Acceptance

'Poem for the week' -- "Acceptance":   

Yesterday it was still January and I drove home

and the roads were wet and the fields were wet

and a palette knife

had spread a slab of dark blue forestry across the hill.

A splashed white van appeared from a side road

then turned off and I drove on into the drab morning

which was mudded and plain and there was a kind of weary happiness

that nothing was trying to be anything much and nothing

was being suggested. I don’t know how else to explain

the calm of this grey wetness with hardly a glimmer of light or life,

only my car tyres swishing the lying water,

and the crows balanced and rocking on the windy lines.

-- Kerry Hardie

Destabilization & Chaos

Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed—they’re dangerous. Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.

-- Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor

If it's not apparent by now, there should be little doubt about the intentions involved in the nominations of government leaders (Secretaries, no less).  Destabilization and chaos are among the goals and the whole political machinery appears nearly impotent to stop them.  Unfortunately, this isn't particularly news, for those who have been paying attention.  But, now, the bold-facedness of it is in full unbridled view.

We can't have completely unqualified people (character and experience), like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., running our country (I know, that's exactly how some feel about the more 'qualified', but seriously...these people have no idea what is really involved in these positions).

Why does it seem like only women are speaking up here?  Are all the men not paying attention or they just hiding?

Maybe this is why:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth takes away Gen. Mark Milley's security clearance, detail

Loyality screenings are just euphemism for threats — apparently fear is alive and well.  

When you worship power, compassion and mercy will look like sins.

-- Benjamin Cremer

Practicing An Art

Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake.

-- Kurt Vonnegut

Connect The Dots

The hallmark of expertise is no longer how much you know. It’s how well you synthesize.

Information scarcity rewarded knowledge acquisition. Information abundance requires pattern recognition. 

It’s not enough to connect facts. The future belongs to those who connect dots.

-- Adam Grant

Entertaining Ourselves

I'm wondering...if we are entertaining ourselves to death.

Are we so focused on our endless distractions and amusements that we are paying no real attention to what is actually happening in our lives?

How does spectating so much of our time affect the very viability of our existence, personally and collectively?

It is what we do and offer of ourselves that keeps us alive to life.

Jesuit Prayer

Holy One, you are our comfort and strength

in times of sudden disaster, crisis, or chaos.

Surround us now with your grace and peace

through storm or earthquake, fire or flood.

By your Spirit, lift up those who have fallen,

sustain those who work to rescue or rebuild,

and fill us with the hope of your new creation;

through you, our rock and redeemer.

-- Jesuit Prayer

A prayer for mercy, to the one who has the true power to give it...seems eerily à propos.

3 Observations & A Question

In time, you notice it’s how it makes you feel that, more often than not, determines what you choose to do (or not do).

How we see things most influences how we do things.

You either want feedback...or you don’t.

Are you stepping forward (leaning in) or back (withdrawing)?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Political Ideology

 

 GALLUP - Front Page

On The Lighter Side: Coffee

On the Lighter Side:

Don’t Let It Be You

There will always be someone who can't see your worth.  Don't let it be you.

-- Mel Robbins

Trump Pardons Jan. 6 Rioters

President Trump pardoned on Monday nearly all of the 1,500 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, hours after outgoing President Joe Biden immunized from prosecution family members and other potential targets of the incoming administration.

Trump’s sweeping clemency delivered on his polarizing campaign pledge to pardon supporters who joined in what federal judges and prosecutors have called an attack on American democracy.

The new president made the announcement after arriving at the White House, effectively wiping away four years of prosecutions, including more than 1,100 convictions in what Justice Department officials have described as the largest investigation in U.S. history. While pardoning virtually all of those charged, Trump commuted the sentences of more than a dozen others.  Continue here....

-- WSJ, Catherine Lucey, Ken Thomas, C. Ryan Barber

By the way, you probably know who this pardonee is; here is his response:

“NOW I AM GONNA BY SOME MOTHA FU*KIN GUNS!!! I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!” he continued. “J6ers are getting released & JUSTICE HAS COME… EVERYTHING done in the dark WILL come to light!”

-- Jacob Chansley, QAnon shaman

Also, Trump pardons founder of Silk Road drug site

...so much for law and order.  And, no, no, no...don't do the whataboutism thing either.  It's not the same thing...more here.

As has happened before, "you wanted a king"...(modern version:  Imperialism, item 7).

Lot's of related opinion, of course (here's one by Ali Breland and another from Lisa Murkowski); not to mention overt fear.  Apparently, we going to need means of preserving the truth, too; so, here's Adam Kinzinger's perspective.

The only silver-lining I could envision is the pace, volume, and depth of all that is going on will wake us up to the wrongness of it all…but, that clearly hasn’t done it so far.

