This is an adaptation from, and not a verbatim copy of, an article by Dr. Emmanuel Tanay, a respected psychiatrist.
A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to WWII, owned a number of large industrial concerns and estates; when asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave may be an indication of some of the realities we currently face and are living through…
“Very few people were true Nazis” he said, “but many enjoyed the return of German pride and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools who eventually would go away… So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world as we knew it, came. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and my family lost everything.”
We are told, again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is a religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace and are normal people just like us. Although these assertions may be true, they are entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe on the name of Islam and other causes, and here in our own backyard with other types of extremisms.
The fact is that the fanatics/extremists rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics/extremists who march. It is the fanatics/extremists who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics/extremists who systematically slaughter Christians or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics/extremists who bomb, behead, murder or honor-kill. It is the fanatics/extremists who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics/extremists who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics/extremists who teach their young to kill and become suicide bombers. The hard quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the ‘silent majority’ is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists under the Stalin regime were responsible for the murder of about 20 million of Russians and other Soviet people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.
China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people under Mao's Cultural Revolution.
The average Japanese individual prior to WWII was not a war mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an bloody orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians, most killed by sword, shovel and bayonet.
And who can forget Rwanda which collapsed into the butchering of millions of innocent civilians by a small minority of fanatics/extremists? Could it not be said that the vast majority of Rwandans were ‘peace loving’ people?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: peace-loving people are made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving people will become tacit accomplices of the extremist minority if they don’t speak up because, like the German man mentioned above, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics/extremists own them, and that the end of their world has begun.
Peace loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians and many, many others died because the peaceful majority did not speak up against the fanatics/extremists until it was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts: the fanatics/extremists who threaten our way of life!
Editorial Note:
We are currently witnessing how a small group of fanatics/extremists in position of power are managing to derail the country’s economy and the future of the republic as we know it. They were sent there by their fanatic/extremists constituents to destabilize the system, create chaos and eventually impose their will; nothing else matters; no other ways are feasible; no other opinions count; bye-bye democracy! Unless the vast ‘silent majority’ acts decisively and send these fanatics/extremists back to where they came from, we are on our way to be ‘owned’ by them. For many years, around the world, the word German was synonymous of Nazi; unless the vast 'silent majority' act decisively starting now, the word American will become synonymous of right-wing-extremist!
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
0027 - 03OCT2013 - "Who needs a government, anyway?"
And so it goes, that on October 1st 2013, the US Government was shut down and more than 800,000 ‘non-essential’ government workers were furloughed… Are the national parks and museums non essential? During WWII, somebody told Churchill that the funds dedicated to the preservation of Arts and Culture in Great Britain had to be diverted to fund more military equipment. He responded “If we are to disregard our Arts and Culture, what are we really fighting for?” Now, there are several key questions that, depending on your psychological profile (because that dictates your political persuasion) are valid or not, simple or not, fair or not…
Question #1: one political radio commentator asks: “If they are non-essential, why are they working for the government anyway?” Interesting question because it indicates that only essential functions are needed or necessary, right? It makes sense. However, like with everything else, the devil is on the details and, after further analysis, this criterion for essential-or-not starts getting a little fuzzy… Are janitors essential to the Pentagon or to the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building? No, they are not; Pentagon is Defense and the FBI building is Justice; period. And that all makes sense until there is no paper in the bathrooms, or the toilets are not working. The alternatives are to wait until you return home to go to the bathroom or go in any dark corner of your choosing. Are electricians essential? The same answer applies: no, they are not; that is until a breaker blows and there is no power to the whole wing of a building, or light bulbs need to be changed, or the A/C is not working, etc. Now we are talking about a stinky, dark hot and humid workplace; still non essential, right? And one can go down the line and talk about guards, cooks, secretaries, travel arrangers, couriers, etc. Can you see the difference between essential and needed? Can one understand that non-essential does not mean unnecessary? A bathroom in one’s house is non-essential because a house essential function is to provide shelter, plus you can go outside and do your ‘businesses’. Does that mean the bathroom’s services and functionality are not needed? I know that the answer to those questions depend on your political persuasion and, as such, I leave it up to you. I know what my answer is!
Question #2: another political radio commentator said: “It’s been two days with the Government out of business and I, for one, see no difference. Who needs a government, anyway?” I’d say that the logic here is infallible and as perfect as one can conceive, right? Justice, Foreign Policy and Trade, Defense, Treasury, Agriculture, Labor, Transportation, Education, Energy, Veteran Affairs, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services. All those things are a waste of money and play no role, whatsoever, in the day-today lives of God-fearing, Bible/Torah-totting, red-blooded Americans. Let’s make a simple list:
I have one more example of government irrelevance, a close-to-home example: Elizabeth Warren, a senator for Massachusetts, is referred to by many people of certain political persuasion (i.e. psychological profile) as a God Dammed Liberal, a true Communist! Many also ignore (or choose to ignore) that this same ‘communist’ fought for long and hard, and founded, the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau); she caught hell from many patriots who opposed the creation of such a wasteful entity; it had to be created by executive order because the patriots in congress did not want more government. Ironically, this is the same outfit we are all looking at, and talking to, and pleading with to help us with the mess the developer left behind in Hawks Bluff… What a waste!
