Rethinking Progress

Our township is quaint. Most people have lived here their whole lives. Many were dairy farmers before the time of “Get big or get out”. They’re first hand witnesses to the shortcomings of that adage. To some the small family farm die off of is “progress”. But progress shouldn’t have to come on the backs of people or in the destruction of the earth.

It was progress that drove most indigenous people away. Had they been encouraged to stay, or allowed to teach their ways of stewardship of the earth, things might be different for all of us.

But as it is, I hear the bulldozers cutting new paths for the loggers who are going to cash in on the land. There is no regard for animal life. No regard for the fellowship of the trees. Freshly cut-logging roads in these hills will add to heavy spring runoff and an increase in floods. There’s little regard for life when money is at stake.

In the beginning of autumn colors we will watch the trees come down. It ‘s dark now but I can still hear the bulldozing. There is no legal recourse to stop it and talk is futile when you’re a woman telling men there are better ways.

“This is how we’ve always done it”, ends the conversation. Maybe you have always done it this way, but there are people who understand their relationship to the land and to one another. 

The Menominee are internationally heralded for the way they harvest their forests.  Care is taken to ensure an ongoing healthy ecosystem. It is never too late to learn.

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. I’m weary of living in a world driven by ignorance. Money will not heal unconsciousness.

For Love’s Sake

Once again, the United States has demonstrated its disregard of refugees of color and especially Haitian refugees. Once again we watched as this president followed the directions of past presidents before him. Party affiliation doesn’t have much clout when racism rears its head. 

Thinking people are noticing the implications of climate change. The horrific ordeals the people of Haiti have endured over the past few years coupled with our unending racism damns them to imprisonment and worse. 

The photos of white men on horseback rounding up black men, women and children desperate for aid were absolutely abhorrent. Too painful to look at, but to look away is to ignore. To ignore is an act of compliance and agreement. Compliance with inhumanity is a deadly disease.

Clearly we are engaged in a war to save our souls. We have politicized every aspect of our society and we buy every lie that is dangled before us. The biggest lie of all is the one declaring our righteousness as God’s chosen. We have made outcasts of our humanity and our ideals.  And we elect status quo politicians to keep it that way.

Kindness and compassion must reawaken in our dialogue, in our actions and in our policies. There will be no Superman to save us from ourselves. We hold all that we need within us and it’s bursting to come forth. 

The only thing we have not tried…is Love.

It will only take a few more of us to stand in unity and in peace.

It will take a revolution of understanding to erupt in our hearts and in our minds.

And it will take trying the only thing we have not tried…  

Let us do it, for Love’s sake.

The quote and the photo are attributed to Rev. Jacqui Lewis found on Facebook.

A Pathway to Peace

I was thinking the other day how good it would be to stop shackling our children with beliefs we inherited. The innocence of a child is delicious to behold. Then we lather them up with all kinds of crazy ideas. We teach fear instead of instilling in them the possibility of consciousness. We teach hatred and alienation as we rob them of the sanctity of being human. We teach conformity in our desire to have them walk lock step with the status quo. And we let them fall prey to the same ideologies to which we unwittingly succumbed. 

For instance, since 1493, when a Pope issued the Doctrine of Discovery we have supported the idea of conquest and have used it for appropriation and colonization of indigenous people. And it can be argued that the subjugated role of women in Christianity combined with the notion of conquest makes way for the ongoing missing and murdering of indigenous women.

We teach, “Thou shall not kill”, making exceptions of war and capital punishment, and expect others to do harm on our behalf. This slipping away of our humanity did not come all at once and it will take a deliberate effort to retrieve it. 

But what is our recourse to reclaim our humanity? Conquest and violence are failed principles. Fighting fire with fire has does not work. Creating a culture of peace is the path we have yet to take. Understanding that our need for peace is as vital as breathing will give us the impetus to act. 

Cultivating our personal peace quickens the soul and cuts the chains of ideology. A recent international conference on Peace Education highlighted the good works of people world over towards this end. It was hopeful and inspiring.This is our moment to shine, bring on the peaceful.

It is that Simple

As the gardens wane and cooler mornings greet us, the revolution of time presses on. The afternoon light is more vivid and it seems a shame to not sit a while and take it in. This time is made for memories. The hopefulness of spring and the vigor of summer can still be felt, but the coming of autumn holds the reckoning of all that has gone before.

It’s a time of remembrance. Memories of loved ones who have walked on and of those too distant to hold close. It’s a time to reminisce and count the Goodness that has played a part in shaping our becoming. Bringing in the harvest and celebrating abundance is a universally shared experience. And in doing so the spirit of community becomes its own blessing. We are preparing for winter and the longest, darkest nights and this cycle of life and of this season of closure is rich with the preciousness of being alive.

