Perhaps!
One page at a time
After I do email, some text messages, and work out at the gym, I am ready to sit down and enjoy coffee, a light breakfast and the morning newspaper. Reading the morning newspaper is a habit, which has snuck back into my routine for some time now. I recall when I first moved to the remote village of Hoonah on Chichagof Island in Alaska from New Jersey. In New jersey, in my world, the accepted norm was to read every page of the New York Times and watch at least two to three hours of news a day. At the time we moved to Hoonah there were no satellites serving the community resulting in little to no radio coverage and sparse three-month-old news shows on the television when the generator was working. I thought I would wither from lack of news! I was in New York City for a meeting six months later and did not remember to watch the news or read the newspaper. Some years later I was then living in Indiana and noticed that I was reading the newspaper. I did not resume the habit of watching the television news. Since I was not in the habit of otherwise turning on the television this was not remarkable.
At any rate, I was thinking about these and other habits this morning, October 30, 2015, as I read the St. Petersburg Tribune. The combination of the headlines on page 4 of the first section of the newspaper caught my attention. Stories on this page included:
· Ryan sworn in as House speaker (U.S. House of Representatives).
· Flooding from rare storm paralyzes Iraq capital.
· Pakistani quake survivors face winter in shattered homes.
· Prep school grad gets jail time
This was just one page. On other pages were the editorials supporting various viewpoints on a number of issues and many stories of human tragedy and triumphs. It would be easy, reading these stories, to assume that some human tragedies were caused by the willful, cruel behavior of some of our human neighbors. It would also be easy if one was coming from another planet and could magically read the language in which the newspaper is printed to assume that the world’s thoughtful, “good” people know what is moral and just and are always able to avoid behavior which is amoral, immoral, or unjust. It would also be easy to recognize that Mother Nature (God or the Gods or Allah or…) is very busy insuring that we humans remember that we are not in charge. “Natural disasters/events” will happen no matter what we humans do or do not do.
Even before I picked up the newspaper I was invited to read various news stories, which were arriving over the Internet when I sat down to respond to and originate email or other electronic communication. Never before, in the history of we humans, have we had the ability to receive instant “news” 24 hours a day via print, the air waves, the internet, and the magic of airplane travel. One could claim that so much instant news is much too overwhelming to register emotionally. This is why we become numb and perhaps why we are even more tempted to separate the world into the “politically” correct good people and bad people or the deserving people and the undeserving people, the people who are geographically close, and the people who are geographically far away.
Yet, even as I read a so-called history book or watch a so-called historical film, I am reminded that we humans have been engaging in the delusion of dualities for as long as we have chronicled our brief lives. Being the very bright, creative creatures that we humans are, we have been managing, since at least the recording of our “history,” to divide we humans into the various groups of good and bad – deserving and undeserving. None of the wise teachers or spiritual leaders has yet to convince us that (1) all history is biased because other humans tell it and (2) we are each the mirror of each other and thus in hurting each other we hurt ourselves. Indeed homicide is suicide is homicide is …
Perhaps Paul Ryan deserves our support and respect, as does every other member of the U. S. House of Representatives. This does not mean agreement but certainly our respect. Perhaps we owe a special debt to the people of Iraq even though we did not cause this particular suffering. Perhaps the poor, “unimportant” people of Pakistan in that rural town are as deserving as the Donald Trumps and the Bill Gates of this world. Perhaps Owen Labrie is deserving of our love and respect. Yes, Mr. Labrie fell prey to a very uncaring, stupid challenge. This is not good but is certainly understandable. Falling prey to this challenge is not any different that the fact that many of us “buy into” the myth that it is moral to focus on making money no matter if the “weak” fall by the wayside. It makes sense from a macro economic standpoint that we pay CEOs millions of dollars while forcing others to live on minimum or near minimum wage salaries. It makes sense that for profit banks are getting rich by charging “reasonable” rates of interest while not having to pay the person who had a relatively small savings account nothing or nearly nothing in interest. It makes sense that marrying (and one assumes agreeing to provide sexual “favors”) for money is honorable while prostitution is immoral. It makes sense that one community in West Virginia is going to put the picture of “Johns” on billboards in an effort to stop prostitution while many churches pretend that a violent but legal marriage is a spiritual union.
It is ironic that on this morning that I am present to my non-presence as I prepare to attend a workshop on “The Power of the Present.” No, I am not making this up. My life is a canvas of contrasting colors; a living contradiction of events and emotions.
It is interesting that as I wrote this last, brief paragraph that I am feeling quietly present to a powerful sense of hope, grief, joy, despair, sadness, and, yes, even laughter - all co-existing within me. Will this allow me to be more present without exploding in overload mode? Perhaps! Perhaps not!
I am writing while sitting at Panera’s. Those around me may not have a clue as to who I am at this moment any more than I have a clue about who they are. After all, we at Panera have the appearance of being the middle class, less snobbish than Starbucks, “successful” (but not too successful) people. We know how to use utensils when appropriate, to not allow our private body parts to hang out but only to suggest, to speak articulately, and certainly to attempt to refrain sharing our outpouring of gas should our bodys not recognize where we are.
Is it possible we are not who we seem to be or perhaps whom we seem to be is but a small slice of who we are? Perhaps! It is just a page and not the whole story. Perhaps, as the news commentator, Paul Harvey stated there is “…the rest of the story.”