Where his intimidation doesn’t work, Trump (or, the ideologues behind him) is trusting our collective attention span (or lack of it) to effectively just capitulate...he doesn't think we will be able to keep up with keeping track.

Preparing Ourselves

Neither Warren nor I are smart enough to make decisions with no time to think. We make actual decisions very rapidly, but that's because we have spent so much time preparing ourselves by quietly reading.

-- Charlie Munger, on preparation

MLK Day: Love

It's hard to not to notice the juxtaposition of two significant things today (the designated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday and the Inauguration Day of Napoleon — you know, the one who wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico, take over the Panama Canal, Greenland, and Canada (but, he's just kidding, right?). 

As they always are, our times are surely in need of more love...than more 'greatness'.  May we have more of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's kind:

 

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and that love without power is sentimental and anemic.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the "fight with fire' method ... is bitterness and chaos, the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community... Yes, love — which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one's enemies — is the solution.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Maybe the posture of this prayer by Nadia Bolz-Weber would help, too.

Too Seriously

If you cannot afford to take one day a week for rest, you are taking yourself too seriously.

-- Eugene Peterson

Let God nourish you by giving God the space of your attention. 

Does that seem an odd way to describe the call of Sabbath? But, what if that was God's intent all along...a time for God to nourish you?

Burrrrrrrr!

AXIOS

Looking like December 2022....

3 Observations & A Question

Generally speaking, as we get older, it seems to become easier to reject things than it does to accept them.

Justice (what), Mercy (who), Humility (how) — the real hallmarks of shared existence.

Who am I? is sometimes best answered when other people are saying you’re not who you should be. 

What if you are no better than the story you’ve developed about yourself — what’s the real story then?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Biden warns that an oligarchy is taking hold in America. There is data to back him up.

MarketWatch

He's not the only one....

And, why is that women seem to be the only ones asking these people decent (if not good) questions (thank you, Tammy Duckworth...continue with David Brooks' astute observations on the Hegseth debacle here)?.  Do we really not care whether a pilot is experientially qualified to fly the plane we're on or whether a doctor doing surgery on us has any qualifications or experience?  Ah, but that's different from being the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America; is it though?  

Simply claiming that 'I believe in Jesus now' doesn't make one qualified either (for any of these jobs).

Trump's first week: The Real Story

It's hard to get people to pay attention to anything. If you aren't breaking news, if you're not offering a new analytical or conceptual framework, you're just writing stuff, and the market for stuff is gone.

-- Jim VandeHei, AXIOS

Pete Buttigieg's Farewell Address at Secretary of Transportation

Ideas & Action

As tempting as it may seem not to require it, action must be informed.

In and of itself, action may have affect, but not necessarily a desired one.

Action too easily can simply becoming activity, without much efficacy. It needs to be informed, so that the quality of the action can have the substance that is needed to prevail against what otherwise are simply just other ideas.

On the other hand, being informed is simply not enough for what is needed. Ideas can (technically) exist, but to no real avail without some form of implementation or action.

The battles of our time, unfortunately, seem content with simply the disputes of ideas. But, ideas themselves do not change much without an attending and corresponding action that embodies them. We can talk all day, but it doesn’t really matter that much who is right or wrong if there is no practical utilization of them.

It has been observed that ideas have power. But, their power comes in the form of agency — without agency they largely just float around in the atmosphere ...without much impact.

It is the actionability of ideas which impacts the true quality of them.

We need the quality of both, especially right now where there is so much talk and so little action...not to mention the truth that should inform them.

What We Ought

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.

-- Pope John Paul II

Fight Their Nature

The most successful people don't fight their nature. They architect their environment to amplify it.

Stop asking: "How do I fix myself?" Start asking: "How do I position myself where my natural traits are assets?"

-- Shane Parrish

Truth Wherever It Is

I've noticed...that I’m interested in truth wherever it is, and less and less based on the surrounding ideology that claims it has the corner on it.

Salt vs Power

The great temptation of Christianity has always been to think that if we were in control, if we had power, we would “win,” but that’s exactly what Jesus warns us against. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus tells us to be salt—not the meat, the potatoes, or even the vegetables—just the invisible but very effective salt. Salt is what gives zing and taste to food and Jesus is calling us to be people who give purpose, meaning, and desire to life. If we look at the history of Christianity, whenever we were “in charge,” that’s when we became the most corrupt. Christianity operates best in a resistance position, in a position where we can discern and choose how to be salt, how to be light.  

