Madeleine Albright and Gloria Stieman, two role models who inspired men and women
with or with out careers and children, disappointed many of us with their current comments
about voters in the American primary elections.
Madeleine always represented a strong, jewelry-bedecked, flirty Secretary of State
who represented achievement and worldliness, even when we disagreed with her policies.
Gloria was and remains, hopefully in spite of misinformed current political opinion, an advocate
for disadvantaged people and those who choose different paths to justice and equality.
Both have belittled themself by joining the name-calling contest in the 2016 Presidential nomination campaigns, displaying behavior reminiscent of stress parents sometimes feel when progeny take a direction other than the one expected.
Voters in this Presidential Nominating process of 2016 need to be heard and respected not because of age, color, gender, or religion but because their voices and work are responsible for America's
future.
SEE YOU AT THE POLLS!
Friday, February 12, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
MYTHS, MERMAIDS & PRIMARY ELECTIONS
The nominating process for candidates running for president of the USA is looking more and more
like a ship being tossed from wave to wave in a storm.
We, like frightened sailors on board, seem to be responding to the siren's call of Mermaids to save us from "disaster." Only it is not the siren's call that will help us, but those we elect in state houses and congressional offices who will help us. Here is why:
When a candidate speaks of the fear of using governmental health care programs;
when a candidate tells us that walls, not governmental policy can keep our borders safe;
when a candidate tells us that guns don't kill people;
when vigilantes occupy public land and claim a "right" to do so;
when we are told that those who don't succeed are losers;
when we are told that federal and state taxes are no longer necessary to provide public education;
when we are told there is no such thing as climate change and we are deluged with rain and snow
and ice and flooding;
do we then not understand it is the siren's voice leading us further on into dangerous waters?
Or are we too frightened to try to steady our ship with the hard work of all on board?
When I listen to the speeches of candidates, I am reminded of the science-fiction author Philip Dick who wrote: "The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the word," and then went on
to say, "reality is that which when you stop believing in it doesn't go away."
It was Ted Cruz's venture into writing a children's "mythical" story for his daughter about the nominating process that caught my attention to how much we use mythology to blur the reality of
injustices we want to sometimes forget.
Yet even with all the wild talk and the slang and gestures better suited for the local bar, I am reminded that it is the polling place that will help people sort out mythology from reality.
And it is in our votes at the polling place we will hear the fearless songs of honesty and fairness that has served this country so well, not the siren's song or mythical story.
We, like frightened sailors on board, seem to be responding to the siren's call of Mermaids to save us from "disaster." Only it is not the siren's call that will help us, but those we elect in state houses and congressional offices who will help us. Here is why:
When a candidate speaks of the fear of using governmental health care programs;
when a candidate tells us that walls, not governmental policy can keep our borders safe;
when a candidate tells us that guns don't kill people;
when vigilantes occupy public land and claim a "right" to do so;
when we are told that those who don't succeed are losers;
when we are told that federal and state taxes are no longer necessary to provide public education;
when we are told there is no such thing as climate change and we are deluged with rain and snow
and ice and flooding;
do we then not understand it is the siren's voice leading us further on into dangerous waters?
Or are we too frightened to try to steady our ship with the hard work of all on board?
When I listen to the speeches of candidates, I am reminded of the science-fiction author Philip Dick who wrote: "The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the word," and then went on
to say, "reality is that which when you stop believing in it doesn't go away."
It was Ted Cruz's venture into writing a children's "mythical" story for his daughter about the nominating process that caught my attention to how much we use mythology to blur the reality of
injustices we want to sometimes forget.
Yet even with all the wild talk and the slang and gestures better suited for the local bar, I am reminded that it is the polling place that will help people sort out mythology from reality.
And it is in our votes at the polling place we will hear the fearless songs of honesty and fairness that has served this country so well, not the siren's song or mythical story.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
NOW LISTEN UP! PUT YOUR GLASSES ON AND LOOK UP!
