It’s three weeks past the Election and our neighbor still has his Kerry/Edwards sign up. It stands as a lone sentinel in the town. Seeing him out in the yard the other day, I joked: “Still waiting for the provisional ballots to come in?” He didn’t smile. Apparently he’s taking it hard.
11/22/04
During Campaign 2004, I gave a talk to a sociology class at Bluffton College about part of my plan for: Jobs in America. I said I believed we needed to be looking at this issue through a “different lens.” And first off, we needed to assess how many people were feeling fulfilled in their jobs now, in relationship to the God-given talenst they’ve been given. (I suggested we use a “National Social Survey,” like the ones being used in a number of European countries at present, to help gauge this.) And two, we need to be looking at the nature of jobs in general in America through a “different lens” as well. Is, for instance, a particular job itself, “life support,” or not? California author Steve Gerdsmier told me he believes some 80% of the jobs in America (CPAs, tele-marketers, insurance agents, stock analysts…) don’t produce “life support.” That is, he said, these jobs consist, primarily, of just shuffling paper and don’t contribute much to the “necessary stuff of life.” What is necessary? Gerdsmier said it’s the basics around: food, shelter, medical, energy, education, transportation, clothing, communication… Gerdsmier quotes Buck Minster Fuller, who designed the geodesic dome and authored the book Critical Path, as saying many of these paper shuffling jobs have started up in the last century, and with them has come an economy geared to making money, but not common sense. (Fuller said these paper shuffling jobs have become so entrenched in American society, that we can’t see the forest for the trees at this point.) Gerdsmier added a shift to much more of a “life support” oreientation would have a lot more people back to the land on small organic farms, more people researching and developing non-polluting wind and solar energy for heating, cooling, transportation…, there would be more local interdependency, including some barter, more teachers (and much better student/teacher ratios), more skilled craftsmen (carpenters, metal workers…) doing more local projects for local people… What’s more, Gerdsmier said a change to a much more uncomplicated “life support” way will naturally lead individuals to live more simply, and with less. With people living with less, and with more people focused on the basic “stuff of life,” there would also naturally be more free time — for God, for family, for community.
11/18/04
Our daughter Sarah, 9, just got done reading a book on the Trail of Tears. President Andrew Jackson pushed an Indian Removal Bill through Congress, which ultimately set in motion a gruesome, 1,000 mile march west from Georgia to Oklahoma that claimed some 4,000 Cherokee lives. (In solidarity with the Cherokees, we retraced this route on a campaign tour three years ago.) On the march, children were separated from parents and many walked barefoot through the winter… ” One of the U.S. militia men, who oversaw the march, wrote: “I fought through the Civil War and saw men shot to pieces and slaughtered by the thousands; but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I’ve ever known.” After reading the book, Sarah asked: “Dad, do you think Andrew Jackson went to Heaven?” Perhpas an even more pressing question is: “Are many of us in America today going to Heaven?” As the American people in general did virtually nothing to stop the Trail of Tears then, which was going on right under their noses; many in America today are doing virtually nothing to stop the ‘Trail of Tears’ going on right under our noses (thanks to modern media) today: Genocide and mass starvation in the Sudan; children working in sweat shops in Indonesia, China, Mexico; millions living in sqaulid conditions at refugee camps in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan… There are reports some of the parents in these camps are selling their children for as little as 30 American dollars, so the rest of the family doesn’t starve. Yet we in America think nothing of spending $30 on a meal at TGIF Fridays. Are we nuts? Where is the spiritual leadership in this country that should be calling us on this? Where?
