Hearing the positions as the government debates strategy for Afhanistan, I am
Sad that we are in a position of deciding how much war to carry out in someone else's country, spending tax dollars that are needed to rebuild our economy and social safety nets.
Sad that it will likely be perceived as invasion and occupation rather than assistance by most of the people who did not request help to become a democracy - and have fought off outsiders many times.
Concerned that, as Rep. Barbara Lee points out, Congress has transferred the power of declaring war to the White House.
And distantly hoping that our efforts will actually support a regime that affords women education and full participation.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
What the Years Get You
I'm staying with a friend at her apartment while on a business assignment away from home. She has two cats and a dog that I have come to know and look forward to petting when I get here. The guest room is familiar and inviting. She always has a few things on hand because she knows I enjoy them... like late night chocolate and seasonal berries for breakfast.
What I love about a friendship that has grown over years has been described by a poet in a line I vaguely recall as 'the unexpressible comfort'. We know how to say, Do you want some of this, are you done with your plate, what else do you need, without having to wonder whether we are overly imposing or being a 'good host.'
Both are committed to each other's happiness and comfort, and both are empathetic about life's imperfections and our own rambling paths.
We can have a light conversation or a deeper one. We can create separate apace in the apartment so she can get rest while I am on an earlier time zone. She can tell me what's important about locking the door or turning off lights so I can come and go. We can share understanding about the people and situations in our lives. We look forward to seeing each other and have a good time.
This is not rocket science, this is not fireworks or life-changing like falling in love. It is also not the same comfort I had with many friends when there were many friends around in the full press of adulthood. It is knowing who has stuck, who will accept me because they have done so, who holds a similar loyalty to me that I hold to them. It's not many people, it's not acquaintances. In addition to the friend I am visiting now, it's the few people with whom I will make plans and go visit or enthusiastically host.
It is a little bit of a surprise who my close friends are now, compared to the people with whom I spent many hours and passages assuming it would continue indefinitely. A few have stayed and we're easy.
This is what long term friendship turns out to be. A treasure that cannot be found except through the span of time.
What I love about a friendship that has grown over years has been described by a poet in a line I vaguely recall as 'the unexpressible comfort'. We know how to say, Do you want some of this, are you done with your plate, what else do you need, without having to wonder whether we are overly imposing or being a 'good host.'
Both are committed to each other's happiness and comfort, and both are empathetic about life's imperfections and our own rambling paths.
We can have a light conversation or a deeper one. We can create separate apace in the apartment so she can get rest while I am on an earlier time zone. She can tell me what's important about locking the door or turning off lights so I can come and go. We can share understanding about the people and situations in our lives. We look forward to seeing each other and have a good time.
This is not rocket science, this is not fireworks or life-changing like falling in love. It is also not the same comfort I had with many friends when there were many friends around in the full press of adulthood. It is knowing who has stuck, who will accept me because they have done so, who holds a similar loyalty to me that I hold to them. It's not many people, it's not acquaintances. In addition to the friend I am visiting now, it's the few people with whom I will make plans and go visit or enthusiastically host.
It is a little bit of a surprise who my close friends are now, compared to the people with whom I spent many hours and passages assuming it would continue indefinitely. A few have stayed and we're easy.
This is what long term friendship turns out to be. A treasure that cannot be found except through the span of time.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Former Majority Attempts to Define Objectivity
As I listen to the opening statements by US Senators in the hearing to confirm Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, I am taken aback by the premises expressed most strikingly by Republicans. They continue to assert that the Constitution is totally clear and can be interpreted objectively based on the text only and no personal opinion, and most amazingly, that the justices who agree with them are all completely objective. That 106 of 110 justices in the history of the court having been white and male would have had no impact on the decisions they made.
More than overt oppressive tactics such as arrests and censorship, the subtle and probably unconscious bias of thinking one's own opinions are objective is dangerous because of the inertia of the majority mindset.
Even though our population has shifted and the majority is on its way to minority status, our ruling bodies and our common thinking and beliefs still unconsciously hold that there is objective reality which happens to correspond to what we think. And to unconsciously support an economic system that slants toward greed and war.
This observation motivates me to promote a) thinking about thinking, i.e. self-reflection without being self-confirming, or closed, and b) interaction with people in the world as equals in importance though not in talents or privileges.
I believe that intelligence is self-questioning, without being doubtful, and that it grows through contact with the many ways of living on this planet.
If we are to be ready for interaction with anyone from another galaxy, let's think ahead and practice welcoming behaviors here where we reside. And one of them would be understanding the spectrum of possible belief systems and ways to live.
