What Have You Done for Me Lately?

A boss from several years back told me that no matter what good I did for others there would come a day when those same people would ask of me – What have you done for me lately?

I was shocked at the message. He was telling me to do less for others because those efforts would not be repaid in kind. That others will press for their own advantage in the end. My contributions to their well-being would be forgotten in the past.

Perhaps the shock was due to the cynicism of the statement. It went against everything I believed in then ~ and now. Pay it forward. Isn't that what we have heard so often in the past 20 years? Isn’t this what our churches have been teaching us? Do unto others as we would have them do unto us? Even in the business world?

At issue was my job performance review. My boss recognized my contributions to the firm and especially to the department. His concern was that I could do more if I focused my time and energy toward his team. His goals. His future. He was afraid I would burn myself out and be of no use to him in the future.

Part of what he said was true. At the time I was alive with energy and visions of potential services and products. Bursting with enthusiasm I attempted new tasks that would lay the groundwork for new revenue producing services. He didn't share my enthusiasm. He wanted me to contain my energy and not give ideas away for others to pursue. I think it came down to a competitive issue with other departments. I will never know for sure.

All I knew was I was deeply committed to a helping profession and holding back didn't seem to be in the spirit of the organization! The more we did the better things were for a lot of people and our reputation was building to a soar! In the long run I felt certain my investment in new ideas and service would be best for the organization.

In time I was proved right. But he was too because in the doing of all this I wore out and my productivity slumped while I regained health and stamina.

There is a risk to doing too much, of course. Being close to the issues we often don’t see these risks. He did; I didn't; but then I wonder who really is in the wrong position in this struggle?

I’m reminded of a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt:

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

It pays our nation, region, state or community if we keep our eyes on the ball. Commonweal is health of the community no matter its size. By boosting our commonwealth as a society we raise the quality of life for all. Along that journey are occupations aplenty for each of us. We do good and do well by ourselves at the same time. We are building the future on a sustainable basis through our own and cooperative efforts. Just like our ancestors did. They planted the seed of democracy in America. They sowed the seedlings of entrepreneurialism among us as well. They nurtured and plowed the land so it would grow worthy crops for harvest. They prepared for the future. They collaborated with neighbors to fell forests for more cropland. They shared the labors of building barns.

As society grew more complex we shared our toils and money (taxes) to build great highway systems, water works, sewer systems, storm drainage infrastructure… The accomplishments expanded greatly.

And together we worked with other nations to preserve the peace and triumphed in wars large and small. We accomplished much. Together.

That was then. What about now? Are we of the same mind and spirit? Are we about preserving our national ideals and unity?

I think not. Look please upon the capitol dome in Washington DC, or even in our state houses! What to you observe? Togetherness, maybe; strife and disagreement certainly. Incivility in magnificent abundance! How did we get here?

By losing our focus on the ball.  It’s our turn to catch that ball and bring order to our lives. Care to join that effort?

What have you done for us lately?

September 30, 2013

Thought for the Day

Teaching

Think back on your fondest memories of classrooms past. What made those memories stand out? Was it the camaraderie of fellow students, or a growing respect for your teacher and vice versa? Or was it the moment of clarity when you understood something for the first time and reveled in it?

Todd Whitaker said this about teaching:

            “The best part of teaching is that it matters.

             The hardest part of teaching is that every moment matters, every day.”

Teachers are special people. They do their thing in front of students every day. They are on the job constantly. It is the nature of helping other minds get the material and use it. They seek the latch that will open the door to a student’s understanding. Such is the challenge and variability of the teacher’s profession. Always on and thinking. So others can do the same eventually on their own.

The profession is filled with disappointments to be sure. But the rewards must be amazing when eyes open and jaws drop as students get the material.

We are fortunate that teachers want to do this job, indeed feel it necessary to do this job! We are the better for it.

Do we support our schools as much as they deserve? As much as our kids deserve?

September 28, 2013

Missing Headline

When a newspaper falters does it face its demise with headlines or silence?

A good question. The internet has taken its toll on advertising revenues for most publications. Niche market publications continue to show signs of life but they, too, are having a rough time of it.

The cost of printing is one variable expense. Paper stock is a commodity and subject to price fluctuations. Ink, on the other hand, is a commodity that is volatile. Oil based inks have been usurped by soy based product as well as other bio-degradable fluids that are source-sustainable and non-polluting. Printing, however, is small potatoes.

Distribution costs are the constant threat. If the newspaper is mailed postal rates are more variable than the Dow Jones Industrial Average! Even this past week the Postal Service reported the need to enact an emergency rate increase. That will spell the end to many publications. 

Unfortunately for most of us, that won’t stop junk mail. Serious publications, however, are the threatened specie.

In the case of our Village Chronicles newspaper (Warrenville, Illinois), we long ago moved to a bi-weekly production schedule to save costs and parse anemic ad revenues. Although we are a non-profit entity – both planned and unplanned non-profit! – our operation relies on free labor, writers, and other non-profit agencies. Problem is most non-profit organizations think their promotions and public communications ought to be free. So ad revenues for the local paper become even rarer.

The state of local newspapers is dire these days. None more so than the Village Chronicles. This week is scheduled for our 122^nd issue published over the past four years plus. We have a cash crisis. If a miracle does not happen, we won’t be able to print this week’s issue. Accounts receivable are slow to pay but our suppliers expect prompt payment, certainly the US Postal Service. And I don’t begrudge them a nickel. They deserve to get paid when service is performed. Same with the printer, as well as reimbursement of volunteers for expenses they have paid to the benefit of the paper.

Deserve. Merit. These are terms we use daily. In the case of volunteer newspapers which serve communities without a profit, those communities get what they merit, what they deserve. If they don’t help make good things happen, the worst will happen. It won’t be a bad thing. It will be a non-thing. Zilch. And that’s sad. For the community. Good people need to step up to make good things happen. The absence of this spells the obvious outcome. Then it is too late to lament.

Let’s hope the Village Chronicles skips only one issue. Else this could be the end of its five year run serving the community as best it could by the labors of 32 volunteers.

[NOTE: A miracle did not occur to save this week’s publication. An agreement was reached late last evening going forward. We will have sufficient funds to continue our bi-weekly publishing schedule.]

September 27, 2013

Getting Along

Get up in the morning. Greet the day. Muddle through personal duties, then to the kitchen to make coffee and crank up the computer. Kick start the brain and get the day underway.

Assess what’s on the schedule for the day and make sure each item is prepared. Determine time free to do other things and tick off the options available.

Then…jump in with both feet.

