HAPPY INTERDEPENDENCE DAY....
It was not so long ago that our country came into being...And it seems time that we turn Independence Day into something like Interdependence Day, since well you know independence without connection is awfully lonely.
Independence is great, just as autonomy, the right to dignity and self-determination. But we only have it up to a point as we are all vulnerable, we need supports, sometimes even criticism...and we need empathy for our weaknesses so we can empathize with others around us.
This thing called ecology isn't really a joke or a quaint story about being green (even China knew to call their new anti-freedom computer kick the "Green" Dam Project. So just because it's in doesn't mean we should quaintify it---probably not a word but might make a good one.
So I nominate the thought that we consider Interdependence as American, not uniquely so as in God "bless" America, but big enough to share.
Hmm, are we old enough to share?
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
DID YOU EVER THINK WE COULD BE THE TORTURERS?
DID YOU EVER THINK WE COULD BE THE TORTURERS?
THIS IS NOT THE HOLIDAY OF ATONEMENT FOR ANY RELIGION
AND JUST TODAY IN THE SALON THE WOMAN TALKED ABOUT SOMEONE PUSHING A PERSON FROM A BRIDGE IN CHINA
AND THE OTHER WOMAN SAID, "BUT ISN'T THAT MURDER AND ISN'T THAT WRONG?"
AND THE OTHER WOMAN REPLIED WITHOUT A BEAT, "BUT THERE WAS TRAFFIC"...
THAT 'S ENOUGH OF A REASON FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE CATHOLIC AND EVEN GO TO CHURCH...
DID YOU EVER THINK WE COULD BE THE TORTURERS?
DID YOU EVER THINK WE COULD BE IMMUNE TO CARING?
DO YOU THINK SO NOW, AND DO YOU THINK?
THIS IS NOT THE HOLIDAY OF ATONEMENT FOR ANY RELIGION
AND JUST TODAY IN THE SALON THE WOMAN TALKED ABOUT SOMEONE PUSHING A PERSON FROM A BRIDGE IN CHINA
AND THE OTHER WOMAN SAID, "BUT ISN'T THAT MURDER AND ISN'T THAT WRONG?"
AND THE OTHER WOMAN REPLIED WITHOUT A BEAT, "BUT THERE WAS TRAFFIC"...
THAT 'S ENOUGH OF A REASON FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE CATHOLIC AND EVEN GO TO CHURCH...
DID YOU EVER THINK WE COULD BE THE TORTURERS?
DID YOU EVER THINK WE COULD BE IMMUNE TO CARING?
DO YOU THINK SO NOW, AND DO YOU THINK?
Vulnerability, Competition and Life...
DISTRACTION TIMES
THERE WAS ALWAYS DISTRACTION
FROM RELIGION AND FEARS
AND RAGE, AND TEARS
BUT NOW IT'S SO BIG
IT'S ITS VERY OWN GIG
IT'S CONSTANT AND EASY
AND VERY VERY VERY SLEEZY
THE HOPELESS WILL DO ANYTHING BAD
THEY COMMIT CRIMES AND FORGET TO FEEL SAD
SAD MEANS SOME HOPE AND FEELING SO SAFE
AND I DON'T HAVE A RHYME SO THAT'S HOW IT ENDS....
THERE WAS ALWAYS DISTRACTION
FROM RELIGION AND FEARS
AND RAGE, AND TEARS
BUT NOW IT'S SO BIG
IT'S ITS VERY OWN GIG
IT'S CONSTANT AND EASY
AND VERY VERY VERY SLEEZY
THE HOPELESS WILL DO ANYTHING BAD
THEY COMMIT CRIMES AND FORGET TO FEEL SAD
SAD MEANS SOME HOPE AND FEELING SO SAFE
AND I DON'T HAVE A RHYME SO THAT'S HOW IT ENDS....
Sunday, April 19, 2009
It's My Birthday and I can Cry if I want to...or Laugh
Hey there, it's been a long time, too long but I've been mad writing and writing and traveling to China and Santa Fe and writing and crying and laughing and a propos of laughing...
It may surprise some of you that I say "Without laughter it would all be impossible". I'm actually considering a comedy deal with a spoof on my very own profession and the impossible and often mean advice the psychobabbling gurus give to innocent people too vulnerable to say no.
A propos of vulnerability, I hope you know by now that for me it is our most valuable human resource....Happy Searching for yours, and for your tenderness and for your laughter.....
It may surprise some of you that I say "Without laughter it would all be impossible". I'm actually considering a comedy deal with a spoof on my very own profession and the impossible and often mean advice the psychobabbling gurus give to innocent people too vulnerable to say no.
A propos of vulnerability, I hope you know by now that for me it is our most valuable human resource....Happy Searching for yours, and for your tenderness and for your laughter.....
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Blame Game: Whose Fault is it Anyway?
I am hoping that the country doesn't play the blame game but here goes what George Carlin said about cynics: For the most part they/we are disappointed idealists.
