Liberty... 1 picture = 1k words

Picture via a Twitter friend, but appropriate for the eve of the US celebration of Independence Day as a little editorial comment on the power of Israel's lobbyists on US policy, at home and abroad.

Which begs the question: Are we the land of the Free... or the home of the Paid?

Why Palestinians Have Time on Their Side

An intriging column by Jeffrey Goldberg, May 24, 2011.

Excerpt:
My goal: To hopelessly, ineradicably, entangle the two peoples wedged between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Then I would wait as the Israeli population on the West Bank grew, and grew some more. I would wait until 2017, 50 years after the Six Day War, which ended with Israel in control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. I would go before the UN and say the following:

"We, the Palestinians, no longer seek a homeland of our own. We recognize the permanence of Israeli occupation, the dominion of the Israeli military and the power of the Israeli economy. So we would like to join them. In the 50 years since the beginning of the ’temporary’ occupation, we have seen hundreds of thousands of Israelis build communities near our own communities. We admire what they have built, and the system of laws that governs their lives. Unlike them, many of us live under Israeli military law but have no say in choosing the Israelis who rule us. So we no longer want statehood. We simply want the vote."

And this, of course, would bring about the end of Israel.

Link to Bloomberg article

Obama's Choice (Palestine, Israel, and the Soul of America)

Top Line (bottom line first) - When faced with the choice between body and soul, Obama and the US may lose both. (Longer than my usual fare.)

In the news this week is Obama's speech on Middle East policy, which included some clarification on the continuing conflict between Israel and Palestine.  And that's a conflict straight from the Old Testament - a David versus Goliath story where, bizarrely, David's descendants have become the terrifying oppressive behemoth and Palestine has stepped in to play the role of David, armed with sling and stones.

Between them stands a United States that really wishes it was anywhere else... because it knows how this story ends, and it has picked the wrong side.

See, back in the 1940s -- flush with winning WWII but carrying guilt for our part in ignoring the plight of the Jews under Hitler -- the US accepted the idea of re-creating a new country for a people we saw as scrappy underdogs fighting for a homeland and committed to ideals we shared. We even convinced ourselves it would all work out in the end.

Silly, silly us.

We either forgot or denied the fact that in order to create a new country, an existing one would need to be destroyed.

We either forgot or denied the fact that people aren't the only things that fight for life - so do ideas, countries, and cultures.

These things were easy for the US to forget or deny -- because we had already "pulled an Israel" when we kicked the American Indians out of their (now our) land. Sure, the natives fought back, but eventually they quieted -- and so, we believed, would the Palestinians.

Silly, silly us.

Unrecognized by the US at the time, the Palestinians were not American Indians redux. They had Islam in common with their neighbors.  The world was growing smaller and smaller as communication technologies grew, so the situation in Palestine was harder to hide. And the Muslim neighbors, who had suffered enough of their own colonial experiences, understood and empathized with the Palestinian plight.  And what they saw and felt... they did not like.

So how did we get it so wrong at the outset?

Simple ... The US was different then.

Back then:

• We taught our children that American Indians were heartless heathens hell-bent on killing the hearty and hard-working White Man.
• We actively suppressed the civil and human rights of our Black citizens - denying them entry into all manner of Whites Only establishments (from basic bathrooms to cushy country clubs), denying them the right to vote, and more.
• We refused to believe that anything done by the American Government could possibly be wrong (we were, after all, one nation under God that had won all its wars at that time).

Given such a distorted mythology and feelings of moral certitude, back then it would have been easy to believe that helping Israel by pushing out the Palestinians would be a way to redeem ourselves for past mistakes -- a karmic do-over. And this time we would be more compassionate in removing the Palestinians from their land than we were with the American Indians.

Silly, silly us.

We either forgot or denied that there's no good way to remove a people from their land.

Which leads me to the crux of the issue:

We are not that America anymore. 

• Now we understand our shameful behavior towards the American Indians - both in our repeated breaking of treaties with them and in our harsh and inhumane treatment as we forced them off their land. (Sound familiar?)
• Now we see that the American Government can make mistakes - and big ones! (see Vietnam)
• Now we are stuck with the bargain struck -- stuck between the New David and the Goliath we created and armed.

The parallels between the Israeli/Palestinian and American/Indian dynamics are striking -- and it strikes a chord in many of our hearts as we see the sins of our past being re-enacted half a world away, and our complicity indicts us.

So... now what?

