 28. Married life proffered some views of this, but we all made a point of getting along and we did. Odd personalities were accepted, and the business of family moved forward well. 

New family additions caused relational mutations. Some of these were quite unique! Some were downright dysfunctional. Then a whole new world view began to develop for me. Wow! The unbridgeable relationships some people created. Understanding why remained an enigma. Deepened, even. 

Taking a pause to reflect on this state of things is beginning to shape some new ideas in my head.  Here are some of them:

• Some people do not cope well with freedom of thought; it unsettles them, makes them feel insecure
• Attempting to anchor their lives, they simplify their understanding; they see right and wrong, innocence and blame, good and evil; emotional responses form
• Problem is core honesty of each person finds it difficult to contemplate their own contribution to misunderstanding, non conformity, non comprehension and so forth; emotions accelerate
• The ego protects itself; it is OK; others are not OK; protective behavior settles in
• Intellectual growth is hampered, choked off in such relationships
• Not much anyone can do to change the trajectory of this mindset run amok; it is its own enemy, controller
• Peacemakers are few and far between at any given time; in families (where emotional warfare thrives) peacemakers are extremely rare!
• Primal forces of life and death are often incapable of moving the combatants to healthy posts of neutrality where healing of relations can occur
• Thus families tend to disintegrate over the generations unless there is a core value of respect present; lacking that ingredient, the destiny of those family relations are likely doomed

My encounters have proven a helpful hand does not yield results. Answering cries of help do not provide healing. Listening doesn’t work either. Talking is out of the question if two-way listening is absent. Third party negotiators might work, but the parties mostly view that process as an admission of guilt – theirs or the other party; so progress is thwarted. 

My answer to all of this chaos is the only answer I’ve found that may work universally: pause for silence; time apart. Wisdom comes to each person slowly and at different times of their life journey. Rarely are they synchronized. So time and space provides quiet and cessation of hostilities. Healing has a chance to occur during this period. 

How long the period you ask? I’m thinking until it works. Lasting peace announces its own presence. If you hear no such announcement, then the problem becomes solved because your relationship with that person has ended. For you and them, it might not be resolution, but it is peace. Be thankful for it. Do not stir the sleeping beast! Breathe deeply and smile. Life has other challenges to delight us.

January 30, 2012

Perception as Reality

My reality is my world. Your reality is yours. Each are able to live in those private spaces. We Americans even have the right to the view. Dandy, huh?

Hardly. If we each lived on an island or land mass that was separated from each other, where we could live without ever dealing with one another, transacting business, or relying on one another for anything, then maybe perception as reality would be dandy, workable. But we don’t live that way. We can’t. It is antithetical to what being a human is all about: an interdependent being capable of high forms of cooperation and collaboration to solve existential problems of living in group or associated groups; brain size and capability rapidly bridge logic function to social function. John Donne was correct: “No man is an island.”

We may each inhabit a particular perception at any given moment. That is the product of past and current experiences which give our understanding of reality a perceptive moment. It naturally shifts in meaning little by little as daily experience accumulates. Major shifts can occur when profound facts or understanding breaks through our perceptive model; those shifts would be the ‘aha’ moments that make life so fascinating. Rare, but that alone gives added emphasis to the profundity of the moment.

The human brain connects us to the world around us. Whether we want it or not it is a fact of life. What we do with it is often unconscious, but perhaps it should be a more conscious process, one in which we find intent and meaning?

Socialization is an interesting process. It is involuntarily at its base; later as we mature, socialization becomes much more selective and specialized. At first it is you and mother, then father; first the two, then the three. Then others are introduced to the ‘family’ setting. Each person’s being struggles to coexist with another and still others. The brain adjusts to each. Each other brain does the same. A stasis is formed; an equilibrium. Momentary maybe, but a balanced moment waiting for the next one. But always a balance or the process of balancing.

In this way we each find a means to deal with one another. We have to. I need something from you, you need something from me. Maybe it is a smile; perhaps a meal, or a service, or cooperation in building something through shared effort. I have something of utility you can use, and vice versa. We inhabit shared space and time; the moment.

As moments trail on connected and branching with one another, social life becomes defined. We rely on those definitions to manage the day to day routines. Reliable routines in which we not only find utility of processes, but also meaning. The sky is blue because you and I agree that it is. The tree is green and lush because we share a view that resonates with one another. Meaning is formed, and grows, and is shared with others outside of our dyad, and the larger social group becomes a larger shared experience.

Socialization expands exponentially as we connect with more and more people and groups and their subgroups, and so on until systems of thought, definitions and languages form throughout the globe.

It is natural that we bridge difference. It is natural that bridging is not always comfortable. But it is involuntary. We have to bridge. If we don’t we become isolated. We become opposite of what is natural.

We see the world through our own eyes and mind; but also through the shared view of others. It is inescapable. Not always understandable, but not something that can be long denied. We belong together in struggle to understand and survive on the planet.

Best we do so with humor and good manners. It makes life so much more pleasant.

Are we ready to see the world as it is?

January 29, 2012

Technology & Science

Continuing the theme begun December 28, 2011, the next Key Issue I’d like to focus on is Technology and Science. It is a good topic to follow my last update on Education. Today’s topic covers the following: 

Technology & Science – How we Interconnect the Facets of Life

                        New technology means new patterns of thinking

                        New technology means new ways of acting, achieving,

                           manufacturing

                        Technology delivers the future to us today 

In my mind there is no way we can succeed as a nation by entering the future unprepared. That means planning. Dreaming of our possibilities. Delving into education and all of its elements. Along the way we will happen upon science and technology. Inevitably. 

Science is all about understanding the physical world: how it most likely came about, how it has changed over the eons, which laws operate conclusively the physical elements of our world and universe, which theories likely explain what we don’t understand currently, and the scientific research that will enable us to turn theories into laws or do away with unproven theories. It is a vital process of understanding ourselves and our world, and gaining knowledge consistently through a disciplined approach. 