During the coming hours interaction with countless people will happen. Each one a joy and reward, some not so positive. While we help others some defy help. Their attitude seems to prevent it.

Barriers to feeling good about somebody. You know when you greet them that part of the interpersonal transaction is hitting a dead spot, a thud in the day’s rhythm.  And it dawns on me that I will need to decide how to handle the situation.

If the initial steps to bridge the gap – for certainly a gap exists, we just don’t know why or how big – I calculate other options to find a basis to move forward with the person.  Some are not able at the moment to do so. The person defies understanding or sharing to help us find a positive way forward.

In such cases I withdraw. Do you? I await a better time to offer assistance. Sometimes that will come too late, or too early, or at just the right time. It is not knowable in advance. We plod our way through these situations.

I’m reminded of a quote I saw the other day. Here it is. Perhaps it will aid our understanding?

 “Avoid negative people, for they are the greatest destroyers of self confidence and self esteem.  Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you.”

                                    ~Author Unknown

Step away from the situation. If I press to do something for the individual and they are not ready to receive such help, I may make matters worse. Plus, I may end up being pulled down into their dreary circumstance.  Not a good thing. Stay positive. Step away.

Having made this step, another is probable: seek advice from others on the situation. Do so carefully, however! Seeking advice helps me see that my read on the situation is reasonable and appropriate. Do not talk of the other individual’s problem beyond assessing appropriate handling. To go farther amounts to gossip and not much good comes from that. Ever.

And apt quote on this is:

“A lot of problems in the world would disappear if we talk to each other instead of about each other.” ~Anonymous

It is easy to gossip about others. Much better if we talk directly to each other when the time is right. Discerning that will be difficult and never fully known in advance. But we try or else we become the gossip!

George Takei of Star Trek fame seems to have great words of wisdom to share, like this one:

“Each of us bears a responsibility to reject hate, whatever its form, whatever its justification.

A soul filled with hate can devastate a community. A nation filled with hate can devastate a people.

           It must start and end with each of us.”

‘Whatever form it takes’ is a key phrase. Hate may take the form of gossip, of feeling superior to another person, or simply the bald form of repudiation of the other person on whatever basis. Slim versus overweight, straight versus gay, poor versus rich, church goer versus the unchurched.  Prejudice is sneaky. Hate is as well. Take the high road and be free of this trip point.

Getting along. It requires managing our relationships – major or minor, personal or occupational, family or non – so we can maintain equilibrium. Positive attitudes. Giving and receiving.

Here’s another anonymous quote found on the internet the other day:

“A true friend doesn't care when you’re broke, being a bitch, what you weigh, if your house is a mess, what you drive, about your past, or if your family is filled with crazy people.

           They love you for who you are.”

It would help if I love who I am as well! Might this be the first step in ‘getting along’?

September 26, 2013

Courage To Change the Things I Can

So the weather is bleak one day, what do we do? We live with it and move on. We cannot change it. We can only adapt to it, accept it.

A problem arises in your day, what do you do? You assess whether you can do anything about it or not. If you can you take steps to make a difference. If you cannot, you leave it alone and move on with other life items.

Here are some quotes to make us think afresh on some old problems:

Hugo Chavez, now deceased leader of Venezuela, said:

            “If the climate were a bank, they would already have saved it.”

Because oil industry forces are pitted against cleaning up the environment because they fear restrictions on their industry, the world environmental crisis continues. To know this is true observe British Petroleum’s TV ads claiming their expenditures of over $20 billion to clean up the Gulf of Mexico shoreline in the American southeast. First, the $20 billion was imposed on them by the Obama Administration. Second, the rules to disburse the recovery fund became so complicated that nearly half the funds remain in the bank! Third, all independent sources report long-standing or permanent damage to the ecology of the region continues in spite of BP’s remediation efforts.  In short they did what they had to do because others were telling them so, and even then they didn't do all, or spend all. And they have gone on to do more damage to the globe’s ecology in other regions.

It is about time we got serious about solving this problem. It will disrupt some old and fusty industries. But new ones will replace them. In fact, if the old ones took the message seriously, they could reinvent themselves as the new industries: non-oil energy resources, ecology partners to solve common health problems, and others.

Long ago, Eleanor Roosevelt made this statement:

“I am opposed to ‘right to work’ legislation because it does nothing for working people, but instead gives employers the right to exploit labor.”

Those words have proven true over and over again. Yet the arguments persist. A balance of power between workers and employers is begged. Union power is not what it used to be. Nor should it be all-powerful. But neither should employer rights make slaves of the work force they depend on to make their products and services for the market.  Let’s get real!

Assassinated gay political leader Harvey Milk once made this statement:

            “Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.”

Whether gay rights are the issue or women’s rights, or immigration justice…we have much to reckon with in the future. There are those who have been hurt, continue to be hurt, and in some cases outright murdered by those who oppose them. America is a democracy. Not a bully. Its people need to own up to this reality.  My people do.

This is our nation and our culture. We share it with everyone else. And our form of government is designed to make all of that sharing happen. Yet we live with so many mysteries that destroy rights.

What a shame.

September 25, 2013

The State of Anti-Obama

So much is written about politics, even more spouted over the air waves, and much of it is claptrap. Pure bunk. Often hateful. Mostly anti-Barack Obama. Still. Even well into his second term.

My feelings are pretty well known. I think Mr. Obama has made a fine President so far. He is working hard for our nation doing the right things at the right times. He is working hard in face of incredible opposition – worse than what Clinton put up with during his terms, and nothing like George W. Bush had to put up with during his terms. The fact is Obama has been under a withering attack from the outset of his presidency.  One wonders why. Surely it is not because he is a Democrat. Nor because he is a male. Or due to his age. Or the fact that he lived in Hawaii. Or because he was an effective public servant in Illinois. No. There must be another reason. I wonder what it is?

Meanwhile, here are some items pulled from the internet recently. Just a few days worth. Imagine how much energy is wasted on the effort to defend the President.  Imagine what we could do if we spent our creativity and time really trying to solve national problems instead of play acting at it?

Alan Grayson tells us:

“If Barack Obama were somehow able to cure hunger in the world, the Republicans would blame him for overpopulation.

If Barack Obama could somehow bring about world peace, they’d blame him for destroying the defense industry.

In fact, if Barack Obama has a BLT for lunch, they will try to ban bacon.”