Lastly, for those of us who still think that government is not needed, here are a couple of suggestions where one may find the closest thing to Paradise: Somalia or Afghanistan. Little or no government whatsoever; there one can live happily ever after!
Question #1: one political radio commentator asks: “If they are non-essential, why are they working for the government anyway?” Interesting question because it indicates that only essential functions are needed or necessary, right? It makes sense. However, like with everything else, the devil is on the details and, after further analysis, this criterion for essential-or-not starts getting a little fuzzy… Are janitors essential to the Pentagon or to the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building? No, they are not; Pentagon is Defense and the FBI building is Justice; period. And that all makes sense until there is no paper in the bathrooms, or the toilets are not working. The alternatives are to wait until you return home to go to the bathroom or go in any dark corner of your choosing. Are electricians essential? The same answer applies: no, they are not; that is until a breaker blows and there is no power to the whole wing of a building, or light bulbs need to be changed, or the A/C is not working, etc. Now we are talking about a stinky, dark hot and humid workplace; still non essential, right? And one can go down the line and talk about guards, cooks, secretaries, travel arrangers, couriers, etc. Can you see the difference between essential and needed? Can one understand that non-essential does not mean unnecessary? A bathroom in one’s house is non-essential because a house essential function is to provide shelter, plus you can go outside and do your ‘businesses’. Does that mean the bathroom’s services and functionality are not needed? I know that the answer to those questions depend on your political persuasion and, as such, I leave it up to you. I know what my answer is!
Question #2: another political radio commentator said: “It’s been two days with the Government out of business and I, for one, see no difference. Who needs a government, anyway?” I’d say that the logic here is infallible and as perfect as one can conceive, right? Justice, Foreign Policy and Trade, Defense, Treasury, Agriculture, Labor, Transportation, Education, Energy, Veteran Affairs, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services. All those things are a waste of money and play no role, whatsoever, in the day-today lives of God-fearing, Bible/Torah-totting, red-blooded Americans. Let’s make a simple list:
- Justice: Courts where to air one’s grievances; “Who needs that crap? Every man for himself.”
- State: Healthy and honorable relations with other countries of the world; “what the hell for, who needs to even know who they are?”
- Defense: Ability to defend our land, citizens and interests wherever they may be; “hey, we are all rugged individuals and I need nobody to defend me; I have my AK47 ready to go against those government thugs!”
- Treasury: Control and manage monetary policy. “What kind of gibberish is that? A dollar is a dollar is a dollar. Inflation, recession, depression those are inventions of the bureaucrats!”
- Agriculture: Educate, incentivize farmers and help market crops. “Bull crap; farmers need no help; they know best; leave them alone!”
- Labor: monitor, regulate and maintain healthy work rules and environments. “Who the hell needs that? A fair wage for a fair work day; that’s how this country was created; don’t interfere with the business owners”
- Transportation: safety, maintenance and expansion of means of transportation. “There is no place in the Constitution where safe roads, bridges, cars, trains or planes are guaranteed, OK? So, stop whining and travel at your own risk”
- Education: management of educational standards for curricula and educators. “It is a broken system; I don’t trust them; I do my own schooling; teacher are lazy and, at an average of $30,000/year, they are grossly overpaid; college Professors are worthless and always in their ivory towers; those who can’t do, teach!”
- ... And the list goes on with many examples of how little value the government brings to us…
I have one more example of government irrelevance, a close-to-home example: Elizabeth Warren, a senator for Massachusetts, is referred to by many people of certain political persuasion (i.e. psychological profile) as a God Dammed Liberal, a true Communist! Many also ignore (or choose to ignore) that this same ‘communist’ fought for long and hard, and founded, the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau); she caught hell from many patriots who opposed the creation of such a wasteful entity; it had to be created by executive order because the patriots in congress did not want more government. Ironically, this is the same outfit we are all looking at, and talking to, and pleading with to help us with the mess the developer left behind in Hawks Bluff… What a waste!
Lastly, for those of us who still think that government is not needed, here are a couple of suggestions where one may find the closest thing to Paradise: Somalia or Afghanistan. Little or no government whatsoever; there one can live happily ever after!
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
0026 - 01OCT2013 - "So, what’s a coach, anyway?"