Likewise, the metaphor of light as Jesus uses it here is not controlling or forceful. As Alcoholics Anonymous says, it’s not moving forward by self-promotion, but by attraction. Just set the light on the lampstand and if it’s good, and if it’s real, and if it’s beautiful, people will come. This is very different than what we expect. We basically think we can only move the world by being in control. Yet both of the images that Jesus offers here warn us against wanting to be in control.  

That is so contrary to our common sense. We think “If only we had the power, if only we had the majority, we could create the kingdom of God,” but it’s never been true. I know from my years of traveling that when Christians are a minority in a country, and they have to choose and decide to be the salt of the earth, to be light on a lampstand, they make a real difference.  

Jesus calls us to give the world taste, meaning, purpose, direction, desire. It’s a humble position, isn’t it? We’d much sooner be in charge. But whenever someone or something has all the power, they mostly misuse power. Jesus warns us against power, because very few people can handle it. Most of us use it for our own aggrandizement, our own promotion and advancement in the ways of the world, which usually means more money and more power.  

Either we learn how to be the salt of the earth, a true alternative to the normal motivations and actions of society, or as Jesus put it very clearly, we might as well throw it out and trample it underfoot. We have to find our inner authority through Christ in us; we have to find our purpose in our love of God and neighbor, and actions of mercy and justice. Otherwise, we’re not offering anything that the world doesn’t already have or can’t find in other places.

-- Richard Rohr, on Matthew 5:13–16

3 Observations & A Question

Our fears are often irrational — so, now that we’ve cleared that up….

You need to know what centers you and how to maintain being grounded.

For my overall health, I'm slowing recognizing that removing distractions from my life is not optional.

Both are wealthy, but does it seem like Donald Trump and Elon Musk are the same kind of people as Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger...or Jimmy Carter?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Gulf of America?

One of the more benign incredulities this week (but, we're just used to it now, right?):

 

Morning Brew

Becoming Who We Are

What do you do when you realize people's perceptions of you aren't what you want them to be? What if that is most palpable when they say you're not who you should be?

Both seem to escalate our interest in identifying who we are.

So, why then does becoming who we are seem to actually scare us more than inspire us?

Sometimes, it seems like it’s almost easier to try to be someone else, than it is to be ourselves. Perhaps, that is because this strategy appears to give us the option with less consequence when we can't pull it off. In other words, if I’m not able to be someone else, then what is the real consequence of that? I’m just…not them (which everyone else already knew). But, if I try to be more fully who I am, and somehow fail (whatever form that takes), the implications somehow seem far more significant.

Most of this, of course, is imagined in our minds much more than it is true in reality. And, certainly, we have encountered people who are genuine and authentic and just, as we say, “who they are”. These people seem free and simultaneously attract something in us…something we desire to be.

While we might mistake this as wanting to be like them, I think what we are really engaging is our innate desire to be free ourselves.

One aspect of discovering and being who we really are is related to the ideas, in general, that we have about becoming something. For example, what do we do with the idea that we have to become something in the first place?

I suspect the question here is influenced by many of the religious sensibilities that we have accumulated, especially about our need to become 'more like Christ', which is often juxtaposed as something unique or different. This version of our becoming is often predicated on another religious feature that seems to emphasize the inherent badness (wretchedness) of who we are, and therefore sets up what I think is a false-binary that, rather than becoming ourselves, we need to become more like Christ.

But, this bifurcation sets a couple things in motion that are hard to bind together, in the end. And, because of this, it seems to result in divergent directions, including the requirement to hold more deeply to one or the other (rather than to both). My sense, at this point, is that the two are not really incompatible at all. In other words, I become more of who I truly am because of who Christ has made me to be.

Whatever layers I’ve added on to the equation about the badness of who I am, and the need to conform that to something other than me (like Christ) is predicated on key notions related to our starting points. If my starting point is that I am bad, then one could see how self-actualization is a problem. But, I think most religious traditions themselves even support the notion that I need to be who I am inherently because of who I am in Christ — the image of God in me. And, therefore, it seems more consistent to recognize, in that frame, that my ultimate aim is to become more aware of what the image of God, that I represent, is including the shape that takes in the uniqueness of me as a person.

It is in this context that I feel the most comfortable with the notion of increasingly becoming aware of who I am, including the ever-increasing discovery of the unique manifestation that is of me. This, in fact, would seem to enable the most capacity to set me free — to be who I am and to offer more of who I am to the world around me.

After all, when we see others doing (being) this somehow, we almost universally recognize what is happening.

Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are.

-- Gretel Ehrlich

Jimmy Carter: A Man of Character, Courage, and Compassion

Both in in his presidency and in life, Jimmy Carter, was a model of true public service.

“President Carter was a man of character, courage, and compassion, whose lifetime of service defined him as one of the most influential statesmen in our history,” Biden said in a White House statement. “He embodied the very best of America: A humble servant of God and the people. A heroic champion of global peace and human rights, and an honorable leader whose moral clarity and hopeful vision lifted our Nation and changed our world.”