11/16/04
I went to a talk today at Bluffton University by Arick Asherman, who is the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR). The group was founded in 1988, in response to serious abuse of human rights by Israeli military authority in the suppression of the Inftifada. An impassioned Rabbi Asherman, who grew up in Erie, P.A., said among the Israeli citizenry and spiritual leadership, there has developed “extreme nationalism,” with little compassion for the innocent victims on the Palestinian side. And that’s why, out of a sense of spiritual principle, Rabbis for Human Rights formed. Rabbi Asherman said RHR has, for instance, volunteers who act as human sheilds to protect Palestinians as they harvest their olive crops. They visit Palestinians, and Israelis, in the hospital after a bombing. “We condemn Israeli, and Palestinian, violence,” said the Rabbi. Asherman said one of his acts of civil disobedience (which he is currently on trial for) is standing in front of an Israeli bulldozer that was just about to demolish a Palestinian home. What’s more, RHR volunteers try and stand side-by-side with Palestinians as they are rebuilding their demolished homes. He said this gesture might just keep another little 10-year-old Palestinian (who has watched his parents be humiliated with the demolition), from growing up to become a terrorist. Asherman said both sides seem to have “seemless world views” at this point that the other side, in it’s anger, isn’t listening. His group provides a ray of hope for helping metaphorically build a bridge, as opposed to a (not-so-metaphoric these days) wall. So what can we as Americans, on a grassroots level, do to promote peace in the Middle East? It would seem to me that instead of just tacitly waiting for another ‘governmental solution;’ the most impactful thing we could do is: support (financially, and otherwise) the Rabbis for Human Rights cause now. See: www.rhr.israel.net
11/15/04
The kids and I regularly go to Bluffton’s Senior Center to read the magazine: The Good Old Days. Yesterday we were reading a story about a Cincinnatian’s reminiscence of the old Rte 49 Fairmont-Downtown Zoo trolley. It ran on tracks and was pulled by horses. Then it stopped, replaced by buses which received power from overhead wires. Then those were retired in favor of the diesel buses. John Patton wrote: “The new fleet of orange-and-cream buses might have meant progress for the city…” Did it? The horses didn’t pollute, like burning fossil fuel to provide electricity does, or burning deisel does. (Read: global warming, carcinogenic emissions, and so on.) What’s more, Patton noted the horse drawn transportation moved at a decidedly slower pace. And was that bad? Fast paced traffic leads to scores of traffic deaths (one every 13 minutes in America) and maiming a year. It contributes to a fast paced society that, among many things, is absolutely thread through with stress disorders. This all begs the question: “Is all of what we are calling ‘progress’ in America, really progress?” My take: no.
11/12/04
A tinder box is growing among Arabs, and others, in the Middle East. According to a recent Time Magazine article (9/13/04), “hosilities toward the West, in particular the U.S., appears to be on the rise.” The factors, according to the article, include the U.S.’s continued support of Israel’s policies toward Palestine and contempt for the U.S. occupation of Iraq. What’s more, Western popular culture is starting to tremendously impact the Middle East as well. What a lot of this modern popular culture panders is: rampant materialism; sexual imagery; lewd forms of art (modern American music, cinema…) Oh, many in this country don’t see anything wrong with this. It’s just, well, free-market capitalism, or, freedom of expression, or… Is it that some in these other countries: ‘hate our freedom?’ Or, do they hate the byproducts of how we’re expressing our freedom. Example: I interviewed a woman from India last year who said the youth in her country for generations expressed the utmost respect for elders in that society, demonstrated a love for simplicity and spiritual principle, believed in modesty of dress… Then within one generation of being exposed to ‘Western popular culture,’ many of the youth in India, she said, now have lost much of the respect for elders, dress immodestly, and are inordinately caught up in material pursuit… Sure, there’s extreme political oppression in some of these countries that needs to be addressed by the international community. But, this is by no means black & white, but rather a set of complex issues — in which we (the U.S.) needs to be looking on “our side of the street as well.”