John Fugelsang shares this thought with us:

            “Here’s exactly what happens next:

1.      The NRA shrieks that Obama’s coming for your guns

2.      Many people believe this, and buy more guns

3.      Gun manufacturers again make huge profits after yet another massacre

4.      REPEAT.”

Bernie Sanders, Independent Senator from Vermont, gives us this factoid:

“From 2009 to 2012 the richest 1 percent of Americans captured 95 percent of all new income while the typical middle class family has seen their income go down by more than $2100.”

Dr. Seuss reminds us:

“UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

  Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.         ~The Lorax

Another citation from John Fugelsang:

            “Only here in America can you be pro-death penalty,

             Pro-torture, pro-euthanasia, pro-drone bomb, pro-land war,

            And still call yourself pro-life.”

An anonymous offering tells us:

            “Let me get this straight!

             First Teapublicans were outraged that Obama drew a red line in Syria.

 Then Teapublicans were outraged that Obama would bomb Syria without  asking Congress.

Later Teapublicans were outraged that Obama asked Congress instead of just bombing Syria.

             And now Teapublicans are outraged that Obama is NOT bombing Syria.

             Give me a frickin’ break!”

Citizens Untied on Facebook suggest:

            “We need more than separation of church and state.

             We also need a wall between corporation and state.”

And finally FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) stated omnisciently:

“We know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob.”

Make no mistake, unsettled political times have been nearly constant in America. Perhaps that is the cost of democracy. The trouble is that we have lost considerable civility and actually gained no ground.  How about trying compromise and collaboration?  It might actually gain us some ground.

One can only hope!

September 24, 2013

Settling

Settling and waiting. Waiting and settling. What gives?

Trying to sell the house. Market values have dropped. Still dropping. Now a short sale while foreclosure works its way through the byzantine process. Agencies call to help but only clog the path to settlement.

Short sale offer on house. Foreclosure process halts while short sale process kicks in. Lawyers and real estate agents vie for time. Mortgage bank and Fannie Mae want equal time. In the background IRS awaits their pound of flesh. So many people. So many outstretched hands.

Look for new home. House, town home, condo, apartment, manufactured home? Try each one. Other than rental each needs a down payment; we have none. Apartment lease needs three months up front; can arrange that with difficulty but can do it. Do we stay close or move 50 to 80 miles away to get cheaper housing? Still difficult to arrange. Not much on the market that doesn't need major repairs or fix up. Rent is near our top budget limit. And that will only go up.

Look out of state. St. Louis? Iowa? New Mexico or Arizona?

Internet is a godsend! We search markets far away from our present home. We once were interested in Sun City, Arizona. Back a few years we could afford it easily, maybe even pay cash for a place; but now, we have no equity in our home; no cash purchase of next place. But wait! Arizona prices have collapsed as well. Lots of people dying and leaving homes empty. Bankruptcies and short sales abound. Estate sales, too.

The places are modest but ample. Clean and designed for elder citizens. We are that, perhaps not immediately, but soon. We need to prepare for that day. So these are attractive alternatives.

Mom lives nearby but at 99 has not much time left, and what is left is of a very limited horizon. Sister and her partner live nearby as well. Their interests are vastly different from ours, but still family and a connection to past and present.

No friends to speak of there. No help to move into a new place. Will we be able to afford assistance to do the move? Will we be able to afford moving our ‘stuff’ 1800 miles? Can we do much of that ourselves: rent truck, drive it out followed by our car? How much does a truck cost? How much do gas and tolls cost for 1800 miles? And the car?  But what happens at the destination? Remove each piece of stuff and move it into the new place. Can two old codgers do that?

Let’s say we do. What then? I can imagine us sitting in the new place. Looking around and seeing our new surroundings. Old stuff but new place. How do we make this our home? Peer out the window at dessert surroundings. Palm trees and watered short lawns. Small space, compact. Electric appliances, no gas! Lots to get used to that’s different and perhaps unwelcome change.

But wait! The neighborhood is familiar. Parents have lived here since 1971 and we have visited often. We know what to expect. We know Phoenix and its attractions and joys. We are still able to get around to concerts and museums. Love to take drives into the country and surrounding mountains. We make friends easily. We have a solid church connection. Have to get used to the elder ghetto syndrome but many generations there have done so.

Finding a new place is one thing. Finding a new home is another. Moving away from one place is far different than moving to a new life, a new chapter.

This phasing of life business is not as easy as some make it seem. Much to think about. Lots to get used to.

Waiting and planning. Imagining the new and settling. Settling? Is that like getting settled in? or is it settling for whatever one can find and capture?  I like the former. It’s like nesting. The latter is bleak.

September 23, 2013

Thought for the Day

Standing up for Right

John Fugelsang provides the quote of the day:

“When Barack Obama deals with Syria by invading the wrong country and giving $39 billion to Joe Biden’s old company then we can compare it to Iraq.”

I am not sorry if this quote jangles your equilibrium. George Bush barged into Iraq on a lie, mismanaged the war incomprehensibly, hired old pals to contract services to the military, covered up more lies and then pronounced victory 5 years before the peace which never did come about. Bush told the world what to do and did it. The rest of us scrambled around finding ways to say yes! Then regretted it for years.

Don’t tell me mistakes don’t happen on a colossal basis!

Syria is not like Iraq. Syria is like Germany under Adolph. What does the world do about that? What does the world think about that? What does the world’s largest and most successful democracy think about that?

Well, Obama asked us. We told him. And we abased ourselves.

Now who’s the leader?

Good thing to think upon this weekend. Do take your time about it. The stakes are very high indeed!

September 21, 2013

A Word on Gay Rights

Trying to make sense of things, of political discourse, of ideological warfare, of America in 2013, I come across the issue of Gay Rights. Yes, I have a favored view of this issue because I am gay. Old and crotchety, but gay nonetheless. And the old and crotchety comes from age, not gay! Maybe you already knew that. Perhaps not. Thought I’d mention it to be safe.

I have collected a few quotes you might find interesting.  First:

“We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.”   ~ Anonymous

Whether that is a man or a woman and whether you are a man or a woman seems nonessential at this point. We are all flawed, hard as we try not to be or not to see the flaws. We love others. We slowly learn to love ourselves. Then we are able to let someone love us. Imperfect souls coming together. I think in that order. Any other order seems to put a hitch in it.

Second quote:

“The couples that are meant to be are the ones who go through everything that’s designed to tear them apart and come out even stronger.” ~Author Unknown

Obviously many couples do not survive challenges. Divorce affects nearly half of all marriages. A huge statistic. And then there are the couples who don’t marry but do survive, and many more that don’t. Those statistics are impossible to tally.