A few weeks ago a friend and I spent some quality time together; went out for dinner; went for a ride; got lots of time to talk. So we talked about many things and one of them was the situation of going back to work after ‘retirement’. Some people see it as a source of embarrassment since the inference is that they are not able to make ends meet; that they did not plan well; a feeling of inadequacy. Other folks see it as he saw it, a very positive event and a great opportunity; his point was (and is one I’ve advocated for years) that many of us – throughout our ‘productive’ years - have accumulated an immense amount of knowledge, experiences, and tricks-of-the-trade which are not taught in any school, at any level; that intellectual capital sits idle and unproductive (going to waste) as we are now retired; nobody is benefiting from all that wealth of wisdom. As an example, he cited himself as a business man, cited others on their known professions, and cited me as an IT guy… Many other folks would have taken offense at being referred to as an IT Guy; “Hey” they would have said, “I went to six years of school for - and became - a Licensed Computer Scientist, a Specialist in Cybernetics & Informatics, and a Systems Engineer, and you are referring to me as an IT Guy?” and they would have stomped out of the place all offended and in a huff. But that was not the case and that was not the point; the point was that I would have loved to be known as a coach, which is my passion and something that I am experienced in and trained on, instead of being known as an ‘IT Guy’, my old profession; and so I let him know… As the conversation progressed on to several other topics, he gathered the courage to ask me, “So, what’s a coach, anyway”?
I gave a good account of myself when it came to define that the type of coach that I was talking about was not the stereotypical sports or any other skills coaches (teach and drill is their model); the coaching that I practiced was oriented towards guiding and helping individuals find healthy ways to face and deal with their perceived or real shortcomings, self-defeating attitudes, and other factors that are on the way of fulfilling their full potential and producing their best, whatever that best might be. “Are you a shrink?” he asked; “No”, I replied, “Psychologists deal with the clinical areas of perception, attention, emotion, motivation, brain functioning, behavior and interpersinal relationships.” “Coaching is like – voluntarily - peeling the onion and understanding there is debris between the layers that may be getting in the way of it being a perfect onion; you get rid of nothing (that would be a job for the shrink); instead, you understand all that is there, value it for what it is – and what it is not, and move on accordingly.” I could see on his face that the whole subject was still obscure, confusing to him and that I had not really answered his question; so I proceeded to try to illustrate the whole concept with an example, oversimplifying the process and the details, and keeping the protagonists anonymous, as the code of ethics demands…
This is the case of a man who grew up in an environment in which knowledge was the most appreciated ‘currency’; there used to be a saying around his home about “Your knowledge, and not your holdings, is your worth”. So, from youth, he was a very avid knowledge acquirer. He read every book he got his hands on; if there were no new books available that he hadn’t read twice, he would read the dictionary end to end. Over the years this attitude persisted and by middle age, he was a walking throve of trivia. There is an axiom that says ‘an overused virtue becomes a liability’ and that was the case with this fellow; he was always eager to share his knowledge and to have answers for everything. At the beginning it all was well and everybody around him praised him for his knowledge and the contributions he made; however, as time went on, he started to be perceived as a ‘know-it-all’; he was still admired by all, but his contributions were not too well received any more. In the role he was expected to play he could not afford to be exiled from the rest of people and teams, so he realized he had a problem that needed resolution; and he did not know how! Through friends and acquaintances he heard about coaching and what it could do, and sought some help from a coach… After several sessions of conversations and information gathering the coach guided the man to come to the realization that his issue was not his needing to show his worth (knowledge); instead his issue was one of fear of obsolescence and irrelevance. The fellow feared to become irrelevant, of not making a difference. The coach helped him find ways to add value to people and situations by just playing his role as a leader and as a friend, and stop using his knowledge as the only tool in his bag. Instead, he tried (successfully) to stop volunteering answers when the question was not even asked; he learned how to either guide people to the answers or wait for the question to be asked; he learned to realize that if the question was not asked, it was not relevant to the situation… That made his job and relationships with others quite more normal and pleasant.
“Does that make sense?” I asked… “Yes, it does…” my friend replied. “Would coaching like that be of any value to you?” I asked… “No; I have no issues…” he replied. And I thought to myself “Right!”
