Something to ponder....

I originally posted this in June 2010 as a note on facebook, but given these times of even more political uncertainty I felt that it was worth reposting. The news is more distressing than ever as we as American citizens become even more divided and political extremist seem to be taking center stage. My hope is that the American people will once again find their sense of community and pride and look to their fellow man as their neighbor and not their enemy. We cannot roll back the clock to a time when we lived in an exclusionist nation therefore we must find our way into living within a global community without stepping on the necks of others.  

The following is a speech delivered at Friends University commencement May 2010. As I sat in Hartman Arena beaming with pride and excitement at watching my younger brother graduate, I was not prepared to be riveted to my seat by a keynote address. My ears perked up at the introduction of the speaker, Dr. Gretchen Eick, a history professor at the university but what she said so impressed me and provoked a deeper level of thought that it has stuck with me. I recently wrote to Dr. Eick and ask for a copy of her address and she was gracious enough to share so I am passing on the pearls of wisdom to you. Enjoy!

How many of you stayed up all night at least one night this week completing the work you needed to do to earn your college degree? Let’s see a show of hands.

How many of you have been looking back on your years at Friends and recalling major changes in your life that occurred while you were in pursuit of this moment?

Some of you lost family members very important in your lives; some of you were surprised to gain new family members!

How many jobs did you gain and lose?

How many times were you forced to rethink assumptions you brought with you to university?

How many of you sat in your advisor’s office at least once totally overwhelmed by the task of getting through college while working , caring for family, and trying to find the cash to pay your mountain of bills?

People tend to tell others that your college years “are the best years of your life.” Not so. The best years of your life lie ahead of you, even if at this moment you are uncertain what comes next.

A former student of mine wrote me this week, “I think one thing for graduates to remember is that they have to be open to the fact that the life they may have planned for themselves, might not be the one that actually happens”

Be prepared for major surprises. Some of the surprises you will welcome with excitement; others will break your heart. But you can depend upon it: your life will hold frequent changes of course and the dreams you hold today will morph into new dreams in the process of living.

POINT ONE: Don’t be afraid of change.

POINT TWO: Your family is global. Those families in Kandahar, Afghanistan and Baghdad, Iraq, in Haiti and Nigeria, Burma and Sri Lanka, they are your family. When innocent civilians explode into fragments of flesh anywhere in the world, their shattered lives are connected to your wellbeing. The horror and injustice of their lost lives affect your future whether or not you realize it. A youth who watches brutal treatment of his family members may seek revenge. Oil spills that ruin coastal ecosystems and national disasters that render hundreds of thousands of individuals homeless affect you. Belonging to hundreds of distinct cultures, speaking many languages and practicing different religions, your family is worldwide and the whole planet is your neighborhood.

POINT THREE: Life comes with consequences. You live in a nation that currently is experiencing a life or death struggle over whether anyone outside our borders matters and over whether government has the right to restrain or regulate the accumulation of wealth in the face of the disastrous disparity between the haves and the have nothings. The rhetoric of hate has found new life this year and if you participate in it, there are consequences. If you join the rhetoric of hate you will endanger the precious heritage your foremothers and forefathers worked very hard to ensure for you.

Let’s think for a minute about that heritage that is yours.

You live in a country that has a long history of expanding recognition of basic human rights and freedoms. Expanding freedoms did not come easily or without struggle. Indeed, we outlawed slavery 33 years after our colonial mother country Britain outlawed it in all of her colonies. But gradually we expanded our understanding of who was guaranteed rights to include first EuroAmerican men who did not own any property, then to African American men, then to women, then to Native Americans, then to young adults and children.

That struggle to expand our understanding of who has basic human rights continues.

You live in a country that has been multicultural since its inception. One third of its territory was Mexican long before it was added to the United States. The Native Americans who lived on this land before anyone else were more diverse in cultures and language families than virtually anywhere else on this earth.

When Europeans came to explore and claim land for their rulers, they came with Africans. In fact, more than a quarter of a million {300,000} Africans came to the Americas from 1502-1619, far more than all the Europeans who came combined. We have been multicultural from the start.