Challenges strengthen those motivated to survive the onslaughts of happenstance: ill health, poverty, unemployment, alcoholism, drug addiction, adultery, criminal behaviors. Challenges much larger than a bounced check, or a cancelled TV program, or a lost election. Challenges that give depth and patina to a life.

The healthy couples can talk about the problems and find solutions, or adapt to the new realities, welcome or not. They find reason for life and happiness; and make it happen. They belong together. They stick it out – together – and are stronger for the experience.

Third quote:

“Gay marriage isn't about special rights – it’s equal rights. ‘Special rights’ are for political churches that don’t pay taxes.”   ~John Fugelsang

And anyone else who benefits from the status quo and doesn't much like change or challenge. Usually they speak values and principles but end up exchanging money, sort of like the money changers in the Temple cast out by Jesus. Perhaps they should read their Bibles with a bit more discernment?

Quote four comes from The Reprimand Project on Facebook.com:

            “So you oppose gay rights because of the Bible?

            Unless you also try to outlaw:

            -Shrimp Cocktails (Leviticus 11:9)

            -Cursing (Leviticus 24:16)

            -Women’s jeans (Deuteronomy 22:5)

            -Arrogance (Proverbs 16:5)

            -Lying (Proverbs 12:22)

            -Bacon (Leviticus 11:7)

            -Adultery (Deuteronomy 22:23)

            -Working on Sunday (Numbers 15:32)

            Please shut the hell up!”

Well now; that’s a bit intemperate for me, but the point remains valid. The Bible commands mankind to do many things. Nearly every one of those things we do today without a second thought.

One we should never forget: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Then again, perhaps we don’t know how to love ourselves very well?

September 20, 2013

Leg Bone's Connected to the Hip Bone...

Upstate New York. Small town, suburb of Syracuse. Senior year in high school. History class. Teacher: Miss Gifford. Old, frail, bony, and oh so very proper! Short hair, stern look in her eyes, she glowered at the class and said: “Cause, Effect, Result; those are the words that tell the story of mankind. That’s history.”

And don’t you know we got that message!

Logic. Something happens and it has an effect on some people, a large enough effect that they wonder about it and take action. The action is taken by several people, maybe many more than several. The action may not be exactly the same thing, either. But taken as a whole, the action of many have a result. That is felt by more people. And soon an historical fact begins to take shape. It may take weeks or months; often it happens over years. For example, who knew for sure in 2007 that the seeds of a long and nasty recession in America would spell doom to many international economies? Who then would feel confident to say that the American recession was more like a depression for millions of people? But there you have it. Entire industries are being redesigned, some put to rest for good. New careers replace now dead ones. Retirees are the new part-timers and never-to-stop-working laborers for the next 20 years.

Looking back we can understand many things that were decidedly hazy at their time. Life’s like that. It takes time to understand it, to adjust to it, to make sense out of it and move on to a better place.

Hubert H. Humphrey, Minnesota Senator, Congressman, American Vice President and failed presidential candidate, was a long view thinker upon the American experience.  He said once:

“Today we know that World War II began not in 1939 or 1941 but in the 1920’s and 1930’s, when those who should have known better persuaded themselves that they were not their brother’s keeper.”

A little thing that grew to enormous proportions. Some people became irritated at what could be but wasn't yet. Wanted things better. Looked for a scapegoat, someone to blame. A pompous little man named Hitler looked at Jews, made them the butt of jokes and swelled a small political tide to control of Germany. And kept that power grab on a roll to neighboring nations, regions, continent…until the world took notice. Pogroms. Middle of the night raids, smashing homes, grabbing women and children, imprisoning them. Gunning down men at the edge of open pits freshly dug as a mass grave. Over and over again. Inhuman horror committed in the name of power and right and religion, and…add your own misnamed cause here.

The holocaust happened. Millions witnessed it. Millions died in it. Millions more died as the world finally came to its senses and put a stop to it.

How many times in the story of mankind has something like this happened?  The Crusades pop to mind. The American Civil War, too. World War I? Korean War? Viet Nam conflict? The entire middle east morass of seething hate and mania?

Now let’s look at this a little more calmly. A much more simple approach that brings the lesson of the day home to our living rooms and kitchen tables of this morning.  Ponder these two quotes and tell me we don’t have a major problem in our midst that won’t go away until good people see that good things are done and order is restored:

From Bernie Sanders, Independent Senator from Vermont, comes this statement:

“Last year, McDonald’s tripled the compensation of CEO Don Thompson to $13.8 million. David Novak, the boss at Yum Brands, the owners of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken, received more than $44 million in stock options last year alone. If the companies have enough money to do that, maybe we can end starvation wages.”

Kindly recall that these corporations employ hundreds of thousands of part time employees, maybe millions. They pay those employees minimum wage and offer very few employee benefits, in fact engineering work schedules to minimize hours below the requirement standard for offering health care benefits. And these are the employers who fight tooth and nail against universal health care and Obamacare. They are politicians donating money to politicians so legislative decisions fall in their favor so they can make more money as corporations and pay their executives ludicrously high incomes.

From www.connectthedotsusa.com:

            “The Class Warfare Hustle

A Wall Street CEO, a union worker, and a Tea Partier are sitting at a table with 12 cookies. The CEO grabs 11, turns to the Tea Partier and says, ‘You better watch him…That union guy is out to take your cookie.”

Laugh or weep. Tell me how this statement is inaccurate in 2013 economic reality. I think it is on the mark.

Cause. Effect. Result. History in the making. Are we savvy enough to get it? Are we courageous enough to do something about it? Ah. Now that’s the question.

September 19, 2013

State of the World

Syria slays its own citizens. Gases them. Bombs them. Destroys their towns and communities. Libya did similar damage to its own people, perhaps less the chemical weapons. Iraq did the same. Iran is a fearful nation and tries to instill fear in other peoples. Egypt sent its gangs and police out to subdue political enemies and started a civil war leading to the removal by force of two heads of government. The PLO continues to destroy its own people via boycotts, violence directed outside its borders but narrowing the borders for its own people.

This is the cradle of civilization. The Tigris and Euphrates. The Nile. Giza, Pyramids, Sphinx, Valley of the Kings. This is where the Bible says humanity got its start. This also is the story many history books claim is true.

They have done such a fine job! Look at them now. Such fine religions, philosophies and models of citizenship.

They war within themselves. They war among themselves. No wonder they wish to broaden the blame field to Europe and America!

As Maya Angelou states:

            “Hate has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet.”

