Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

The earth, third rock from the sun. The only known planet that inhabits human life. On this jewel of the universe live approximately 6.93 billion persons to date. There are seven continents that have approximately 196 countries in the world. Each country is divided into social groups of race, religion, economic status and geographic differences just to name a few.

In these social groups are what defines us as human beings. The definition of who you are can change in a heartbeat with information learned about us. For example, if a person lives in a certain place they are accepted as being part of the group then life is good. But what happens when new information is added to mix? What happens when those in the group find out there is different information, that there are things about a person that the group does not hold as normal.

I am reminded of the book Lord of the Flies where a group of British boys found themselves stranded on an island. Quickly they set up a social status. But as time goes on their principles begin to change. When fear of the unknown beast is introduced into their world they find themselves reduced to animalistic instincts where eventually they turned on Piggy. The boys’ struggle ends up when Piggy flies through the air and falls forty feet onto the rocks below by the sea, and is killed. When the boys are rescued they realize how far they have come from being civilized.

Being normal and being within the circle of normal is important to those who create this illusion. If they in fact learn that one of their own has secrets they do not agree with then they set up a social status to protect the group. It can start with avoidance. Looking away, not entering into a conversation with someone or criticizing the person. But usually the person being outlawed by this social group is never asked to find out the truth. Like the boys in Lord of the Flies prejudices move into place in hushed tones.

So why doesn’t the group ask? I remember when I lived in Belgium I worked at the International School of Brussels. I maintained a small book store for english speaking ex-pats. There was a lady there who was the school janitor. She was a person of color. She was from Morocco. I was polite to her. I never thought she did not deserve respect. We talked briefly, never anything in depth. One day she asked me if I would like to join her for lunch and try some of her cultural foods. I jumped at the chance. The food was wonderful made of couscous, garbanzo beans and many other delightful spicy foods. As we sat eating I asked her why she picked me to share this meal with out of all the people who worked there. She said it was because I was different. I didn’t prejudge. At the time I did not realize she was Muslim and it really did not come up in our conversation because it was not about what religion we were, it was about two women enjoying each other’s company and sharing.

I think back on that sometimes. When life was simpler before I came back home and felt the circle of normal and what was expected of me. I was never really good at closing people off because they are different than me. Whether it is race, religion or social class. And when I experience it, when I am the victim of it I always go back to Piggy and the boys in Lord of the flies for clarity on why humans define social mores.

I am a dreamer. I dream about a world that is not define by nationalism or the color of our skin. What religion we are or how much money we have. I hear absolute statements all the time about social groups. I heard today about how Republications are all rich and want to stay that way excluding other social groups. I have met Republications that are just good old fashion middle of the road. I personally have not knowingly met one of these rich Republicans and I am not sure where the idea they are all rich comes from. But it is one those things that defines a person.

Like our job or work status. When two people meet they generally start talking about the interests, their job and other things that categorize them. It allows each person to define the social mores to see if we are good fit. I generally find I am attracted to people who are open minded and do not complain about others. I have met and socialized with people from Germany, Belgium, Africa, Canada, Pakistan, Mexico, Viet Nam, and China just to name a few places. I am thrilled to have learn about the differences we have. I think it makes me a better person.

So when I look at this third rock from the sun I know there will never be a one world of peace and equality but it makes my piece of earth more pleasant to at least try to be “the change in the world that you want to see”, as Gandhi said.

Love this earth, love the people. The island of anger, prejudice and hate, well like the British boys of Lord of the Flies, I just want off that island!

Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are,

we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men.

It then appears that we are among the privileged.

- Helen Keller

During this month I am taking the time to learn about women, their contributions to society and bring awareness to amazing women. In the Presidential Proclamation – Women’s History Month, 2011 President Obama states “we reflect on the extraordinary accomplishments of women and honor their role in shaping the courses of our Nation’s history”.  I pondered on that thought.  Herein are some women that we can all aspire to be like.

Women who served our country stand out immediately. Throughout time there has been emphasis on men serving the U.S. military but what about women? Marion G. Crandall was the first American woman killed in active-duty service during World War I. Another great woman who served the U.S. in another capacity was Allie B. Latimer, an African-American woman, “attorney, civil rights activist and humanitarian”. She was also inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. And one more African-American of note is Shirley Chisholm who served in Congress for seven terms.