Please, Senators who hold great legislative and social-political power, recognize that RIGHT is not a functional place to stand if you are to do your job in this system. Reflect on the hypocrisy and scandal that plagues people who take the righteous ownership of reality. Find a path to the humility that does not bow or scrape but does think beyond slogans and expands understanding of what it means to be human.
More than overt oppressive tactics such as arrests and censorship, the subtle and probably unconscious bias of thinking one's own opinions are objective is dangerous because of the inertia of the majority mindset.
Even though our population has shifted and the majority is on its way to minority status, our ruling bodies and our common thinking and beliefs still unconsciously hold that there is objective reality which happens to correspond to what we think. And to unconsciously support an economic system that slants toward greed and war.
This observation motivates me to promote a) thinking about thinking, i.e. self-reflection without being self-confirming, or closed, and b) interaction with people in the world as equals in importance though not in talents or privileges.
I believe that intelligence is self-questioning, without being doubtful, and that it grows through contact with the many ways of living on this planet.
If we are to be ready for interaction with anyone from another galaxy, let's think ahead and practice welcoming behaviors here where we reside. And one of them would be understanding the spectrum of possible belief systems and ways to live.
Please, Senators who hold great legislative and social-political power, recognize that RIGHT is not a functional place to stand if you are to do your job in this system. Reflect on the hypocrisy and scandal that plagues people who take the righteous ownership of reality. Find a path to the humility that does not bow or scrape but does think beyond slogans and expands understanding of what it means to be human.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
59 years, 364 days so far
Having been here for just shy of 60 years, I have learned a couple of things.
What goes around truly does come around. Just because it feels good to do good.
Friends and gratitude bring you everything else.
No one else can answer your questions.
Traveling to distant places is worth it.
Be still and breathe. Spend time with yourself.
Don't believe the naysayers.
You are loved more than you know.
What goes around truly does come around. Just because it feels good to do good.
Friends and gratitude bring you everything else.
No one else can answer your questions.
Traveling to distant places is worth it.
Be still and breathe. Spend time with yourself.
Don't believe the naysayers.
You are loved more than you know.
Monday, May 11, 2009
No more 'others': Gates and the Dalai Lama on GPS
What is possible in a world where we need to maintain destructive force to keep 'others' from getting it themselves?
Fareed Zakaria always impresses me with the depth and intelligence of his interviews. Last week his guest was Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a sane voice in our military. He explained the role of a superpower (us) in keeping the peace through maintaining a nuclear arsenal. He said the purpose of our continued might is 'to prevent others getting nuclear weapons.' He meant that any other power could get the weapons, with any agenda including total destruction of everything. I follow the logic.
I took the thought about 'others' further to find a way out of the conundrum of having weapons to protect us from people who might get weapons. I thought about the projected, 'dark-side'sense of others, where we place our fears and hatreds and against whom we attack and defend ourselves.
When we distance other people or see them as the shadow, and when 'others' see us that way, we perpetuate the possibility of enmity. When everyone knows and feels there are no 'others', we won't need enormous destructive power to protect everyone.
How can we not have others? At heart, we are all one. People love being free to do their best, free of corruption. When they are living in poverty or oppression, they don't have that choice. I really believe that everyone wants to be free. In that way we are all one.
There are big IF's that make the difference in whether we can ever get to worldwide peace. IF people are not so resigned to separation from self that they shut down their humanness. IF people are not 'born to lose' or 'born to be evil,'which I believe they are not. Is our prison population huge because of our freedoms, or because of the high level of alienation in our society and class system?
In any case, a huge majority would agree and would strive to live in accordance with peace.
What would the world be like if we felt that "others" and ourselves were all bringing our best contribution to the way we all want to live? Would there be enough trust and connection in the world that we wouldn't need to spend our resources to prevent outbreaks of hate - against the OTHER?
This week, Fareed hosted the Dalai Lama, who said it for us, "There is no them."
If we, the US, are what Madeleine Albright called "the indispensable power," we maintain the separation, playing the role of Rescuer. If Americans can do anything to move us toward oneness, it would be to increase our generosity and share the power.
Fareed Zakaria always impresses me with the depth and intelligence of his interviews. Last week his guest was Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a sane voice in our military. He explained the role of a superpower (us) in keeping the peace through maintaining a nuclear arsenal. He said the purpose of our continued might is 'to prevent others getting nuclear weapons.' He meant that any other power could get the weapons, with any agenda including total destruction of everything. I follow the logic.
I took the thought about 'others' further to find a way out of the conundrum of having weapons to protect us from people who might get weapons. I thought about the projected, 'dark-side'sense of others, where we place our fears and hatreds and against whom we attack and defend ourselves.
When we distance other people or see them as the shadow, and when 'others' see us that way, we perpetuate the possibility of enmity. When everyone knows and feels there are no 'others', we won't need enormous destructive power to protect everyone.