For readers who like me are concerned about the lack of laws and regulations to curb the development of Flood Plains, or Land Fills that are placed on the banks
of rivers, or the gun industry that flaunts its bullying of shortsighted legislators,
lets take a breather and witness something truly historic.
A total Solar-Eclipse will ocurr on August 21 of 2017. Though we have been able
to sometimes view parts of the route taken by other eclipses, this one will pass
directly above us and take a path from Seattle in the West Coast pass over the Mid West and go on to the East Coast at
supersonic speeds.
Plans for this event have been underway for sometime. NASA has mapped the path the Solar-Eclipse will take. Organizations, cities and states, tourist bureaus and hotels in the path of the Eclipse are already making plans to accommodate the number of people who will want to put on special viewing glasses to see the event themselves.
The last time a total Solar-Eclipse crossed the land we now call America was on June 13, 1257. If you miss this one in 2017, you will have to wait three more Centuries for the next one to go by.
Oh, and by the way if you are planning a big outdoor event for August 21, 2017 and are in the viewing area of the total eclipse, better check out the availability of Port-a-potties as they are
already in short supply.
The following addresses will provide additional information: www.eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov
www.eclipse2017.org www.greatamericaneclipse.org www.missourieclipse2017.com
and www.stlouiseclipse2017.org .
supersonic speeds.
Plans for this event have been underway for sometime. NASA has mapped the path the Solar-Eclipse will take. Organizations, cities and states, tourist bureaus and hotels in the path of the Eclipse are already making plans to accommodate the number of people who will want to put on special viewing glasses to see the event themselves.
The last time a total Solar-Eclipse crossed the land we now call America was on June 13, 1257. If you miss this one in 2017, you will have to wait three more Centuries for the next one to go by.
Oh, and by the way if you are planning a big outdoor event for August 21, 2017 and are in the viewing area of the total eclipse, better check out the availability of Port-a-potties as they are
already in short supply.
The following addresses will provide additional information: www.eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov
www.eclipse2017.org www.greatamericaneclipse.org www.missourieclipse2017.com
and www.stlouiseclipse2017.org .
Sunday, December 27, 2015
LOOKING BACK AS WE MOVE FORWARD!
As we prepare to show the year 2015 the door, I took a look at some of the changes we have made since the turn of the Century just 15 years ago.
Just before our clocks and computer chips registered the year 2000, there was a rush to predict
the downfall of society as we had known it. Years before the "fateful" date, workshops were
conducted for large and small businesses about what to do to avoid "meltdown."
Hospitals were not to schedule elective surgery as the new year came in. Bank officials
were told to cancel all Christmas holiday vacations and to keep tellers at their stations, if needed overnight. Travelers were told to prepare to "stay put" for the duration where ever they went.
Armageddon was predicted! Computers were not designed to accommodate the number 2000, or so we were told.
The catastrophe did not ocurr but in many cases we had to learn to adjust to new systems and technology. The months-long "panic" was for naught and we learned how susceptible we were to
to acting on misleading information.
In the late '90s and early on in 2000 we lost our homes because of manipulation of markets and because of our own desire and impatience to have what the "Jones Had." Everyone, economist,
employer, employee and investor learned that recession wasn't pretty.
Midway, about 2007, we watched incredible feats of technology to explore
our Universe or what we thought was our Universe. We worked alone and with others
to advance our understanding of the limitations of our own knowledge
and the infinite possibilities before us when we worked across borders.
Science was able to prevent and overcome diseases like EBOLA, HIV AID, and Cancer
even as we still listened to the voices of the uniformed who told us it was a governmental
conspiracy or worse yet the advances were sacreligious.
In the past three or four years the voices of people my age and older have become shrill and our thinking misguided as if in a stupor. Our actions have been less than wise. We sit, transformed by
entertainment as we attempt to legitamize candidates who play us for fools.
We lament the killings in the streets but are afraid to put away guns. We advocate fair play for all but not those who look "different." We know right from wrong yet we accept inhuman treatment of prisoners, veterans and our own at the hand of those we have hired to protect us under the law.
