Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Elders and babies
I spoke to Trudy today to ask her to check on mom from time to time and see if she remembers to eat supper. It's a relief to know that I have a backup and I can go out of town without worrying about mom. When I spoke to her this morning she said that she didn't think that her doctor listens to her. I suspect that mom doesn't understand much of what the doctor tells her and even if she asks a question she can't understand the doctor's answer.
So how does one live a contributive life when one is losing the ability to communicate? How can an ancient elder find self-worth, or satisfaction in our fragmented society where our children have spread out to all corners of the globe, and multiple generations don't live under one roof or even in the same community or state?
I think for those elders who want to live a contributive life, the answer lies within our communitities in our day care centers and office buildings where elders and children can mingle together and contribute to each other's wellbeing. Now I understand that we wouldn't want our elders to cbe responsible for caring for children, picking them up, changing their diapers, and catching their illnesses. But someone could rock a cradle, walk with a toddler to the story table, or play catch with a little person, or even just watch the babies sleep. They would feel useful and the children would have lots of grandmas and grampas to love them.
Now I'm not talking about the Jerry Sandusky type of love. There would be people around and no one would be taken to a dark room or empty shower room to "horse around." This would be healthy, wholesome activities that would benefit everyone.
Maybe this isn't feasible in this litigious society. The helicopter parents would have to monitor their children from a babycam from work. But with security systems in place, it would be an ideal place for young people and old people.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
A contributive life beyond 70 years
When my mother was approaching her 70s, she said that she wanted to commit suicide so that she wouldn’t have to face the discomfort of aging. Then she met her college sweetheart and changed her mind. She married him and they spent eight lovely years together as he slowly declined and died from Alzheimers disease. Then she moved closer to me and now, while I'm approaching my 70s, Mom's focus is to be the person who lives longer than her ancestors. At 92, she's closing in on her mother's record of 99.
Dealing with an aging parent presents a challenging learning curve as I have never done this before. I did visit both of my grandmothers in nursing homes when I had the time, and I agonized over how to bring my mother's mother home to live with me to get her out of the nursing home. I considered starting a daycare facility for aged and preschool people as a way to earn money while caring for my grandmother. Alas, I was unable to realize my goal.
My daughter is now dealing with an aging mother-in-law and asked me what would I look for in a nursing home for myself.
My mother's recent ride home in a police car from the grocery store because she couldn't find the car she stopped driving ten years ago resulted in me giving her a gentle lecture about making a plan for her care when she is no longer able to care for herself. She's not ready to make a plan she says, but this event and my daughter's question prompted me to write this post. What is my plan? And what am I looking for in living arrangements in the future when I'm no longer able to care for myself?
The first thing that comes to mind is living a contributive life: grandma's bandages, mom's afghans and knitted hats, me watching babies. I come from a long line of people who tried to make a difference in society. My grandmother accrued thousands of volunteer hours visiting disabled veterans at the Buffalo Veteran's Hospital. For as long as I can remember she drove into Buffalo every Tuesday to visit the service people who were hospitalized and helped them write letters or she read to them or just visited. Maybe that was a way for her to stay connected to people her son, James’s age as he died in a plane crash in WWII. In her later years, after my grandfather died, she visited the elderly in a nursing home and continued to volunteer her time to cheer up others. Sometimes we joked that the people she visited were younger than she.
When she lived in her own apartment, Grandma continued to stay active, participating in senior citizen's activities, playing cards with friends, and knitting bandages for the lepers. When she began having TIAs, which caused her to behave in irrational ways, both my mother and I tried to convince her to live with one of us. She had taken in her mother in law, and then later, her mother when they became disabled, and through that experience, she didn't want one of us to have that same burden. So she went into a nursing home and declined rapidly without having opportunities to contribute to her society any longer.
My mother also made contributions to society, first as a teacher, then when she retired, volunteering with a youth group at her church by making sweaters for the them and traveling with them on their annual trip to Washington, DC. She traveled to South Africa to help raise awareness of apartheid, and volunteered at a reconciliation center in Northern Ireland during the troubles to bring understanding among Catholics and Protestants. She's staunchly independent, having traveled around Europe on her own with a Eurail Pass and staying in hostels or guest houses before Rick Steves gave us guidebooks to make the way easier.
Now Mom is declining to the point that she's losing her non-existent car in the parking lot, and not being willing to let me help her. I know that at least in my mind, a nursing home is not an option, even though I have put a $2500 deposit on a bed for her "just in case we need one." I would prefer that she continue to live in her senior citizens apartment with some services perhaps to help her manage her affairs without taking away too much of her independence. You see, she's still living a contributive life knitting hats and crocheting afghans for the residents of the building. The major obstacle is her independent spirit and the deterioration of her mind to the point that she doesn't understand what I mean when I tell her that we need to make a plan.
So having that example to follow, I also wish to live a contributive life in my declining years. And I'm really good at watching babies and children.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Price/Cost of Influence
The person who allegedly committed violence in Tucson, Arizona yesterday has been accused of being unbalanced and having a warped view of government and laws. Blaming insanity for his actions excuses us from having to accept our responsibility for this tragedy.
Alaina, my teenaged granddaughter, wears her hair just like every other girl in her school. They wear clothes that mirror the latest movie actress’s style. They base their emerging sense of society on the events and personalities they see on the media outside of their high school. Styles, manners of speech, advertising, and popular culture depend on influence. When it bleeds, it leads. That explains why yesterday I didn’t know what to write, and today I do.
When people have the notoriety and the media visibility to influence others, they have an inherent responsibility to use that platform according to the highest values. If their beliefs involve violence and vitriol, then their rhetoric will reflect that and influence others in that direction. If their fashions reflect lack of pride and disrespect toward themselves, then others will find the same fashions attractive. If their words, actions, and thoughts are congruent with higher values of respect, honor and dignity, then others will mirror them as well.
We’ve all heard the admonitions “Count to ten,” Think before you speak,” and “The first thought is not always the best thought,” because these phrases suggest that it is wise to stop and think before saying and doing something one might regret later. The law of cause and effect demands that the results emerge from the causes that are made. When a person impulsively says or does something that seems cute, or funny, or might make them more notorious for a moment, without measuring the effect of their actions, disastrous results often follow.
Our society is based on the values of liberty and justice for all. We need to be more circumspect in our thoughts, words, and actions so that their consequences will assure that the freedoms in our Constitution apply equally well to our targets as to enhancing our own influence on others.
Alaina, my teenaged granddaughter, wears her hair just like every other girl in her school. They wear clothes that mirror the latest movie actress’s style. They base their emerging sense of society on the events and personalities they see on the media outside of their high school. Styles, manners of speech, advertising, and popular culture depend on influence. When it bleeds, it leads. That explains why yesterday I didn’t know what to write, and today I do.
