Healing from War 2012
May 17th, 2012
By Jan Barry
About 100 people turned out for a Saturday night event in April that offered no booze, dancing, live music or political speeches. The attraction was a display of art created from military uniforms and war memories.
The event—called Healing from War Through the Arts, at the Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck, NJ—featured art and writings developed in Combat Paper and Warrior Writer workshops. As one of the curators, I took the liberty of creating a photo book of scenes at this remarkable gathering:
janbarryphotojournal.shutterfly.com/pictures/238
“Powerful. The one word that comes to mind after Saturday’s Exhibition and performance at The Puffin Cultural Forum in Teaneck. Simply Powerful,” Dave Keefe, director of the Combat Paper NJ program, wrote in a Facebook message. “Thank you to all that attended. We have something to say. And when we step out on that scary bridge to express everything inside…you meet us half way. Thank you.”
Don’t Go “Caveman” in a Crisis
May 17th, 2012
Research has shown that when we experience a crisis, we regress back to our primitive ancestors; we go caveman! We fall back on most deeply ingrained instincts and habits that have served us well for eons by ensuring our survival, namely, by triggering the “fight-or-flight” response. This primal reaction produces intense physiological changes that increase our strength, heighten our senses, and bolster our endurance, all in the name of enabling us to fight more ferociously or run faster and longer. When confronted by a saber-toothed tiger or a rival tribesman, our ancestors had two basic options and we instinctively chose the one that we believed would maximize our chances of survival.
Unfortunately, this ancient reaction that worked hundreds of thousands of years ago in the face of a crisis, won’t work with the crises that we experience in the business world in the 21st century. For example, if you have a conflict with a co-worker, hitting or running from them is not likely a winning strategy that will effectively resolve it. To the contrary, such a response will probably decrease your chances of survival in that jungle known as corporate life. Yet these primitive drives propel us to fall back on the instincts and habits of our forbearers.
Candidate Obama Was Prescient about Greece
May 17th, 2012
By Dan Miller
Realizing even then that a small nation would show the way during his first term in office, Candidate Obama materialized against a backdrop of sturdy Styrofoam Greek columns to accept his 2008 presidential nomination.
Align Your Values and Your Life
May 15th, 2012
In my last post [on this topic], I described the essential role that values play in the life you lead. I also showed how you can deconstruct values so you can really understand what values are driving your life.
But it is one thing to recognize what values you possess and to admit that some (or all) of them may not bring you the meaning, fulfillment, and happiness you had hoped for in your life. It is an entirely different thing to understand what values will actually bring you the life you want. This process is one of reconstruction of your values so that your values act as the basis for that “ideal life” in the future.
Reconstructing Your Values
There are several questions you can ask yourself to help you figure out what values will make you happy. First, what do you choose to do in your life? Assuming that you choose activities in your life freely, such as cultural, spiritual, or athletic activities, specifying these activities is a first step in identifying the values that create congruence between your values and your life. Second, what activities do you have a great passion for and that bring you true joy in your participation? There is no better clue to what you deeply value than activities such as these. Third, what activities, experiences, and people cause you to feel deeply engaged and connected with? This absorption can only occur when your values and life are one.
The Marine Hymn needs to be rewritten, badly. I have tried.
May 14th, 2012
By Dan Miller
It’s beastly and must never again be sung until changed. Then, we can finally be as proud of our country as we are of President and Mrs. Obama.
Here are verses from the disgustingly warlike Marine Hymn:
From the Halls of Montezuma
To the Shores of Tripoli,
We fight our country’s battles
In the air, on land and sea.
First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
of United States Marine.
Here’s health to you and to our Corps,
Which we are proud to serve.
In many a strife we’ve fought for life
And never lost our nerve.
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven’s scenes,
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.
President Obama Says That Same-sex Marriage Is Way Cool
May 12th, 2012
By Dan Miller
On May 9th, President Obama came out in favor of same-sex marriage; sort of. Acknowledging that it’s a matter of fairness that remains up to the states, he was planning to get around to it if and when convenient.
There is already excessive Federal involvement in marriage, including multiple tax and Social Security consequences; we don’t need more. Aside from that Federal involvement, I view marriage as an undertaking between two adults, often loving but sometimes not, that their friends and acquaintances can respect or not as they may wish. Several of our friends have long been in heterosexual relationships, yet for their own reasons continue to “shack up.” Never having asked couples to produce their marriage certificates, we know the natures of their relationships only because they volunteered the information. It is irrelevant to our friendships with them and seems to be so as well to the relationships they have with each other and to the friendships they, as couples, have with others. We also have several unmarried friends in same-sex relationships. That their genders can be easily noticed does not affect our friendships with them. We would respect them no more, and no less, if they were married.