Other women are interested in fields besides politics, laws or humanitarian causes such as science. This is true of Sally Ride who as an astrophysicist who traveled into space in 1983 as a mission specialist. Sally showed girls that the pursuit of scientific goals are real and can be achieved. Many women excel in science and mathematics.

More inspiration comes from others that set examples for girls to aspire to such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an outstanding Jewish female that served as Supreme Court in 1993. And Asian-American women find representation in Elaine L. Chao who “was confirmed in January 2001 as the 24^th secretary of labor, the first Asian-American woman to be appointed to the president’s cabinet.

 Muslim-American women are speaking out to support causes. One such woman is Rashida Tlaib. Rashida decided to run for office and won. “The child of Palestinian immigrants became the first Muslim woman elected to the Michigan state House of Representatives. But getting there was not easy. Without name recognition, Tlaib campaigned door to door in her district, walking so much that she went through several pairs of shoes.”

Women from all walks of life are speaking up, making a difference and challenging themselves to better their world and the future of the girls that follow in them.

I want to remember what women can do and women need to remember that we do not succeed alone. In order to become successes we need respect from men. While it is Women’s History Month women do well to not overlook fathers, brothers, uncles, spouses or sons who believe in their mothers, sisters, aunts, spouses or daughters. We cannot keep this great dream for women alive without everyone participating. As President Obama stated “As we prepare to write the next chapter of women’s history, let us resolve to build on the progress won by the trailblazers of the past.”

My personal amazing woman who has inspired me is Helen Keller. A Euro-American woman that overcame amazing odds over her handicaps went on to do more for me that any one woman. Isolated from sight and sound she was determined to be more. Ms. Keller was born in 1880. Meaning she was not born into an era of enlightenment regarding her handicaps. And yet she went on to make inroads in our culture and prove that anything can be overcome.  Helen Keller is my hero.

And now I find the girls of the future are becoming amazing women. We already have seen amazing girls coming forward to blaze the trail of the future in all fields. I have barely scratched the surface of girls and women in the United States.  I did not include women worldwide that are recognized during International Women’s Day.  Ladies, “we’ve come a long way, baby.”

Citations:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/02/28/presidential-proclamation-womens-history-month-2011

http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cwg

Dispatch Newspaper, “Women pioneers: America has a strong legacy, 6A

The eastern world, it is exploding

Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’

You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’

You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’

And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’

But you tell me

Over and over and over again, my friend

Ah, you don’t believe

We’re on the eve

of destruction.

Lyrics, Eve of Destruction

I read a blog the other day about how many causes there are right now. It seems we are in the age of social consciousness. Or at least that is what we feel like. In my lifetime this isn’t the first time I have experienced this degree of chaos in the world.

Step back with me about 45 to 50 years and you see chaos at a maximum height. The difference is we didn’t have the Internet. In fact we barely had TV that would give us the news as it was happening. The first shocking news that hit our consciousness was Viet Nam. Etched in our minds was a young girl running down the street screaming as she was sprayed with napalm. And we learned that the military was responsible for things we felt were horrendous. And in some ways it was the news that portrayed them as monsters. Along with that were race riots, anti-war movements, you name it. We weren’t ready for that. No more than we were ready for watching the destruction of 9-11 and repercussions of chaos in the streets exploding on the news now. Not just in America but worldwide.

Now daily we can plug in to the Internet through social media groups or maybe your phone has an “app for that” so you can follow it with alerts of breaking news. It can get a bit overwhelming watching and hearing discontent, violence and daily fears broadcasted.  We all watch with baited breath as Tunisia, Egypt and other countries are struggling under dictatorships. I don’t think we can live under a rock. We only have to go to the gas pump to be reminded of the crisis in the oil countries. Or turned to the Weather Channel to hear the affects on the globe and how we are affecting the climate. Over and over again we hear of some place where there are storms or earthquakes. We cannot escape it but we do not have to allow ourselves to be despondent or angry beyond reason either. What I have had to do is have a certain amount of time set aside for the news and then do something else.  All the gloom and doom can easily destroy any resolve to care if I get too saturated.