That is the question.  Because here and now we find ourselves -- a different people than we were in the 1940s -- with our bodies committed to one group, and our moral compass pulled inexorably toward another.  In this modern version of the biblical tale, our American souls want the New Davids to win.  We need them to win to save ourselves -- and that's why Israeli/Palestinian peace is spiritually important to the US, even if we don't yet realize it.

If Obama chooses to support Israel no matter what Israel does -- thereby continuing the sins of forgetting and denying -- the body lives but the soul is wounded.

If Obama chooses to support Palestine (even by abstention at the UN) -- we can help transform the Goliath we co-created into a human participant in a process toward peace, and help heal our soul.

The rest of the world has started to realize the morals of this story and is beginning to work toward supporting the New Davids.

As for the US and Obama, I have my hopes, but I suspect we are not quite there yet.  I guess we will need to stay tuned so see which he will choose.


A few notes:
But They Killed Jesus - Of course, not all Americans empathize with the Palestinians.  The strongest advocates for Israel are found among the US Christian Conservatives.  The great irony, of course, is that this same group was previously filled with people who hated (and many still do) the Jews for "killing Jesus". I guess if Christians can forgive that, in time they can forgive and embrace Palestinians too -- I just hope it doesn't take a couple thousand years.
Not Politically Correct - Those readers from the US will recognize that the appropriate term for American Indians is "Native Americans."  But since I'm also writing for those outside the US, I used the old terminology.

The death of Vittorio Arrigoni

I have just learned of this incredible human recently.  So that I don't soon forget him, I am posting this article about him written by his friend, and a cartoon tribute I found on Twitter.

May I remember to Stay Human.

Reflections on the death of Vittorio Arrigoni - Eva Bartlett

Link to article:
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=379719&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

From a place he loved, in memory of Vittorio - Mohammed Suliman (Gaza Diaries of Peace and War)

Link to article:

http://msuliman.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/from-the-place-he-loved-in-memory-of-vittorio/

Cartoon Tribute to Vittorio Arrigoni (1975 - 2011)

@CarlosLatuff

Carlos Latuff

Putting Archetypes to Work for the Good of Society

I found this website on the power of archetypes and how to use them.  I'm just beginning to investigate its various areas, but wanted to pass it along right away:
ArchetypeInAction.org

There are articles by many people, and a Google translate feature for any language.

You want to go to there!

@AngryArabiya Letter to Obama

A heartbreaking call to action from an incredible young woman and mother in Bahrain.  On Twitter she goes by @angryarabiya.  She has some things to be angry about.  Click here to read her letter or go to http://angryarabiya.blogspot.com/2011/04/letter-to-president-obama.html

The Military's Secret Shame

by Jesse Ellison, Newsweek

When men in the military rape other men in the ranks, no one wants to talk about it. Why the sexual assault of males in the service is finally being confronted.

Excerpt:
Less than two weeks after arriving on base, he was gang-raped in the barracks by men who said they were showing him who was in charge of the United States. When he reported the attack to unit commanders, he says they told him, “It must have been your fault. You must have provoked them.”... 


Last year nearly 50,000 male veterans screened positive for “military sexual trauma” at the Department of Veterans Affairs, up from just over 30,000 in 2003. For the victims, the experience is a special kind of hell—a soldier can’t just quit his job to get away from his abusers. But now, as the Pentagon has begun to acknowledge the rampant problem of sexual violence for both genders, men are coming forward in unprecedented numbers, telling their stories and hoping that speaking up will help them, and others, put their lives back together.
Link:

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/04/03/the-military-s-secret-shame.html

Why can't they be normal like me?

Top Line (bottom line first): We assume that other people think/process information/make decisions like we do.  We couldn't be more wrong.

Years ago, in a attempt to understand someone's crazy behavior, I went on a quest to learn about why people do the things they do. On it I discovered the 4 temperaments, as described by Keirsey in his book "Please Understand Me II". Information about these is available on the internet.  The important point is this:

We assume we know why other people act like they do.  We don't.
We assume other people think like us.  They don't.
We assume we can change them. We can't.

For example:

• Some people make their decisions based on data, and some make their decisions based on personal values (facts be damned, this is important to me).
• Some people think linearly (a...b...c...d...) and some think 3-dimensionally (a...b...jump to m... back to k... over to z).

And those are just two variables.

One of the most important things I have learned is that when I'm talking to people, it helps if I know what temperament they are.  It's like having a map.  With that information, I know better where they are coming from and how to translate what they are saying into what they mean.