When people have the notoriety and the media visibility to influence others, they have an inherent responsibility to use that platform according to the highest values. If their beliefs involve violence and vitriol, then their rhetoric will reflect that and influence others in that direction. If their fashions reflect lack of pride and disrespect toward themselves, then others will find the same fashions attractive. If their words, actions, and thoughts are congruent with higher values of respect, honor and dignity, then others will mirror them as well.
We’ve all heard the admonitions “Count to ten,” Think before you speak,” and “The first thought is not always the best thought,” because these phrases suggest that it is wise to stop and think before saying and doing something one might regret later. The law of cause and effect demands that the results emerge from the causes that are made. When a person impulsively says or does something that seems cute, or funny, or might make them more notorious for a moment, without measuring the effect of their actions, disastrous results often follow.
Our society is based on the values of liberty and justice for all. We need to be more circumspect in our thoughts, words, and actions so that their consequences will assure that the freedoms in our Constitution apply equally well to our targets as to enhancing our own influence on others.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Open Letter to Move-On.org
Although my participation in the Obama campaign was minimal (small donation, phone calls, door knocking) I am inspired by this campaign and would like to offer some ideas of how to continue the momentum throughout President Obama’s term in office. You may have already thought of these things because you’re way ahead of me, but last night’s history-making election results move me to respond in some way.
I also just finished reading Naomi Klein’s book, The Shock Doctrine, showing how since the Reagan administration, economist Milton Freidman’s policies have taken away the rights of the common person and given everything to big business, the lobbyists, Congress, and the Washington insiders. These are very strong entities who are already trying to influence the Obama White House. We need a grass-roots organization to support President Obama and use nonviolent protests, teach-ins, and rallies to communicate to these entities that we want change and will no longer sit back and let business as usual steamroll over our lives.
I realize that you already know this, but I just have to say it for my own benefit, I guess. We need to continue the momentum started during the campaign and show President Obama that we support him and his policies. Here are my suggestions:
1. I heard that there were about 700 campaign offices throughout the US helping to make these results happen. Let’s keep them open as community grass-roots organization posts where new proposals coming from the Obama presidency can be explained and supported.
2. Let’s use our grass-roots offices to picket the offices of big business, the lobbyists, Congress, and the Washington insiders to show them that they need to change their ways and show the country that their businesses will no longer run this country.
3. Let’s use our grass-roots offices to keep young people engaged in the political process and develop their own skills in organizing, working, and promoting President Obama’s policies to make his promises a reality. Yes, we can!
4. On two occasions, I received a robo-call from Michele Obama asking me to support Barack’s campaign. She has a very sweet but compelling voice. Let’s ask her to continue to call us when President Obama needs extra support to move one of his proposals through Congress. I would do anything she asks.
President Obama and his cabinet cannot do it alone. They will need our support in order to keep moving in the direction of change. They also will need people with foresight and common sense to help keep to the middle way where excesses in either direction toward the left or right will weaken our democracy. That’s why we need everyone to work toward realizing our dream. Yes we can!
I also just finished reading Naomi Klein’s book, The Shock Doctrine, showing how since the Reagan administration, economist Milton Freidman’s policies have taken away the rights of the common person and given everything to big business, the lobbyists, Congress, and the Washington insiders. These are very strong entities who are already trying to influence the Obama White House. We need a grass-roots organization to support President Obama and use nonviolent protests, teach-ins, and rallies to communicate to these entities that we want change and will no longer sit back and let business as usual steamroll over our lives.
I realize that you already know this, but I just have to say it for my own benefit, I guess. We need to continue the momentum started during the campaign and show President Obama that we support him and his policies. Here are my suggestions:
1. I heard that there were about 700 campaign offices throughout the US helping to make these results happen. Let’s keep them open as community grass-roots organization posts where new proposals coming from the Obama presidency can be explained and supported.
2. Let’s use our grass-roots offices to picket the offices of big business, the lobbyists, Congress, and the Washington insiders to show them that they need to change their ways and show the country that their businesses will no longer run this country.
3. Let’s use our grass-roots offices to keep young people engaged in the political process and develop their own skills in organizing, working, and promoting President Obama’s policies to make his promises a reality. Yes, we can!
4. On two occasions, I received a robo-call from Michele Obama asking me to support Barack’s campaign. She has a very sweet but compelling voice. Let’s ask her to continue to call us when President Obama needs extra support to move one of his proposals through Congress. I would do anything she asks.
President Obama and his cabinet cannot do it alone. They will need our support in order to keep moving in the direction of change. They also will need people with foresight and common sense to help keep to the middle way where excesses in either direction toward the left or right will weaken our democracy. That’s why we need everyone to work toward realizing our dream. Yes we can!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
An Open Letter to the Candidates and the Media
I don’t want to hear about the vice presidential candidates. I don’t want to hear about the candidates’ wives. I don’t want to hear about who is the bigger change agent. I don’t want to hear how much money the lobbyists are paying the candidates to campaign for their special interests. I want to know what the candidates’ platforms are.
The elevator stops at each floor. If you think you can effect change, then tell me what that means. Where will you start and where will you stop?
I want to know what you think you can do in the next four years to make this world a better place for its inhabitants including the fish in the sea, birds in the air and living things on the ground.
Tell me how you will improve our lives with all that money the lobbyists are giving you.
What are you going to do about global warming?
What are you going to do to promote health and welfare including preventing untimely deaths due to war, poverty, disease, drug addiction, alcoholism, and man’s inhumanity to man? Down here in the trenches, these issues concern us.
I realize that a president is not a magician. Don’t try to convince me otherwise. Just let me know what you are going to do in the next four years to create life on this globe that's a little bit better than it is now.
The elevator stops at each floor. If you think you can effect change, then tell me what that means. Where will you start and where will you stop?
I want to know what you think you can do in the next four years to make this world a better place for its inhabitants including the fish in the sea, birds in the air and living things on the ground.
Tell me how you will improve our lives with all that money the lobbyists are giving you.
What are you going to do about global warming?
What are you going to do to promote health and welfare including preventing untimely deaths due to war, poverty, disease, drug addiction, alcoholism, and man’s inhumanity to man? Down here in the trenches, these issues concern us.
I realize that a president is not a magician. Don’t try to convince me otherwise. Just let me know what you are going to do in the next four years to create life on this globe that's a little bit better than it is now.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Tired
I’m tired of the political campaign, the rhetoric, and the assumptions the news media makes. So here’s a little funny I ran across by Jeffrey Shaffer in his article “How to revive a campaign” in the Christian Science Monitor on Sept. 5:
“My opponent was overheard at a party telling lobbyists for the oil industry that he opposes offshore drilling because he fears it will awaken giant subterranean reptiles that will run amok, destroy our cities, and drain the military budget.” And “My opponent has bragged repeatedly that he gets his ideas about economics by listening to old Led Zeppelin records played backwards.”