I gave a good account of myself when it came to define that the type of coach that I was talking about was not the stereotypical sports or any other skills coaches (teach and drill is their model); the coaching that I practiced was oriented towards guiding and helping individuals find healthy ways to face and deal with their perceived or real shortcomings, self-defeating attitudes, and other factors that are on the way of fulfilling their full potential and producing their best, whatever that best might be. “Are you a shrink?” he asked; “No”, I replied, “Psychologists deal with the clinical areas of perception, attention, emotion, motivation, brain functioning, behavior and interpersinal relationships.” “Coaching is like – voluntarily - peeling the onion and understanding there is debris between the layers that may be getting in the way of it being a perfect onion; you get rid of nothing (that would be a job for the shrink); instead, you understand all that is there, value it for what it is – and what it is not, and move on accordingly.” I could see on his face that the whole subject was still obscure, confusing to him and that I had not really answered his question; so I proceeded to try to illustrate the whole concept with an example, oversimplifying the process and the details, and keeping the protagonists anonymous, as the code of ethics demands…
This is the case of a man who grew up in an environment in which knowledge was the most appreciated ‘currency’; there used to be a saying around his home about “Your knowledge, and not your holdings, is your worth”. So, from youth, he was a very avid knowledge acquirer. He read every book he got his hands on; if there were no new books available that he hadn’t read twice, he would read the dictionary end to end. Over the years this attitude persisted and by middle age, he was a walking throve of trivia. There is an axiom that says ‘an overused virtue becomes a liability’ and that was the case with this fellow; he was always eager to share his knowledge and to have answers for everything. At the beginning it all was well and everybody around him praised him for his knowledge and the contributions he made; however, as time went on, he started to be perceived as a ‘know-it-all’; he was still admired by all, but his contributions were not too well received any more. In the role he was expected to play he could not afford to be exiled from the rest of people and teams, so he realized he had a problem that needed resolution; and he did not know how! Through friends and acquaintances he heard about coaching and what it could do, and sought some help from a coach… After several sessions of conversations and information gathering the coach guided the man to come to the realization that his issue was not his needing to show his worth (knowledge); instead his issue was one of fear of obsolescence and irrelevance. The fellow feared to become irrelevant, of not making a difference. The coach helped him find ways to add value to people and situations by just playing his role as a leader and as a friend, and stop using his knowledge as the only tool in his bag. Instead, he tried (successfully) to stop volunteering answers when the question was not even asked; he learned how to either guide people to the answers or wait for the question to be asked; he learned to realize that if the question was not asked, it was not relevant to the situation… That made his job and relationships with others quite more normal and pleasant.
“Does that make sense?” I asked… “Yes, it does…” my friend replied. “Would coaching like that be of any value to you?” I asked… “No; I have no issues…” he replied. And I thought to myself “Right!”
Sunday, September 1, 2013
0025 - 01SEP2013 - "Are we beyond repair?"
OK, somebody please try to explain to me what just happened in Oklahoma where three teenagers were bored and, to find some amusement, decided to shoot and kill a young man that happen to be passing by… Folks, this is almost the end of the rope for some people for whom this land once was a promise as close to paradise as possible and now has fallen so far down the ladder of inhumanity that is getting hard to describe the degeneration we are experiencing…
It is evident, going by the demographics, this malaise is not race biased and it is an Equal Opportunity Decay. Three teenagers, black/white/brown (yellow and red were not represented), found no way to amuse themselves other than selecting a random jogger and gunning him down, murdering him in cold blood, in broad day light, in the middle a small town in Oklahoma… We’re not talking Chicago, or Detroit, or New York City, or Philadelphia, or Los Angeles, or Miami, or even Atlanta; we are talking Duncan, Oklahoma, Crape myrtle Capital of Oklahoma, path of the Chisholm Trail, population ~23,400; the type of town that is expected to represent all is good about the USA and now it will represent all that is gangrenous about the USA!
Now, there are already opinions out there that say this was caused by the violence portrayed in games, TV and the movies… BS! We manage to export that same violence to the whole rest of the world, and we don’t hear about this type of atrocities happening elsewhere as often as they happen here. There is also a set of opinions that says that it is that violence plus the availability of firearms… BS BS! Some other countries of the world may not have the same ungodly amount of uncontrolled firearms that the USA has on its streets, but they have other types of arms which are also lethal (remember that there were lots of people killed in this world before there were any firearms, and this is not an apology for the firearms issues we have, and boy, issues we have; but that’s the subject of another soap box stand!). Some others are pounding their chests arguing that, since all these three monsters came out of broken homes, single-parent households are the problem… BS BS BS! The current president of the USA came out of a single-parent home and there are many, many highly accomplished and remarkable people in the arts, sciences, politics, academia, military, and all other important walks of life and professions who came out of broken homes; my own father came out of a single parent home and he was one of the most remarkable, though unpublicized, men I ever knew. I’m not saying that a broken home is the same as a ‘whole’ home; what I am saying is that broken homes do not breed monsters.
Now, hang on to your pants because, at times, this may come close to home or may feel uncomfortable, but ‘it is what it is’… I’ll tell you what the problem is: it is the ‘me’ mindset. Why do I mean by that? Well, at one time, we decided we were going to take care of number one first; once we started on that path we started to drift more and more into that mindset and now we find ourselves caring about number one only; period! Look around and you will see examples, in all walks of life and in all instances, of what I am saying. It may reflect itself into simple things like “if it doesn't affect me, it is not my problem” and then one step further “if it is not my problem, there is no problem, is there?” Unfortunately, we have forgotten that it is the sense of community and our duty to care for our fellow men what makes us human; without that, we are just animals (like the three ones mentioned above). We have taken our ‘rogue individualism’ to an extreme that says ‘only I matter’. Just remember that in 1776 only few people paid taxes and, if we had had this attitude then (if it doesn't affect me is not my problem), we would still be flying the Union Jack…
It is evident, going by the demographics, this malaise is not race biased and it is an Equal Opportunity Decay. Three teenagers, black/white/brown (yellow and red were not represented), found no way to amuse themselves other than selecting a random jogger and gunning him down, murdering him in cold blood, in broad day light, in the middle a small town in Oklahoma… We’re not talking Chicago, or Detroit, or New York City, or Philadelphia, or Los Angeles, or Miami, or even Atlanta; we are talking Duncan, Oklahoma, Crape myrtle Capital of Oklahoma, path of the Chisholm Trail, population ~23,400; the type of town that is expected to represent all is good about the USA and now it will represent all that is gangrenous about the USA!