Technology makes use of scientific discovery. It provides ideas we can work into real tools, real services, real things that improve our ability to live life fully in the universe. Such technology builds toward new technologies in an ever quickening pace of fresh discovery. 

If you have followed TED (Technology/Education/Design) seminars and documentaries, you will note how innovative thinkers are using science, technology and bizarre (to us!) thought processes, to actually uncover more ideas and technology. This interconnection of fresh thinking actually frees the mind for more creative heights of exploration. It actually aids thinking, creates thinking, allows thinking. I know this sounds obvious. But it isn’t. We tend to think in stodgy old patterns of thought. If we let our minds seek their own level of understanding – their own flights of fancy – stunning results occur. Fancy one minute becomes a proven, useful tool seconds later. Associated ideas take great leaps of logic and discover new relationships, associations.

Brainy people left to their own methods, arrive at startling findings and conclusions. Those benefit each of us.  

These fruits of excellence are easily killed off, however, by narrow minded educational philosophies, practices, and restricted budgets. Snuffed out even before willing minds can experiment with new thinking. New ideas. New perspectives. 

Educational institutions must be strong enough to support new, effective methods of educating students of all ages. Encouraging fresh ways of viewing the world brings invention of ideas and processes. This brings discovery. And new methods. And new Technology. All of this is the result of a way of thinking. 

Technology accelerates our ability to think in ever widening patterns and shapes. This produces more technology. New ways of acting come directly from this brain activity. Soon whole new manufacturing methods will emerge along with entirely new industries. 

Think propulsion. Currently internal combustion engines propel most of our automobiles. Not good enough is it? We must find a simpler way to move people and their cars. We have to find a way that uses our natural resources less intensively. We also must find a way to do all of this without polluting or destroying our environment. 

What possibilities exist that we know of? Electric vehicles, of course, but these require heavy, expensive batteries containing minerals that pollute to acquire, use and dispose of. What about solar electric vehicles? Try that in a cloudy climate and watch traffic jams go nuts! 

No we need fresh ideas. How about movement in outer space? What about magnetic propulsion. What totally unknown science may be discovered that will solve our problem? How do we find it? With education. With research. Basically, we must look for it. It helps to know what problem we are trying to solve to begin the search! Can we do that with restricted education budgets? Can we do that with outdated laboratories? Can we do that without encouraging people to pursue these interests?   

I think not. Education yes. Pursuit of technology and everything it allows to follow, yes. Let it happen for sure. Make it happen as well. Intentionally. 

Just think of the things we can do better and cheaper! So many challenges. So many opportunities. So much potential! 

Our future is extraordinarily bright. If we let it.

January 28, 2012

State of the Union

The condition of our nation is not very good. We have loads of problems that need attention. Problem is those are not very likely to be fixed or improved upon by the very people we elected to do those tasks. We can hope they get their act together in time to do some good for the rest of our sakes, but the chances of that are not good.

The President laid out the case very well. Yes I’m an Obama supporter and proud of it. But I’m not a nut case supporter. He is the right person in the right place at the exact right moment of our history. He has a brain and uses it. He has common sense and uses it. He is kind and gentle, not mean spirited. He understands multiple points of view. He cares about you and I. He does his job with energy, purpose and dedication.

President Obama believes in Abraham Lincoln and what he stood for. So do I. Perhaps that’s the connection Obama and I have. I’m a Lincoln adorer, always have been, from grade school to this very day.

Lincoln had an impossible job to do. But he did it. And history records his work as not only successful, but game changing for all American time! He made the future brilliance of our nation possible. So much done at a time of so much vitriol and distrust. But he lived to do the job. Assassinated, yes; that’s a mark against bigotry and small mindedness. It does not reflect poorly on Mr. Lincoln. It reflects poorly on the American public for letting the vitriol get out of hand.

Like today. Gridlock in Washington DC is matched by gridlock in state houses across the nation; at least in most states. Public airwaves are filled with the ugly rancorous statements of people out of control. People who distort facts, records and logic. For their own gain. For their own ego. For their own power grabbing. Politics at its ugliest.

Politics were ugly during the Clinton years. Not by those in power, but by those not in power. Politics were ugly in the Gore/Bush campaign; not by the ‘ins’ trying to stay in, but the ‘outs’ trying to get in. Politics were ugly in the Bush years. Not by the ‘outs’, but the ‘ins’ trying to rule the roost with their smug superiority.

And politics were ugly in the Obama/McCain campaign; again, not the outs, but the ins trying to remain in. And this record continues throughout the Obama administration as well, with the outs trying to get back in while the ins continue to do the work they were elected to do.

Politics. Disgusting. Misleading. Destructive. Of our nation. Of our soul. Shame on us!

If the politicians cannot do the work we ask of them, then it is our job as voters and citizens to get the job done ourselves. To restore the soul of the nation, we must do our work with dignity, purpose, commitment and common sense.

This is no Tea Party group. This is no republican or democrat group. This is just us. You and I and our friends, neighbors and family. People who can get along with others. People who believe in each other. People who are seeking to be proud of our nation and return it to common sense.

I go back to the President’s State of the Union Address the other night. It was to the point and blunt. It spoke truth without damning others. It sought a way forward with dignity. A way out of the current mess toward what you and I are more used to: order, fairness, growth, inventiveness, purposefulness, gracious sharing with those less fortunate.

It’s time we made this happen. Not one republican candidate has distinguished him or herself with truth and grace. So either they change their tone and focus, or we look to the President and give him the support he needs to get the rest of the job done.

