Integrity

A handshake communicates many things. Firmness suggests confidence. Eagerness to connect invites engagement. Lingering grasp hints of connectedness. Warmth means the person is alive and vital.

The opposite words provide a different view: limp handshake indicates a lack of commitment or self confidence; half-hearted approach signals withdrawal and unwillingness to engage; short, weak grasp is a signal of low interest and ‘get me outta here’ sentiment. Cool skin temperature indicates nervousness and lack of connectedness.

Body language accompanies the handshake. So do smiles, readiness to chat and maintenance of nearness, or close quarters.

Something clicks between two people when they are able to share body bumps, ready smiles, a chuckle and open friendliness. The click signals readiness to agree on ideas, tasks and forward motion together.

All the above are social indicators of relationships between individuals, of willingness to relate. It doesn’t have to be personal; but the more it is so projects a successful prospect to transact tasks well. Spread this behavior and ambience to a small group, and team attitudes develop. The larger the group the more important such attitudes become. And the more difficult to create and maintain.

Group dynamics are built on individual relationships. If two people are relating well together, that wellness is transmitted to others nearby. Buoyancy of attitudes among small groups is contagious and spreads to an entire room.

Motivational speakers know this. They know the words they utter will affect an individual listener if an emotional chord is struck. If the chord is positive, the speaker is apt to move others in the room toward uplifting thoughts. The momentum builds as the message soars and amasses more content. Moving the audience to commitment and action takes much more energy and effective messaging. It is personal in a crowd setting. It is possible to connect the members of an audience to one another in common feelings toward a topic. Once the connections are happening, the group emotion swells and leads to commitment and action.

The opposite is true as well. Negative messages of fear, hopelessness and threat of pain and dissolution, rapidly take an audience down a spiral of negative feelings. Connectedness of this audience generates moods supportive of commitment to act out such feelings.

A speaker may thus affect a positive or negative outcome. Talented speakers easily capture group dynamics to produce moods that support the message communicated. This is how motivational speakers work their magic. And propagandists too. The dynamics are quite similar. Motive and desired outcomes are the only difference.

An actor can replicate these dynamics. So can politicians.

The question is: does the audience know the difference? Do they know they are being used? Are they readily able to discern the truth of the messenger?

Is our national integrity at stake at such times?

It is time for us all to think hard on this matter. We have much to lose if we get it wrong.

December 11, 2018

Fancied Up and Nowhere to Go

Ever have the feeling that something is missing? Of course you have. The sort of thing where you are all set for something, but nothing is on the schedule. The house is clean, the refrigerator stocked, and chores all done. Time to have guests over. Make a great meal, share it and have fun with others. But no; there is nothing planned.

Or your desk is cleaned off, tasks all done, typewriter all cleaned…oops, computer all refreshed, rebooted, printer full of paper and ink, and nothing to do with it. Time available. Tool at hand. Nothing on the agenda.

The other day I replaced the tires on the car. Quiet, road grippy, and smooth. Round. You know, they actually make a difference! That led to cleaning out the junk from the car. And of course, that led to a rare car wash inside and out. Clear weather. Sunny. No precipitation. The clean will last. Now, what to do with all this readiness?

Nowhere to go. Calendar obligations mean I have to stay home and available.

The mind wants to smell and feel the southwestern desert. The nose yearns for the smell of warm, dry sand, or newly moistened landscape from rain and light snow in the desert. Or the ears to hear the wind soughing through the low brush and high pines of mountains outside of Flagstaff, or Albuquerque, Gallup. Santa Fe, Taos…other locales beckon. Each with their aromas and scenic tickles.

Even Wyoming and Montana beckon, but this is the wrong time of year to chance a treacherous trip to those regions. Too much snow without warning there; too iffy of being marooned in a lonely place.

But somewhere without hordes of people. Landscapes yes, people, no.

The car’s ready, but I’m not. I’m tied to home and duty and thin wallet.

At least gas prices are on the cheap these days.

Maybe there’s someplace near to explore? Time to get out the atlas! But oh those desert vistas...

December 10, 2018

Young Minds

I work with teen drug addicts on Wednesday evenings. Been doing this for 6 years now. At first I struggled with understanding them. Why had they slipped into addiction? At such a young age? What were they looking for or escaping from? What was their mindset that allowed this to happen to them? And were they concerned about this now?

Early revelations suggested they were unhappy at being told what to do, and not. They felt they were just fine; why would the adult world force them to live otherwise?

Later, I watched them become aware that they were self-medicating. From what, was unknown.

Probing, we learned more. They were bored. They were not listened to. They were not asked for their thoughts and feelings. They were tolerated, not embraced or welcomed. They felt isolated, alone. With drugs, they found a peace, and a group of friends with whom to relate. They understood each other. They knew the score.

