let kindness win

“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.

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 6^th 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.

Pride and Practicality

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of my father tinkering at his workbench. Actually looking back he wasn’t tinkering, he was repairing something that needed a bit of help. I distinctly remember the two-sided toaster that he dismantled to get it up and running again. I loved that toaster.

A young soldier in World War II, my father took pride in the skills he learned in the service. He took pride in his tools. He was a practical man. And practicality included not throwing things away that could be fixed.

It was a different time. But was it?

Fast-forward to the recent Federal Trade Commission’s stance on ending the restrictions manufacturers place on individuals repairing their own goods. From cell phones to tractors, companies currently “own” the right to repair. Buyers, like us, are often unable to purchase parts needed and attempts at repair are forbidden.

That liberal leaning state of Massachusetts led the way with its 2020 Right to Repair Initiatives and now corporations are crying foul that the right for the buyer to repair could become the law of the land.

My father was a conservative. He was conservative in his politics, in his faith and in his approach to life. I am 100% certain he would be 100% against corporate ownership of repair. He would not have let anyone take away his ability or his keen sense of wonder.

This isn’t about liberal or conservative. This is basic Humanity 101. Everyone needs a little elbow room to live as they wish.* Everyone needs to live in dignity.

I still have some of my father’s tools. I use them proudly. I can’t fix everything, but hey, that is the gift of community. We help one another. And you can’t take that away.

*I first heard that phrase from one of the greatest advocates for humanity, Prem Rawat.

Learn more about the Right to Repair

And get involved.

What Time is it?

“What time is it on the clock of the world?” I remember the first time I heard Grace Lee Boggs use the phrase her husband James had brilliantly coined. Not simply what time is it in my day, in my existence, but what is the time on the clock of the world? For decades now the couple’s passion for humanity helped spark a revival of community in Detroit and beyond.

There are precious few who call us to a greater awareness of our commonality. Yet everyone has the ability to feel the preciousness of our interconnection. Everyone enjoys the benefit of unity.

In many cultures children are raised to understand their position within a lineage and the importance of community. They’re taught to maintain the circle of life and are invited to play their significant role, whatever that may be.

How fortunate are those who have maintained their cultural relevance in a time when many are hell bent on assimilation. Spending time with indigenous people who recognize the sacredness of all life and who understand the concept of “all my relations” is a cherished gift. We can learn so very much as we unlearn separation.

What time is it on the clock of the world? It’s time to relinquish our self-importance. It’s time to return the garden.

If you have the good fortune to find yourself in the company of those who are striving for the good of all, play your part. Play it to the best of your ability.

As long as we’re alive the game is afoot. And not all the plays have yet been made. There’s still time on the clock for human kindness to prevail.

Oyster Mushrooms

In a year when the late spring frost crushed the apple blossoms and willful and cunning raccoons killed two broods of chicks, an abundance of oyster mushrooms is a welcomed gift.

There on the dead tree the golden yellow glow of mushrooms keeps calling and offering up delicious treats. As in the immortal words of the Rolling Stones, “You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes, you might find… you get what you need.”

Living on the land you learn to be accepting. A friend suggested it is stoic, but that word suggests indifference to pleasure or pain and that is not the pill I care to swallow. I never want to stop feeling the magnificent range of emotions granted us. But I do welcome the ability to surf the peace that lives beneath the tides of my emotions.

And then there are the golden oyster mushrooms. Succulent and almost sweet, they combine beautifully with nearly every meal. Like finding the first eggs of the season, or pulling up garlic or digging potatoes, there’s a familiarity and an excitement that can’t be denied.

Liam getting ready to dry the mushrooms.

Those golden mushrooms signal a reminder that not all is lost, that among the dead and dying there is life and goodness. And when you ride the wave of acceptance and open your eyes so very much is given.

We live in a desperate time. We are ushered away from our inner solitude and are urged to chase illusive dreams of success. We’ve forgotten that being alive is the success. We’ve forgotten the earth is our garden of plenty.

We have so much to remember…

Fortunately there are oyster mushrooms for those who have the eyes to see.

Neglect is Abuse

On this Fourth of July I exercise my patriotic right to dissent. I cannot celebrate a nation so very willing to talk a good game and live another. We can and we must do better.

From this week’s “Consider This”:

From 1869 through the 1960’s thousands of Native children were forced from their families into residential schools for “cultural assimilation”. Many never made it home again.

As hundreds of unmarked graves continue to be located near former Canadian schools, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland launched a similar search of old boarding schools here in the United States. This project is set to complete in 2022, opening wounds and bringing closure to the inhuman practices of our government towards Native people.

And a friend asked me, “Do you think they were abused?” I responded, “Neglect is abuse.”

We’re talking about children. We’re talking about ripping families apart. We’re talking about inadequate facilities and more importantly we’re talking about uprooting the sources of love and respect of their very existence.

And before you think, “How awful, how could that have happen?” Let’s go over a few more facts: More than 14,000 migrant children are now in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, some have been held in overcrowded Border Patrol facilities, some have been relocated to emergency sites like Fort Bliss. Some have been held in these places for months. Thousands are held in Fort Bllss in tents, in the desert…children…

There are reasons people are fleeing their homes. A lot has to do with US foreign policy. And the link between violence and gun trafficking from our country can no longer be denied.

So before you say, “How could this have happened?” think on this: It has happened on our watch. It is and has happened during the leadership of both parties for decades.

We can stop this cycle of violence and inhumanity, but it will take all of us. We need a revolution of the heart. We need a revolution of understanding and kindness.

It will begin with those who care.

image compliments of wikimedia commons

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