The son of a farmer and a nurse, Carter served in the Navy Reserves during the Second World War, returning home to manage his family’s peanut farm in Georgia following his father’s death. A humanitarian, man of faith, public servant, and lifelong Democrat, he served as a Georgia state senator, the state’s 76th governor, and ultimately president of the United States from 1977 to 1981.

In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.  Continue here....

-- Jennifer Mattson

Setting partisanship aside as he could, Jimmy Carter served people and their interests above his own.  Though not perfect (but, by many estimations, better than most), he strove to better his fellow-man by famously committing to never lying to the American people and living his life as one of them (a real contrast, it seems to me, to many so-called public servants):

Former President Jimmy Carter lies in state at U.S. Capitol

How former President Jimmy Carter's hometown of Plains shaped his life

This may say it best:

No Longer Afraid

Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.

-- Dorothy Thompson

Could we agree to let God have our anxiety? – a meditation.

Only Scary If

The future is only scary if we try to avoid it. 

-- Simon Sinek

Conspicuously Absent

Ever noticed...all that is conspicuously absent in the media after a US election?  Like, where did all the bad news (not to mention terrifying) suddenly go?

President Trump is inheriting an economy that is about as good as it ever gets.

-- Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics

The country that President Joe Biden and his Democratic administration will leave behind when they leave office is in the best shape it’s been in since at least 2000.

No U.S. troops are fighting in foreign wars, murders have plummeted, deaths from drug overdoses have dropped sharply, undocumented immigration is below where it was when Trump left office, stocks have just had their best two years since the last century. The economy is growing, real wages are rising, inflation has fallen to close to its normal range, unemployment is at near-historic lows, and energy production is at historic highs. The economy has added more than 700,000 manufacturing jobs among the 16 million total created since 2020.

-- Peter Baker

Another conspicuously absent thing to notice today (compared to 4 yrs ago).  Which makes this observation of one of our nations founding fathers more pertinent than ever:

There is no ‘set it and forget it’ version of self-rule. We have a very fine Constitution, fine statutes, fine courts, fine institutions. That is not enough. We say that we live under a government of laws, not men, but that isn’t quite right: It is the government of men standing behind the government of laws that keeps that government of laws standing upright. The laws are not self-executing. The courts are not self-managing. The institutions are not self-reinforcing.

-- John Adams, warning of the particular fragility of our system of government and that each citizen must actively participate in its defense

One Life

One life on this earth is all that we get, whether it is enough or not enough, and the obvious conclusion would seem to be that at the very least we are fools if we do not live it as fully and bravely and beautifully as we can.

-- Frederick Buechner

4 Observations (from Others)

Seek out what magnifies your spirit.

-- Maria Popova

The function of contemplation in all its forms is to penetrate illusion and help us to touch reality.

-- Parker Palmer

Trust is a process, not an event.

-- Hillary L. McBride

One thing we all must cope with is that life is very likely to provide terrible blows, unfair blows. Some people recover and others don’t. But every mischance in life, however bad, provides an opportunity to learn something useful. Instead of becoming immersed in self-pity, the most successful among us utilize each terrible blow in a constructive fashion. 

-- Charlie Munger

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

On The Lighter Side: What Other People Think

On The Lighter Side:

Your Greatest Asset

Do you know what your greatest asset is?

Your desire.

It is true that your desire will probably drive you into a few ditches.  But, it will also be what motivates you to get out of them.

One of the best things you can get in the habit of doing is asking yourself each day what is it that you want most from it.  The answer provides you the greatest opportunity to direct your attention and resources.

If you don't do this, you are highly at risk of drifting along in mindless feeding on the delivery systems of our culture, which aren't nearly as interested in you as a person (in spite of what it sometimes looks like) as much as they are in lining the pockets of those benefitting from those systems.

What you really need most is already within you.  Your work is discovering what that is and connecting it to the needs of the world (more likely, to one piece of the world).  How you do that is through your familiarity with what you want.  It is your desire that can guide you and ultimately lead you toward a deeper sense of fulfillment.  

Like any asset, your desire can be unattended, suppressed, or corrupted.  But, also like any asset, it can reveal the deeper and freeing truth about yourself and your contribution to life.

Do you know who you are?  Do you want to know?  What if this year you learned how to follow your desire — in the end, it may be the best asset you have.

New, Untouched, Full

As we begin again:

And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

The question might be, how does one go about believing something like the above?

Tami passed this along to me recently.  It strikes me as an excellent start.  I’m using it:

How to Make Next Year the Best Year: Ask Yourself These 7 Questions