Face it. Our economy has experienced several years of damage caused by runaway federal spending on two wars, the aftermath of 9/11, Katrina and undeserved tax cuts to the wealthiest among us. This eliminated all federal surpluses. It sucked vitality out of our investment in infrastructure, and the investment we once were proud of in education and medical support for our entire population.

Fixing these problems beginning with jobs formation (infrastructure and public services) will take cooperation and collaboration among the best minds of our country. No bickering and ill humor allowed. This is the job for serious people to do serious work because it has to be done.

Tell or yell at your elected representative to get back to work! Work to unelect those who are unworthy. Expect your elected officials to study their jobs and back-issues so they know what needs to be done and understand the options. This is hard work. If they want to laze, fire them.

We have work to do. It’s up to us to get it done.  Are you ready?

January 27, 2012

Education as a Key Issue

Education – A Primary Utility of Our Culture

            Pre school: getting an early start, foundation

            Inventing effective methods of learning, all ages

            Transformative high school education; turning kids on to life-long goals

            Higher education: inventive methods, full access, life-long learning

            Graduate education adaptive to new technologies, problems and careers

            Research, development and technology

            Arts and Culture: connecting the dots (synapses) 

Going back to the Key Issues List I first introduced December 28, 2011, I continue to address these issues one at a time. Each contains several sub topics, and I wish to look at each. Recall, please, that the Key Topics or Issues are really issues we as a nation must manage if we are to successfully bridge our joint past to out joint possible futures. Oh sure, we can put this on automatic pilot and watch what happens, but then we would likely get results we do not want. 

Today is Education – a Primary Utility of Our Culture. It is interesting to think of education as a utility. When I think of it as such, I also get another view of education. So there are at least two ways of encapsulating the topic.

First, education as accumulated experience and learning. This is the growing sense of who I am, who you are, as we gather abilities, talents and the interconnected knowledge that allows us to use those growing talents to accomplish or understanding increasingly complex matters. We can do things now that we couldn’t do before. We can understand things now that we couldn’t before. We can use our experience and knowledge to create new experience and knowledge. Education as living dynamic that supports and fuels our daily activities. A nice view. Pretty common to us all. Needed by each of us, too. 

Second, education as utility. A commodity, a service base, something that is ever present and available to be tapped into at any time. Shared knowledge bases. Active systems providing educational experience and credentials. These are often present in our lives in these forms:

• Schools; grade, middle and high schools
• Colleges and universities
• Vocational training schools of all levels and complexities
• Graduate education programs
• Certification programs for skills, licensed vocations
• Adult re-education programs; career programs to move beyond obsolete jobs
• Employer or professional symposia to update career staff in highly specific job skills, emergent knowledge and changing technologies
• Cultural events and lectures that provide fresh views for the intellect
• Art as experiential education and synaptic development

Pause a few minutes and contemplate the educational activity surrounding us. We can begin to drink in how many different options we have to nurture our minds and senses. Our bodies and minds are complex entities. They grow or seek growth continually. They need nurture, encouragement, and sustenance to become all they can be. Often we are unaware of the seeking our self pursues. At key moments in our lives we intentionally sought education – degrees, certifications, professional licenses. At other times we tackled complex problems in our careers and researched solutions, alternate knowledge, the Internet, library, books and researchers in the field of our endeavor. We went outside ourselves to find answers. And each foray in the field helped us understand more elements of our task, appreciate more complexities of the studied problem, and more possibilities for developing solutions to the problem. That’s education, too. 

This blog is education. Hopefully for the reader, but most certainly for me. As I struggle to understand the universe around me I find it necessary to express myself. To determine the topic that puzzles me, or causes me to wonder. I work to understand it more fully, to find parallels in other avenues of life. Can I find uses of this wonder and thinking that helps me understand yet other areas of life? Can any of this information and logic be useful in managing problems and solutions?  

Becoming aware of questions is the first part of the quest for education. Seeking the answers is the active building of the educational base. Coming to conclusions about this knowledge is an exciting step. But really, the pinnacle delight is implementing the education in the real world. Using it. Seeing how it enables other solutions. Nurtures other people to perform more fully. Wow! That’s exciting! 

I know! I was labeled a nerd through much of my life; still am. But it’s OK. This stuff energizes me. It gives me purpose. And I want it to do the same for you and others. 

What a kick it is to witness people accomplishing things, together and alone. We may labor in solitude at times, but it is in relation to the rest of the world where the meaning really comes alive. And useful! 

If we are each to receive the stimulus and educational experience we need to succeed in life, I believe the systems of transferring knowledge and educational development must be present everywhere for each of us to access. So each of us can achieve the level of understanding and talent development that is within our capability and interest levels.  

This is a utilitarian concept. It is the base of my seeing education as a utility. 

Is our nation making this possible for everyone? Are we shrinking from the big task this truly is? Can we see this question as pivotal in human development of each American? And with it the strength and vitality of our nation’s interest and future?

January 26. 2012

Bridge Building

Connecting one point to another on opposite sides of an obstacle. The latter might be a river, a chasm, or a gross unevenness of ground. Whichever, a structure spans the gap to connect to different points. That’s the physical world. Now broaden the conceptual arena to ideas. 

I view the world from one perspective based on my life experiences. Some events caused joy; others led to shame or embarrassment, or a feeling of success, security. Your experience led to lessons which taught you how to view life differently from me. Each is valid, of course. Each has its truth. 

If we each lived in a different country, perhaps with broadly based different cultures, we would probably see the world quite differently. Getting to know each other, however, provides an opportunity to understand each other’s culture, or at least how those cultures affect what we think and how we think. Reaching out and testing these ideas helps us build an understanding of what makes us different. Along the way we also gain insight on what makes us alike. 

It is that bit of insight that is the cell of building a bridge to a broader understanding of our differences, and also our ‘likenesses.’  