We have watched with sorrow and sometimes a sense of guilt that we do not question the daily injustice to men, women and children who are members of our community, even as we are mesmerized by those who take advantage of the down trodden.
Younger people call out to us but they go unheard. We are too busy slaying a dragon. It is
too difficult to listen or to recognize that the very enemy who shall defeat us is our inability
to deal with the changes we need to make. Or like the great philosopher Pogo said,
"We have met the enemy and he is us!"
Have a good, healthy New Year! See you at the Polls!
Just before our clocks and computer chips registered the year 2000, there was a rush to predict
the downfall of society as we had known it. Years before the "fateful" date, workshops were
conducted for large and small businesses about what to do to avoid "meltdown."
Hospitals were not to schedule elective surgery as the new year came in. Bank officials
were told to cancel all Christmas holiday vacations and to keep tellers at their stations, if needed overnight. Travelers were told to prepare to "stay put" for the duration where ever they went.
Armageddon was predicted! Computers were not designed to accommodate the number 2000, or so we were told.
The catastrophe did not ocurr but in many cases we had to learn to adjust to new systems and technology. The months-long "panic" was for naught and we learned how susceptible we were to
to acting on misleading information.
In the late '90s and early on in 2000 we lost our homes because of manipulation of markets and because of our own desire and impatience to have what the "Jones Had." Everyone, economist,
employer, employee and investor learned that recession wasn't pretty.
Midway, about 2007, we watched incredible feats of technology to explore
our Universe or what we thought was our Universe. We worked alone and with others
to advance our understanding of the limitations of our own knowledge
and the infinite possibilities before us when we worked across borders.
Science was able to prevent and overcome diseases like EBOLA, HIV AID, and Cancer
even as we still listened to the voices of the uniformed who told us it was a governmental
conspiracy or worse yet the advances were sacreligious.
In the past three or four years the voices of people my age and older have become shrill and our thinking misguided as if in a stupor. Our actions have been less than wise. We sit, transformed by
entertainment as we attempt to legitamize candidates who play us for fools.
We lament the killings in the streets but are afraid to put away guns. We advocate fair play for all but not those who look "different." We know right from wrong yet we accept inhuman treatment of prisoners, veterans and our own at the hand of those we have hired to protect us under the law.
We have watched with sorrow and sometimes a sense of guilt that we do not question the daily injustice to men, women and children who are members of our community, even as we are mesmerized by those who take advantage of the down trodden.
Younger people call out to us but they go unheard. We are too busy slaying a dragon. It is
too difficult to listen or to recognize that the very enemy who shall defeat us is our inability
to deal with the changes we need to make. Or like the great philosopher Pogo said,
"We have met the enemy and he is us!"
Have a good, healthy New Year! See you at the Polls!
Sunday, November 29, 2015
IMMIGRATION: MY FAMILY'S STORY
As I learn about the great migration of 2015 I have become less patient with political, verbal and thoughtless rhetoric that call immigrants a threat to me, my family or this country.
My maternal grandparents came to America in 1906 from Russia. My grandfather came six months before my grandmother to assure that he could gain entrance to this country. He did.
My grandmother came later in steerage with her seven children, The oldest child was in his teens and the youngest was still in diapers.
My grandfather met them at the boat and took them to live on a farm. The land was given to them by a philanthropic organization. My grandmother gave birth to her eighth child in this country.
The children consisted of five boys and three girls, As the children grew they helped my grandparents manage the land. Additional farm workers were hired to harvest the bristles from bristle cone trees, to make brushes for bath houses. My grandparents did the same in "old country."
When the children were older, my grandparents left the farm and moved to the city.
The five sons married and had children of their own as did the girls, one of whom was my mother.
Three of the sons moved away and two remained in the same city as did my mother and her sisters.
My uncles all married women who had come to this country from other nations like Latvian, Spain
Romania and Poland. My two aunts also married immigrants. My mother married an American and one of my uncles intermarried with an American Catholic.