During this time of Arab Spring - when people moving toward freedom are butting up against people resisting that movement - it would help if those seeking freedom knew about temperaments so they could better understand the whys and wherefores of the resistance that probably baffles them.

I mean, seriously, why would normal people not want freedom... right?

Fundamentalists For Dummies

Top Line (bottom line first): 3 things to know about religious fundamentalists - how they tick and how the Universe conspires against them.


This blog was conceived after a tweet-versation between me and a secular humanist Arab who I thought was a woman (darn avatars) but now I think is a man but that is not important.  What brought us together was our shared frustration with fundamentilsts and fundamentalism, and our compassion for people who suffer from fundamentalism, which is mostly non-fundamentalists.


The 140 character constraint of tweets forced me to distill my points into point-lets... which are now further refined to the top 3 things everyone should know about fundamentalists:

1. Fundamentalists see everything in black/white - they don't do well with shades of gray.

2. Fundamentalists are uncomfortable in chaos and uncertainty, so look to ever-more-rigid structures to reduce their inner anxiety, which leads to...

3. Control!!  Fundamentalists seek to control as much of life as they can - even going into controlling the afterlife ("Don't do that or you will burn in hell!). But each new anxiety brings another call for control, so they institute more and more restrictions as they battle their inner fears.

Unfortunately for them (and non-fundamentalists who have to deal with them), the Universe does not cooperate:

1. Life is rarely, if ever, black and white.  Though opposites exist to define the black/white, we live in the tension between them.  And even when we find each other at the same point, that point can be perceived in a multitude of ways depending on the perceiver.

2. Chaos happens.  By trying to protect ourselves against our fears by building higher moral walls and more restrictive behavioral edicts, we pay a heavy price - every brick of fear that goes into those fortifications is extracted from the love that lives in our free spirits.

3. Life will not be controlled - and the afterlife is a mystery (anything heard to the contrary is just rumor).  "Let go and let God" is not just another way of saying "whatever" - it's a spiritual principle.  It reminds us that those who really trust God don't need to try to do so much of God's work on earth controlling and corralling God's people and (more and more lately) tsk-tsking them literally to death!  Ironically, those who seem most certain in God's existence and power are least trusting that God can do God's job (maybe they are scared he won't do it right).

In summary: Fundamentalists, in taking the fluidity and spirituality out of religion and making it all dry and gritty Rules and Regulations, create a kind of Hell-lite right here on Earth.  They think they created an oasis that refreshes and rejuvenates and is full of life and growth - but it's a mirage.  What is actually there is a desolate rocky place of scorekeeping, spying, shame, paranoia and the slow parched death of the human spirit.

Brains: Liberal v Conservative

Top Line (bottom line first): You can't assume others think like you - know the differences to be more effective.

Liberal Brains Bigger in Areas of Complexity; Conservative Brains Bigger in Areas of Fear

Excerpt:
This is going to sound sort of obvious, but here we go: A study from University College London published this week in Current Biology has discovered that there are actually differences in the brains of liberals and conservatives. Specifically, liberals' brains tend to be bigger in the area that deals with processing complex ideas and situations, while conservatives' brains are bigger in the area that processes fear.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2seVal/www.good.is/post/liberal-brains-bigger-in-areas-of-complexity-conservative-brains-bigger-in-areas-of-fear/

Egypt Army - Allegations of Abuse

Two months on from the revolution, Channel 4 News hears powerful allegations of torture, arbitrary detention and sham trials by the Egyptian armed forces once hailed as heroes.

link to article
http://www.channel4.com/news/egypt-after-the-revolution-allegations-of-military-abuse

Lessons from the Tali-Party (#1)

Top Line (bottom line first): Be careful what you wish for, Tali-Party.  You may not like where it leads.

Who: The Tali-Party is what I call the hardcore right-wing Christian conservatives in the US.  Some of them are Tea Party members, but many aren't.  Tali-Party folks are interested in getting everyone to live by their rules - rules which they often don't follow themselves (mostly involving sex).  This disconnect between espoused Morality and actual Behavior is as obvious to others as it is invisible to them.  Part of the rigid nature of their mindset comes with a large serving of denial garnished with an inability/unwillingness to be self-reflective.  If they were to examine their own behavior with a critical eye, it would be an uncomfortable challenge to their Black-and-White thinking.  This results in them often embodying the person who focuses on the speck in someone else's eye while ignoring the log in their own. (1)

What: Tali-Partiers want to codify their Christian beliefs into society's laws.  Recently, pharmacists were given permission NOT to sell drugs they did not "believe" in, specifically Plan B (2,3,4).  This is heralded as a victory by the Tali-Party, but methinks they are missing the bigger picture.