Imagine a new family has moved onto your block. Their home is across the street from yours. Your languages are different and unknown to one another. So silence is present. Facial expressions and laughter, grunts of understanding or other noises may be sounded, but no words. How much do you begin to understand each other?  Probably a lot.  

Gestures, actions, behavior – all begin to develop reliable patterns. We slowly get to know the other family in bits and pieces even though we have not spoken a word! We are building a basis to know the other family, and they us. Bridging between two families or households is taking place. Bridging between two cultures is also taking place.  

It is easy to see how we are different from each other. It is not so difficult to see how we are also alike. In so many ways. Some of this understanding is easy. Some come as surprising ‘aha’ moments. But two things are certain: we are still different, but we have to consciously attempt to understand the other.  

That’s bridge building. Listening. Becoming aware. Consciously being open to this process of seeing and perceiving so we can understand. Happily it occurs often without our knowing it. But awesomely it happens better if we make it happen intentionally.  

Meeting this challenge is important for each of us. And for all of us as a culture, a community, a nation, whatever else is taken as a whole. We need to meet this challenge, this bridge building need, so we can understand those who are different from us. It makes us more whole. It enriches our lives. We enjoy the many dimensions of our lives. We see things in many ways, not just one. It’s exciting. And it is healthy. 

Healthy is being open to other points of view. Healthy is knowing your point of view is not the only one that is valid. Healthy is getting along with others. Healthy is enjoying others in your life. Despite differing points of view. 

Open to knowing, to understanding. That’s the basic skill needed to be open to other possibilities in your life. Growth. Appreciation of differentness. Valuing others and their points of view. We don’t agree. But we know now that it is OK.  

Building bridges is a valuable skill. It teaches us how to be whole. 

Not building bridges leads to strife, war and death. Which do you choose?

January 25, 2012

Past Present and Future

Three tenses. The past is where we are from, what we have done, thought and been exposed to. What we have learned from all of that and yet more. The past provides a yardstick to gauge new experiences. It is home to fond memories; and bad ones. 

The present is now. What we feel. The unfolding new idea of what is happening. Breathing. Hearing. Tasting. Smelling. New sensations which add to the ones stored from our past. The instant of this very moment. 

The future; what is unfolding, becoming. What will be. The press from now into the unknown.  

The past prepares us for now. The now prepares us for the future. And the future? Prepares us for what? 

When I was young, the past was often a burden. It reminded me of what had happened, and probably why. Lessons learned so pain could be avoided. Embarrassment skirted. Weakness shunned.  Experience acquired, built up. The past was a memory bank of lessons, of teachings.  

The now we are aware of but briefly. It slips past us; in a blink. Often unremarked or unfelt. Mostly a tiny threshold between past and present. In that very sense, now is a time of preparation for the future. Or is it? 

And the future. So much of it unrealizable. Not just because death denies us the future, but so much of possibility is not touched upon because we only focus on a tiny slice of the future. And that is not always realized in the end anyway. So what is this future we seek? And why? 

This discussion so far has uncovered the following truth: the past is maybe 90% of our life; the now is perhaps 8%; and only 2% is future. Those numbers can only be arbitrary. It can be argued that future is 0% because we are not there yet. Likewise, the present is actually only the tiniest bit of time, seconds perhaps; thus 99% or more is past. 

Well so much for ‘truth.’ It seems in this case it is all estimate and relative.  

The past surely gives us the most to think about and remember and make sense of. It is the past which provides learning and understanding. But only because we are using our capabilities in the now to understand the past. Perhaps if we let it, the past will enrich our present. Maybe it will teach us how to live in the present tense and embrace it fully, enjoy it fully, breathe in the richness of it! But only if we want that, right? What if we have fear? What if we dread what is to happen and so do not appreciate the past and are consequently frozen out of the present? Is this present as prologue to doom?

Or do we treat the past as the storehouse of information and intelligence gathering, the knowledge to live life fully in the present? 

It seems a noble thing to appreciate the present. It seems even nobler to use the present to prepare for the future so the most can be gained from the possibilities to be had there. 

Possibilities. What can be. If we try for it. If we prepare for it. If we can think of them and help make them happen. The good ones. The bad ones defended against. Only the good nurtured. 

Possibilities require what to come into being? To unfold and be of use to us?  

I have spent much of my life helping people prepare for the future. What do you want to experience in the future? What needs to be happening in the future? How do we prepare for that, indeed, make it happen the way we dream it?  

Dreams. Hopes. Aspirations. Maybe for self. Maybe for family. Maybe for organization or employer. But certainly for our sense of success and happiness. Dreams of a better time when strife will be at bay. When people will work toward common good, not selfish ends. When people will realize that their greatest joy is living in the present, not the past or the future. 

Working for the future is different than living there. We can’t live in the future. We live in the present. There is a line not to be crossed. We invest in today so there is a good tomorrow. But the line is still there. We must live now, in the present if there is any reward at all. And it is in the now. 

Contemplating past – present – future provides context and perspective. Both rich resources to live life fully. Not one in place of the other. But each in its place. Each providing the rhythm, the strum or vibration of life. 

Are we living it fully? Intelligently? Sensuously? Tantalizingly?

Are we enjoying the ride and building possibilities?

January 24, 2012

What is Quality of Life?