Of course American history has the same bigotry, hate and pretzel-thinking as the Middle East. How else could we have claimed religious freedom but turned this into meaning Christianity is the base of our laws? How else can we proclaim access to education for all yet throw up barriers to everyone in the same breath. How can we aver the freedom to vote yet pile one regulation after another to keep the meek of the earth away from the polls? And what of the elimination of debtor prisons yet the scourge of government agencies that accomplish the same thing yet with more humiliation?

The world is next door. It is on our doorstep. We live among all peoples as bosom neighbors whether we notice them or not.

Theodore Roosevelt had this to say:

“A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on  real issues!”

How easily we see this in everyday newscasts and press releases! Nothing truly said. Nothing much helpful.

Yet President Obama has stated the Syrian crisis openly and clearly. We do something as world citizens to save the lives of innocent peoples from being gassed, or we suffer the personal embarrassment of our inability to act.  What then would you do, Congress?

And they of course say and do nothing. They cannot. They are without will and principle. They have given it all over to crass political games of no value. This is the legislative body that claims so much but does so little! They are open to clear view: naked do- nothings living in a glass house. Yet we with stones hold back our weapons and laugh at the denizens of their own prison!

Creativity. American creativity is abundant. It resides in each of us. It is our duty to solve the problems conjured by the others. It is time for us to push away hate as Maya Angelou bids.  Another gem from Maya:

            “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

So let’s get to work! Much to do. Much to do. And we have so much to work with!

September 18, 2013

Temper of Our Times

Turn on the radio and listen to the news. Better yet listen to an open mike radio news discussion program. You will hear reports of accidents, wars, murders, robberies and other heinous crimes. Taken together these news stories may give you the impression that all is falling apart and not much good is happening in the world. The discussion shows will provide no end to blaming others for all of these ills. It may seem as though no one is doing their job. Nothing but mistakes are being made. What will become of us?

The same temper of reporting and interaction on news panels is found on the major TV channels and cable news network programs. Some specialize in only reporting from the conservative perspective while others purport to represent liberal views. In truth they report a skewed perspective. See if you can find the middle road in any of these programs!

No. It would seem that are tempers are flared and we are of a very negative mind. We see little good. Of greater importance ~ we hear very little constructive discussion of ideas that would solve some of the problems reported.

The act of judging others has become a high art in the broadcast industry. There is no shortage of people willing to go on the air to bad mouth someone else. One wonders why. Do they feel so poorly about themselves that they can only feel good if they feel superior to someone else? Is that it?  Maybe so.

On Facebook there is a site named ‘The Optimism Revolution’. Here’s a quote they shared the other day:

            “Never look down on someone else unless you’re helping them up.”

That’s a good place to start a positive campaign. Get down and dirty with those in trouble and help them improve their lot. Help them get out of trouble whether it is financial, health, legal, or emotional. If we assume the role of brother’s keeper, then we are to help others. In doing that we become close enough to them to understand their situation. How then could we possible look down upon them?

Another quote that is a building block for good is:

            “Never let another person dictate the terms for living your life.”

The life you live is yours to direct. You are the one person who has to deal with everything connected to your life. No one else is. No one else therefore can. Only you. Others may help, but only you live the life. Accordingly you must do it your way as much as possible.

www.rawforbeauty.com is a website with this thought to consider:

            “Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine.

             It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.”

A good thought to think about. It goes well with the other two quotes shown above. The temper of our times demands we handle our own affairs but temper it with the compassion to help others without judgment. Their journeys are as complex as our own. They are little different from us. We can help and should help. It teaches us about our inner selves as well as a broader view of humankind.

To do otherwise is to deny the other person their dignity and their freedom.

As Abraham Lincoln once cautioned America:

            “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”

The next time you hear ill tempered rhetoric on TV or radio broadcast, give these ideas some thought. Then turn off the program! You may find the calm you will need to tackle our problems intelligently and compassionately.

Shalom!

September 17, 2013

Earth and Art

This quote came from the internet a few days ago:

            “The Earth without ‘art’ is just eh!”

I have to thank Rocky for spotting this for me. It makes me think twice because Rocky is an artist. A ceramic artist. Not because he says so but because others say so.

Art. Creative activity. By human beings. Intentional acts representing something of meaning. A statement in a form other than actual words. Unless of course, those words are literature and all the art forms related to it!

I see art as the means of a person speaking to the world outside himself, expressing an idea that can only be stated in that one special manner or moment. What does the Mona Lisa say to you, to others? What was Leonardo da Vinci saying to the world outside his mind? How many answers to that question do you suppose others will provide? Probably as many as the number of people offering an answer!

From the Internet comes this definition of art: “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

From this same source comes a second definition: “The various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.”

That’s more accurate. More genres of artistic endeavor included. All expressing in different manners the inner thoughts of a person.

There are those who think art is bunk. They do not recognize the value of art as an area of study or creative pursuit. I think they feel this way because they simply haven’t thought much about art. They probably don’t feel especially creative themselves so don’t think much about it. But here are some things they probably do think about:

            -color of their car; the selection of that color that feels right for that specific car

            -the style of the car that suits their sense of ‘right’ when they buy the car

            -the pattern of the fabric on the sofa they sit on

            -the music they listen to while driving to work or on errands

            -the music they choose to listen to while relaxing at home

            -the TV programs they watch with avid interest at home

           

What they might not think about is the act of art in shaping their new car – the proportion, design, shape of fenders and glass, the ‘look’ of the front and rear designs of the car; you see where this is going.

And what about the package of art that embraces the presentation of the TV program? The musical themes running throughout the program, the color of the sets, and the design of those same sets, and the script followed by the performers or announcers on the program? The lighting and special effects employed throughout the program that enhances the overall viewing experience for the audience?

All of these things are art. Each and every one of them.  They shape our perceptions. They give comfort or shock or heightened meaning to the experience of encountering the arted object – whether an automobile, a toaster, a camera, a workbench, tool or kitchen utensil. Or the overall impact of the TV show we spoke of earlier.

The absence of art might be instructive. How bland the world would be. No plays or TV dramas, no scripts or novels, no magazines or newspapers. Shapes of useful items would be functional only, no thought to beauty or the pleasure of the eye.

With no art the planet would be just “eh”. Blah. Boring. Probably ugly.

E A R T H.  Will it be spelled fully? Or just with the E and the H?

If we don’t keep art education in our schools, or art appreciation in our lives, how drab our existence will be.  And how dull our minds will become.

Will you let this happen to our schools and our kids and grand kids?