How about coming up with more funnies to help lighten the campaign bluster?
“My opponent was overheard at a party telling lobbyists for the oil industry that he opposes offshore drilling because he fears it will awaken giant subterranean reptiles that will run amok, destroy our cities, and drain the military budget.” And “My opponent has bragged repeatedly that he gets his ideas about economics by listening to old Led Zeppelin records played backwards.”
How about coming up with more funnies to help lighten the campaign bluster?
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Joe Biden - reformed plagiarist?
I am disappointed that Obama selected Biden for his vice presidential running mate. As an English teacher, I warned my students about plagiarism using Biden as an example of how it can haunt the person years later. Maybe it no longer haunts Biden and he’s a reformed plagiarist. However, even when people who drink excessively stop drinking they still call themselves alcoholics. If he’s not plagiarizing, my guess is that he’s doing something else that’s equally dishonest. I don’t trust him and I don’t think I would like to see him step in as president if Obama couldn’t serve.
Maybe as my son-in-law suggested, I should just give him a chance. But I have misgivings. How important is it that he might be the next vice president? Is it fair to disparage him or is it fair to make analogies that compare plagiarism to other fraudulent activities? If I look for his highest life condition, remembering that each of us reside in the Ten Worlds from Hell to Buddhahood, then I have to ignore his earlier transgressions and trust that he has overcome them.
But I also have a responsibility to face reality.
As a writer, I think that stealing someone’s words is the same as stealing their TV, stereo system, or car. Maybe even more serious because it misappropriates the thoughts created by another person.
If I invented a new system of energy transmission that solved the energy crisis and someone else called it his own, I could feel violated, or I could be willing to share it with the world like with open source programming. So maybe plagiarism only becomes a violation depending on the attitude of the victim. But even with open source, even though everyone shares, someone gets credit for his work. They just let others use what they created. That’s different.
So I still believe that a person who plagiarizes is stealing by not giving credit to the source. And I also think that a person who plagiarizes and thinks he’s overcome that affliction is still going to have the urge to take from others if not their words, then their ideas, their rights, or their possessions.
Maybe as my son-in-law suggested, I should just give him a chance. But I have misgivings. How important is it that he might be the next vice president? Is it fair to disparage him or is it fair to make analogies that compare plagiarism to other fraudulent activities? If I look for his highest life condition, remembering that each of us reside in the Ten Worlds from Hell to Buddhahood, then I have to ignore his earlier transgressions and trust that he has overcome them.
But I also have a responsibility to face reality.
As a writer, I think that stealing someone’s words is the same as stealing their TV, stereo system, or car. Maybe even more serious because it misappropriates the thoughts created by another person.
If I invented a new system of energy transmission that solved the energy crisis and someone else called it his own, I could feel violated, or I could be willing to share it with the world like with open source programming. So maybe plagiarism only becomes a violation depending on the attitude of the victim. But even with open source, even though everyone shares, someone gets credit for his work. They just let others use what they created. That’s different.
So I still believe that a person who plagiarizes is stealing by not giving credit to the source. And I also think that a person who plagiarizes and thinks he’s overcome that affliction is still going to have the urge to take from others if not their words, then their ideas, their rights, or their possessions.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
I'm a Whining Victim
I’m going to whine. After the previous blog where I criticized whiners, I’m going to whine. I love words. I love to play Scrabulous and now Facebook put it down.
What am I going to do? I thought about creating my own word game to play with my friends. But that might take some effort. So all I can do is whine.
What if I started a petition to the makers of Scrabble to get over their fear of losing profits and accept that Scrabulous only motivates people to purchase their product? Appeal to their baser instincts of greed, anger and foolishness. For what else would motivate a giant corporation to sue another corporation?
Maybe I need to find other pursuits that don’t fill the pockets of greedy corporate giants.
What am I going to do? I thought about creating my own word game to play with my friends. But that might take some effort. So all I can do is whine.
What if I started a petition to the makers of Scrabble to get over their fear of losing profits and accept that Scrabulous only motivates people to purchase their product? Appeal to their baser instincts of greed, anger and foolishness. For what else would motivate a giant corporation to sue another corporation?
Maybe I need to find other pursuits that don’t fill the pockets of greedy corporate giants.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Autocorrect or Intuitive Responding
Whenever I want to write my blog, I start out writing “I don’t know what to write” repeatedly until I think of something to write. I finished my to do list today except for writing this blog but I don’t know what to write. I keep misspelling what, but my auto correct feature corrects me. That’s nice. How about auto correct every time we make a misstep. How would that work? Well, when I put my foot in my mouth, autocorrect would erase the blunder and make something more appropriate come out of my mouth.
I guess the GPS has an auto correct so if you make the wrong turn, GPS can recalibrate the trip and guide you back to your route.
What about procrastination? How many times do I have to remind myself to do something that’s waiting to get done? Would autocorrect put me smack in front of the task and keep me frozen there until I did it? What about when I want to do something but shouldn’t? Like it would be a big mistake if I started smoking pot. But never having done it, I might want to try before I die. What keeps me from doing it? Worry about getting caught? I don’t think that motivates users negatively. Not enough money? Again, not a big deterrent. My conscience? Not so great there either.
I guess I’m better at not doing things than I am at doing things. I wonder why that is? Some people are just the opposite. They spend, spend, spend, or eat, eat, eat and can’t put on the brakes. I don’t have a problem with that. My problem is with do, do, do what must get done in order to get to the next place. Is it a failure phobia or success phobia?
What’s the difference between eat, eat, eat and procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate? One puts things in and the other avoids putting things out.
But I have no trouble with elimination. And that’s putting out, I think. I do that a lot.
So do I have a behavior disorder related to holding back? If I gave out more, I would have diarrhea constantly. I just overcame that behavior. So now I’m struggling with the opposite, but I’m not constipated.
Maybe I’m not really procrastinating. Maybe I’m just being true to my theory that I have to wait until the time is right and I use my intuition to feel that it’s the right time. So is that why I don’t take action until the time is right?
Does this mean that I’m healthy? That I’m doing the right thing? That chanting puts me on the right path? That I’m beating myself up over nothing? That I don’t need autocorrect to motivate me to do the right thing? I’m already doing it.
I guess the GPS has an auto correct so if you make the wrong turn, GPS can recalibrate the trip and guide you back to your route.