In the course of it, I’m overcome with gratitude and I realize once again that gratitude is the core of who I am, of who we are. And I wonder as I walk over the leaves that are starting to fall, “Is it really that simple?” That to know myself is to be grateful for my life and everything that touches it…and the answer wells up inside of me, “Yes. It is that simple.”

It has been well over three years now that WDRT Community Radio has allowed me to bring you my thoughts on the power of humanity and the choices we face to remain human. For that opportunity I am grateful. Community is alive and well here and it takes all of us to keep it flourishing. Thanks to all who keep it going.

Today is WDRT’s pledge drive. If you feel it, please give.

This piece was inspired in part by the passing of a great friend. May his memory bring peace to all who knew him.

“Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor”

It’s not everyday you welcome those without a home driven from their beloved country for fear of life and liberty. It’s not everyday you’re reminded of the tenants of our country as proclaimed in Emma Lazarus’ poem “Give me your tired, your poor.”

I read of human beings escaping Afghanistan with little to no belongings. Families, occupations and dreams shattered. Many will reside at Fort McCoy. To date nearly nine thousand, mostly children, have arrived. Barracks meant to house soldiers in training are now housing families in need. It was heartwarming to learn that non-profits and some church organizations are gathering donations to provide culturally appropriate clothing for our guests. Bolts of cloth and sewing machines are on their way to empower people. 

I can only hope they are and will continue to be met with the kindness and compassion that each of us requires in order to thrive. 

I hear they are in need of Wi-Fi to connect with loved ones left behind. Living in this rural Wi-Fi dessert I can commiserate with that and hope they are able to get it in a timely way. 

In truth I am frightened for them. They have left hostility and war and have arrived on the doorstep of a country reckoning with its own national identity. I am hoping they ignore the numerous Christian radio stations that denounce the Islamic faith and its followers. These Christians are apparently unaware of their kinship with the sons of Abraham and prefer to fear the unknown. Perhaps a change of heart will transpire.

Perhaps, too, the legacy of Ft. McCoy as the largest concentration camp for Japanese, Germans and Italians during WWII will be rectified. And the soldiers training in drone warfare will look more carefully at their human targets.

This is a great article from the UK that included the wikimedia commons photo above.

This is a compilation of do’s and don’ts to consider.

Blessed Existence

Hardship has never escaped the human family. We are pummeled by Nature and by the ignorance that compounds suffering.

My Navajo friend told me how her grandmother fought to keep her baby alive during the forced Long Walk. Mothers who lost their own babies would give what little breast milk they had to the infant. That infant was my friend’s mother. I’ve often reflected on the courage, perseverance and kindness that enabled Annie, my friend, to exist. And how blessed was that existence with all of its hardships. 

I remember witnessing her in morning prayers. Though humble, she was not docile. She stood boldly in her life and welcomed all of the winds that blew her way. 

The story of shared breast milk was not new to me. My mother had been the recipient of wet nurses as they were called. My grandfather had been killed and my grandmother lost her ability to breastfeed. Poverty demands help. And help came in the form of neighbors. I’ve often reflected on the strength and the compassion that surrounded my mother’s existence. And how blessed was that existence with all of its hardships. She, too, had the gift of powerful prayer. 

I am the recipient of the Love of these two matriarchs. With that kind of Love mountains can move.

All of us have been blessed with existence and while our stories vary, hardships and blessings have come our way. Be nourished by them.

These are hard times. These are the times to dig for strength and to uncover our gifts, to seek and offer help. We have the potential to flourish, individually and collectively, despite the hardships.

Have the clarity to be guided by Love. Find the courage to hold onto it.

Regardless of hardship, it is a blessed existence.

The above photo is of Annie.

My Grandmother and me.
My mom and me.

Sober Up.

There are a lot of people expressing anguish and anger these days and a lot of people riding waves of blind trust. 

For those just getting around to anguish and anger, good for you. Now the choice before you is to bury your head once more or to find a way out of the turmoil. Anguish and anger are the first steps in coming to terms with the realities that we have accepted.  It’s a reckoning of the choices made for us long ago. The most obvious is the disregard of our relationship to the Earth, our dependence on fossil fuels and all the wars and destruction that have gone along with it. 

Another high on the list of accepted follies is patriarchy. If you’re still waffling about that one, check in with the women of Afghanistan or for that matter take a look at fundamentalists of any faith and how women are regarded. 

Women and the Earth have taken a beating over these past hundreds of years as dominant thinking has driven humanity back to the dark ages. Anger and anguish makes sense; but only if they fuel a revival of love and appreciation for life. That could be our way out.

To those of you bent on following blind faith to hell or to heaven: sober up. Jesus didn’t die to set you free of responsibility while you’re here. Your prayers and good wishes need to be accompanied by action. It might be time to take a page out of his notebook and overthrow the temples and challenge the money hoarders. It might be time to take off the yoke and stand in righteousness, not just talk about it. 