September 16, 2013

Thought for the Day

Unintended Consequences

As we weather personal challenges we hurt, grow, prosper or wither. The important thing is to remain yourself.  Here’s an anonymous quote that has stuck with me lately:

            “Don’t allow your wounds to turn you into a person you are not.”

As I learned to be a gay person and accept myself without shame, I realized I had deep wounds from the experience of being in the closet and hiding my true self from so many significant people in my life.  Those wounds did make me shy, hesitant, fearful and more. Along with those characteristics I was in danger of being a lonely, angry and critical person difficult to live with. Some of that is still true today. Just ask my family!

But we need to avoid those results. Let the wounds heal. Work to become the person you can be and not one hindered by unwanted baggage. It will take work but the results are well worth the effort!

September 14, 2013

Calming Storms

www.livelifehappy.com provides this quote for us today:

“You can’t calm the storm…so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.            ~Timber Hawkeye

Hawkeye is a Buddhists or religion-less fellow who has spoken on TEDx and has earned quite a following.

The storms of life are survivable as most of us know by centering on calm until the storm passes. Whether a meteorologist or not, life has many emotional storms that must be weathered. Calm helps in those cases, too.

Let’s look at a few:  love and marriage; new parenthood, hell – parenthood in any situation!; political ideology and the misuse of same; energy crisis because we are not truly serious about solving it; moving the poor to standards of self sufficiency and quality of life; expanding access to higher education; expanding access to health care without prohibitive personal costs; housing crisis; do nothing Congress and state legislatures. The list goes on and on.

On one of those issue, Ralph Nader had this to say:

“The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.”

They do own the Congress, however, and thus the crisis continues.

Even Henry Ford had this positive statement:

            “Paying good wages is not charity at all – it is the best kind of business.”

Bet he would still oppose minimum wage legislation if he were here today!

Related to that issue is this anonymous quote:

“Understand that in a ‘free market’, corporations will always seek the cheapest source of labor. But why the hell do they get tax incentives to take our jobs overseas?”

Good question!

On healthcare access, here’s an interesting quote by an unknown author:

“In my experience, the Affordable Care Act is really a job creator. The law has been very important to us.”            -Mark Hodesh

Mark is the owner of Downtown Home and Garden in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He received $17,628 in tax credits for providing health insurance to his employees. Mark used the money to hire an additional employee.

Yet we continue to hear fear mongering by many business associations claiming Obamacare will bankrupt the business community AND the federal government.  Hardly. These employers used to provide health care insurance to their employees for many decades. Now as they are dumping such coverage and abandoning employees to the health care market, they claim hardship!  What about the uninsured? They now number 43 million and the number continues to rise.

Yes we have many personal storms as well as snow storms, ice storms and tornadoes. But we can live through them and gain strength by doing so. Seek calm before during and after the storms. You’ll be glad you did!

Maria Robinson reminds of this:

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

I think the new endings come from calm. Let us know if you agree!

September 13, 2013

Doing the Right Thing

Gloria Steinem gave us a great quote:

“Whenever one person stands up and says, ‘Wait a minute”,

 it helps other people to do the same.”

It takes some nerve to speak up at any time in a group. Some people do this easily. Others do so rarely and then with great trepidation. With practice it gets easier. Even some of us shy types can get over the hurdle of speaking to other people, even groups. Large groups remain a problem most likely; still there is a beginning of doing the right thing.

If you and I don’t have the guts to speak up or the power of our own convictions, then bad things can and do happen. Think Germany in the 1930’s and Hitler scapegoating the Jews. And the Holocaust followed.

Too few said no to the Viet Nam war and one of the costliest, deadliest and longest wars ensued. Who was right? Who was wrong? The issue is very clouded emotionally because upwards of 55,000 Americans were killed in that debacle; and 200,000 more were maimed, crippled and emotional destroyed by the war on top of it. And that’s just the American side of the equation! A terrible price for speaking up late or not at all.

I suspect most people when asked would define America as a place of caring and nurture. Why then do we label women seeking an abortion as murderers? Why do we allow the minimum wage to remain so low as to hobble new generations of poor people? Why do we allow higher education costs to exclude tens of millions of Americans from seeking a greater contribution to our society? How many of them have workable solutions to energy problems, pollution of our air and soil, an answer to child autism, a cure for cancer? How many ills do we suffer through that could be properly addressed if we allowed every person to rise to their highest level of competence?

No. I see a stingy America. An America who decries spending any dollars to help others in poor nations, or poor people in our own back yard. Foreign aid from America is at the lowest percent of Gross National Product in generations. And it continues to shrink. Other nations go far beyond American standards in lending a hand to cultures in trouble. 

At current rates America will be the recipient of aid from other countries to help with our high birth death rate, our creeping poverty, and expanding illiteracy. Just imagine that!

The following anonymous quote came from the internet the other day:

“We’re blaming ‘society’, yet we are society. So to make it a better place, we must change ourselves first.”

I was at a family gathering over the Labor Day weekend and we were discussing the housing crisis and the plight of many elderly citizens in finding sustainable lifestyles in the America of 2013.

Some people, old and young alike, claimed this was a problem of society and not much was able to be done.  I said, ‘hold it; we are society; we helped create this situation and we can help solve it. Doing nothing and allowing the problems to arise is still our responsibility. What kind of society do we want?”

They all said I was too altruistic. Hmmmmrph! I do not agree!

If I’m not willing to get involved I cannot expect others to get involved. But I am involved! I do expect them to get involved. If they don’t I think they have no voice or vote in the solutions.

Remember this quote: “The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.”  ~Author Unknown

I think this quote, again anonymous, and again from the internet provides a strong message:

            “At the end of the day, the only questions I will ask myself are…

             Did I love enough?  Did I laugh enough? Did I make a difference?”

If we are all being honest with ourselves, I wonder how truthful we can answer those simple questions? And if we can make a change in our lives to provide better answers.

As George Orwell so succinctly stated it:

“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that  speak it.”

So when do we start doing the right thing?  All of us?

September 12, 2013

Using Gifts

The guy who advanced modern day science by leaps and bounds was Albert Einstein. He unlocked physics for the benefit of decades of research and practical applications. His mathematical theories and calculations confounded nearly everyone but made eminent sense to those few who were able to use his ideas. Society placed Einstein on a pedestal of honor. So high up the rest of us did not interact with the genius. We revered him and told our kids that if they put their minds to it they could also arrive at theories that would propel the world forward, ‘just like Einstein’. We urged them on to study and get their educations. Of course the kids said: “I’m not an Einstein. Leave me alone!”