Quality of life. What does this embrace? Let me make a stab at it. The following elements would be included, I think:

• Feeling needed, valued, belonging
• Feeling sense of future; it’s not all about now; future possibilities exist
• Outlets for self exploration and growth
• Primary and secondary education excellent, accessible
• Post secondary education affordable, high quality
• Community college nearby, high quality
• Area universities and college affordable, accessible
• Graduate education programs available
• Internships/fellowships offered locally to support graduate study
• Vibrant Park District  program and facilities
• Vibrant Library program and facilities
• Vocational opportunities exist
• Education for vocation decisions and preparation
• Job opportunities widely available to provide good household incomes
• Career shift education available as obsolescence occurs
• Community plans for careers, vocations and employment opportunities
• Arts are woven into my life experience
• Classes provided often, nearby, cheaply
• Exhibits often, local and free/cheap
• Artist nurture prevalent within community’s culture
• Public graphic arts visible in design and implementation of public face of community
• All age groups encouraged to express creativity in art
• Many art events provided for easy attendance and enjoyment
• Health care and Illness prevention are available broadly, affordably
• Medical offices and clinics present, more than adequate to serve area
• Innovative medical treatments present, dynamic, of growing influence
• Hospital care well available, high quality
• Care givers readily available for home care as needed
• Hospice care available locally
• Adult day care available
• Transportation services to medical care available
• Pharmacy services adequate to serve area; competitively priced
• Environment is clean and healthy, soil, water, air and sound
• Housing Stock, supply and choice
• Young families
• Middle aged families
• Elder population
• Low income
• Affordability for each
• Aesthetics supportive of positive world view
• Traffic design well engineered and maintained
• Landscapes and hardscapes well designed and maintained
• Community enforces appearance codes to avoid blight

I think these are the basics. There are undoubtedly more items that can be added to the list. But these should do for a start. 

Although some of these items are very personal, they stem from conscious decisions to serve and develop residents of an area. Such decisions usually are made by one or more local governmental entities. However, other institutions can be involved and should be partners and collaborators at many levels. 

But none of this will be accomplished unless there are leaders willing to get involved in all or some of the items listed above. No one person could possibly handle all of this. No one institution can or should be assigned these tasks. These are hopes and dreams of the entire community. As some of the items are provided, others can then be considered for adding. Still, quality issues of each item continue for the long term. Offering a program is one thing; improving on it is another aspect.  

When we consider the old phrase “No man is an island”, know that the above list is a prime example of it. When we suggest that an individual lives better or more fully if his family supports his efforts and development, we also need to know that what the community provides is of major value in the person’s development. They don’t come automatically. They come because we ask for them, volunteer to provide them, or a combination of many factors.

How well does your community address quality of life issues? Does its agenda need retuning and revision?

January 23, 2012

Afghan Soldiers Killing Allies

The turn of events in Afghanistan is beginning to come full circle.  Although American forces entered the nation to find Al Qaida and Osama Bin Lama, foreign forces have had a military presence for a very long time, generations of long time. Each foreign power attempted to restore order for the country and give it a fresh chance at building a healthy and stable future. Tribal tensions have kept turmoil a common feature of the nation’s history. Taliban power continues tensions by playing an expert game of terrorism against their own people and anyone who dares to arrive on their turf. 

Why? Three reasons primarily. First, control over opium production and trade. It earns billions and makes death and destruction worthwhile to those who seek control. 

Second, religious extremism. I doubt this is about religion as much as it is about a power wedge that the Taliban uses as a reign of terror against its own people. If it is about religion, what a religion! 

And the third reason: chaos created by other regional nations seeking power. Iran is one such power player; and their friends in whatever guise they support Iran. It could be Syria three years from now; or a combination of Palestinian, Egyptian rump groups, Libya and Saudi Arabia. The Middle East is a complicated theater of war for three-thousand year-old grievances to play out endlessly. 

America has these interests: world stability of key regions, humanitarian idealism (don’t underestimate the power of American will to do good!), protection of oil markets and pricing (economic stability), and long term global peace through shared United Nations efforts. NATO and UN peace keeping forces have plied the Middle East for many decades to contain unrest and build bridges to peace. The might behind these two organizations, however, is American military manpower and materiel. So we are involved indirectly or directly.  

It is part of the role we take on in being the World’s Policeman. 

I think the time has come to end this game. We become sitting ducks every time. It is not accomplishing much. It buys time for calm but is not used by the recipients to build a more stable peace. Increasingly, American money and power is abused by locals to feather their own nest. Witness the war lords and tribal leaders in Afghanistan. Aid intended for the people is misrouted to make money by people in power, including the elected government officials.  

We have trained Afghan army forces. We have rebuilt infrastructure for their country. We have brought medical, housing and food relief to their population. But the opium fields continue to grow the crop of death. Money still goes vastly awry to the wrong people. And finally, their army is killing off our troops and those of the participating allies. Enough. Pull all the troops out of theater. Bring them home. Expose the underbelly of Afghanistan for what it is. At the same time, remove the need to cooperate with Pakistan in this same arena. Let the yowling dogs fight their own fight. 

Meanwhile, let our nation focus on our own problems for a while so we regain our strength and stability. We have become too thin in resources, resiliency and commitment. It is time to reset the game switches and require international cooperation to take the reins for a while. We need to regroup. 

The world is a dangerous place. We have heard that message often enough. Its weight doesn’t change just because we wish it to. Sometimes we place our nation in harm’s way for the wrong reasons. This is one of those times. Our initial goal has been achieved. Now it’s time to move on.

January 22, 2012

   

Railroads and their Future

They fight competition. They fight technology. They fight unions. They fight regulations. They fight safety requirements. They fight taxation. 

They do seek help from the federal government in legislation, regulation, weakened oversight, protection from law suits. They seek local support from cities and counties when they think it is advantageous, and seek cover from those same authorities when it isn’t in their interest. They don’t seem to care about their pollution: noise, sight, air and soil. They say they gave too much to the nation and got too little. 

Let’s see: in the 1830’s they got land grants from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean for the transcontinental railroad. One mile in each direction of the track route. How many acres do you suppose that totals? And did they use the land? No. They sold the land, or developed it and made countless dollars over the last 190 years. 

They also were given federal government authority over the Wild Wild West because the federal government lacked funds and staff to govern the territory. So the railroads were given the job. Indians were fought and moved to reservations, in part to make way for the railway. Cavalry support was granted freely as well. The railroads had a huge job to do. They did it. They were compensated for it hugely. But now? 