What about procrastination? How many times do I have to remind myself to do something that’s waiting to get done? Would autocorrect put me smack in front of the task and keep me frozen there until I did it? What about when I want to do something but shouldn’t? Like it would be a big mistake if I started smoking pot. But never having done it, I might want to try before I die. What keeps me from doing it? Worry about getting caught? I don’t think that motivates users negatively. Not enough money? Again, not a big deterrent. My conscience? Not so great there either.
I guess I’m better at not doing things than I am at doing things. I wonder why that is? Some people are just the opposite. They spend, spend, spend, or eat, eat, eat and can’t put on the brakes. I don’t have a problem with that. My problem is with do, do, do what must get done in order to get to the next place. Is it a failure phobia or success phobia?
What’s the difference between eat, eat, eat and procrastinate, procrastinate, procrastinate? One puts things in and the other avoids putting things out.
But I have no trouble with elimination. And that’s putting out, I think. I do that a lot.
So do I have a behavior disorder related to holding back? If I gave out more, I would have diarrhea constantly. I just overcame that behavior. So now I’m struggling with the opposite, but I’m not constipated.
Maybe I’m not really procrastinating. Maybe I’m just being true to my theory that I have to wait until the time is right and I use my intuition to feel that it’s the right time. So is that why I don’t take action until the time is right?
Does this mean that I’m healthy? That I’m doing the right thing? That chanting puts me on the right path? That I’m beating myself up over nothing? That I don’t need autocorrect to motivate me to do the right thing? I’m already doing it.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Reframe Bullying, Achieve Goals
Do you avoid being alone? Do you keep yourself busy so that you don’t feel the space of aloneness crowding in on you? Do you substitute feeling alone with drugs or alcohol? I received a book to review that spent the first two-thirds of its verbiage on bemoaning the sad life of self–absorbed women victims of misguided parents, friends, relatives, sick uncles, alcoholics, self-absorbed partners and employers.
I’m a compassionate person, but after reading 150 pages relating events about these sad, desperate people, I’m feeling burned out. Within these pages, I found two solutions to this sorry state of aloneness: become more self-absorbed by finding your life force, and return to your secret garden. Granted, there are still about a hundred pages left, but I don’t think I can endure the potential for self-absorption much longer.
I am reminded of a time when my daughter, Debbie, started playing clarinet. Yes, the first year of playing an instrument can be difficult for the listeners, but Debbie had a natural musical talent and in the spring of that first year, she was preparing for her fifth-grade band concert, soloing with “Pop! Goes the Weasel” and adding her own little improvisation to the end of the tune. She decided one beautiful day to practice outside on the side porch.
As she practiced, our neighbor walked by and said, “Debbie, you sound like a sick cow!” I heard the comment and waited for Debbie’s response. Debbie continued to practice and when she finished and came back inside, she said, “Mom, I think our neighbor doesn’t feel very good about herself.” She played beautifully in her concert and continued to study clarinet and is now an accomplished clarinetist with a doctorate in clarinet performance. Had she been one of those self-absorbed victims, I shudder to think what might have become of her. But rather, she saw through our neighbor’s ugly comment and labeled it low-self esteem instead of a personal attack.
Although I understand that there may be people in this world who suffer at the hands of bullies, abusers, inept parents, and others, I’m sorry to say that this book I’m reading probably does not offer the solution to their pain.
I’m a compassionate person, but after reading 150 pages relating events about these sad, desperate people, I’m feeling burned out. Within these pages, I found two solutions to this sorry state of aloneness: become more self-absorbed by finding your life force, and return to your secret garden. Granted, there are still about a hundred pages left, but I don’t think I can endure the potential for self-absorption much longer.
I am reminded of a time when my daughter, Debbie, started playing clarinet. Yes, the first year of playing an instrument can be difficult for the listeners, but Debbie had a natural musical talent and in the spring of that first year, she was preparing for her fifth-grade band concert, soloing with “Pop! Goes the Weasel” and adding her own little improvisation to the end of the tune. She decided one beautiful day to practice outside on the side porch.
As she practiced, our neighbor walked by and said, “Debbie, you sound like a sick cow!” I heard the comment and waited for Debbie’s response. Debbie continued to practice and when she finished and came back inside, she said, “Mom, I think our neighbor doesn’t feel very good about herself.” She played beautifully in her concert and continued to study clarinet and is now an accomplished clarinetist with a doctorate in clarinet performance. Had she been one of those self-absorbed victims, I shudder to think what might have become of her. But rather, she saw through our neighbor’s ugly comment and labeled it low-self esteem instead of a personal attack.
Although I understand that there may be people in this world who suffer at the hands of bullies, abusers, inept parents, and others, I’m sorry to say that this book I’m reading probably does not offer the solution to their pain.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Grit Gets Me out of My Slump
I’m in a slump as can be seen by the dearth of entries in this blog. What is in my way? For the past several months, I have been feeling at loose ends, not focused, starting and not finishing projects, setting goals and failing to follow through on many of them. Being self-employed I sabotage my own ambitions by wanting to spend more time playing Scrabulous on Facebook than on anything else on my to-do list. I’m good at Scrabulous and I’ve won all the games I have played so far (which isn’t all that many) but all I really want to do is play Scrabulous and win, win, win. Maybe there should be an Olympic Scrabulous event.
What is it about the psychology of winning? Why do we want to win? To show that we’re better than others? Better than the best? What is so important about winning? Why do I like it when my score is higher than my opponents? It makes me feel good about myself, yes. Is that it? Does it make me feel less about others? No. I appreciate their wanting to play. But I’m afraid that if I win too much, they won’t want to play anymore. But I don’t want to cheat just to let them win. That’s why I was wondering whether I could play Scrabulous solitaire. But that would not be as much fun because of the social interaction. So do I let up a little or try to win? If someone lets up a little and lets me win, would I like it better than losing? No. I wouldn’t like the absence of a challenge.
So to figure out the answers to these questions, I Googled “the psychology of winning” and found an article in Psychology Today Magazine by Peter Doskoch called “The Winning Edge.” In it he outlines several qualities of people of average intelligence who accomplish their goals to solve difficult mathematical problems or get good grades in school. These qualities like grit, passion, ambition, self-discipline, optimism, and persistence comprise the winning edge. In addition Doskoch says, “Truly gritty people, however, tend to set especially challenging long-term goals” like the mathematician who spent ten years working on proving a theory as opposed to those who fail to show grit. And concerning getting good grades, he says, “The data demonstrate the need for parents and teachers to praise effort rather than ability.” It’s not how smart people are, it’s how much effort they put into achieving their goals.