Until they overdosed or were caught by authorities.

Of course, the overdose was sobering. Being caught by the authorities was not sobering or helpful. It was an outrage to their personhood and independence! The loss of independence weighed heavy and derailed them from their path to sobriety.

The distance between sobering and outrage is interesting. It is in this divide that answers help shed light on the cause and effect of drug addiction, and what then to do about it.

One thing I have learned about these young people and their ‘take’ on society: they are thoughtful, caring and respectful of those who listen to them or give them respectful attention. This creates a communication pathway. They listen in return. As partners to the sharing of thoughts, they learn a bit at a time. Enough bits build stepping stones that lead them toward lessons of sobriety.

And other lessons, too. Most of these kids are bright. Allowing them freedom to explore inner thoughts exposes them to discovery. Personal truths form from this exercise. They become partners in their own journey and fellow addicts, too. Soon we are laughing at that which caused anger and sorrow only a few weeks before.

I have worked with one new patient recently. He is from South Korea originally. The collision of American and South Korean cultures are titanic to him. He has a blossoming intellect. It is on full display and challenging. But it is also his highway to health. Slowly he admits to addiction. Slowly he is finding this unhealthy. More and more he senses a future that is brighter and more valuable than that of drugs. He is 18 and has much to live for and enrich the lives of others at the same time.

Two weeks in the program and we see these changes. They are not yet results. They are not yet solutions. But they provide hope that sobriety is attainable and sustainable for his life. Then the promise that he embodies will have a chance to be used and felt in the world.

That’s why we do this work. For others. For the rest of us. For the future of all of us. Because not doing so would be such a colossal waste.

December 7, 2018

Jobs and Profits

Looked through automobile data the other day. Learned that many of the top quality rated vehicles are made in the USA. Content may be imported from all over, but assembled and final fit and finish is done right here in America. Most of the name plates are foreign corporations, however. Some are American through and through, but not many.

This leads to the pros and cons of this set up.

What’s more important: jobs at these manufacturing sites, or corporate profits earned from the product sales?

Jobs. That’s my pick. Why? Because jobs support families, local economies, and our national economy, too. Those jobs fuel financial transactions throughout the economy through food, shelter, transportation, education, support services and tax collections at all levels of our society. So, jobs are a huge engine of economic activity and future. That doesn’t even address quality of life, security and a host of other issues.

Profits. Corporate profits. These are important for the long term but short term benefits actually do support local economies. Before profits are booked by the home corporation in its home country, the money flows throughout the American system and fuels a lot of residual economic benefits. What profits do in the main, is fuel future investment and product improvement and replacement through research, development and scientific breakthroughs applied to product evolution. This is a big thing and it fuels technological advancement, education, research and other major investments in human terms.

Both jobs and profits are important. They each play a major role in our economic health as a nation. But the local economic benefit is most importantly the result of jobs. This is the what we gain by foreign investment in America.

Something else happened in this miracle of change: foreign competitors demonstrated to American manufacturers that they can make automobiles better than American firms. Even some of the most glamorous name plates and most expensive cars made in America are the worst in quality. Shameful. And a wakeup call to both American firms and labor groups that American products are not always the best.

We can do better than this. But really, do we have to?  Can’t we just spend our time, talent and genius in developing the newer generation of products, technology and life-quality assets?  Foreign trade, after all, is supposed to allow best-use-of-resources (land, materials, engineering, utilities and labor) wherever they are. So some locales provide excellent land availability, raw materials and labor supplies than America. Using our scarce inputs on higher value goods and services is a smart thing to do.

Both foreign and domestic investment in these matters needs – nay, requires – a global market for goods and services. Lower cost of goods and higher economic benefits accrue to all in this scenario.

Refreshing that being a good neighbor is also good economics. Imagine the peace benefits from this activity as well. Who wants the disruption of war when we all have so much more to protect with peace?

Think about that the next time you buy a car. Foreign or domestic. Things are not always what they seem.

December 6, 2018

Issues or Values?

A comment logged to my blog the other day stated issues and values are different. Because that is so, says the commenter, values will elicit the strongest pushback rather than intellectual discussion. Issues are task orient, so goes the argument, thus we can discuss what works and what doesn’t. Values, however, are subjective and contain emotions. Deep emotions.

Objectivity surrounds issues and is thus discussable. Unless that is values enter the scene. Then the talk becomes emotionally charged. Fear or flight becomes the norm. Just like today’s politics.

I get the commenter’s viewpoint. She is correct. My problem is not so much my point of view, but that I don’t provide enough room for the values discussion to feel welcome.