In recent years I have had the time to explore a number of topics on my own. Oddly enough Albert Einstein’s presence has popped up regularly. No, I have not been studying physics or math. Rather, I've poked around in logic and how its power might help us deal with weighty problems. You know those topics where people have an opinion on everything but no solution to offer? And others who place blame for nearly everything under the sun on another person? You know those people, right? Well I began to search for solutions rather than opinion and found a lot of quotes from Einstein along the way.

Such quotes like: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

That’s a gem! If the national debt is a conundrum to you and you compare it to your household debt to understand it better, you are complicating the issue greatly and taken a turn off the road into the wild. The two debts are not comparable; thus the confusion in the public forum. Speakers don’t have it right. Most of them don’t understand the issue. They speak of something else and say it is the same thing. It is not.

Because they do not understand the issue well enough, they cannot explain it or find a solution to it. As listeners we need to discern this. It would save us a lot of time and grief running down dead ends.

Municipal Finance is another topic. It has nothing to do with national finance. Nothing. Yet most pundits argue otherwise and continue to confuse the public. They don’t understand municipal finance so they make it into something that it isn't. The same with national finance. You and I need to know this before wasting our time listening to them.

Here’s another Einstein quote: “Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

What a beauty! Each of us have gifts to use and share with others. Some gifts are artistic talent, intellectual strengths, ability in math and science, genius in music, mechanical aptitude, organization skills, people skills…you know the drill here. So much talent and aptitude to do good work. To understand the world in bits and pieces. To put together ideas and see where they might do the most good. Sharing these ideas with others so they can use the ideas to solve a common problem. Together. Working. Together.

Doing these kind of activities, even for the fun of it, teaches us we can do much more than we had thought we could. Have you ever sat down with a group of people with different backgrounds and educational gifts, tossed out a topic to be discussed, and asked all to be positive and see if, as a group, they could arrive at a better understanding of the topic? Have you been in these brainstorming sessions and watched what they can do with minimal organization?

I’m sure you have participated in brainstorming. Most sessions end well. Participants learn a lot about a topic they didn't understand before. And it was simple. Logic made it so. The group tested some of those ideas and found ways to use them. Maybe even discovered a solution that had gone unnoticed before!

Doing these exercises is exciting. They provide refreshed energy and creativity. Intelligence is expanded. Fun results. Einstein’s quote comes alive: “Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

What a hoot! It is fun AND positive. It helps others understand. It helps me understand.

This quote jumped out at me from the internet the other day:

            “Try being informed instead of just opinionated.” 

This comes to us from www.knowledgeoftoday.org. Check them out. Good material that will make you think.

Meanwhile, have fun with your mind today! Learn something new. Be creative. Be informed. Use your gifts!

September 11, 2013

Caring & Wanting

A test of our sensibility – what do we care about? Or what do we want? Are they different or the same? Are they even on the same planet?

Here’s something found on the internet the other day:

            “I want – I want – I want…

             Every day you hear people saying what they want. Well this is what I want:

                        I want people who are sick to be healed.

                        I want children with no families to be adopted.

                        I want people to never have to worry about food and shelter and heat.

                        Most of all, I would like to see our people start to care for one another.

             Now, let’s see how many people re-post this.”

                                                            ~Anonymous

My kids continue to ask what I want for Christmas or for my birthday. My most common reply is: “Peace on earth and Goodwill toward all men.” They groan like all kids do when faced with parental subtlety! Trouble is, this is what I really want. I don’t need another tie or pair of socks. I don’t really need a really big meal out. Although all of those things are very nice and pleasant, I don’t really need them. Therefore I don’t truly want them.

What I want is people being kind to one another, less strife among friends, family and work associates. I really want collaborative relationships that produce good results rather than bones of contention among more people. I really want people to care about each other rather than self.

Early in life we each needed food, shelter, clothing and other basics of life - true basics of life, not luxuries. Later, when we had more material wealth, we sought things of distinction – aura, reputation, status, influence, power – that ‘something’ that set us apart from one another.

Eventually – much later in life – we came to realize that material things were of less and less value to us personally. We would rather have time to smell the aromas of nature, the soft breezes through the hair or on the face, the warm rays of sunshine radiating on our skin, the sound of kids giggling on the lawn, or the vision of a dog lovingly staring at its owner. These are the things of ‘feel good life’. They are rare to realize but common in our life. We just don’t see them readily. They are, however, the things that matter the most to us.

The hierarchy of needs is part of this need-want dimension. Once satisfied the hierarchy disappears in favor of things much more important.

I was in a meeting the other day and one of the attendees railed on at another attendee. All were uncomfortable. Each wondered what she meant. Who was she mad at, and why? Did it matter? Was their an honest struggle to understand one another and come to grips with core issues? No; none of that because the person simply wasn't speaking from a point that was understandable by the group. So strife was the result. And misunderstanding. And no help from her to explain what had happened.

The result of that meeting is destruction of relationship. The effort to build something worthwhile, understandable and shared but not pursued. The opposite was. Gamesmanship? Who knows? Mental snap of the moment in which the speaker didn't fully understand what she was saying or doing? Maybe. Who really will know the answers to these questions. Not I!

A daily happenstance. We see it on the streets and highways as well. Someone takes offense at a roadway maneuver and shows their irritation. Road rage could result from this and often does.

Do we really work at doing the right thing? Do we care that we are spending our time fruitfully?  Are we caring or are we selfishly wanting?

I think we need to spend some time working on this. In fact, I want this!  Kids, are you listening?

September 10, 2013

Theater Going

Rocky and I attended a performance of The Book of Mormon Wednesday evening, September 4^th. Downtown Chicago for a 7:30 curtain call required dog sitting arrangements, dropping her off at family, returning home, preparing for an evening out, then driving in rush hour traffic from 4 to 5 pm. Safely parked in the labyrinth of the Loop, we hobbled over to the theater, spotted a restaurant across the street, and gratefully found ready seating.

A very nice supper of roasted lemon chicken with pan roasted potatoes, we walked around State Street once the rush hour pedestrians were safely in their buses and trains. First time we had walked downtown streets in a long time, maybe 4 or 5 years! Such is retirement and the aging process that causes us to shy away from such adventures we once did so often.

Awaiting the opening of the theater we made acquaintance with two young theater students. One was an aspiring actor and the other was a theater tech major. Both talked theater non-stop and really knew what was happening on Chicago stages. And New York of course! Very pleasant relating to college students after so many years absent from that arena.