So winning has nothing to do with besting someone else. It has to do with setting a goal and focused effort toward accomplishing it that might mean indirectly being better than someone else, but mostly it means achieving a personal goal to have a better time, get a higher score, of make longer, higher point words. So it looks like I have substituted playing Scrabulous for accomplishing my goals.
Does that get me out of my slump? It helps me see that without persistence, passion, self-discipline, ambition, optimism and grit, I’m not going to achieve my goals. Maybe that’s all I need to get started again on my goal of selling ten books a day, writing eight articles a month, earning more money, and starting an investment portfolio.
Source:
Doskoch, Peter. “The Winning Edge.” Psychology Today Magazine. Nov/Dec 2005.
What is it about the psychology of winning? Why do we want to win? To show that we’re better than others? Better than the best? What is so important about winning? Why do I like it when my score is higher than my opponents? It makes me feel good about myself, yes. Is that it? Does it make me feel less about others? No. I appreciate their wanting to play. But I’m afraid that if I win too much, they won’t want to play anymore. But I don’t want to cheat just to let them win. That’s why I was wondering whether I could play Scrabulous solitaire. But that would not be as much fun because of the social interaction. So do I let up a little or try to win? If someone lets up a little and lets me win, would I like it better than losing? No. I wouldn’t like the absence of a challenge.
So to figure out the answers to these questions, I Googled “the psychology of winning” and found an article in Psychology Today Magazine by Peter Doskoch called “The Winning Edge.” In it he outlines several qualities of people of average intelligence who accomplish their goals to solve difficult mathematical problems or get good grades in school. These qualities like grit, passion, ambition, self-discipline, optimism, and persistence comprise the winning edge. In addition Doskoch says, “Truly gritty people, however, tend to set especially challenging long-term goals” like the mathematician who spent ten years working on proving a theory as opposed to those who fail to show grit. And concerning getting good grades, he says, “The data demonstrate the need for parents and teachers to praise effort rather than ability.” It’s not how smart people are, it’s how much effort they put into achieving their goals.
So winning has nothing to do with besting someone else. It has to do with setting a goal and focused effort toward accomplishing it that might mean indirectly being better than someone else, but mostly it means achieving a personal goal to have a better time, get a higher score, of make longer, higher point words. So it looks like I have substituted playing Scrabulous for accomplishing my goals.
Does that get me out of my slump? It helps me see that without persistence, passion, self-discipline, ambition, optimism and grit, I’m not going to achieve my goals. Maybe that’s all I need to get started again on my goal of selling ten books a day, writing eight articles a month, earning more money, and starting an investment portfolio.
Source:
Doskoch, Peter. “The Winning Edge.” Psychology Today Magazine. Nov/Dec 2005.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Learning from History
What if someone told you that you had to change your religion? Would you do it?
For more than twenty years during the Middle Ages, a king in Europe battled a group of people to force them to become Christian. They resisted and he brought his armies back three times, killing, burning their places of worship, building his own churches, and replacing their priests with his.
Charlemagne (king Charles) thought that his religion was better than the religions people practiced during his reign so he tried to force them to become Christians. Not everyone thought this was a good idea, so they resisted even though it might cost them their lives. Some of those religions survived Charlemagne’s attacks, but many died out due to the pressure he put on them.
One of the ways people resisted was by building castles. Many of these castles in Europe and the Middle East were constructed to prevent Christians from invading their lands during the Crusades. Muslims, Pagans, Druids, and other religious people tried to protect their religions and their people from being forced to adopt Christianity.
After the Christian invaders defeated the castle owners, they still had to defend themselves from attack from other enemies who wanted their land. These enemies and their greed for more land, because it equaled more power, tried to defeat the Christians and take their castles. In some castles, we can find both churches and mosques because of the many times they changed hands. In Spain, many synagogues and mosques were converted into Christian churches when Queen Isabella ruled Spain and the Jewish and Muslim features of these buildings remain today.
When unbiased researchers look at history, many atrocities emerge that had their origins in human characteristics of greed, anger, and foolishness. As related above, greed makes people want to have things that other people own, just because they want more wealth, power, or food. In today’s events we can see the same force causing people to attack and subdue other people due to these goals.
Anger shows in history when one leader wants to take revenge on another for past offenses or simply to show that he’s stronger, or better than someone else. Anger comes from a desire to punish others, often due to a lack of understanding. In today’s world, the attack on September 11th stemmed from anger at the US. Then the US attacked Afghanistan and Iraq to retaliate for that attack. Then suicide bombers attack others to retaliate for these military actions. And the vicious cycle of anger continues unabated as we also see in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Foolishness results from a lack of good judgment. Charlemagne’s actions in the Middle Ages could be described as foolish as his ignorance of other religions made him believe that they were inferior to his. Whenever someone acts out of foolishness, it often stems from ignorance, fear of the unknown, or a lack of compassion.
Greed, anger, and foolishness lead to much suffering. Maybe our prayer should be to apologize for these actions, rather than to fulfill our selfish desires for our daily bread.
For more than twenty years during the Middle Ages, a king in Europe battled a group of people to force them to become Christian. They resisted and he brought his armies back three times, killing, burning their places of worship, building his own churches, and replacing their priests with his.
Charlemagne (king Charles) thought that his religion was better than the religions people practiced during his reign so he tried to force them to become Christians. Not everyone thought this was a good idea, so they resisted even though it might cost them their lives. Some of those religions survived Charlemagne’s attacks, but many died out due to the pressure he put on them.
One of the ways people resisted was by building castles. Many of these castles in Europe and the Middle East were constructed to prevent Christians from invading their lands during the Crusades. Muslims, Pagans, Druids, and other religious people tried to protect their religions and their people from being forced to adopt Christianity.
After the Christian invaders defeated the castle owners, they still had to defend themselves from attack from other enemies who wanted their land. These enemies and their greed for more land, because it equaled more power, tried to defeat the Christians and take their castles. In some castles, we can find both churches and mosques because of the many times they changed hands. In Spain, many synagogues and mosques were converted into Christian churches when Queen Isabella ruled Spain and the Jewish and Muslim features of these buildings remain today.
When unbiased researchers look at history, many atrocities emerge that had their origins in human characteristics of greed, anger, and foolishness. As related above, greed makes people want to have things that other people own, just because they want more wealth, power, or food. In today’s events we can see the same force causing people to attack and subdue other people due to these goals.
Anger shows in history when one leader wants to take revenge on another for past offenses or simply to show that he’s stronger, or better than someone else. Anger comes from a desire to punish others, often due to a lack of understanding. In today’s world, the attack on September 11th stemmed from anger at the US. Then the US attacked Afghanistan and Iraq to retaliate for that attack. Then suicide bombers attack others to retaliate for these military actions. And the vicious cycle of anger continues unabated as we also see in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Foolishness results from a lack of good judgment. Charlemagne’s actions in the Middle Ages could be described as foolish as his ignorance of other religions made him believe that they were inferior to his. Whenever someone acts out of foolishness, it often stems from ignorance, fear of the unknown, or a lack of compassion.