Before getting to that step, however, I have to share this: values have been touted by every political sect and religion since the beginning of time. Values have been used to divide discussants most of the time. Family values? For some, there is no room for any model other than a man and woman getting married or having sex. Any other matchup is out of the question. It goes against the grain of current religious thought, mores, and cultures.

Only it doesn’t. Not anymore.

The year 2018, and soon to be 2019, is a time period of change and acceptance of change. Women can marry each other. Men can do the same. Babies are adopted by many of these couples, many of those babies being born out of wedlock and stigmatized. In my mind this is the only answer to abortion: adoption of the unwanted. If not that, then abortion should be broadly available. That should be the policy to address a serious issue that has life and death consequences. Those are the values I hold dear. If an action by one creates agony, death and suffering for another, then something needs to be done to lessen the original action.

On the other hand, unwanted pregnancies can and ought to be countered with adoption by willing couples who otherwise cannot have their own offspring. Gay couples and aging couples are great examples. Here we witness a merging of cultures, values and issues.

My point here is simple: issues affect us all in one way or another. They cause us to feel – sorrow, sadness, loss, unhappy, anger and many other types of negative feelings. That’s all the more reason to address the issue to turn those frowns and tears of anguish into smiles and tears of joy.

The commenter who offered her insight is a valued reader and friend. She has caused me to think  more about the divide between values and issues. I will contemplate long and hard on this and let you know what I come up with.

Meanwhile, thanks to all my readers, and commenters, too!

December 5, 2018

Passing of Bush Senior

So many thoughts running through my mind. George Bush Senior at one time was an idol of mine. In time that wore off, but still, George H. W. Bush was a uniquely qualified person for the presidency at his time, the right time.

It was his role to make sense of the changing of the guard from cold war to soft war. The USSR crumbled into bits, overwhelmed by its own size, weight of weaponry, and complex obligations it made for itself in a hugely bureaucratic sprawling empire. To make the most of this historic happening, a gentle hand that welcomed a former ‘enemy’ into the fold of global collaboration and power sharing was needed.

George Bush was there to do that. All of his previous government jobs taught him well what was needed. He surrounded himself with talented advisors but made up his own mind. He was a leader of leaders at the time.

I remember him for a different reason. It was the political morass of his final campaign that saw him make a misstep. Faced with competition for the presidency, Ross Perot and Bill Clinton were garnering the votes Bush needed to remain in his job. To help him do that, he agreed to welcome the evangelical Christians into his support group. At the time I thought this a mistake because the evangelicals were too hot on topics such as gun control, abortion and gender orientation discussions to help Bush broaden his tent of supporters. Instead I felt he was narrowing his appeal.

I was right. He lost his plurality in the election and he was kept to one term only. Bill Clinton took the reins of the White House along with the enmity of republican evangelicals that turned American politics into a cesspool of nastiness that continues to this day. The religionists of the era have retained their unforgiving and unforgivable behavior in American politics. They have poisoned the well of compromise so that none is available to us today.

It was this fatal move on Bush’s part that separated me from the republican party. Plain and simple. And I have had no reason to change my mind since.

As decent a man as was George H. W. Bush, the failings of the republican party since his time are laid squarely at his feet.

So many people through history have warned against mixing religion and politics. We did at the time with Mr. Bush in 1988. Thirty years ago. A long time; but the nasty beat goes on and on.

As we celebrate the life of Bush in this week of farewell, I hope good people everywhere will stir their values enough to take on the return to decency and compromise so our governing class returns to leading the nation and making key decisions.

One can still hope!

December 4, 2018

Accumulating Pressure

The beat goes on. Russia probe for collusion in the 2016 presidential election. Financial and business conflicts of interests both in the Trump Campaign and the Trump business empire. Influence peddling in both political and business arenas of the Trump organization. Dark dealings with Wikileaks and key players. Lying throughout the campaign against all trump competitors. Distortion of facts with compelling results on the body politic. Lying about all facets of the above to law enforcement officials and congressional authorities with the authority to investigate.

Indictments handed down. Guilty pleas recorded. Court cases begun and ended with convictions. A host of potential charges lined up against a host of supporting characters from the Trump organization and campaign. Both foreign and domestic businesses indicted. Both foreign and domestic individuals indicted. The weight of all this processing is real and having an effect on the principals.

The big names not yet exposed. The focus of the probes not yet made clear to us. The accumulating sounds of shoes dropping from overhead repeat the tempo of things to come.

We wait patiently. Not with abated breaths because life must go on. But for those who will be most affected the breathing does change tempo. Gasps and tics appear. Sweat beads brows. The pressure is on. It is building.

Before or after Christmas? Before or after the Democratic Congress takes the reins of the capitol building?

We watch. We listen. We wait. But soon, it will be…

It’s Mueller Time!

December 3, 2018