These were my aunts and uncles. They had between them 24 children all born here who became my first cousins. This large family stayed close to each other providing support for each other and a mutual desire to contribute in meaningful ways to this county.
The grandchildren, my cousins became physicians and nurses, lawyers, accountants, teachers and educators, writers and publishers, and mechanics. Some established businesses and hospitals, and were responsible for advancing technology by manufacturing the wiring that carried electricity to residential homes and businesses across this nation.
One cousin now lives in Denmark and has a health clinic. One has his photography hanging in the Smithsonian Portrait gallery and another achieved national and international note upon his death for developing a unique technique for coaching rowing athletes. Some cousins lived and still live
in rural areas while others live in cities. One of my nieces lives in Paris with her husband and two children..
Of my 24 cousins, all had children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great, great grand children and great,great,great grandchildren. Eleven of my first cousins are still alive. Their children live in States that are in the West, East, South and in the North .
Some are democrats, republicans, environmentalists, socialists, tea party proponents and libertarians. Many are working for gun control, many are not. Many are troubled by the lack of equitable educational and job opportunity for all, many don't care. Others are advocates for social causes while others feel government pampers people too much. Many believe that the injustices which exist toward people are overblown by the press while others work to understand the issues.
For me, I remember that my grandparents looked and dressed differently from other people so that people with differences don't trouble me. I remember my grandparents as loving me, proud of their citizenship in this country and eager to participate in it.
My grandparents were Jews who spoke different languages but brought with them the strong belief that each life is important and none is expandable.
Because of them, I believe the concept of erecting walls or gates or fences to deny others entry to this country because of skin color or religion is wrong. I am disturbed and horrified when people hold a callous disregard for the rule of reason and law and puzzled sometimes by the lack of respect for knowledge and science. All those things which were the very reasons my grandparents came to achieve for themselves and their heirs in this country.
My grandparents contributed much to this country through the accomplishment of their children, grandchildren, and a long list of heirs, as did other immigrants. They did so because of
the opportunity to live and contribute equally to their communities.
We deny whence we came when we forget these principles.
My maternal grandparents came to America in 1906 from Russia. My grandfather came six months before my grandmother to assure that he could gain entrance to this country. He did.
My grandmother came later in steerage with her seven children, The oldest child was in his teens and the youngest was still in diapers.
My grandfather met them at the boat and took them to live on a farm. The land was given to them by a philanthropic organization. My grandmother gave birth to her eighth child in this country.
The children consisted of five boys and three girls, As the children grew they helped my grandparents manage the land. Additional farm workers were hired to harvest the bristles from bristle cone trees, to make brushes for bath houses. My grandparents did the same in "old country."
When the children were older, my grandparents left the farm and moved to the city.
The five sons married and had children of their own as did the girls, one of whom was my mother.
Three of the sons moved away and two remained in the same city as did my mother and her sisters.
My uncles all married women who had come to this country from other nations like Latvian, Spain
Romania and Poland. My two aunts also married immigrants. My mother married an American and one of my uncles intermarried with an American Catholic.
These were my aunts and uncles. They had between them 24 children all born here who became my first cousins. This large family stayed close to each other providing support for each other and a mutual desire to contribute in meaningful ways to this county.
The grandchildren, my cousins became physicians and nurses, lawyers, accountants, teachers and educators, writers and publishers, and mechanics. Some established businesses and hospitals, and were responsible for advancing technology by manufacturing the wiring that carried electricity to residential homes and businesses across this nation.
One cousin now lives in Denmark and has a health clinic. One has his photography hanging in the Smithsonian Portrait gallery and another achieved national and international note upon his death for developing a unique technique for coaching rowing athletes. Some cousins lived and still live
in rural areas while others live in cities. One of my nieces lives in Paris with her husband and two children..
Of my 24 cousins, all had children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great, great grand children and great,great,great grandchildren. Eleven of my first cousins are still alive. Their children live in States that are in the West, East, South and in the North .