Theater staff noted our physical status and easily helped us to our seats via elevator and encouragement!  Lots of laughs along the route. Once seated in the lower balcony (nose bleed minus 2 degrees), and learning to sit without benefit of parachute or seat belts, we settled back and drank in the crowd and architectural wonder of the old theater. Our view of the stage was full, a bit of an angle, and nearly perpendicular vertically. Exhilarating! Scary a little.

The performance started on time with a blare of music, a loud group sing, and dance. A diorama of biblical scenes leading to the discovery of John Smith and the gold printing plates of the Book of Mormon, quickly immersed us in the totally farcical spoof of the Mormon church and anything religion related to it including Judeo-Christian traditions. Unheard of was the Muslim quarter, which on second thought, was probably a public safety policy statement!

The show ran two and a half hours including intermission. Laughter was spontaneous and frequent. The audience was pleased and fully entertained. The plot of the production was simple and easily predicted but the timing and comedic direction was good fun. Shock value was served several times throughout the show and heightened audience reactions. Naughty is often a good spark to public laughter, don't you know!

The crowd was easily of average age under 30. Numerous retirees like us dotted the congregation but immediately missing were middle age folk. Perhaps they were the commuters running for trains and buses we observed while dining at street level. The youth were up to the rigors of theater going, especially on a work night, while the retirees had plenty of time and lots of staff to help them get along. So all was fine and dandy. Clearly, though, the script was designed for a young crowd hungry for spoofing church traditions - any church!

Wending our way home was easier than I had prepared for. The crowd mostly parked in the same garage as we so they kind of swept us along our way! Paying the garage fee was electronically efficient, and we easily rolled onto an elevator and found our car in no time. A quick exit to street traffic and then on our way home. At 10 pm and after the route was fast and snag-free. We were in bed and asleep by 11:15, and that even gave us enough time for pills and catching up with emails!

This morning the knees, hips and feet are a combination of sore and numb. But we await another time to experience this hubbub afresh.

Thanks to family who gave us the Ticketmaster gift cards nearly 3 Christmases ago. Although we took our sweet time deciding on which production to attend, we had nearly 3 years of glorious shopping theater reviews and internet listings of possible productions. We considered every venue, ease of traffic routes and available parking. And we planned the expense as well. $200 for the evening but the gift cards totaled $100 so the net cost was possible.

It was a good time, even for senior citizens like us. A good time we want to repeat ~ need to repeat!

Cast, take a bow!

September 9, 2013

  

Thought for the Day

Letting Go

The burdens we carry throughout life are very real to us. Often we don’t know their true dimension until they are gone.

I remember once becoming aware of a dental problem. My lower gum ached a little. Sometimes it throbbed, usually while doing some heavy lifting. My tongue explored the area of the mouth little by little over the days and weeks and months.

One day I was aware that one of my molars was extremely sensitive. I realized I was in pain. So the dentist was called, in I went for an examination and x-ray. He diagnosed a dying root and a root canal was in order. I winced and dragged my feet.

Months later I surrendered and called my dentist and asked him to schedule the procedure. Within a week the gruesome and dreaded work was done.

During the procedure I became aware of a lightness having nothing to do with the anesthetic. I asked the endodontist if he had ‘tapped’ the abscess. He reported yes.

Later as I lived my new life without pain (!) I realized how much pain had accumulated without my knowing it. Only when it was gone did I realize how much discomfort I had become used to.  How strange.

Tackling the problem was the trick. Putting it off was the problem.

I found this quote on the internet the other day:

“Sometimes you don’t realize the weight of something you’ve been carrying until you feel the weight of its release.”  -Anonymous

How very true! Think about that this weekend.

September 7, 2013

Middle East Ethos

Well that’s an oxymoron! The term ‘Middle East Ethos’ conjures towering meanings that will most likely end in cancelling out competing theories and value statements. Just like real life in the middle east! Warring camps of religions, histories, cultures and nationalities. People claiming ownership of the one true god, intermingled histories over 2000 years of strife, as well as an image of future heaven on earth as defined by their self styled theologies. Room for disagreement there!  Much room.

And the disagreements emerge continually as expected. The creature we know as man has a natural behavior that will seek difference as much as it seeks agreement. In this process war and peace becomes a daily struggle seemingly without an end. For many however, the end is misery and death. The cycle reels onward as it always has in the past. Generations after generations fighting the same fights and to similar ends.

The ethos – or credibility of the region – is another way of saying the overriding cultural values which help define the region and its people. Aristotle wrote much of ethos, but also of pathos and logos. Pathos is the appeal of emotions and rightness of it. Logos is the logical flow of what is right or wrong or what fact is or not. Ethos, however, is how credible is the character of the person or the people in establishing what the culture is or ought to be.

Imagine the lineage that followed!  Thousands of years of distrust, personal animosities, imagined slights and to top it all off – theologies that do not agree with one another. The words of God mismanaged by man to bring them not closer to God but to set each man apart by religious affiliation. What was meant for peace came to be the root of war.

That is the middle east. Trust few, even our own. Allow help from the outside, but keep them at arms length. Blame them for all things that do not resonate well with our sense of self and belief in God.

This international stage is fraught with calamity at every step. History has proven this to be the case. No surprise there.

Helping Kuwait in the mid 1990’s was noble of the world. Doing the same for Iraq later on was doomed to failure. Building a working relationship with Iran is of similar futility. Afghanistan? Pakistan? Syria? Libya? The list goes on. The failures mount. They war among themselves as much as out-of-region foreign powers.

The nature of the Middle East is one of unsettledness. Perhaps that is the best we can say about it.

America and many other foreign nations have convened in the Middle East to help them make the most of their economic promise through oil, minerals and commercial transactions. These attributes have grown in power and influence and have become the ever burgeoning cause for strife at the same time. Perhaps that is the source of the oxymoron itself?

My opinion is fairly simple. Leave their region alone to their self management. Remove ourselves from any influence on their lives. Withdraw all interest in their oil and minerals.

On our own and in concert with other foreign partners, let us invent our own future on an energy source that is not related to oil. Use our vast scientific knowledge and produce a sustainable source of energy based on physics and health. No pollutants. No sapping the planet of subterranean deposits that cause earthquakes or sinkholes or pollution of soil and water. We can do this. And we can use our resources more stingily as well.

The future we share is of enormous potential. It requires attention and ethical goals for all of mankind. First we have to believe this. Then do it!

The Middle East will soon realize that their life apart from the rest of the world leaves them with little. It is their ethos to manage. It is our ethos to avoid theirs where little agreement is possible.

Such is the state of international relations today, yesterday and tomorrow. A harsh reality. But there it is for all to see.

September 6, 2013