You also live in a country where people argue obstreperously over what they believe and what should and should not be the role of government, often polarized between commitment to individualism and commitment to community. Arguing and debating is fine, essential to democracy. We need to talk about what to do about growing disparity between rich and poor and what can be done to address it. As Ron Paul has written, that growing gap is dangerous for our democracy : “Our system of freedom is skewed and is becoming very dangerous (approx. 100 million US citizens [--those who own no property] experience ZERO freedom)”. [That is one third of our population!] Paul continues: “You can only cage humans for so long and then something has to give. When liberty is skewed into the hands of a very small number of the population, then our ability to "self-govern" becomes a complete and utter illusion.”

Today we hear loud and angry voices defying our government and shouting for states’ rights; 13 states are demanding the right for states to nullify federal laws. Those are the ideas that brought us to civil war 141 years ago! More than half a million [600,000] Americans lost their lives in that struggle before our national government was recognized as sovereign. Don’t get swept up in angry rhetoric and actions. To paraphrase James Madison, the father of our Constitution, majorities rule but mobs are dangerous.

Use your college education to investigate various perspectives rather than listening only to one. As President Obama said this week, watch Fox and MSNBC! Our American Revolution produced the writer Thomas Paine who wrote in his booklet entitled The Crisis, “We have no other national sovereignty than as United States. It would be fatal for us if we had…Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction.”

So what does this have to do with you as you sit here in your caps and gowns?

Back to CONSEQUENCES. If you move into the rest of your life with a smug certainty that your culture, your religion, your ideas are the BEST and the ONLY ones worth considering, you will steal the future from your children and those who come after them.

Don’t be afraid of change.

Care about your extended (global) family and the neighborhood you share with them.
And
Think about the consequences of your actions and of our national and local actions; take your citizenship seriously.

We people of the United States comprise only 5% of the world’s population—a very small part of the whole—yet we are the richest 1% of the world’s population . With blessing comes responsibility. I have come to know many of you during this part of your journey. I believe you are up to the challenge. I hope you are up to the challenge for your global family members are counting on you.

For the Love of Food

I'm no chef and I rarely get 'creative' in the kitchen. But like most people I can follow a recipe (I say most because believe it or not I have met people who can't) and I not only love good food but I love to cook. I get excited every time I find a new recipe that makes my tummy scream YUM! I follow a lot of food blogs searching for the YUM factor and while they range for cooking for dummies to holy crap I need a professional kitchen and Donald Trump's income to make that I still love them all! But my favorite would have to be Gabi Moskowitz's BrokeAss Gourmet. I will confess it was the title that grabbed my attention I actually laughed out loud when I read it. But since I began following Gabi and her BrokeAss, not a week goes by that I don't include at least one of her recipes in my menu planning. The recipes range from my 8 year old niece could make that to I might need to try this again, but I have never been disappointed. Aside from being yummy and creative, Miss Moskowitz has a sharp sense of humor and reading her blog is as much fun as cooking from it. One of my favorite features of her blog is that she includes the cost of ingredients, which lets face it no one is more broke than college students! Having certain health issues I have found that avoiding processed and pre-packaged food to be to my benefit but as everyone knows cooking from fresh ingredients can be expensive. One trick that I have learned is to buy just what the recipe calls for. I go to the meat counter and get my meat instead of buying packaged - the butcher actually sold me just two strips of bacon for her Baked Pasta w/ Leeks, Spinach, Bacon & Cheddar recipe - which scored an A+ with me!
These are just a few of the many reasons why BrokeAss Gourmet is my favorite food blog...of course my dream blog would be one that would not only include the great YUM Factor of B.A.G. but include weekly menus at or around $50 a week - I hate menu planning, and have the ability to adjust the recipe by serving - Allrecipes.com provides this but I seldom find recipes that are original and fresh to try.
I highly recommend checking out Gabi and her blog and for you fellow iPad owners check out the newest App -Appetites where Gabi and 5 of her fellow bloggers share recipes and step by step cooking instructions!
Happy Cooking (and eating)

You What Burns My Arse? No It Isn't A Flame About 4 Feet High!

It's been a long time since I have written a blog, mainly due to lack of time, but mostly because I needed to step back and shield myself from letting things upset me (thus distracting me from focusing on what needed to be done). I don't really enjoy going on a rant, it means that the world around me has dealt enough negative energy that if I don't rant I'll implode. Though not ranting seems to be as unhealthy as ranting, and after my trip to the National Archives yesterday, I've reached my limit. For the last few years I have limited my time with society-mainly because it just pisses me off! I believe I am a good person, I treat others the way that I would like to be treated. I believe I am fair and open minded, but I've had enough (again). Below are just a FEW reasons (sadly the list grows longer with each passing day) of why I prefer the sanctity of my own home and the company of my loyal four legged friend.