Why: The "Big Picture" they are missing is that every time they get one of their Christian religious beliefs codified into society's laws, they set a precedent and open the door for OTHER religious beliefs to be so codified.  (Repeat after me... Sharia.) The mere thought of Sharia law is anathema to them, but if it ever happens they will have to acknowledge their complicity.  Because US Supreme Court will have to rule on the principle of "what's good for the Christian goose is good for the Muslim gander".

So Tali-Party beware - lest you cook your own goose.

* * * *

Sources:
1. Matthew 7:5 (yes, I can Google search Bible quotes)
2. http://www.sj-r.com/state/x675820054/Judge-says-pharmacists-can-refuse-to-dispense-morning-after-pills
3. http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2011-04-07-birth_control_religion_06_ST_N.htm?csp=34news
4. http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/1580ecaf1e8c4a379004ee418bd82e2a/MO-XGR--Morning-After-Pill/

Sunlight - the best disinfectant

For Freedom to become a reality - and for Freedom to stay alive once born - the People need to know what is going on around them and in the places of Power.

Because the news media is not FREE to speak the truth in so many parts of the world - and because it mostly doesn't CHOOSE to speak the truth in the US - God/Allah bless the tweeters and social media citizen journalists who are working so hard to shed some sunlight wherever they can.

Because of them and other forms of social media, I feel the sun in this Arab Spring.

Martyr Quilts - a crazy(?) idea

Top Line (the bottom line first):

• AIDS quilt
• Remember the Martyrs

AIDS quilt: Back in the day when AIDS was still becoming a major issue in the US, one of the tools that was used to communicate the urgency and seriousness of the problem was the AIDS quilt - made of individual squares, each representing someone who had died of the disease.  It traveled the US and touched the hearts and minds of many.

Remembering the Martyrs: It's been shown that the descendants of those who fought and sacrificed for freedom - those who have the gift granted to them without sacrificing for it themselves - undervalue that freedom and the responsibilities that go with it. Memory of the sacrifices made fade over time.

Idea - Make Martyr Quilts
I hope this is not cultural a total mess - but my idea is to make quilts that are made of squares - some or all of which have names of martyrs upon them.  There could be one name or many.  They could have names from martyrs of many countries, many times - or just one country and one time.  They could be used as blankets or hung as decorative objects.  There could even be a traveling one made to go from country to country, like the AIDS quilt traveled from place to place to show - in a tangible way - the gravity of the deaths and lives touched.

The martyr quilt(s) could be a way to honor those who have paid the ultimate price for freedom.  And it could be a way for people, women especially, to earn some much needed money.  Perhaps we could get fabric donations and women in refugee camps could sew them.  Certainly we can get the names from the social media sources.

Call me crazy - but anything that will honor those who have died and keep their memory alive in a tangible way sounds like a good idea.  And if they help keep people warm and provide income to families struggling in this new world - even more of a gift.

My Theology (for what it's worth)

It's taken me years to distill my theology, but I've gotten it down to 3 points:

1.  God also laughs.

That may surprise some.  I'm used to hearing God discussed in such a stern and serious way.  But look at the world around you and people and their behavior and you can't help but laugh - and neither can God.

2.  There is only Love and Fear.

The Universe seeks balance - light and dark, big and small, male and female.  Spirituality is constantly being challenged to walk the line between love, freedom, joy and control, shame, judgment.

And like the building blocks of the Universe carry positive and negative charges, so does spirituality.  Everything we do falls in the space between Love and Fear.  Pick some things and check it out - see if you can see where a person's acts or beliefs fall on the continuum.

3.  God wants everyone to come to the party, and God gives each of us our own directions.

There is no such thing as The One Religion.  Even in one religion, there are sects or denominations.  Even in the denominations, there are different churches. Even in the churches, members don't all agree.  Each person has their own personal invitation to God delivered by God, with directions on how to get to God.  When someone else tries to get me to God's party by demanding I follow Their directions - that not only disrespects my invitation, it disrespects God's wisdom and plan.

