There are some commonalities among Americans.
Some say that taxes and death are two.
My dad provided another that has kept me humble.
He simply said, “Just remember that your ‘mierda’ (poop) stinks just as much as anyone else’s.”
By the way, yours does too.
But please, don’t make a pie out of it!
The trauma produced by inhuman victimization does not stop with the victims. The multigenerational trauma lingers on many levels and layers.
The threads remain connected between victims, the victimizers and their children.
Dr. Yael Danieli (clinical psychologist, traumatologist and victimologist) does not exclude the psychological trauma inherited by the children of victimizers.
That is, the needless trauma that Domestic Terrorists, White Supremacists, Insurrectionists and Hate Groups inflict on their children.
The trauma sowed unto others is reaped by the innocent.
“Do unto others . . . ” you know the rest.
It was always preached – right?!
So easy to say – maybe too easy, and for a reason.
Is it all about “me, myself and I” with casually mentioning the “others”?
How about –
“Do unto others as they wish to have done unto them.”
Let’s see which one passes the test of recognition, authenticity and validation . . . in the 21st Century.
When, how and why do we learn about our citizenship?
Is it an absolute construct?
Is it ever morphing, authenticating and amplifying its essence, meaning and context?
Is it all about privileges or does it come with life-long responsibilities?
Is it regional, national and/or global?
Does it seek veracity and credibility?
These are some tough critical questions that perhaps need review – more often than just every two or four years.
“Littlefingers and White Walkers”
One a human misogynistic, narcissist, charlatan always lying creating chaos.
Then the White Walkers scaring Ice and Fire out of us!
Both were extremists, fear mongering, bent on leaving ashes behind.
They were a threat to man, woman and child.
But only a fantasy in George R. R. Martin’s mind.
Exhale – It’s 2023 and we live in the real world of the 21st Century – right?
No need to fear political charlatans and extreme Domestic White Walkers – right?
Athletics and sports are part of our social-cultural matrix. They are our communal national passion. We love our sports and marvel at human athleticism.
Can we, connect our fanaticism with athletics to our responsibilities to our Democracy as citizens?
Can we turn March Madness to a daily passion to enhance the quality of life, inclusivity and equity for each fan and citizen?
History beckons us to do so.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
― Emma Lazarus
William Stafford had a quiet daily ritual of writing focusing on the ordinary.
His poetic style seems to invite a conversation that is close to everyday speech to remain alert and ‘awake’ for there is many a small betrayal in the wind.
“I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.”
William Stafford, “A Ritual to Read to Each Other” from The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 1998 by William Stafford.
More often we are hearing each other express anxieties, stresses and fears. Some of it is contrived, some of it is dealing with change.
Regardless, we need to find time and space to reboot and exhale.
Perhaps finding solace in solitude . . . by choice and by design.
How do we value the time we have with ourselves?
Nature may have some answers.
How different would it be if your child was mine and mine yours?
How much more or less frail, innocent and vulnerable would each be?
How much more or less would each deserve to be loved?
How much more or less do we love each other’s children?