Some are democrats, republicans, environmentalists, socialists, tea party proponents and libertarians. Many are working for gun control, many are not. Many are troubled by the lack of equitable educational and job opportunity for all, many don't care. Others are advocates for social causes while others feel government pampers people too much. Many believe that the injustices which exist toward people are overblown by the press while others work to understand the issues.
For me, I remember that my grandparents looked and dressed differently from other people so that people with differences don't trouble me. I remember my grandparents as loving me, proud of their citizenship in this country and eager to participate in it.
My grandparents were Jews who spoke different languages but brought with them the strong belief that each life is important and none is expandable.
Because of them, I believe the concept of erecting walls or gates or fences to deny others entry to this country because of skin color or religion is wrong. I am disturbed and horrified when people hold a callous disregard for the rule of reason and law and puzzled sometimes by the lack of respect for knowledge and science. All those things which were the very reasons my grandparents came to achieve for themselves and their heirs in this country.
My grandparents contributed much to this country through the accomplishment of their children, grandchildren, and a long list of heirs, as did other immigrants. They did so because of
the opportunity to live and contribute equally to their communities.
We deny whence we came when we forget these principles.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
THANKSGIVING 2015
THANKSGIVING 2015
NO MATTER THE TURBULENCE SURROUNDING US
LIKE WATER SEEKING THE SHORE, WE COME TOGETHER
WELCOMING ALL TO OUR NATIONAL TABLE
LADEN WITH DISHES FAMILIAR AND NEW
AS WE REMEMBER THOSE NOT HERE.
BEVERLY D. REHFELD
Saturday, November 7, 2015
VETERAN'S DAY 2015: BRAVADO OR SOMBER QUESTIONS?
Just as we are about to celebrate Veteran's Day, it is reported that Military funding for programs to recruit people for military service is under investigation by Senator Jeff Flake and John McCain,
Republicans of Arizona.*
The Senate investigation has produced a 100-page report which has unearthed questionable Military marketing contracts for $6.8 million with professional sports teams by all leagues in what is termed
"paid for patriotism."
Instead of spending time and energy on developing ill advised contracts with organizations already profitable without the addition of tax payers money, the Military failed to first ask itself a number of
important questions. Questions like:
Are the promises we make to recruit people for military service fulfilled?
Could it be that people no longer respond to the call for military recruitment because
we are less than honest with plans for the Military future?
Is it possible that people no longer wish to respond to recruitment policy
that seems to make one group of people less deserving than another?
Do we question the fairness of tax payers money to enrich major and minor sports leagues
so the Military can stage a patriotic message?
Could it be that the military has forgotten the worth of human life?
This Veteran's Day we need to honor the men, women and families who have served and who do serve this Country by working to fulfill our promises to them not through questionable bravado
or "paid for patriotism" but with our honest and somber gratitude.
*Emmarie Huetteman, New York Times (11-05-2015)
Republicans of Arizona.*
The Senate investigation has produced a 100-page report which has unearthed questionable Military marketing contracts for $6.8 million with professional sports teams by all leagues in what is termed
"paid for patriotism."
Instead of spending time and energy on developing ill advised contracts with organizations already profitable without the addition of tax payers money, the Military failed to first ask itself a number of
important questions. Questions like:
Are the promises we make to recruit people for military service fulfilled?
Could it be that people no longer respond to the call for military recruitment because
we are less than honest with plans for the Military future?
Is it possible that people no longer wish to respond to recruitment policy
that seems to make one group of people less deserving than another?
Do we question the fairness of tax payers money to enrich major and minor sports leagues
so the Military can stage a patriotic message?
Could it be that the military has forgotten the worth of human life?
This Veteran's Day we need to honor the men, women and families who have served and who do serve this Country by working to fulfill our promises to them not through questionable bravado
or "paid for patriotism" but with our honest and somber gratitude.
*Emmarie Huetteman, New York Times (11-05-2015)
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