Competition among railroads is minor. Only a few major railways exist. Small regionals still ply their freight routes, but the national and international trade routes belong to two or three majors. No, their competition is from technology, trucks, and a huge shift in consumer tastes.  

Railroads gave us one of the most basic business school lessons. They forgot what business they were in. They stubbornly insisted they were in the railroad business. In fact they were in the freight business, and to a lesser degree passenger transportation business. The latter is all but gone. The former remains but far different because railroads forgot their mission and never had much of a vision in the first place. 

And now we pay a huge national price for this lack of vision. Lack of leadership. Both from the railroads and from government policy makers. 

Canadian rail industry has made incursions to the American rail industry. How? By buying defunct regional railroads, unifying them under one brand, and upgrading the track, track bed and infrastructure for higher speed trains. 

One such project was Canadian National Railway buying the sleepy Erie Elgin & Joliet Railroad, mostly in suburban Chicago. It ran from Gary, Indiana to Waukegan, Illinois in a lazy loop that included Joliet to the south and Elgin to the west. This loop was the missing piece in a network for CN which now provides a bypass of Chicago as it wends its freight line from Canada to points south to New Orleans, and to eastern routes through Indiana to the Eastern seaboard. They knew what they wanted and needed. They bought it dirt cheap. And without much interference from federal authorities or regulation. 

Canadian National and the Canadian government is watching over its nation’s future, and it belongs in China (Western seaboard ports fed by their trains) and Halifax (European seaboard ports fed by their trains) and now Gulf ports and eastern American port networks fed by their trains on what used to be our trackage. Go figure. Canada can work with long range strategic goals. America cannot because it is too interested in playing political games of little substance.

 

Shame on us. Seems other nations recognize the value and strategic significance of railroads. We don’t. We let the railroads get away with murder. And yet they ask for more largesse from shippers and government authorities. Whatever happened to cooperation and collaboration for the benefit of all?

January 21, 2012

Saying No to an Energy Deal

Cut the political crap and focus on long term national need for a coherent energy policy. Yowling politicos want voters to think that job creation is being thwarted if the Canadian oil pipeline is vetoed by the President. Let’s see if we can get some of the facts straight. 

First, there is already a pipeline. The one under discussion is in addition to the existing one and is designed to pump oil from shale and tar sand deposits in Canada through the US to the Gulf of Mexico. The product will add to the fuel supplies for American consumers. Canadian oil is our second largest supply source; the first is our own! Mexico is our third source. World markets from sundry locations make up the rest of our oil imports. Middle Eastern sources are fairly minor. But the world market is always seeking a balance, so any source, or lack of, affects the supply, demand and pricing of oil. 

Second, the route of the pipeline runs through delicate sand dune areas of Nebraska, as well as other eco-sensitive regions. Alternate routes and spillage defenses have not been fully designed; the plan is incomplete and potentially hazardous to agriculture and Midwestern ecology. 

Third, job creation of 20,000 is highly doubtful. First of all, it is temporary. Second, the experts can’t agree on the number of jobs that will be created. Some estimates are as low as 1800 temporary jobs (2 year maximum). A more moderate estimate would be 4500 jobs spread across 1800 miles over a 3.5 year period. 

Fourth, this is just one infrastructure oriented project. We should not focus on it alone. We need to look at all opportunities to invest in our national infrastructure. These are the hard goods or hardware that support national productivity: power grids, natural gas pipelines, oil distribution, highways, bridges, railroad networks, switching and distribution rail yards, airport safety and adequacy, schools, laboratories, research and development projects, space industry, etc. This list goes on and on. It is huge. But it is essential that our nation manages it intelligently. Right now political interference has stopped progress in this area. But wait! We are now, just now, going to look at one tiny project as representative of political gaming gone nuts?

No. Not hardly. If the policy makers want to get the nation back to work, look at all the infrastructure projects that need to be done. And then get started working on them. Please!

 

BUT here is the largest problem with the Canadian pipeline project: It is a diversion from the long-term need to find alternative energy sources.

We will eventually have to invent our way out of our energy bind. Why? Because:

·         Current sources rely nearly 100% on oil

·         Oil is finite and getting scarcer to locate

·         Newly discovered oil deposits are increasingly more costly to recover for use

·         Scarcity drives up oil prices causing vastly unstable financial conditions throughout the globe

·         Geopolitical power struggles increasingly focus on the powder keg of the Middle East; find other energy sources and the powder keg loses its eruptive power

·         Ecology of the planet requires us to find energy which will be kinder to our environment; this will enhance and prolong the quality of life on the planet well into the future

We have done a lot of research on this problem already. It needs to continue with vigor. Here are some possibilities:

·         Solar energy; several types

·         Wind energy

·         Tide energy

·         Geothermal energy

·         Nuclear fission; clean burning without radioactive waste

·         New Physics propulsion technology; vast area yet to be discovered

The oil industry has a lot of self interest to protect and promote. They lobby endlessly. They distort the national discussion on energy. They play for keeps. They threaten and bully. First the politicians (because they are cheaply bought) and then you, the voter, because you are highly susceptible to fear of energy interruption, energy cost, economic fears, international tensions leading to war and economic disruption. You name it and they have played the influence card.

When will we as a nation take these issues seriously? Are we lead-able? Will we follow credible leaders into the future with intelligence and resources? The future is going to happen. Will we be a part of helping the future happen in the best possible manner? Or will be hamper it, bobble it? As we have been doing for the past 40 years?

When will we direct the leaders to do the job we entrusted them to do? Currently we have a joke of a Congress. The President seems willing. But he is hogtied by arcane Congressional rules and games. When will we stop this charade?