Now, there are already opinions out there that say this was caused by the violence portrayed in games, TV and the movies… BS! We manage to export that same violence to the whole rest of the world, and we don’t hear about this type of atrocities happening elsewhere as often as they happen here. There is also a set of opinions that says that it is that violence plus the availability of firearms… BS BS! Some other countries of the world may not have the same ungodly amount of uncontrolled firearms that the USA has on its streets, but they have other types of arms which are also lethal (remember that there were lots of people killed in this world before there were any firearms, and this is not an apology for the firearms issues we have, and boy, issues we have; but that’s the subject of another soap box stand!). Some others are pounding their chests arguing that, since all these three monsters came out of broken homes, single-parent households are the problem… BS BS BS! The current president of the USA came out of a single-parent home and there are many, many highly accomplished and remarkable people in the arts, sciences, politics, academia, military, and all other important walks of life and professions who came out of broken homes; my own father came out of a single parent home and he was one of the most remarkable, though unpublicized, men I ever knew. I’m not saying that a broken home is the same as a ‘whole’ home; what I am saying is that broken homes do not breed monsters.
Now, hang on to your pants because, at times, this may come close to home or may feel uncomfortable, but ‘it is what it is’… I’ll tell you what the problem is: it is the ‘me’ mindset. Why do I mean by that? Well, at one time, we decided we were going to take care of number one first; once we started on that path we started to drift more and more into that mindset and now we find ourselves caring about number one only; period! Look around and you will see examples, in all walks of life and in all instances, of what I am saying. It may reflect itself into simple things like “if it doesn't affect me, it is not my problem” and then one step further “if it is not my problem, there is no problem, is there?” Unfortunately, we have forgotten that it is the sense of community and our duty to care for our fellow men what makes us human; without that, we are just animals (like the three ones mentioned above). We have taken our ‘rogue individualism’ to an extreme that says ‘only I matter’. Just remember that in 1776 only few people paid taxes and, if we had had this attitude then (if it doesn't affect me is not my problem), we would still be flying the Union Jack…
We've no respect for human life, period.
Some of us claim to be the defenders of human life and proclaim that a life is viable since conception; however, once the child is born, who care is he/she eats? “Cut entitlements”, we cry (even though it may mean some children may starve to death); oh, but we defended them with all our might while they were in the womb… These people are all hypocrites!
Others say, we can kill them as long as they are not born (at times almost with a ‘who cares’ cavalier attitude), but once they are born, we teach them that regardless of their lot in life, they don’t have to ever worry about where the next meal is coming from because we will feed them for life; there is no merit on hard work and effort because all basic needs will be taken care of for as long as they live, even if they become animals (like the three above) and we choose to cage them for the rest of their lives (instead of killing them for their crime, as they squarely deserve) and we still will be taking total care of them in jail (food, medical, entertainment, education) at no cost to them for as long as they live… Another bunch of hypocrites!
We pound our chests and proudly salute the American flag and even shed tears when our soldiers return home being only shreds of what they used to be; oh yeah, they are our heroes but, for the life of God, balance the Goddamned budget and cut, cut, cut (who care if the vets don’t have a doctor to see for months or don’t have a leg to stand on, literally!)... The worst type of hypocrites!
I may sound a little cynical, a little bitter and a little dejected… Well, I feel cynical when I realize the wide gap between what we say we value and what we actually do value, the gap between the word and the deed; I am bitter about the horrible waste of human capital in so many ways all over the country that seems to be going on and on and has become the norm; and I am dejected that my choice of being part of once the best nation in the world, may be coming under self scrutiny…
Are we beyond repair? I don’t really know… What do you think?
I may sound a little cynical, a little bitter and a little dejected… Well, I feel cynical when I realize the wide gap between what we say we value and what we actually do value, the gap between the word and the deed; I am bitter about the horrible waste of human capital in so many ways all over the country that seems to be going on and on and has become the norm; and I am dejected that my choice of being part of once the best nation in the world, may be coming under self scrutiny…
Are we beyond repair? I don’t really know… What do you think?
Thursday, August 8, 2013
0024 - 08AUG2013 - "Who do you think you are?"
Powerful words! I've been asked that question, using the
same order of words a couple of times in
my life (once, they added a two-word ‘qualifier’ after the word Who) and, even though at
first it felt challenging and insulting (and worthy or an ‘appropriate’
response), in both cases when the dust settled it ended up being a source of
self examination, a source of ‘search and rescue’ for something I had clearly
missed, and eventually a source of learning…
These words could be used (and often are) to either question
somebody self-appointment to a position of ‘authority’, or to challenge
directly that ‘authority’… This situation usually comes about when there is a
radical unbalance between one person’s perception of their own selves and how
others perceive that person; or it may be a product of a marked difference
between what a person imagines they are and what reality says about that
person… It is also commonly found when people try to exercise some judgment or
action that is, clearly, beyond their known and/or apparent capabilities.