Pride in My Bride: A Mother’s Day Tribute
May 11th, 2012
Mother’s Day is on Sunday. Unfortunately, my own mother died some years ago, so I can’t celebrate the day with her (though I owe her an immense debt of gratitude for all that she gave me). There is, however, another mother in my life that deserves to be honored, namely, my bride Sarah (yes, after almost nine years of marriage, she is still my bride), the mother of our two daughters.
Mothers certainly don’t get the credit they deserve in our society. Did you see the recent kerfuffle between the political strategist Hilary Rosen and Ann Romney? Mothers work long hours (they are never off the “time clock”), are frequently exhausted (no time for naps or coffee breaks), have little time to themselves (it’s all about the kids), are terrified of screwing their children up (the bar is set so high by the “maternal-industrial complex”), and get paid nothing for their labors except, of course, with the gratification of raising their children (which doesn’t pay the mortgage or, often, the emotional bills). There is also some evidence that being a mother makes them less happy than women without children.
Wind Power Is Awesome
May 9th, 2012
By Dan Miller
It is a proven technology and has many untapped potentials.
Wind power has been used successfully for many years; it may predate the employment of galley slaves (those who row, probably not those who cook in the galley). Even now, wind power has important uses. It makes sailing, correctly known as the most expensive means of third class travail travel ever devised, possible. It also provides independence when sailing upon oceans, notoriously deficient in refueling stations. During seven years of sailing the Caribbean Sea my wife and I encountered not even one offshore gasoline station where diesel fuel for our auxiliary engine could be purchased. The wind, however, was free and (almost) ever present. True, on rare occasions it failed to oblige and came from what we could have deemed a wrong direction. However, the wind in the Caribbean blows fairly consistently from the east at ten to fifteen knots, so traveling north, west, or south — or even east-north-east or east-south-east — was pleasant. In fact, the fastest point of sail, and generally the most comfortable, is with the wind from forty-five to sixty degrees off either bow (but not both simultaneously or in rapid succession). We generally sailed in a direction favored by Neptune the winds and eventually got where we had hoped to arrive in reasonable comfort. Beating close hauled into a twenty-five knot wind and ten foot seas in a small boat such as ours could be uncomfortable.
Venezuela Has Become a Place of Great Change but Little Hope
May 8th, 2012
By Dan Miller
El Presidente Chávez is probably dying and Fidel Castro has warned about blood (not Chávez’ blood) in the streets. He may well be right, for the wrong reasons.
Venezuela became a mess, gradually, after el Presidente Chávez took over the government in 1999. Change came slowly for a few years but eventually the pace accelerated; although spluttering off in different directions, that acceleration continues. As I noted here,
Chávez’ initiatives increased dramatically in number and in magnitude only when he was well into his seemingly endless terms in office. Maybe he had heard the story of the frog put into a pleasantly warm but slowly heating pot of water. The frog failed to realize until too late that he was being boiled for dinner. By then the frog had become unable to jump out of the pot.
Your Values, Your Life
May 7th, 2012
Your values form the foundation of your life. They dictate the choices you make and determine the direction that your life takes. Your values will influence your decisions related to your relationships, career, and other activities you engage in. Despite this importance, few people choose their values. Instead, they simply adopt the values of their parents and the dominant values of society. In all likelihood, the values that you internalized as a child remain with you through adulthood (yes, in some cases, people reject the values of their upbringings). Unfortunately, these values may also have created a life that is carrying you down a path that is not the direction you want to go at this point in your life.
What were the values you were raised with? What values are you presently living in accordance with? Are they the same or different? Do your values bring you happiness? These are essential questions that you must ask if you are to find meaning, happiness, success, and connection in your life. Yet, finding the answers to these questions is a challenge and then changing them in a way that will lead to fulfillment is an even greater challenge.
Trust but Verify Applies Not Only to Foreign Governments
May 6th, 2012
By Dan Miller
Governance of a free people requires their continuously earned trust. Verification is needed to preserve that trust when it is justified and to destroy that trust when it is no longer justified. That is not solely the function of the principal media.