This is the time for courage and love. Bring on the best of humanity.

We Were Warned

In his 1961 “Farewell Speech to the Nation” Eisenhower gave a dire warning of the consequences of a country driven by military industrial complex. And in 1967, Martin Luther King echoed the refrain in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech citing how the war machine was bankrupting the country on the backs of the poor. 

Barbara Lee eloquently called us to take pause and consider the consequences of an invasion in Afghanistan twenty years ago. She was the sole vote against opening the door to what became the longest unwinnable war of our history.

Following the attack of 9/11, she calmly and clearly called for those of righteous indignation to take the road of diplomacy and not the path of military destruction.

We cannot say we’ve not been warned.

Now we scramble to lay blame on this president or that. Blame the weakness of the Afghan Army or blame the Pentagon for not learning from history. And while media spins the stories that cause suspicion and anger, the final evolution of our collective conscience will likely be one of resignation.

Resignation is the stuff that allows the military industrial complex to keep rolling. The Taliban are now the inheritors of all United States and Allies weaponry. But have no illusion that that will sober up the industry that thrives on creating death and destruction. No, this will become the new excuse to arm all or any that may want to challenge this regime, or any regime. 

At the end of the day, Eisenhower was right about the military industrial complex. Where he got it wrong was his firm belief that the people of this country would not allow it to happen.

We were warned.  Now will we learn?

Photo is of a US C-17 carrying people out of Afghanistan. Taken by an airman or employee, it is in the public domain of the United States.

A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III safely transported approximately 640 Afghan citizens from Hamid Karzai International Airport Aug. 15, 2021. U.S. Air Force courtesy photo.

Stop Blaming CRT

By local news accounts, it appears that some people in our community have their knickers in a twist regarding critical race theory. At recent school board meetings they’re demanding critical race theory not be taught. 

A little more perspective is in order. An academic reflection since the 70’s, CRT points to the obvious: racism is systemic. The theory is rarely mentioned outside of legal or academic circles, but now debunking it is the war cry of revisionist thought.

In my opinion, systemic racism is the unfinished business of a people who were willing to wipe out the original people of this land – unsuccessfully, of course – willing to enslave Blacks, imprison Japanese during WWII and have been very willing to separate families and keep brown children in cages at the border. And let’s not whitewash the repugnant Jim Crow laws and the current voter restrictions that some are attempting to implement. With this in mind how could any person of empathy doubt that racism is systemic?  

I don’t really think it’s critical race theory that has people so upset. It has more to do with reckoning a past that does not fit into the narrative we have woven into this “Christian” nation.

The concern that white children will suffer from truth is to cover our own unwillingness to rectify the past. The truth is being told and no one can stop it.  

Tossing around concepts to create fear is an old game. Let’s play a new one. Caring for the underserved and maintaining good will is not only possible, it’s necessary. This is the underpinning of all faiths.

Our ignorance should be challenged, not the truth.

Photo credit: graffito to the memory of Abdul (Abba) William Guibre in Milan (at the corner where he has been killed).Author: Bramfab. wikimedia commons

My guest in this one hour show is Rabbi Bonnie Margulis and our conversation covers racial equity, voter rights and yes, critical race theory. Thanks to WDRT Community Radio. Listen here.

The United States of Cognitive Dissonance

Are you following the wild fires out west? Pacific Gas and Electric has admitted its equipment most likely started the Dixie Fire.  Sparks from their lines have caused roughly 1500 fires over six years. Now they’re willing to spend $15 billion to bury their lines. 

I remember posing these concerns to American Transmission reps as they bulldozed their notion of progress here in Wisconsin. 

And I watch a tree’s steady decline after I was told the electric meter wasn’t going to hurt it a bit. 

We know that pipelines leak. It’s not “if “but “when”. Yet in disregard of growing indigenous led pushback, Enbridge continues its assault on waterways and wild rice to complete Line 3. 

Local weather reporting gives us day-to-day accounts but remain mute on mitigating climate change.

And as natural disasters mount, few talk about reducing consumption.

All this has me believing it’s time to consider a name change. We are the United States of Cognitive Dissonance. We traffic inconsistent thoughts that are harmful and undermining to our society. And we don’t seem to care.

Where else can capital police tell horrifying accounts of January 6th then are ridiculed by people who promote “blue lives matter”?

Where else could hundreds of sexual assaults on young girls by a gymnastics doctor be allowed to carry on for decades? With little to no accountability …

Trapped in the state of cognitive dissonance some declare they don’t know whom or what to believe.  

If you’ve moved that far from your humanity, I suggest making a beeline back to it. 

There is a way to know right from wrong.