It sounds like we are on the “Eve of Destruction” as we see countries changing politically. It was not that long ago change was epic for me. In my generation we actually voted for a Catholic to be President of the United States! And that was important in the 1960s and now look how far we have come as a nation.

A lot of people are stressed over the gas hikes. Thirty plus years ago I was in a gas line in the middle of summer pregnant as a blimp with a preschooler in tow waiting, waiting, waiting to gas up. Sometimes it would take about an hour to get up there to the front of the line. And by then sometimes they were out of gas! And if your name wasn’t on the list at the gas station you couldn’t buy there. That just how it was.

Today a lot of our issues are about religion, not the first time that has happened. We have Christian and Muslim countries disputing. Which can be difficult to not get discouraged about since both are expansionists religions. Then I wonder how long, just like you, this will go on? I get confused because of all the sects and divisions that fall under those two large headings.  It just isn’t as easy as, “we should just get along”, like when did that ever happen in the history of mankind? At best we need to accept each other’s difference to find a way to cohabit on this planet that is really such a small place in the entire galaxy.

It isn’t pretty out there that is for sure and I have no intention of falling into apathy, but I do think balance is the key. I have my strong opinions as well as anyone else about freedom, life and religion. But I hope I can see the future past the chaos. The chaos I experienced in America during my youth was hard but it brought with it many changes that were very positive. I can only hope that the chaos we feel now is growing pains for future generations. I hope.

Politics, Just the Facts Ma’am……

I am an emotional woman, sappy by nature. I cry at cheesy movies, I laugh with my whole body. In many ways my emotions rule my being. However, in two areas of my life I want to think with my head not my heart. These are religion and politics. Lately there has been a lot of mudslinging in the news. This has led to email and Facebook comments that are not accurate. That is when I finally accepted that yellow journalism is running rampant and I was being emotional.

Yellow journalism is sensationalist news, in my opinion. It presents the news in an eye catching manner that is not based in fact. Today it has come a long way from the source with blanket statements about socio-ethnic groups or political party members that defame character in the name of “news”. What floors me about this kind of news is that most people do not check out the source to see if it is true. For example, Randolph William Hearst stands out historically as one who knew how to use catchy headlines and pictures to get the readers interested. He was known for using yellow journalism.

What this information has challenged me to do is go look for myself. I decided that with the democratic issues that are facing us I needed to know what the party really stands for. What an eye opener! So that led me to wonder about the GOP. Small wonder that the parties are fighting with all the slander! I don’t like character assassination; it denies me, the public from learning the truth. I don’t like blanket statements like, “Herbert Hoover was responsible for the Great Depression”. Really? One man sandwiched between two Presidents that declared our entrance into World War I and II was capable of bringing down the entire nation. That seems a tad ludicrous. Another I have heard is that while not all Muslims are terrorists we can be sure that all terrorist are Muslim. Again, really? What about the terrorism used by North Viet Nam in the Viet Nam War? I see some of the tactics used in Viet Nam being used in Afghanistan. What about the terrorism masterminded by Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler, which I might add neither of these men were Muslim.

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially by means of coercion. The dictionary doesn’t say terrorism is one ethnic group over another. Now don’t get me wrong, I am NOT saying there isn’t terrorism in our world. There is. But what I am up in arms about is how the media emotionalizes the wrongs in our world to foment fear and mob mentality. And the other thing that freaks me totally out is I get emails or Facebook statements about the Democrats, Republicans or Terrorists with no facts to back up the statements. No wonder we are running around like loose cannons right?

Well I didn’t realize how much all the mudslinging was getting to me until yesterday. Like the rest of the world I watched the miners in Chili. I too, stayed clued to my TV set watching as each man was pulled to freedom. And I was feeling pretty good that we as a global neighborhood had something to say that was positive on the news. That is when I realized how bad yellow journalism is getting to me. How entirely out of control the anger, defamation of character and fear of terrorism is getting. We are in hard times no doubt about that. It isn’t going to get better pretending to be Little Miss Sunshine or ignoring it but what I encourage is that more people will ask about that they hear or read. Is this true? Where are the facts? Being whipped into an emotional frenzy is not true news. Do I sound exasperated? Maybe I am, but for me I am going to question everything, find out where people are getting their sources and if it isn’t from a reputable source then I don’t have that many hours in my day to waste on it.