Governance with decreasing mutual trust requires the use of ever increasing compulsion if not physical force. Of the many problems facing the United States, a well deserved lack of trust in Government may be the greatest.
In Unicorns We (Don’t) Trust
We Continue To Be Deprived of Our Most Sacred Human Rights
May 3rd, 2012
By Dan Miller
Even the most essential of our human rights are being withheld by “our” government. Unless we fix the problems ourselves soon, the U.N. Human Rights Commission must intervene to bring truth, fairness, justice and the American Way for all.
The United States Constitution Declaration of Independence states with great clarity,
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Nowhere does that sacred writing require us to work, as do slaves, to pursue the happy lives we deserve and which are our right; we must have unrestrained liberty to work or not as we see fit. Those who, due to bad parenting, unqualified teachers or for other reasons strangely seek happiness in work must be allowed to pursue their perverted pleasure; they must not on that account be permitted to live better lives or to be happier than those who choose not to work. That would not be fair.
Vet Arts Profiled on PBS
May 2nd, 2012
By Jan Barry
PBS Newshour ran an unusual program the other night, providing an insightful look at the Combat Paper Project that I’ve been working with for some time. “Finally tonight, transforming the wardrobe of war into art,” PBS Newshour anchor Gwen Ifill said in introducing this report aired on April 30.
“In 2007, a returning Iraq war veteran trying to make sense of his experience cut up his battle dress uniform and, together with a friend, made paper from the fibers. The Combat Paper Project was born. Five years later, in New Jersey, the project has launched a permanent workshop for veterans hoping to reconcile the good and bad of lives spent at war,” Ifill continued. “Here are four of them. Here are their stories…”
President Obama Must, Once Again as Always, Heed the Call of His Country
May 2nd, 2012
By Dan Miller
Together, we must move forward toward a new dawn with President Obama showing the way. He must lead, not just some but all of us, as he has from the very beginning.
President Obama’s November 2008 election victory was foreordained by his passionate yet humble nomination acceptance speech from between majestic Greek columns formed of simple Styrofoam, emblematic of his presidency to come.
Greece has also shown him the way on the economy.
Let Us Be Fair, Peaceful and Healthy
April 29th, 2012
By Dan Miller
Fairness is good, unfairness is bad. Peace is good, war is bad. ‘Tis better to be rich and healthy than sick and poor.
Having brought us courageously from the dark and into The Light, President Obama is also leading us out of slavery begat of stingy unfairness and into the blessed promised land of milk and honey fairness. When that task has been completed it will be a great gift for all of his creatures for all times, another important milestone for his legacy of non-narcissistic, even humbly generous, actions on our behalf.
Fairness is great and we shall have it.
Yes, of course. But, one must ask, what is “fair.” It is not an easy question but President Obama has given us the benefit of his wisdom. Unfair means, for example, blaming instead of praising President Obama for anything the cautious restraint of his Senate in not passing a budget for three years. We should instead wish him and his Senate a Happy Third Anniversary today with hopes for many happy returns. That would be fair. Fair means taking even more money than at present from the few who have succeeded despite opposing President Obama and giving it to those who support President Obama and to the unsuccessful many, who deserve success no less and perhaps even more than do the ungrateful successful few.
Government and the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
April 26th, 2012
By Dan Miller
Douglas Adams’ Ravenous Bugblatter Beast is a beacon lighting the way for government.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy clarifies much that would otherwise remain puzzling to sentient beings. With the explanations it provides, even carbon-based, bipedal ape-descended life forms on Earth — who are “so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea” — can understand. [Disclosure: I have long had and happily used my digital watch.]
The Guide explains, for example, the nature of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal and how best to deal with one that wants you for its mid-afternoon snack.
Known for its never-ending hunger and its mind boggling stupidity, the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is such a stupid animal that it thinks if you can’t see it, it can’t see you.
More North Korean Threats – Next Verse Same as the First
April 24th, 2012
By Dan Miller
Why? Is North Korea serious or is she polishing her tarnished begging bowl yet again?
The perception that North Korea is “almost ready” to conduct another nuclear test “soon” has been voiced since before the abortive missile test on Friday the Thirteenth of April at 7:39 AM Korean time. It is now anticipated “soon,” whatever that may mean — in hours, days, weeks, months or whenever the astrological signs favor it and perhaps it will never will happen. However, according to “U.S. officials,” it could happen on the night of April 24th. Still, they
couldn’t be specific on a date for the test, but they told NBC News they were “100 percent” certain there would be a nuclear test within the next two weeks or “at any time.”