Written October 30,2015
One page at a time
After I do email, some text messages, and work out at the gym, I am ready to sit down and enjoy coffee, a light breakfast and the morning newspaper. Reading the morning newspaper is a habit, which has snuck back into my routine for some time now. I recall when I first moved to the remote village of Hoonah on Chichagof Island in Alaska from New Jersey. In New jersey, in my world, the accepted norm was to read every page of the New York Times and watch at least two to three hours of news a day. At the time we moved to Hoonah there were no satellites serving the community resulting in little to no radio coverage and sparse three-month-old news shows on the television when the generator was working. I thought I would wither from lack of news! I was in New York City for a meeting six months later and did not remember to watch the news or read the newspaper. Some years later I was then living in Indiana and noticed that I was reading the newspaper. I did not resume the habit of watching the television news. Since I was not in the habit of otherwise turning on the television this was not remarkable.
At any rate, I was thinking about these and other habits this morning, October 30, 2015, as I read the St. Petersburg Tribune. The combination of the headlines on page 4 of the first section of the newspaper caught my attention. Stories on this page included:
· Ryan sworn in as House speaker (U.S. House of Representatives).
· Flooding from rare storm paralyzes Iraq capital.
· Pakistani quake survivors face winter in shattered homes.
· Prep school grad gets jail time
This was just one page. On other pages were the editorials supporting various viewpoints on a number of issues and many stories of human tragedy and triumphs. It would be easy, reading these stories, to assume that some human tragedies were caused by the willful, cruel behavior of some of our human neighbors. It would also be easy if one was coming from another planet and could magically read the language in which the newspaper is printed to assume that the world’s thoughtful, “good” people know what is moral and just and are always able to avoid behavior which is amoral, immoral, or unjust. It would also be easy to recognize that Mother Nature (God or the Gods or Allah or…) is very busy insuring that we humans remember that we are not in charge. “Natural disasters/events” will happen no matter what we humans do or do not do.
Even before I picked up the newspaper I was invited to read various news stories, which were arriving over the Internet when I sat down to respond to and originate email or other electronic communication. Never before, in the history of we humans, have we had the ability to receive instant “news” 24 hours a day via print, the air waves, the internet, and the magic of airplane travel. One could claim that so much instant news is much too overwhelming to register emotionally. This is why we become numb and perhaps why we are even more tempted to separate the world into the “politically” correct good people and bad people or the deserving people and the undeserving people, the people who are geographically close, and the people who are geographically far away.
Yet, even as I read a so-called history book or watch a so-called historical film, I am reminded that we humans have been engaging in the delusion of dualities for as long as we have chronicled our brief lives. Being the very bright, creative creatures that we humans are, we have been managing, since at least the recording of our “history,” to divide we humans into the various groups of good and bad – deserving and undeserving. None of the wise teachers or spiritual leaders has yet to convince us that (1) all history is biased because other humans tell it and (2) we are each the mirror of each other and thus in hurting each other we hurt ourselves. Indeed homicide is suicide is homicide is …
Perhaps Paul Ryan deserves our support and respect, as does every other member of the U. S. House of Representatives. This does not mean agreement but certainly our respect. Perhaps we owe a special debt to the people of Iraq even though we did not cause this particular suffering. Perhaps the poor, “unimportant” people of Pakistan in that rural town are as deserving as the Donald Trumps and the Bill Gates of this world. Perhaps Owen Labrie is deserving of our love and respect. Yes, Mr. Labrie fell prey to a very uncaring, stupid challenge. This is not good but is certainly understandable. Falling prey to this challenge is not any different that the fact that many of us “buy into” the myth that it is moral to focus on making money no matter if the “weak” fall by the wayside. It makes sense from a macro economic standpoint that we pay CEOs millions of dollars while forcing others to live on minimum or near minimum wage salaries. It makes sense that for profit banks are getting rich by charging “reasonable” rates of interest while not having to pay the person who had a relatively small savings account nothing or nearly nothing in interest. It makes sense that marrying (and one assumes agreeing to provide sexual “favors”) for money is honorable while prostitution is immoral. It makes sense that one community in West Virginia is going to put the picture of “Johns” on billboards in an effort to stop prostitution while many churches pretend that a violent but legal marriage is a spiritual union.
It is ironic that on this morning that I am present to my non-presence as I prepare to attend a workshop on “The Power of the Present.” No, I am not making this up. My life is a canvas of contrasting colors; a living contradiction of events and emotions.
It is interesting that as I wrote this last, brief paragraph that I am feeling quietly present to a powerful sense of hope, grief, joy, despair, sadness, and, yes, even laughter - all co-existing within me. Will this allow me to be more present without exploding in overload mode? Perhaps! Perhaps not!
I am writing while sitting at Panera’s. Those around me may not have a clue as to who I am at this moment any more than I have a clue about who they are. After all, we at Panera have the appearance of being the middle class, less snobbish than Starbucks, “successful” (but not too successful) people. We know how to use utensils when appropriate, to not allow our private body parts to hang out but only to suggest, to speak articulately, and certainly to attempt to refrain sharing our outpouring of gas should our bodys not recognize where we are.
Is it possible we are not who we seem to be or perhaps whom we seem to be is but a small slice of who we are? Perhaps! It is just a page and not the whole story. Perhaps, as the news commentator, Paul Harvey stated there is “…the rest of the story.”
Written October 30,2015
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