People have lost the ability to just be polite!


Yesterday while out and about I asked a man if he had the time. He looked at me as if I had asked for his kidney, shook his head and walked away. REALLY! What the hell?! It was a simple question, it would have taken less than a second to answer. I asked politely, I don't think I  look like a homeless panhandler so the next question out of my mouth would have hardly been "brother can you spare a dime?" but this idiot literally looked down his nose, gave me a disgusted look and walked away (for the record I had never seen this man before so he had no reason to behave with such disdain towards me personally)!  As a pedestrian in this city I understand what a pain it can be when a stranger sparks a conversation. I have been asked a multitude of insane questions, heard all about a peoples personal woes, and more often than not learned far more about a stranger than I ever wanted to know about ANYONE! But I still always try and be polite and hope that the next person to open their mouth actually says something I want to listen to.

What's in it for me & keeping score


It seems that I have this innate ability to attract people who believe that being a part of their lives or 'friend' requires a scorecard. I have never really understood this but it prompted me to do a bit of house cleaning in the 'friend' department recently. It sometimes takes awhile for me to see things clearly when it comes to people, but I get there eventually, usually after I have been screwed over or hurt one too many times. More than anything it makes me just want to scream, and lately has prompted me to examine how it has become far more easy to shut others out than to let them in. In my mind being a friend means that you don't do something for someone with the expectation of something in return, and you don't keep a tally of your deeds/favors/ acts of kindness for use at a later time. If I do something nice for you, I do it because I care, I want to and I can! There is no other  motive! I have never said no to helping someone when I could! I have, however, all to often over extended myself financially, mentally and emotionally to do so.

Hate, Indifference and Ignorance!


This more than anything really burns my backside! People who form their opinions of a person or persons, religion, gender, political party, social status (you get the picture) based solely on the popular angry sound bites and fear mongering du jour! I still need to believe that we as humans are an intelligent species with the ability to reason for ourselves, yet there seems to be an ever increasing number of those who chuck out reason and critical thinking to jump on the latest bandwagon and start beating the drums with no real understanding of what they are talking about. In an age when facts and information are literally at our fingertips, more often than not (it seems to me anyway) people look to those charismatic fools on the idiot box to do their thinking, guide their conscience and dictate their lives. I have no patience at all for these people - I realize that this country and the world we live in are not perfect, but don't bitch to me or even around me if your attitude is why should I do anything-nothing will change!  It may or may not but it certainly NEVER will if everyone does nothing! Don't try and force feed me your politics and religion unless you have done your homework and are prepared for an intelligent exchange of ideas - I will not argue these things with your nor will I suffer your ill-informed condescending attitude. I will, however, listen to what you have to say and expect the same in return - you don't need to change my mind nor I yours. I am comfortable with you believing what you believe and respect your right to do so - but for the love of all that is good in the world do so from a well informed position not because so-and-so said. I know the history of your religion (Do YOU?); I know how the church, synagogue, or mosque you attend formed the ideology/theology you are taught today. I don't care what you believe - I do believe everyone needs to believe in something.  I have yet to discover a religious doctrine whose core values teach hate and violence. There are as many radical Jews and Christians as there are Muslims- think about that the next time you start making generalized statements.
I am not an economist, I don't have a degree in political science, but I am an intelligent person with the ability to ask questions of those who are in the know and reason for myself. I'm not perfect and I am not always right (nor would I want to be) but I know it is better to ask questions and be receptive and open-minded to all answers and judge what is best for me than it is to make broad sweeping statements and expect everyone to drink the Kool-aid. The transition from We to Me in our society has never served us well and when we finally begin to stop and consider the welfare of all instead of just ourselves only then do I believe that we will find the world will become a better place

We still have so much to learn about this world we live in. The old isolationist ideals of our forefathers no longer applies! We live in a global community and allowing others to suffer for our own benefit in my humble opinion, serves only to stunt the growth of humankind and should never be tolerated. James Arthur Baldwin once said, "Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go." We are more than just our religion, political party or even nationality and maybe it's time everyone started learning a bit of history if we ever truly want to understand our fellow man and the world around us.