Is Technology the New Opiate of the Masses?
April 24th, 2012
Karl Marx famously called religion the “opiate of the masses.” Well, to paraphrase Reggie Hammond, Eddie Murphy’s character in the film 48 Hours, “There’s a new opiate in town and its name is technology.” Yes, folks, everywhere you look these days, you see people “shooting up” their technological “drug” of choice, whether emails, text messages, Twitter or Facebook feeds, YouTube videos, streaming movies and TV shows, or playing app games on their smartphones.
Concerns about this “drug” have been gaining increasing attention in recent years. The words Internet and addiction have become conjoined and are now a part of our technology lexicon (usually by people who say it dismissively with a smirk as they ingest this drug through their favorite delivery system, whether computer, tablet, or smartphone). A 2010 survey found that 61% of Americans (the number is higher among young people) say they are addicted to the Internet. Another survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to technology. Treatment programs for Internet addiction have been springing up all over the U.S. (this despite the fact that the American Psychiatric Association decided that it wasn’t worthy of being designated a formal type of mental illness).
President Obama Has to Go (to Rio+20)
April 22nd, 2012
By Dan Miller
Ban Ki-moon says His presence is crucial. He cannot lightly reject this command of the entire World.
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 20-22. It follows the important Rio+20 unsustainable deterioration conference held earlier this year which shaped its agenda. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged President Obama to attend, labeling it “crucial.” For President Obama to reject his wise and mandatory urgings would disgrace the United States and enrage the entire free and unfree world. It could be political suicide. Even worse, it would sadly discourage all of the world’s indigenous peoples, even now huddled together in abject solidarity awaiting Him.
[O]rganizations, social movements, Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and others are mobilizing for Rio+20–not just to demand real action to address the roots of these crises, but to hold an alternative summit where people can start coming up with the real solutions on their own. This approach is critical since it is clear that many corporate controlled governments are heavily invested in business-as-usual and have no intention of doing anything but spooning out some greenwashed PR nonsense in the form of the so-called “green economy,” or as some are calling it, the “greed economy.”
President Obama Has Brought Us Out of the Dark and into the Light
April 20th, 2012
By Dan Miller
Promised Land, Here we come. Glory Days are upon us! I am so very proud of him that I could….
“We have an unbelievable amazing story to sell tell,” First Lady Obama said. “This President has brought us out of the dark and into the light.” Unlike some candidates people, He wasn’t born with a silver spoon in His mouth and it is miraculous that He succeeded despite incredible privation. According to His Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan, “He knows what it’s like to walk the streets of some of our cities’ poorest neighborhoods because He’s lived there.” Yea, even as a humble street walker, He was able to survive in that parched food desert and meekly “take a subway or a bus just to find a fresh piece of fruit in a grocery store.” His miraculous accomplishments have become an historic boon for us all and He must feel justly proud in His humble and contrite heart. There still remains more for Him to do to for us, and we must support him for however long He may need, yea even an eternity.
Authors
Recent Posts
- Healing from War 2012
- Don’t Go “Caveman” in a Crisis
- Candidate Obama Was Prescient about Greece
- Align Your Values and Your Life
- The Marine Hymn needs to be rewritten, badly. I have tried.
- President Obama Says That Same-sex Marriage Is Way Cool
- Pride in My Bride: A Mother’s Day Tribute
- Wind Power Is Awesome
- Venezuela Has Become a Place of Great Change but Little Hope
- Your Values, Your Life
- Trust but Verify Applies Not Only to Foreign Governments
- We Continue To Be Deprived of Our Most Sacred Human Rights
- Vet Arts Profiled on PBS
- President Obama Must, Once Again as Always, Heed the Call of His Country
- Let Us Be Fair, Peaceful and Healthy
- Government and the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
- More North Korean Threats – Next Verse Same as the First
- Is Technology the New Opiate of the Masses?
- President Obama Has to Go (to Rio+20)
- President Obama Has Brought Us Out of the Dark and into the Light
“Mr. Haidt's approach has the...virtue of encouraging a degree of humility in righteous, partisan minds of every stripe.” -- WSJ.com
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;Recent Comments
- larry: This is true.
- Annie: Sorry, but that is rubbish, I had to teach myself values, because if I had learned from my...
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