On these days - and the actual focus of this lines - it refers to a TV Program in which celebrities
(or pretenders) are brought in and their genealogy examined by experts.
Eventually they have all sorts of reactions, both positive and negative, to the
results… I remember vividly one in which Harry Connick Jr. was told his
great/great/great grandfather had come from Scotland in the mid 1850, settled
in Louisiana, and took arms with the Confederates… He could not hide his shame
and disappointment! In the same program, Delfeayo Marsalis was told he had 9%
of White blood and he said, with a chuckle, “I always knew something was wrong with me”…
There’s been lots of interest in the last 20 to 25 years
(that I am aware of) to look into one’s ancestry. The reasons are varied and
all valid. I've never let that bug bite me - I think - due to a pseudo ‘sour
grapes’ type of reaction. “I am from
South America; my ancestors did not land on Plymouth Rock or came through Ellis
Island; researching my ancestry with the current data available (mostly related
to US bound immigration would certainly be an exercise in futility” has
been my excuse. But some weeks ago, in a casual conversation, a friend who is
actively involved in populating their genealogical tree assured me that the
data available in sites such as Ancestry.com is worldwide and encompasses the
globe.
So, I am thinking about trying to learn a little more about,
not who do I think I am (I been put in my place enough times for me to have that down!), but more about who my ancestors
were, where did they come from, and what I can blame them for!
Has anybody in "Blogland' done any research on this and, if so, what results did you come up with?
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
0023 - 16APR2013 - "Once upon a time..."
The following story is all fictional and any resemblance to current persons, organizations or any other type of entities is merely coincidental…
Once upon a time and in a very far away land, there lived a people who had been considered at times as having an almost perfect society where all and everyone had the opportunity to better themselves, where the government played the supporting role needed to protect both individual and social rights, and where all strata of society shared a very sharp dual foci: one on society and one on the individual. They understood a simple set of concepts:
God blessed this land with thousands of hectares of arable and fertile land in many diverse climates; they could work the tropical crops (fruits, sugar cane, rice, corn, beans, legumes) all year round; they could work seasonal crops such as wheat, rye, sorghum, and all tubers (potato, carrot, etc). Due to the abundance of good land, cattle and all livestock grew fat and with high quality meat everywhere. Minerals were also in abundance; gold, bauxite (to make aluminum with) and finally, iron, lots of iron. Life was good. The country exported almost everything and imported little: automobiles and appliances.
To further the blessings, oil – tremendous amounts of oil – was found in the subsoil and overnight, a prosperous nation became a rich nation, very rich nation. Its standard of living was considered in the 1950s one of the highest in the world; its Health Care system left no one behind; school (primary and secondary) was made mandatory; superior school was optional; it was also considered one of the best in that region of the world, and it was free! Immigration was encouraged but was selective; emigration was nonexistent.
And then one day things started to change… Little changes here and there… Subtle changes – almost imperceptible – but giving way to a different type of thinking… Someone discovered that cheating was OK as long as you did not get caught (what a concept!). Someone discovered that, if some individuals needed help (pieces were not working well) and you ignored those needs, the machine still worked well enough for the majority; that society could forget about some of their individuals and it was still OK for those who were not affected directly by that situation; that if they did favors for politicians, favorable legislation would come their way quickly; they discovered that if they paid enough money out they could circumvent processes and procedures getting results quicker; they discovered that lending money was lucrative but not enough, and that money needed to be manipulated to get richer quicker. They started to get into the world of shortcuts, the world of ‘cutting in line’, the world of ‘the laws apply to the little people’, the world of ‘results is what counts, regardless of how you achieve it’… Those who took advantage of the situations around them, became ‘accomplished’; those who did not, did not. Those who shorted and twisted the system and made it work for them, became ‘successful’; those who did not, did not. Those whose only goal was to make money, made lots of money, and became ‘affluent’; those who did not, did not. Eventually, there appeared a chasm almost imperceptible at first and later more and more obvious between a few who had become accomplished, successful and affluent, and those who had not. The laws, processes, procedures only seem to apply to the one who had not because the others had enough resource to ‘buy their way’ in or out of situations. The rich became fabulously rich and the middle class all but disappeared; after 20 years of this malaise, the acquisition of a house was reserved to only few; after 40 years, the renting of an apartment was reserved for the few fortunate ones… Professionals with two and three degrees (medicine, law, etc.) could not afford a house, and might have been able to afford a condo after 15 to 20 years of sacrifice.