January 20, 2012

Possibilities

Immediacy focuses attention. What’s important draws our thinking power. Words flow. Association of ideas click. Patterns form, especially those of concepts. Amorphous blobs, bits and pieces of ideas. Floating…floating…then boom! Something to work with. Build on.

I think we think in lines of logic, or linearly. Actually, we think in swirls, like weather and wind patterns moving about the globe; sucking in cool weather here, warm moist air there, swooping microbursts over there, jet streams converging and then sweeping far apart. And the resultant weather patterns left behind are thunderstorms, or tornados, or blizzards, or whatever. Bits and pieces. Floating about. Currents capturing them and tossing them together.

Same with ideas, maybe? Cross cultures mix together. Music touches literature? Drama juts into sonata and dance begins? Or shapes of organic matter forms into sculpture and pots, bowls and wall hangings. Jumbles of objects, now hardlined and solid, then a moment later malleable, rubber, plastic, moldable. Shifting shapes and sizes. Then color. And texture. Think of these as evolving constantly as relationships of ideas and concepts.

The world of creativity. It fuels imagination. It lets dreams happen. Visions form; of the future. Art as model of reality. An interesting concept. Is it transportable to other arenas of life?

Business. Huge topic. Idea of product or service. Conceptualization of market, the pool of need. Locating potential users to explore their own pool of need and cause them to seek problem solving services and products. Communicating all of this in open public in attempt to connect needs and solutions. Marketing. Imagery.

Management. Getting things done through the efforts of others. Understanding the work to be done. Success of organization. Attract talents to team so tasks are done well, quickly, synchronous with organization’s mission. Discover personal motivations that power team member efforts. Imagery and concepts floating. Connecting. Meaning and working together.

International relations. Concepts and cultures floating, bumping into each other. Unearthing meanings in common. Basis to talk and understand; communicate with each other. Bridge cultural chasms. Share sense of beauty. Moving forward in time. Finding goals of common value. Long term relationship building. Finding peace within chaos. Sharing the fruits of life while solving the sources of strife.

Technology. Atoms and molecules working together in cosmic unity. Some interactions unseen but known to be happening. Science. Serving us. Allow it to help us see the world in broader terms. Swirling eddies of ideas and interactions. Creation of new relationships. Working with communication processes, manufacturing processes, engineering tasks, teaching and connecting and ‘arting’ the world experience.Possibilities come from all of this. The chance to see things differently. To understand more clearly. More effortlessly. To cogenerate new solutions. New possibilities. In an endless motion of swirling…..; on and on. Connecting. A bit here. A blob there. Forming something new. Valuable to have? Useful? At the very least beautiful to our senses?

Possibilities. Do we let them into our lives?

January 19, 2012

Getting the Message Out

There is a message in each person. One that is often not uttered, or written. Not exactly a secret but if it is unshared it is hidden and thus a secret. Intentional or not.

No doubt there are more messages out of sight. Bouncing around inside. Some are mere flashes of an idea; others are a hint of conclusion of varying thoughts that haven’t fit together before now, but are beginning to come together.

Coherent thinking requires work. Forming sentences, then paragraphs. Maybe this is coming into focus, something clear enough to share with others?
Why share? To be ridiculed? To risk judgment? Or to receive feedback, information that will help refine my thought? The process of disciplined thinking begins in solitary; but it is completed in public. It needs to be. An idea hidden away does good for no one. Discourse, discussion…requires more than one brain connecting to another. It provides perspective, challenge and a chance for discernment. It demands discipline, too.

A writer needs to write. A singer needs to sing. An actor needs to act. A dancer, dance. There is a message buried within. It fights to emerge into the light of day. It seeks connection to another person, another being. Perhaps this is confirmation of worth? And what if the acceptance, the confirmation, is not provided? Is the idea or message unworthy, too?

These are contextual responses. We take them for granted most of the time, I think. But they matter because they provide clues to emergent expressions of meanings. The unfolding of ‘now’. The new now.

I realize this is a deep blog today. But I am struggling with a welter of messages that lack coherence with one another. I sense their weight and value. But together they create static that is indecipherable. And too, I sense they ought to have shared meaning.

It all takes sorting out. Making sense of the big picture through the presence of random pieces.

That’s a challenge. Whose business is it to do? Mine or yours?

January 18, 2012

A few Comments

Yesterday's blog began with a commentary on campaign finance reform. I wrote it Sunday and the piece completed a discussion on the key issue of  Political Ideology.

Later yesterday morning I was moved to write about Martin Luther King, Jr. It was his special day of remembrance. And it was heartfelt and very personal.

Rather than write a fresh blog for today, I ask that you check yesterday's two postings and make sure you caught both.

On writing the blog I must admit at times it is very personal and emotionally draining. That's a good thing. It is vital to me, a catharsis even. I hope to keep the blog fresh and immediate. And daily.

Thanks for following my journey!

January 17, 2012

Changed Lives

As night fell acrid smoke sifted from the east. Odd in itself; prevailing winds come from the west. In the window, smoke; sky glowing from city lights ten miles distant. Sirens sounding, moving near and far. Chaos at work. How near?

Rioting underway. Throughout Chicago. So many neighborhoods burning. Now afire, tomorrow blackened buildings, charred hulks of cars, sagging utility poles, wires dragging the ground. And homes empty, burned out; destroyed.

People hurt. Cuts from broken buildings, glass and falling timbers. Trip on uneven sidewalks; skinned knees and sprained ankles. Running. From the scene. To safety or to an opportunity to take from the white man?

Store fronts smashed and looted. Anger. Danger. Hurt. Revenge. Getting mine. Getting even.

The year is 1968. Warm spring April. The year has been tumultuous already. More tumult to come. And the year before, too. Social change is taking place. Big change. Reluctant change for some; so desired and needed by others. Inevitable. Injustice causes that. So many hurting. Real pain. Not imagined. Justice. We ask for justice. Generations of it.