Greed, anger, and foolishness lead to much suffering. Maybe our prayer should be to apologize for these actions, rather than to fulfill our selfish desires for our daily bread.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Where is peace?
Let's start a dialogue about where and how you find peace?
Here are some places where I find peace:
In the garden
After lovemaking
On the bus
At the park
When I chant
When I accept
When I refrain from rising to a challenge
Here are some places where I find peace:
In the garden
After lovemaking
On the bus
At the park
When I chant
When I accept
When I refrain from rising to a challenge
Friday, May 2, 2008
Another four years of Bush?
Take the Bush/McCain challenge. Do you think they are fundamentally different or the same? Take this online quiz and find out how much you know about McCain and Bush.
http://Bush-McCainChallenge.com/?rc=challenge-friends&r_id=12560-6237936-Ja6xpw
http://Bush-McCainChallenge.com/?rc=challenge-friends&r_id=12560-6237936-Ja6xpw
Friday, April 25, 2008
Breaking the Bipolar Barrier
Just reading the table of contents in Marya Hornbacher’s book, Madness: A Bipolar Life, offers the reader some insight into the world of bipolar illness – “Depression,” “Meltdown,” “Escapes,” “Hypomania,” “The Diagnosis,” “Losing It,” “Hospitalization #1,” “Hospitalization #6,” “Release.” The nature of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia makes the illness worse by the vicious cycle of paranoia, pain, and insanity that cause the suffering person do everything to sabotage her treatment, or as Hornbacher says, “…how to make sure that you’ll be getting crazier by the day.” So when her psychiatrist says, don’t drink alcoholic beverages, keep a routine, eat healthy, take the meds and so on, Hornbacher does just the opposite. Not because she’s intentionally trying to disregard her doctor's advice, but because her manic episodes and the voices in her head tell her that she’s okay, while the depressive episodes prevent her from taking any action at all.
Confounding all this confusion, the quality of care also takes its toll on her mental state as the emergency room doctors sometimes make medical decisions that oppose her own doctor’s treatment plan. In a sad, but amusing account Hornbacher patiently explains to the hospital psychiatrist that she’s not depressed, but coming off a manic episode. The psychiatrist decides to increase her antidepressant medication and sleeping pills. When Hornbacher argues that she’s an addict and can’t take the medication the doctor prescribes, the doctor says, “I’m sure you won’t start abusing it.” Nothing Hornbacher says can convince the doctor to follow the regimen prescribed by her own doctor.
Hornbacher’s account of her heroic struggles to escape from the insanity of bipolar disorder and her honesty and insight into her bizarre behaviors makes a fast-paced, gut-wrenching story that causes the reader to not only better understand those who suffer from this illness, but cheer with the hope that Hornbacher expresses when she experiences good results as she strives to take her medications, exercise, do yoga, use light therapy, participate in group therapy sessions, and listen to her therapist. Whether she can maintain this tenuous balance depends upon whether she can keep her swinging moods under control.
A brilliant writer, Hornbacher chronicles the often humorous but sad episodes of a person with bipolar disorder. In her manic episodes, she’s a university teacher, a writer, and a lecturer doing a hundred and one different things all at once, while drunk, on medication, with little or no sleep. With insight she says, “That I have made it all this way without dying or killing myself or someone else is a miracle, or a joke.” But it’s no joke that she has successfully chronicled an illness that has contributed to her brilliance as well as her sufferings in a way that allows the reader to understand and feel compassion for those who have been afflicted with bipolar disorder, and offers direction to those who might help.
Marya Hornbacher is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated national bestseller Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, a book that remains an intensely read classic, and of the acclaimed novel The Center of Winter. An award-winning journalist, she lectures nationally on writing and mental health and lives with her husband in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Madness: A Bipolar Life
Marya Hornbacher
Houghton Mifflin
222 Berkeley Street
Boston, MA 02116
2008
ISBN: 978-0-618-75445-8
$25.00
Confounding all this confusion, the quality of care also takes its toll on her mental state as the emergency room doctors sometimes make medical decisions that oppose her own doctor’s treatment plan. In a sad, but amusing account Hornbacher patiently explains to the hospital psychiatrist that she’s not depressed, but coming off a manic episode. The psychiatrist decides to increase her antidepressant medication and sleeping pills. When Hornbacher argues that she’s an addict and can’t take the medication the doctor prescribes, the doctor says, “I’m sure you won’t start abusing it.” Nothing Hornbacher says can convince the doctor to follow the regimen prescribed by her own doctor.
Hornbacher’s account of her heroic struggles to escape from the insanity of bipolar disorder and her honesty and insight into her bizarre behaviors makes a fast-paced, gut-wrenching story that causes the reader to not only better understand those who suffer from this illness, but cheer with the hope that Hornbacher expresses when she experiences good results as she strives to take her medications, exercise, do yoga, use light therapy, participate in group therapy sessions, and listen to her therapist. Whether she can maintain this tenuous balance depends upon whether she can keep her swinging moods under control.
A brilliant writer, Hornbacher chronicles the often humorous but sad episodes of a person with bipolar disorder. In her manic episodes, she’s a university teacher, a writer, and a lecturer doing a hundred and one different things all at once, while drunk, on medication, with little or no sleep. With insight she says, “That I have made it all this way without dying or killing myself or someone else is a miracle, or a joke.” But it’s no joke that she has successfully chronicled an illness that has contributed to her brilliance as well as her sufferings in a way that allows the reader to understand and feel compassion for those who have been afflicted with bipolar disorder, and offers direction to those who might help.
Marya Hornbacher is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated national bestseller Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, a book that remains an intensely read classic, and of the acclaimed novel The Center of Winter. An award-winning journalist, she lectures nationally on writing and mental health and lives with her husband in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Madness: A Bipolar Life
Marya Hornbacher
Houghton Mifflin
222 Berkeley Street
Boston, MA 02116
2008
ISBN: 978-0-618-75445-8
$25.00
Thursday, April 10, 2008
From SaveDarfur.org
If you were invited to a party hosted by the enablers of the
genocide of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, would
you go?
Today, as the Olympic torch passes through San Francisco for its
only North American stop, join me in urging President Bush not
to attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Click the link below to tell President Bush to take a stand for
human rights and skip the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/skip_olympics
China has the power to convince the Sudanese government to
accept deployment of the United Nations-African Union (UNAMID)
peacekeeping forces for Darfur. But instead China remains
Sudan's major weapons provider, largest foreign investor and
trade partner, and diplomatic apologist.