When I was in Italy many people--most who were beyond thrilled by Obama's election said--"Now let's see what he does", and I thought "You know it really doesn't matter, he's up against a great deal, Americans appreciate that".
But maybe not. I feel in my bones and intestines as well, that Barack Obama (he was inaugurated when I was in China; is he really President Obama?????)was and is as calculated a human being as one can be without being completely robotic. As such I trust he knew what he had to expect. He knew the short memory we as Americans have. Yes, he was given a horrendous legacy but day 1 of his Presidential term is day 1 of the opposition's chances for the next election.
So, yo', it's time for the stock market to plunge, the stock market Obama is trying to save and it's time to place blame.
If we stop, for more than minutes, we might have to look at a system of living which keeps each of us in anxiety about appearances, and lonely in our skin unless of course, we happen to believe in the certainty of all conditions in an afterlife which we are avidly awaiting.
Believe me, I saw plenty of brainwashing in China and it was scary but as the young South African man said to me in the programmed chic Propaganda Museum, "Who knows what and who are conditioning us at this very moment? We are all so gullible".
Freedom is something worked at...Iffor one wish Obama, Barack Obama, President Barack Obama the best of luck and the improbably good wishes of his countrymen and women. C'mon you guys, it's the least we can do.
Optimistically, and as the familiar (to me) Jewish joke says, "And who said it's easy to be an optimist?????????" Nite nite....
When I was in Italy many people--most who were beyond thrilled by Obama's election said--"Now let's see what he does", and I thought "You know it really doesn't matter, he's up against a great deal, Americans appreciate that".
But maybe not. I feel in my bones and intestines as well, that Barack Obama (he was inaugurated when I was in China; is he really President Obama?????)was and is as calculated a human being as one can be without being completely robotic. As such I trust he knew what he had to expect. He knew the short memory we as Americans have. Yes, he was given a horrendous legacy but day 1 of his Presidential term is day 1 of the opposition's chances for the next election.
So, yo', it's time for the stock market to plunge, the stock market Obama is trying to save and it's time to place blame.
If we stop, for more than minutes, we might have to look at a system of living which keeps each of us in anxiety about appearances, and lonely in our skin unless of course, we happen to believe in the certainty of all conditions in an afterlife which we are avidly awaiting.
Believe me, I saw plenty of brainwashing in China and it was scary but as the young South African man said to me in the programmed chic Propaganda Museum, "Who knows what and who are conditioning us at this very moment? We are all so gullible".
Freedom is something worked at...Iffor one wish Obama, Barack Obama, President Barack Obama the best of luck and the improbably good wishes of his countrymen and women. C'mon you guys, it's the least we can do.
Optimistically, and as the familiar (to me) Jewish joke says, "And who said it's easy to be an optimist?????????" Nite nite....
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Dear Oprah
Beginnings, 2009
Dear Oprah:
The last thing you may feel you need in these stressful days of your confession of the loss of control over your weight, might be a critique of the political implications of your actions. However you are both a public and a political figure, and you would be the first to agree that the personal is political and vice verse.
You present an array of complex difficulties which, sad to say, represent much of the American public.
Firstly your insistence on dwelling on your weight, has for years, been yet another distraction for a public that eats out of anxiety and that diets out of a compulsion for perfection. Real vulnerability has become a taboo, except within the newly sacred halls of rehab programs, and the openly publicized stays, at times recurring ones, of superstars. We have not yet tested out the impact of politicians in high office going into rehab while serving their term, only their significant others (Betty Ford being the most prominent that comes to mind).
You have become, for better and worse, an icon, someone to whom many look for advice, gossip and perhaps the feeding of national combinations of guilt, anxiety and the perennial quick fix. You have brought us guru after guru and the hunt is continuing. As such you bring us the cult of public humiliation in the form of psychologist or spiritual leader giving blithe, facile, and at times assaultive advice and always publically so.
We have become a nation of patriotic fervor in which defeat has become unthinkable, at least on a national level. Senator John McCain, who could well have won the recent Presidential election, maintained that in Iraq, our worst enemy would be defeat. In a society in which parents are constantly competing for the best behaved child who will make it into the neighborhood hall of fame and halls of superior university status, we lose sight of the dignity of human feeling. And in the fray of competition for best degree of acceptance comes conformity to whatever the guru of current priestly status (rabbis included).
The cloak of independence, freedom and individuality comes off quickly to reveal a sheep like readiness to sell one’s soul to the current fad. When you see an infant left crying for hours because it “works” we might consider asking some of the African women to whom we give financial aid to come here to help us know our own needs and those of our children.
This is not strictly a personal matter. When millions of people deny their inner feelings of vulnerability, empathy for ourselves is compromised as is empathy for anyone in our near vicinity. Yes, there are random acts of generosity, but they do not reflect the notion of “Love thy Neighbor as Thyself” in the sense that authentic dignity within us is constantly compromised and disowned.