He asked for it; not for himself; for his people. Our people. Americans all! Dignity defined him. Even in death. Dignity as epitaph. Fear killed him. And ignorance.

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. meant different things to so many different people.  In death he became a symbol of unity for black and white, native and immigrant, young and old – Americans all! He stood for justice and was slain for justice. A martyr to truth. And courage. Ugly but plain for all to see. How we treat our heroes. Those who dare to speak out. Dare to form words and sentences that reflect reality. Not apparent to some; they resist the words. They reflect their image. Their ugly truth!

No, Dr. King spoke the nation’s truth about us; all of us. Not always easy to hear. Repugnant. He didn’t make it up. It was the mirror of our lives he held up so we could see and understand. See ourselves. Understand ourselves. Reporting reality to us. Prophesying what might happen if we didn’t change. Telling us what had already happened to change lives, for the worse. Because of collective action, or inaction……
 
During that day in my life, the phone rang. The city closed down. Suburbs asked people to stay home, off the streets. Harm’s way was everywhere. We all were threatened. But we had to do something.

The church calling tree was activated. Food kitchens were being set up throughout west side Chicago neighborhoods. To take in the now homeless families. To feed them and clothe them. To care for them. And in so doing care for ourselves. We all needed it.

 
We went. We cooked. We cleaned and scrubbed. Some volunteers fainted from the chaos, the demand to work harder, harder…..But cooler hands came to help. More meals cooked and served. More clothes pulled from donors, sorted and delivered to those in need, sudden need. Of course they had already been in need. For generations. But that we ignored. Today we respond to the obvious need. Its suddenness.

More church calls. Services at church tonight. Pulled together by volunteers. People who believed in civil rights. Correcting injustice. Repairing an image of a proud nation… its image of freedom and liberty….so tarnished…..so unspeakably at odds with its current reality. The ‘land of the free, the home of the brave…’ besmirched by ignorance and injustice, and hideous fear of….of what, exactly?

Whatever, we had things to do. To respond. To fulfill our emotional need.  

Hurt. Church. Worship service. Not large enough crowd to fill the main sanctuary; use the chapel. It will hold 25, plus the balcony, and some standing room. That should be enough. But it wasn’t. It couldn’t contain the hundreds who needed to hear words of compassion and solace. The words of faith, faith in God, faith in each other……faith that we would recover from this hideous sense of evil in our land.

The tears flowed. The prayers were fervent. The chords of agreement, of oneness were heard. We salved one another. The hug was universal. We were embraced.

This was April, 1968 in Oak Park, Illinois. A mostly white suburb on the western border of Chicago, ten miles from Lake Michigan. And it was a new day.

That experience led me to take off work and find my way to the seminary. And I enrolled. It was time to rebuild my life into one of service. And justice.

Martin Luther King. His life changed a nation. Changed the world. One life at a time. Still does.

He changed mine. And I walked a new path.

January 17, 2012

Campaign Finance Reform

Over the years voters have asked for political campaign finance reform. Politicos have claimed cleanup efforts have been made, but it never quite happens. Certainly not effectively. Compromises make it seem something was done, but each attempt lacked teeth. No enforcement; or weak enforcement. Court cases have been filed but little happens.

And I believe this is how the politicians want it. Certainly the political parties want it this way. Money, after all, is the largest indicator of power in America. It is the score keeper. But more than that, money is the enabler of agreement, of votes, of policy decisions, of influence, of corruption.

I know this in my bones. So do you. I’m not stating anything new here. So why the bother?

Simple. Corruption destroys the fabric of our society. Trust. Honesty. Logical thinking. Sensible action. What’s right is right. Do the right thing. Add your own cliché here.

Gone. All gone. Wiped out by dishonesty, greed, corruption. And sanctioned by the Supreme Court. But then, that’s what the politicos wanted, right? They kept inching their way toward corporate reality of personhood. A person has rights! A corporation is a person. A corporation has rights of a person. Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion(?)! Freedom to donate funds to politicians. Campaigns. Freedom to buy decisions from politicians. Freedom to buy policy. Freedom to own the country.

They don’t vote. We do. So they are not persons. But they have more money than we do. So they are more real to the politicians than we are. It’s that simple.

If we don’t like this status quo, what do we do? Here are some actions we can take:

1. Vote only for a candidate who takes donations of $10 or less
2. Vote only for a candidate who takes no PAC money (Political Action Committee)
3. Ask all elected officials to make laws that restrict political donations; make them accountable for their action on this issue.
4. Move the country to publically funded campaigns. That means taxpayer dollars are provided to get candidate messages to the electorate. No other funding is allowed. The process must be based solely on positions on issues or statements of convictions/ideology/beliefs; whatever else informs voters on how this candidate intends to perform in the name of the public. That’s it. If a candidate wishes to distinguish himself/herself from other candidates, it must be based on facts/logic/personality. No spin. Purely transparent.
5. Corporations are not allowed to fund campaigns.
6. No PAC’s are allowed to fund campaigns or publish ads/films/documentaries/etc. in support of a candidate, party or lobbying client. No dollars. Period.
7. Clear the airwaves for what matters. Clear the palms of money and greed.

Congress is comprised of more than 50% of ‘one percenters’. They make laws and processes which reward wealth and power centers. That includes themselves. If they enter congress poor, they exit it rich. The story is familiar because it is repeated generation after generation. It needs to stop.

Our nation has problems. They can be fixed. But the biggest problem is the people who inhabit positions of trust. They must be removed so good people can replace them.

I am not jaded or cynical. I am a realist. I ask only that we band together as citizens to fix our common problems. We cannot continue as we are. We must change. We must try to do this. It is our future and our kids’ future and our grandchildren’s future.

It is time. It won’t happen if you won’t do anything about it.

January 16, 2012