So my theology tells me to remember to laugh, to look for ways to live more in love than fear, and to protect God's invitation to me from others who would violate it.

Morality Laws - an immortal act

I know there are many people out there - in my own country and in other parts of the world - who have very  strong religious beliefs and convictions.  They believe that those religious beliefs should be made a law of the land.  I call these Morality Laws.

It is true that society benefits from shared values and behavior codes that support each other and add to a rich common experience.

However... the spiritual truth about religious moral codes of conduct is that practicing the edicts of your religion needs to be a choice or it loses its value.  Moral behavior needs to be an act of free will because it is a relationship between a person and their God.  If Man chooses to take away that choice by making a spiritual relationship into a Law of Man - they diminsh the very thing they hope to elevate.

The bitter irony is that making morality the Law of Man is an act of sedition against God and, as such, is an inherently immoral act.

TEDx - Wael Ghonim

Here is another great TEDx speaker - you know him, you love him... Wael Ghonim.

Inside the Egyptian revolution: Wael Ghonim on TED.com | TED Blog

• Shown onstage at TED2011: Wael Ghonim is the Google executive who helped jumpstart Egypt's democratic revolution -- with a Facebook page memorializing a victim of the regime's violence. Speaking at...
• http://blog.ted.com/2011/03/04/inside-the-egyptian-revolution-wael-ghonim-on-ted-com/

TEDx - Tribal Leadership

For those of you familiar with TED talks, I need say no more.

For those of you unfamiliar - TED is an incredible resource on a wide variety of topics shared by the best minds of our time.

In these tumultuous times, learning how to recognize and/or speak in different "tribal" languages is essential.

Here is a link to a TED speaker:
David Logan talks about "Tribal Leadership" at a TEDx conference.  He shares the 5 levels of tribes and how the great leaders know how to speak in each level.

David Logan on tribal leadership | Video on TED.com

• At TEDxUSC, David Logan talks about the five kinds of tribes that humans naturally form -- in schools, workplaces, even the...
• http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/david_logan_on_tribal_leadership.html

Follow the electrons!

When I was in college I totally bombed Organic Chemistry. I thought it was a disaster - but instead it opened up a world of understanding of humans and life and why people do the things they do - from Mother Teresa to Mohammar Gadaffi.

Being a left-brained creature, O-Chem and its slap-dash recipes for this-and-that molecules seemed arbitrary and quixotic to me. My brain cried "Anarchy!"  I failed the first test of my life.

But as it happened, some years later I had to take a test that contained a substantial amount of O-Chem, and understanding it was no longer optional.  So I got a book and dug in and tried to UNDERSTAND my nemesis.  It was my first exercise in taking data and turning it around to see if I could uncover the method behind the madness.  And I did it!  I found the key to O-Chem...

Follow the electrons!

It turns out, all the stuff I was so baffled by before were distractions.  I focused on the flashy details and "personalities" of the chemistry, not the "principles" underlying it.  I discovered all the razzle-dazzle was ruled by those electrons and what they wanted.

It was an epiphany.

A multi-purpose epiphany... because "follow the electrons" applies to a lot of things.

• If you want to know what your government is going to do... follow the electrons.   
• If you want to know if the news is more fact or more fiction... follow the electrons.  
• If you want to know why people act the way they do... follow the electrons.  

The electrons can be Power, Money, Greed, Control and more - but they all have something in common.

Just as electrons in the real world carry a negative charge, so do "electrons" in human interactions.  And the negative charge is Fear.  Fear of Not Getting or Fear of Losing what you need/want.

So if you wish to understand the human world around you - keep that question in the front of your mind: "What is the fear?"  If you get a grasp on that, you're halfway there.

And just as a footnote: I got the high score on the O-Chem test.  I thought that was my reward, but it was really just a carrot so I would keep on the path.  And it turned out, I never used O-Chem again.

And so it begins...

There is a lot going on in the world today - tectonic shifts both physical and political.  What is a girl to do?

Well, do what I can do, I guess - with what little, but uncommon, talents I have.

My oddball skill is seeing patterns and analyzing them to figure out how things/people work.
My goal is to inform those who have to deal with the said things/people in order to possibly assist them - since information is power and understanding may make their tasks easier.
My hope is that something I add to this blog helps someone somewhere make a positive difference in the world.  If that happens, then the 15 minutes it took to set this blog up, and the keystrokes that happen from now until then are all worth it.

Peace and blessings upon all who struggle and work to make this world a better place!!