Eventually, the people abandoned the system for lack of trust; those who could, got out; and those who could not afford to get out, did not. Institutions broke down; legal system broke down; economic and financial infrastructures broke down; the supply chain of goods and services, all of them, broke down. That country imports everything now, and only exports oil… The story of not quite over yet; that land still exist, but not for long.
The moral of the story, boys and girls, is that when the system can be rigged with no consequences, when you have billionaires openly trying to buy politicians and elections, when you have a congress that no longer represent the people but only the lobbyists, when the middle class becomes an endangered species, when mom and dad have jobs but cannot afford a house, when the normal Joe Kidd knows that a college degree gets them nowhere, hope is lost, society breaks down, the individual primordial instincts of survival take over, and the system is all but finished.
Food for thought:
“The easiest way to repeat history, is to ignore it or forget it”
Once upon a time and in a very far away land, there lived a people who had been considered at times as having an almost perfect society where all and everyone had the opportunity to better themselves, where the government played the supporting role needed to protect both individual and social rights, and where all strata of society shared a very sharp dual foci: one on society and one on the individual. They understood a simple set of concepts:
- No man is an island. The vast majority understood that society, the aggregate of all individuals, was extremely important to create and nurture because there was a critical interdependence between all members; it worked as a well greased and effective machinery; additionally…
- Every individual, every piece in the machinery was important. If one of the pieces failed, the machinery (read Society) would not work as effectively as usual for the detriment of all.
- Everybody understood that rights and duties applied to all in the same manner, that the infringement of one individual’s rights would severely threaten the rights of all; and that dereliction of duties by one, implied larger burden for all.
- Everybody grew up knowing – having internalized since childhood – the concept of fair play, that one’s rewards depended on one’s efforts, that the individual was the only one who could put limits to their own dreams, aspirations and goals.
- The concepts of being a predator, of cutting in line, of cutting corners, of finding shortcuts, of taking advantage of others, of taking unclean advantage of situations were dishonorable and a source of shame.
God blessed this land with thousands of hectares of arable and fertile land in many diverse climates; they could work the tropical crops (fruits, sugar cane, rice, corn, beans, legumes) all year round; they could work seasonal crops such as wheat, rye, sorghum, and all tubers (potato, carrot, etc). Due to the abundance of good land, cattle and all livestock grew fat and with high quality meat everywhere. Minerals were also in abundance; gold, bauxite (to make aluminum with) and finally, iron, lots of iron. Life was good. The country exported almost everything and imported little: automobiles and appliances.
To further the blessings, oil – tremendous amounts of oil – was found in the subsoil and overnight, a prosperous nation became a rich nation, very rich nation. Its standard of living was considered in the 1950s one of the highest in the world; its Health Care system left no one behind; school (primary and secondary) was made mandatory; superior school was optional; it was also considered one of the best in that region of the world, and it was free! Immigration was encouraged but was selective; emigration was nonexistent.
And then one day things started to change… Little changes here and there… Subtle changes – almost imperceptible – but giving way to a different type of thinking… Someone discovered that cheating was OK as long as you did not get caught (what a concept!). Someone discovered that, if some individuals needed help (pieces were not working well) and you ignored those needs, the machine still worked well enough for the majority; that society could forget about some of their individuals and it was still OK for those who were not affected directly by that situation; that if they did favors for politicians, favorable legislation would come their way quickly; they discovered that if they paid enough money out they could circumvent processes and procedures getting results quicker; they discovered that lending money was lucrative but not enough, and that money needed to be manipulated to get richer quicker. They started to get into the world of shortcuts, the world of ‘cutting in line’, the world of ‘the laws apply to the little people’, the world of ‘results is what counts, regardless of how you achieve it’… Those who took advantage of the situations around them, became ‘accomplished’; those who did not, did not. Those who shorted and twisted the system and made it work for them, became ‘successful’; those who did not, did not. Those whose only goal was to make money, made lots of money, and became ‘affluent’; those who did not, did not. Eventually, there appeared a chasm almost imperceptible at first and later more and more obvious between a few who had become accomplished, successful and affluent, and those who had not. The laws, processes, procedures only seem to apply to the one who had not because the others had enough resource to ‘buy their way’ in or out of situations. The rich became fabulously rich and the middle class all but disappeared; after 20 years of this malaise, the acquisition of a house was reserved to only few; after 40 years, the renting of an apartment was reserved for the few fortunate ones… Professionals with two and three degrees (medicine, law, etc.) could not afford a house, and might have been able to afford a condo after 15 to 20 years of sacrifice.
Eventually, the people abandoned the system for lack of trust; those who could, got out; and those who could not afford to get out, did not. Institutions broke down; legal system broke down; economic and financial infrastructures broke down; the supply chain of goods and services, all of them, broke down. That country imports everything now, and only exports oil… The story of not quite over yet; that land still exist, but not for long.
The moral of the story, boys and girls, is that when the system can be rigged with no consequences, when you have billionaires openly trying to buy politicians and elections, when you have a congress that no longer represent the people but only the lobbyists, when the middle class becomes an endangered species, when mom and dad have jobs but cannot afford a house, when the normal Joe Kidd knows that a college degree gets them nowhere, hope is lost, society breaks down, the individual primordial instincts of survival take over, and the system is all but finished.