How can we not have others? At heart, we are all one. People love being free to do their best, free of corruption. When they are living in poverty or oppression, they don't have that choice. I really believe that everyone wants to be free. In that way we are all one.
There are big IF's that make the difference in whether we can ever get to worldwide peace. IF people are not so resigned to separation from self that they shut down their humanness. IF people are not 'born to lose' or 'born to be evil,'which I believe they are not. Is our prison population huge because of our freedoms, or because of the high level of alienation in our society and class system?
In any case, a huge majority would agree and would strive to live in accordance with peace.
What would the world be like if we felt that "others" and ourselves were all bringing our best contribution to the way we all want to live? Would there be enough trust and connection in the world that we wouldn't need to spend our resources to prevent outbreaks of hate - against the OTHER?
This week, Fareed hosted the Dalai Lama, who said it for us, "There is no them."
If we, the US, are what Madeleine Albright called "the indispensable power," we maintain the separation, playing the role of Rescuer. If Americans can do anything to move us toward oneness, it would be to increase our generosity and share the power.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
A Willingness to Participate
We could feel it, the flowing of love and acceptance among people. The receiving of blessings. The release from cynicism. The need for action.
A poem by Alice Walker telling us that the world has indeed changed. Energy beings showing up at a psychic reading to say that humankind has shifted to a higher vibration. News from Jamaica that folks were celebrating as if it were their own government. The safe transition of power from one regime to the next. Unwavering messages from Obama as he takes sure steps into office. At this moment I do not need to say, "Not in my name!"
Here is Alice Walker's message
This one was read by Alice Walker on Democracy Now for the Inaugural
ALICE WALKER: A poem honoring the people who don’t believe this is happening. I wanted to write a poem for the people who are still saying, “Oh, no, this can’t happen,” you know, because all along the line of this struggle to get Barack Obama to the White House, people feared that something awful would happen to him, and so many people hold so many angers and pains that they just can’t believe today. So this is a poem for the people who basically don’t believe that it’s happening. It’s called “The World Has Changed.”
The World Has Changed:
Wake up & smell
The possibility.
The world
Has changed:
It did not
Change
Without
Your prayers
Without
Your faith
Without
Your determination
To
Believe
In liberation
&
Kindness;
Without
Your
Dancing
Through the years
That
Had
No
Beat.
The world has changed:
It did not
Change
Without
Your
Numbers
Your
Fierce
Love
Of self
&
Cosmos
It did not
Change
Without
Your
Strength.
The world has
Changed:
Wake up!
Give yourself
The gift
Of a new
Day.
The world has changed:
This does not mean that
You were never
Hurt.
The world
Has changed:
Rise!
Yes
&
Shine!
Resist the siren
Call
Of
Disbelief.
The world has changed:
Don’t let
Yourself
Remain
Asleep
To
It.
AMY GOODMAN: Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, reading her poem “The World Has Changed.”
A poem by Alice Walker telling us that the world has indeed changed. Energy beings showing up at a psychic reading to say that humankind has shifted to a higher vibration. News from Jamaica that folks were celebrating as if it were their own government. The safe transition of power from one regime to the next. Unwavering messages from Obama as he takes sure steps into office. At this moment I do not need to say, "Not in my name!"
Here is Alice Walker's message
This one was read by Alice Walker on Democracy Now for the Inaugural
ALICE WALKER: A poem honoring the people who don’t believe this is happening. I wanted to write a poem for the people who are still saying, “Oh, no, this can’t happen,” you know, because all along the line of this struggle to get Barack Obama to the White House, people feared that something awful would happen to him, and so many people hold so many angers and pains that they just can’t believe today. So this is a poem for the people who basically don’t believe that it’s happening. It’s called “The World Has Changed.”
The World Has Changed:
Wake up & smell
The possibility.
The world
Has changed:
It did not
Change
Without
Your prayers
Without
Your faith
Without
Your determination
To
Believe
In liberation
&
Kindness;
Without
Your
Dancing
Through the years
That
Had
No
Beat.
The world has changed:
It did not
Change
Without
Your
Numbers
Your
Fierce
Love
Of self
&
Cosmos
It did not
Change
Without
Your
Strength.
The world has
Changed:
Wake up!
Give yourself
The gift
Of a new
Day.
The world has changed:
This does not mean that
You were never
Hurt.
The world
Has changed:
Rise!
Yes
&
Shine!
Resist the siren
Call
Of
Disbelief.
The world has changed:
Don’t let
Yourself
Remain
Asleep
To
It.
AMY GOODMAN: Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, reading her poem “The World Has Changed.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)