Yeah I got emotional. When I realized that the blame game in politics is all about the “party” not the person and that started me wondering. I got to reading about our Presidents and what parties were in office when major things happened in America. The one Presidential statement that I liked the most was when President Truman said “the buck stops here”. I wasn’t old enough to know Truman or his policies but I do know that passing the buck is a national pass time now. Only now we call it the blame game.

I don’t usually speak up about politics or religion but when I started doing research on emails and Facebook comments I am getting I found that many had no basis of a source to prove the statement. And we just believe it as fact!!! I know many people have a better handle on this kind of stuff than I do but at least now I know to put my emotions in my pocket and make sure I know the facts. Learning the truth about things is very liberating.

Sources:
Yellow Journalism, http://library.thinkquest.org/C0111500/spanamer/yellow.htm
Democrats, http://www.democrats.org/issues
GOP, http://www.ontheissues.org/republican_party.htm
Miners in Chili, http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=13320088
Harry Truman, the buck stops here, http://www.trumanlibrary.org/buckstop.htm
Posted in Politics, Uncategorized

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

• Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
• Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
• Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
• Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
• They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
• Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners;
  men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
• Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
• Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly.  He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
• Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and  Middleton.
• At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson
  home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
• Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.
• John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying.  Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It’s not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!

I hope you will show your support this Holiday.  It’s time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics and baseball games.

As the river runs freely over the rocks, the fish swim in the small eddy and we stand on the river’s bank of change with the biggest question ahead of us. How do we get to the other side? The River is deep and there are rapids but with the wind in our face we take a deep breath and hope we can find a way to get to the other side. We hope there is a better view on the bank over there; that we will turn from that bank walk away over the horizon into a new era, a new hope, a better future.

I hope so.

“What does change mean?” asked Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States and a leading intellectual of the Progressive Era. We can ask this question again now as our 44th President, Barak Obama, steps into the limelight. Many of us on the river’s bank of change hope and know we are ready for this. We baby boomers are a living history, a generation that have experienced more history in our lifetime than many of us will ever truly appreciate. Until history has been written for our children the impact will not be known.  As a nation, as a world, that watched the inauguration we now have to ask, are we ready to do what it takes to make the dream come true?  Can we step up to the challenge and put aside the differences and put our country back on track with the hope President Obama has given us for the future?

There are a slew of issues that need to be addressed. On his first day in office he addressed the economy, war and many other issues. As the second day in office began we will saw what else Obama has on his plate.

But as I watch our new administration unfold I am pondering some other questions. Will everyone want these changes ahead? This week on the History Channel is a series of programs on what all 44 Presidents have accomplished–and what they have not.  In retrospect it seems that our country takes two steps forward for change and one back, making changes in baby steps. Can we now hope we can just get on and take strides?

As our first black President steps up to the plate , we  can also ask what  it will mean for social change–not just for black Americans but for all groups.  Can the strength to dream big be extended to all people who have been oppressed?

President Obama is a man of hope, of change and decisiveness–all character qualities I admire. But changes in the hearts of man do not occur because we can enact law. People of all color, heritage, religion, and ethos need to want change for it to happen.

An example where change in law did not make change in people is the Reconstruction after the Civil War. Why did it fail? The Reconstruction failed on many levels because the “mutual distrust of the Northerners and the Southerners remained close to the surface.” (Donald Stark)

Have we moved past this attitude today? I hope so. I hope we can cross over the river to the other side. I hope we have come to the point in history where everyone can see their dreams realized.

I hope that we make our differences work for us. I hope that the new administration is not a platform to criticize the past. If we all believe and hope with our 44th President then it is time to hope, to put aside the blame game and work together. To not blame the prior Administration but, take ownership for the future. I hope that America can do it. I hope…