We may be impulsive and indulgent but we do not take the time to chose interventions which reflect combinations of honesty and empathy, attention to what will work practically in the short run and practically in terms of the efficacy of human resilience.
World peace, world hunger, ecological emergencies cannot be solved without the establishment of what can be called--what I have chosen to call-- human ecology.
This would entail both a connectedness to all things and people on the planet, but in addition, a connection to all the varied parts within us. When we oversimplify ourselves, or oversimplify change, and when we publically or privately submit to the authority of those who have not been shown to know better than we, blindly, we give up our right to be respected based on our pace, and the details of our personal story.
Dear Oprah, you must know that you have done so very much with your life and overcome so many obstacles. But you are hearing rumblings from the world of your shadows, shadows we all have which are the parts of ourselves we tend to disown and deny and often project onto others. If you don’t get in touch with these, you will bow down to those who will play their games on and with you, as you show little respect for the privacy of your own dignity.
If the rest of us don’t find our own ways to seek care for the ailments within— which cannot be solved by pseudo-sage advice with the quickness of any sort of fix—our ode to freedom of choice, and our potential generosity towards our children and neighbors near or far, will remain dubious at best.
Take very good and gentle care, for your own worth and for those who wish you all the best....Please know that even for those of us who have felt you have too much power over literary and other tastes, I venture to say most of us appreciate your passions and the hurdles in your own existence.....All the best in the New Year.
Dear Oprah:
The last thing you may feel you need in these stressful days of your confession of the loss of control over your weight, might be a critique of the political implications of your actions. However you are both a public and a political figure, and you would be the first to agree that the personal is political and vice verse.
You present an array of complex difficulties which, sad to say, represent much of the American public.
Firstly your insistence on dwelling on your weight, has for years, been yet another distraction for a public that eats out of anxiety and that diets out of a compulsion for perfection. Real vulnerability has become a taboo, except within the newly sacred halls of rehab programs, and the openly publicized stays, at times recurring ones, of superstars. We have not yet tested out the impact of politicians in high office going into rehab while serving their term, only their significant others (Betty Ford being the most prominent that comes to mind).
You have become, for better and worse, an icon, someone to whom many look for advice, gossip and perhaps the feeding of national combinations of guilt, anxiety and the perennial quick fix. You have brought us guru after guru and the hunt is continuing. As such you bring us the cult of public humiliation in the form of psychologist or spiritual leader giving blithe, facile, and at times assaultive advice and always publically so.
We have become a nation of patriotic fervor in which defeat has become unthinkable, at least on a national level. Senator John McCain, who could well have won the recent Presidential election, maintained that in Iraq, our worst enemy would be defeat. In a society in which parents are constantly competing for the best behaved child who will make it into the neighborhood hall of fame and halls of superior university status, we lose sight of the dignity of human feeling. And in the fray of competition for best degree of acceptance comes conformity to whatever the guru of current priestly status (rabbis included).
The cloak of independence, freedom and individuality comes off quickly to reveal a sheep like readiness to sell one’s soul to the current fad. When you see an infant left crying for hours because it “works” we might consider asking some of the African women to whom we give financial aid to come here to help us know our own needs and those of our children.
This is not strictly a personal matter. When millions of people deny their inner feelings of vulnerability, empathy for ourselves is compromised as is empathy for anyone in our near vicinity. Yes, there are random acts of generosity, but they do not reflect the notion of “Love thy Neighbor as Thyself” in the sense that authentic dignity within us is constantly compromised and disowned.
We may be impulsive and indulgent but we do not take the time to chose interventions which reflect combinations of honesty and empathy, attention to what will work practically in the short run and practically in terms of the efficacy of human resilience.
World peace, world hunger, ecological emergencies cannot be solved without the establishment of what can be called--what I have chosen to call-- human ecology.
This would entail both a connectedness to all things and people on the planet, but in addition, a connection to all the varied parts within us. When we oversimplify ourselves, or oversimplify change, and when we publically or privately submit to the authority of those who have not been shown to know better than we, blindly, we give up our right to be respected based on our pace, and the details of our personal story.
Dear Oprah, you must know that you have done so very much with your life and overcome so many obstacles. But you are hearing rumblings from the world of your shadows, shadows we all have which are the parts of ourselves we tend to disown and deny and often project onto others. If you don’t get in touch with these, you will bow down to those who will play their games on and with you, as you show little respect for the privacy of your own dignity.
If the rest of us don’t find our own ways to seek care for the ailments within— which cannot be solved by pseudo-sage advice with the quickness of any sort of fix—our ode to freedom of choice, and our potential generosity towards our children and neighbors near or far, will remain dubious at best.
Take very good and gentle care, for your own worth and for those who wish you all the best....Please know that even for those of us who have felt you have too much power over literary and other tastes, I venture to say most of us appreciate your passions and the hurdles in your own existence.....All the best in the New Year.
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