11/11/04
Veteran’s Day: The Toledo Blade ran a story today explaining that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among veterans is not getting the attention it needs. And as a result, veterans are falling through the mental health cracks. Like “Paul” (not his real name). We met Paul in a small town in southern Washington several years ago while doing some cross-country research. He was a Vietnam Vet who was living by himself on a houseboat. He’d been a medic, and for three days he had ferried injured soldiers off “Hamburger Hill,” the site of a battle that claimed the second most American casulties during that war. When the intense fighting was over, Paul covered himself with a tarp and curled into a fetal position on the ground. Since, he has battled extreme Post Traumatic Stress that had him all but housebound. I vividly remember him describing the only time he really felt comfortable was getting in a small skiff and heading up river to an island by a railroad bridge — that reminded him of a particular spot in Vietnam. He would spend weeks in a tent on this small island in southern Washington just, well, surviving. While the VA was providing some things like Valium for Paul’s nerves, and a bit of counseling, what he really needed to be well again, is some long term, indepth psychotherapy and an extensive support network. To draw from some recent campaign rhetoric: This is like sending people off to win the war, without having a plan to win the peace — of mind. Perhaps today, part of “honoring” these soldiers could be to, not only look into our hearts, but our wallets… and voluntarily send a significant amount of money to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, so these veterans, like Paul, can get all the help they need. I mean, they risked their lives. It’s the least we can do.
11/10/04
Yesterday an extensive report was released saying that more than 40 scientific studies all show global warming is having a widespread effect — from dramatic polar ice-cap melting, to all kinds of animal species’ habitats being changed, to… Now, we can sit back and lament about how not much is being done about this , or: we can take matters into our own hands. For instance, even though the current administration isn’t currently participate in the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, our family has decided to participate. That is, we walk or bicycle 90% of wherever we travel in Bluffton, Ohio. We’ve cut the thermostat back, close off part of our place during the winter, and wear sweaters. We don’t use air conditioning (there was a time when no one used air conditioning). We often share the same bath water — I just try and make sure I get in before the 18 month old has had his bath. And on… What’s more, we put up a yard sign that said we were a “Kyoto Protocol Home Zone.” And we tell everyone who asks, and even some who don’t ask, what that means. It just takes “one candle” in every town to start to shift this. Not to mention, we’ve been using candles, instead of electric lights, sometimes at night too. Note: Liz and I frequently tell reporters we are running as “concerned parents.” And one of the things we’re concerned about is leaving our children a “world of global warming.” I mean, what caring parent would do that, huh?
11/9/04
Today I talked with author Lynn Miller who is an expert on “Socially Responsible Investing.” Before investing in a company, Miller looks at a company’s track record when it comes to things like: fair wage, social justice outreach, environmental stewardship… Miller said he was recently talking to a top CEO whose company has stridently undertaken recycling paper. They have been so successful, in fact, they are actually starting to make money from their recycling efforts. Last summer during a campaign tour of Minnesota, I met with a representative from a highly creative Sanitation Department in Duluth. They have developed a number of cutting-edge programs around recycling (glass, plastic, paper, compost…). What’s more, and maybe even more importantly, they regularly educate about ways to reduce consumption of these materials as well. Trying to stay in step, our family for instance, shares a newspaper with one of our neighbors. (What’s more, our neighbor often writes comments in the margins of the paper… and later we will discuss various subjects we’ve mutually read about. It’s proving to be a good ‘community builder.’ (However, the crossword puzzle has been a sticking point.)
11/8/04
Today I met with a family who moved to a small farm in the village of Maria Stein, Ohio a couple years ago. They are from California, and felt compelled to get “back to the land.” They eat their produce primarily from a series of well designed raised bed gardens. Dan Souter told me they grow everything organically and he takes great care to make sure the soil is as mineral rich as possible. Why? Because he said as “head of the household,” it is his spiritual responsibility to make sure his family is eating as healthy as possible. What’s more, he said having his family on the farm puts them way more in touch with “God’s natural creation.” He said with his children, for example, they have become fascinated with this creation (seasons, plants, animals…); as opposed to being fascinated with “dead material things that come from factories (sofas, TVs, cars…).”