Food for thought:
“The easiest way to repeat history, is to ignore it or forget it”
- Anonymous
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
0022 - 23JAN2013 - "Perspectives"
Thirty seven years ago today, my first and only niece was born. Happy Birthday, Ana Gabriela!
Perspectives. Continuing on a theme from a previous edition, this is a statement worthy of further scrutiny: “…I see no issues with our Health Care system: I am insured… I get services; Medicare pays…; my supplemental pays…; and I can afford the rest; the system is not broken”… This type of thinking is very prevalent in our society; it is most common amongst the baby-boomers generation (who are becoming our elderly now), and it has percolated to the generations who have followed… This is the type of thinking who brought us the ‘me’ generation; it is this type of thinking that led to the decision that living as an extended family (where parents, children, grandparents, uncles and aunts were part of that family) was no longer acceptable for the vast majority of us; “I need my own space” was the argument (“It is all about me” was the underlining thinking). Now, does this type of thinking preclude us from understanding concerns that affect many people other than ourselves? Is it healthy (or not?) to practice the recommendation of “You can only worry about what you can control”? I don’t know the answer to those questions… I am rambling again…
Sports. Lance Armstrong managed to fool a lot of people for a long time… Now, it seems that he has lied to so many for so long that he cannot discern fact from fiction and is unable to tell the truth… He seems to continue to exhibit a level of arrogance not belonging to people in his position… I hope one day he finds a way to appreciate himself as he is and not as the false idol he tried to make. Moving to football, the Atlanta Falcons proved to be still just pretenders and not contenders. And so, we will have Harbaugh Bowl: John (Ravens) against Jim (49ers)… Should be interesting!
Politics. And Obama was inaugurated for his 2nd term… According to MSNBC the speech, the ceremonies, the parades were magnificent. According to CNN it all was interesting but there were about ½ million people less in attendance this time. According to FoxNews, it all was disappointing, partisan, and an affront to Reagan. I think some broadcast licenses should be pulled and let some outfits be political opinion outlets and not news channels…
Books read lately… “Killing Lincoln”, by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard. The subject is presented like a thriller, hour by hour, and with a diverse number of subplots… Although instructional and most appreciated (it was a Christmas present to me from Alex), I think O’Reilly’s efforts are best oriented to being a radio and TV commentator and not a historian…
Food for Thoughts…
“There are only two reasons for that federal list of gun owners: to tax them or take them” said Wayne La Pierre, Executive Director of the NRA referring to proposals for registering guns…
So, stay informed, my friends…
Perspectives. Continuing on a theme from a previous edition, this is a statement worthy of further scrutiny: “…I see no issues with our Health Care system: I am insured… I get services; Medicare pays…; my supplemental pays…; and I can afford the rest; the system is not broken”… This type of thinking is very prevalent in our society; it is most common amongst the baby-boomers generation (who are becoming our elderly now), and it has percolated to the generations who have followed… This is the type of thinking who brought us the ‘me’ generation; it is this type of thinking that led to the decision that living as an extended family (where parents, children, grandparents, uncles and aunts were part of that family) was no longer acceptable for the vast majority of us; “I need my own space” was the argument (“It is all about me” was the underlining thinking). Now, does this type of thinking preclude us from understanding concerns that affect many people other than ourselves? Is it healthy (or not?) to practice the recommendation of “You can only worry about what you can control”? I don’t know the answer to those questions… I am rambling again…
Sports. Lance Armstrong managed to fool a lot of people for a long time… Now, it seems that he has lied to so many for so long that he cannot discern fact from fiction and is unable to tell the truth… He seems to continue to exhibit a level of arrogance not belonging to people in his position… I hope one day he finds a way to appreciate himself as he is and not as the false idol he tried to make. Moving to football, the Atlanta Falcons proved to be still just pretenders and not contenders. And so, we will have Harbaugh Bowl: John (Ravens) against Jim (49ers)… Should be interesting!
Politics. And Obama was inaugurated for his 2nd term… According to MSNBC the speech, the ceremonies, the parades were magnificent. According to CNN it all was interesting but there were about ½ million people less in attendance this time. According to FoxNews, it all was disappointing, partisan, and an affront to Reagan. I think some broadcast licenses should be pulled and let some outfits be political opinion outlets and not news channels…
Books read lately… “Killing Lincoln”, by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard. The subject is presented like a thriller, hour by hour, and with a diverse number of subplots… Although instructional and most appreciated (it was a Christmas present to me from Alex), I think O’Reilly’s efforts are best oriented to being a radio and TV commentator and not a historian…
Food for Thoughts…
“There are only two reasons for that federal list of gun owners: to tax them or take them” said Wayne La Pierre, Executive Director of the NRA referring to proposals for registering guns…
So, stay informed, my friends…
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