President Bush must not sit quietly and watch the lighting of
the Olympic torch - under the 'one world, one dream' banner -
unless China has used its influence to pressure the Sudanese
government to allow the effective deployment of the UNAMID
peacekeeping force.
We can support the Olympic Games, but we cannot support China's
tolerance for the atrocities being committed in Sudan. Beijing
should not be allowed to bask in the warm glow of peace and
brotherhood associated with the opening games if China is still
underwriting atrocities in Darfur.
genocide of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, would
you go?
Today, as the Olympic torch passes through San Francisco for its
only North American stop, join me in urging President Bush not
to attend the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Click the link below to tell President Bush to take a stand for
human rights and skip the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/skip_olympics
China has the power to convince the Sudanese government to
accept deployment of the United Nations-African Union (UNAMID)
peacekeeping forces for Darfur. But instead China remains
Sudan's major weapons provider, largest foreign investor and
trade partner, and diplomatic apologist.
President Bush must not sit quietly and watch the lighting of
the Olympic torch - under the 'one world, one dream' banner -
unless China has used its influence to pressure the Sudanese
government to allow the effective deployment of the UNAMID
peacekeeping force.
We can support the Olympic Games, but we cannot support China's
tolerance for the atrocities being committed in Sudan. Beijing
should not be allowed to bask in the warm glow of peace and
brotherhood associated with the opening games if China is still
underwriting atrocities in Darfur.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Keeping "shoulds" out of dialogue
Did you ever have the experience of someone telling you, “You should do this or that,” but you dismissed it? It won’t work, I already tried it, it’s too easy, it’s too hard, etc. Then on another instance, just talking to someone helped you figure out your own solution that might have been very similar to the original “should” you heard. Is it the first friend who planted a seed? I don’t think so. I think that when we listen carefully without “shoulding” on others, we allow them to find their own solutions.
The other day, I was listening to my friend talk about her financial problems and her life in general. She needed a listener and I was waiting for a meeting to end so happily listened. When she was thirteen years old, her mother died and she went into foster care – a very bumpy ride involving rebellion, eating disorders, unsavory friends, and dropping out of high school. Now in her forties, she has little training other than serving in restaurants and doing nails. But she manages to maintain a positive attitude and a secure life in spite of her low income and lack of skills. At the very end of our conversation, she said, “At least I don’t do drugs and stuff like my mom did.” The next day, I saw her again and she said, “You know, after I got home yesterday, I realized that I use sleeping aids but they make me groggy the next day. Then I have to drink coffee to wake up. Do you think I’m an addict? Now I have to work on getting off this habit.”
The day before, I didn’t cast any "shoulds" on my friend, but due to our conversation, she was able to come to her own conclusions. That demonstrates the power of dialogue, listening, and keeping "shoulds" out of the conversation. When I truly listen to others and allow them to reach their own conclusions, the results are much more satisfying than if I had said over and over again that she should do this or that. She has her life to live and I don’t know what it’s like. All I can be is a mirror helping her to see herself through her own words and actions.
The other day, I was listening to my friend talk about her financial problems and her life in general. She needed a listener and I was waiting for a meeting to end so happily listened. When she was thirteen years old, her mother died and she went into foster care – a very bumpy ride involving rebellion, eating disorders, unsavory friends, and dropping out of high school. Now in her forties, she has little training other than serving in restaurants and doing nails. But she manages to maintain a positive attitude and a secure life in spite of her low income and lack of skills. At the very end of our conversation, she said, “At least I don’t do drugs and stuff like my mom did.” The next day, I saw her again and she said, “You know, after I got home yesterday, I realized that I use sleeping aids but they make me groggy the next day. Then I have to drink coffee to wake up. Do you think I’m an addict? Now I have to work on getting off this habit.”
The day before, I didn’t cast any "shoulds" on my friend, but due to our conversation, she was able to come to her own conclusions. That demonstrates the power of dialogue, listening, and keeping "shoulds" out of the conversation. When I truly listen to others and allow them to reach their own conclusions, the results are much more satisfying than if I had said over and over again that she should do this or that. She has her life to live and I don’t know what it’s like. All I can be is a mirror helping her to see herself through her own words and actions.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Different world views
World views emanate from individual thinking. We create our environment from our life condition or the thoughts we entertain. When we view the world as good, the world presents itself to us as good. When we view the world as bad, that’s what we see.
I have a friend who emailed me recently after a conversation we witnessed in which four people expressed very different views about Muslims. David related to me that he has been reading about Muslim history and culture and how the Muslim believers behave aggressively toward nonbelievers. He concluded with a list showing “from around the world we hear reports of fanatical Muslim atrocities against their neighbors.”
I find it interesting that David has come to these conclusions from his reading whereas I have reached different conclusions. From his reading, he said, “I have not heard of a SINGLE instance of a Muslim being mistreated in the United States.” In the Jan. 22, 2008 installment of this blog, I reviewed The Jihad Next Door about how six Muslim US citizens, were treated by the FBI following the 9/11 attack (http://createmorepeaceandjustice.blogspot.com/2008/01/ perils-of-innocence-in-america.html). This book certainly shows how Muslims have been mistreated and how their families live in fear due to intimidation.
Then David said, “Of course, the 'Old Testament' describes a code that is just as harsh and rigid as the worst examples we now see in Sharia. But in the West, only a tiny few try to live by those strictures, whereas a huge population of the Muslim world live under Sharia and seem to want to impose that on the rest of the World.”
Maybe it’s the qualifiers “tiny” and “huge” but it seems to me that Palestinian Arabs and Pakistani Muslims that I know and read about represent the majority of Muslims who wish to live in peace and have much less of a wish to impose their religion on others than do the Christian missionaries throughout the world.
It’s all about context. If I have a certain belief, then I read and talk with people who have similar beliefs. So my view ends up being much different from someone who reads and talks with people whose views are different than mine.
But I choose to believe that the “tiny” factions are those that promote negative causes and the “huge” factions are those that promote positive causes. And I further agree with Dean Carter of Morehouse College who once related that the positive forces are gathering and uniting so that when the current empires grow too large and collapse, these good forces will rise up to take their place. The current recession leads me to believe that a financial empire is about to collapse. Are the positive forces ready to step up?
I have a friend who emailed me recently after a conversation we witnessed in which four people expressed very different views about Muslims. David related to me that he has been reading about Muslim history and culture and how the Muslim believers behave aggressively toward nonbelievers. He concluded with a list showing “from around the world we hear reports of fanatical Muslim atrocities against their neighbors.”
I find it interesting that David has come to these conclusions from his reading whereas I have reached different conclusions. From his reading, he said, “I have not heard of a SINGLE instance of a Muslim being mistreated in the United States.” In the Jan. 22, 2008 installment of this blog, I reviewed The Jihad Next Door about how six Muslim US citizens, were treated by the FBI following the 9/11 attack (http://createmorepeaceandjustice.blogspot.com/2008/01/ perils-of-innocence-in-america.html). This book certainly shows how Muslims have been mistreated and how their families live in fear due to intimidation.
Then David said, “Of course, the 'Old Testament' describes a code that is just as harsh and rigid as the worst examples we now see in Sharia. But in the West, only a tiny few try to live by those strictures, whereas a huge population of the Muslim world live under Sharia and seem to want to impose that on the rest of the World.”
Maybe it’s the qualifiers “tiny” and “huge” but it seems to me that Palestinian Arabs and Pakistani Muslims that I know and read about represent the majority of Muslims who wish to live in peace and have much less of a wish to impose their religion on others than do the Christian missionaries throughout the world.
It’s all about context. If I have a certain belief, then I read and talk with people who have similar beliefs. So my view ends up being much different from someone who reads and talks with people whose views are different than mine.
But I choose to believe that the “tiny” factions are those that promote negative causes and the “huge” factions are those that promote positive causes. And I further agree with Dean Carter of Morehouse College who once related that the positive forces are gathering and uniting so that when the current empires grow too large and collapse, these good forces will rise up to take their place. The current recession leads me to believe that a financial empire is about to collapse. Are the positive forces ready to step up?
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Help lift others out of poverty
So many ways to take action to help others. One great example is 26 year old Shawn blank who is helping to provide children with education supplies, malaria protection, and water in Bangladesh. You can watch his video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9IS-3Z5EC4
And I just called my representative to ask for their support for the reauthorization of PEPFAR, America's lifesaving effort to fight AIDS, malaria and TB in the developing world.
You can help by taking action here:
http://one.org/call/signup.html?mode=house&cp_id=20
Thanks!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tibet - Liberation or Invasion?
With the current crisis in Tibet, John Powers’ book, Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism – Revised Edition offers a timely chronicle of Tibetan history, geography, culture, religion, politics and Buddhist Orders. Powers admits in the preface “the scope of this book is broad … it still only scratches the surface of this ancient and rich culture.” Yes, its hefty 591 pages encompass a broad scope, including beautiful descriptions and details on the uniqueness of the Tibetan people with four appendices and indexes.
Not solely a religious discourse, Powers explains how Tibetan’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has also served as their political leader in a “priest-patron” relationship ongoing since the fifth Dalai Lama united the country in the 17th century. Although rich in peaceful traditions, the Tibetans lacked defensive arms and strategy against the superior weaponry that the post-World War II Chinese brought to their borders in 1949. “On January 1, 1950, the New Year’s broadcast from Beijing announced that in the coming year the People’s Liberation Army would liberate Tibet from foreign imperialists and reintegrate it with the motherland,” even though it had never been “integrated” in the past.
According to Powers, “It soon became clear that the foreign invaders and their ideology were incompatible with Tibetan culture.” The Dalai Lama tried negotiation with the Chinese but “[b]y 1955, the process of collectivization was underway…Chinese troops began confiscating arms, property, livestock, and possessions, and then they created communes. The people who were being forced into the new system resisted these moves. The Chinese answer was to use violence to force Tibetans into the golden age that awaited them….By 1959 the situation in Tibet was grim….At four o’clock on March 17, the Chinese began lobbing mortar shells in the area around [the Dalai Lama’s summer palace] with the stated purpose of ‘freeing’ the Dalai Lama” from the people surrounding his residence who were trying to protect him. “Late that night he and his party … slipped out undetected and began the long journey in exile to India.”
But before relating these tragic events, Powers provides well-documented research showing why Tibetans exemplify values of nonviolence, peace, compassion, and love for their enemies based on their religious and cultural traditions. Much like the black South Africans, these gentle people suffer at the hands of invaders, and much like boycotts of companies doing business in South Africa, this reader plans to boycott companies doing business in China and lobby Congress to disinvest in Chinese businesses until China agrees to cease its aggressive actions toward Tibet.
John Powers received an M.A. in Indian Philosophy from McMaster University and a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Virginia. A specialist in Indo-Tibetan philosophy and meditation theory, he has published widely on Buddhist thought and practice. He teaches at the Center for Asian Societies and Histories at the Australian National University.
Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism – Revised edition
by John Powers
Snow Lion Publications
PO Box 6483
Ithaca, NY 14851
ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-282-2
$22.95
Not solely a religious discourse, Powers explains how Tibetan’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has also served as their political leader in a “priest-patron” relationship ongoing since the fifth Dalai Lama united the country in the 17th century. Although rich in peaceful traditions, the Tibetans lacked defensive arms and strategy against the superior weaponry that the post-World War II Chinese brought to their borders in 1949. “On January 1, 1950, the New Year’s broadcast from Beijing announced that in the coming year the People’s Liberation Army would liberate Tibet from foreign imperialists and reintegrate it with the motherland,” even though it had never been “integrated” in the past.
According to Powers, “It soon became clear that the foreign invaders and their ideology were incompatible with Tibetan culture.” The Dalai Lama tried negotiation with the Chinese but “[b]y 1955, the process of collectivization was underway…Chinese troops began confiscating arms, property, livestock, and possessions, and then they created communes. The people who were being forced into the new system resisted these moves. The Chinese answer was to use violence to force Tibetans into the golden age that awaited them….By 1959 the situation in Tibet was grim….At four o’clock on March 17, the Chinese began lobbing mortar shells in the area around [the Dalai Lama’s summer palace] with the stated purpose of ‘freeing’ the Dalai Lama” from the people surrounding his residence who were trying to protect him. “Late that night he and his party … slipped out undetected and began the long journey in exile to India.”
But before relating these tragic events, Powers provides well-documented research showing why Tibetans exemplify values of nonviolence, peace, compassion, and love for their enemies based on their religious and cultural traditions. Much like the black South Africans, these gentle people suffer at the hands of invaders, and much like boycotts of companies doing business in South Africa, this reader plans to boycott companies doing business in China and lobby Congress to disinvest in Chinese businesses until China agrees to cease its aggressive actions toward Tibet.
John Powers received an M.A. in Indian Philosophy from McMaster University and a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Virginia. A specialist in Indo-Tibetan philosophy and meditation theory, he has published widely on Buddhist thought and practice. He teaches at the Center for Asian Societies and Histories at the Australian National University.
Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism – Revised edition
by John Powers
Snow Lion Publications
PO Box 6483
Ithaca, NY 14851
ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-282-2
$22.95
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