Obama mentions his wife in his victory speech: “…The woman who agreed to marry me 20 years ago.”
Romney mentions his wife in his concession speech: “… The woman I chose to marry.”
See how a person’s views on gender equality can come out in one simple sentence.
Filed under Politics, Relationships
… I would be happy to have this be my last one. And I would see it as my most important.
(click below)
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/10/family_of_slain_us_peace_activist
P.S. I learned through listening to the link (above picture) that the highest rate of death among Israeli soldiers is due to suicide.
*I am going to keep this post at the top of my blog for awhile. I will continue to blog below it.
**If you have any desire to read the other things I’ve posted on Israel/Palestine, go over to the right sidebar, click on Categories, and scroll through till you find “Palestine/Israel.”
Filed under Palestine/Israel, Politics
Loved this post by the famous John Shore… “Conservative Vs. Liberal Christianity: Which is Better?”
http://johnshore.com/2010/01/26/conservative-vs-liberal-christianity-which-is-better/#more-6327
I was listening to some people have a discussion this morning that was mostly about charity. Eventually, the conversation turned to people/organizations/corporations who advertise their charitable givings for good publicity. Some people in the group expressed their misgivings about such behavior.
My feelings on the subject is that it does not matter why people behave charitably. Why do we think it necessary to judge a person’s motivation when they are doing the charitable thing? As long as the good work is getting done, the motivation for doing such can be a moot point.
*On a side note, it was Cornel West who said, “Never confuse charity with justice.”
And the link for W … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR4N8oEQR3c
Filed under Politics
Have you ever read the books with all the “Would you rather…” questions? Well, I’ve read/heard some of the questions, but it was a really long time ago and anymore the only question I remember from the whole slew of ‘em is, “Would you rather die by fire or by drowning?”
Sometimes I ask people that, just to hear their answer, it’s sorta a weird question though. I asked a friend that the other day. We had an interesting discussion afterward that traversed through a variety of topics, including the movie Last of the Mohican’s. I was glad I asked it.
There is another person who I wish I could ask it. Well, not any more, but I would have liked to ask it… oh, say… around February 7, 2002 when President Bush signed the thing saying that the Third Geneva Convention (about how prisoners during a time of war can be treated) didn’t apply to members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Of course, the consequences of that went way beyond water-boarding, but I would have liked to ask him then, just to hear his answer, if he would rather die by fire or drowning. Cause somewhere around that time he probably said to himself, “These are drastic times that call for drastic measures.”
And that was it.
Everything beyond that point was justified in some sick way. Abu Ghraib (oh, he wouldn’t say it’s “justified,” but that’s where it went whether he likes it or not). SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape) trainers instructing in “interrogation” techniques. Guatanamo.
It seems that’s the way it goes in life. At least, that’s the way I’ve seen it go in MY life in a different arena. I’m thinking about someone and something they did, and I dwell on it just enough that they suddenly become not human. I lay out this picture of them in my mind and label them something kinda nasty, then every interaction I have with them thereon, is colored by my label.
That’s why I try to be so extremely careful how I think about people. Because how I think about them will directly effect how I treat them. It’s a choice. I can choose to see them as human beings with unique stories of their own, or I can write them off with one stroke of my mental pen.
That’s how I imagine it happen with our friend, Mr. Bush. He had a lot of things to weigh at the time. Frankly, I wouldn’t have wanted to be in his shoes. But as he weighed, the value and dignity of human life sorta dropped off somewhere into a dark abyss. Not that’s he’s the only guilty party. He’s not, of course. Cheney. Rumsfeld (who apparently thought he could withstand some of the torture techniques…?). Etc.
All I’m saying though is that we treat people the way we mean to. If we think of them as “dogs,” we will treat them as such. If we think of them as “annoying,” then we will be annoyed with them and treat them accordingly. That’s not rocket science. It’s not political either.
It’s human nature.
So, in light of that I just want to say… Good job, Mr. Bush. You’ve reminded me that you’re human. And don’t worry…
I won’t forget.
*To read the article that spawned this post >>CLICK HERE<<
Filed under Life, My Better Posts, Politics
I have gotten the infamous “bird” twice in my life. Both times it was while I was driving. The first time I was on the highway and was going 72 or so just to get around a couple semi-s, but there was this truck behind me and it was right on my patushka. Like RIGHT there. Way too close for comfort or safety.
Now while driving, and most of the rest of the time, I try to be considerate of other people. I’m the one who always gets over in the right lane to let someone by, when someone’s trying to get out into traffic from a driveway, I like to let them in… you know, stuff like that. I’m just a nice driver, or at least try to be.
Okay, so back to the guy on my tail… I’m driving along, faster than I normally would, just so I don’t hold him up too much, but he keeps getting closer to me. It’s making me uncomfortable and sorta annoyed and I think to myself, “I think this is a time when people would tap their brakes to get the guy to back of a little.”
So I did.
And the bird flew. Along with some heavy-duty expletives, which I’m glad I couldn’t hear. The guy was so, so mad and I felt so, so bad. I got over as soon as I could (which I was going to do anyway) and then still cowering in my car, avoided eye-contact as he went by.
That was the first time.
The second time was just last week. I was driving home from Virginia with my brother and sister-in-law, they were in another car, and so I was trying to keep up with them. At one point I passed a couple cars to get back behind them and when one of those cars came by me later, he flipped me off. I was really confused, but I guess I must have slowed down a bit when I pulled up behind my brother, which caused him to have to pass me.
This time I got it though, I didn’t take it as a personal affront like I did last time. I think that if he had known I was just trying to stay up with my brother, he wouldn’t have felt the need to use the bird on me.
And that’s how it goes in life… if we just knew the other side of the story, or even recognized the fact that there IS another side to the story, we would free ourselves from a vast amount of anger, hate/dislike, and conflict. The problem is we justify our actions/reactions by only acknowledging our side of the story. But there is always, ALWAYS two sides to the story.
Take for example, the Jew/Arab conflict. There was the Holocaust, which it goes without saying, was one of the worst human tragedies in history. With that in mind it is hard not to want the Jews to have a homeland, at least for me. That is why I keep TWO things in mind. The Jews need for a homeland AND the ”nakba,” meaning “the catastrophe” in Arabic.
The “nakba” took place in 1948 when Jews took over the Palestinian homeland. Many were killed and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were either forced out of their homes or fled. When I was in Israel/Palestine I saw many Palestinians who are still living in refugee camps and keep the keys to their homes that the Israeli government took in 1948.
It’s not that everything began and ended in 1948. Since then the Israeli government has continued to take more land, the more recent tactic being with the Separation Wall. That is a 27 foot high cement wall that was supposedly going to fence in the Palestinians on the small remaining portion of Mandate Palestine. However, the Israeli government has continued to bring the wall in closer, so that now the land within the wall is less than one fifth of Mandate Palestine.
In addition, the Israeli government sometimes without warning turns off the supply of gasoline and/or water. They hold up Palestinians traveling even to and from towns within the Wall for sometimes hours on end. A trip that may only need to take one half hour may take three or four hours depending on the venomousness of the Israeli soldiers manning the check point.
Palestinians are also subject to simple harassment. Like one time I was there we were going through a check point and there was a Palestinian woman beside her car on her hands and knees and the Israeli soldiers were forcing her to crawl under her car to get a chick pea (!) that fell out of her basket in the front seat.
That is the kinda of relationship the Israeli government has with Palestinians. I am mentioning this because this is the other side to the story. We in America only hear about the Palestinian “terrorists,” but depending on how you look at it, that term could be equally applied to the Israeli government.
Take for example everything that is going in Gaza. Thus far approximately 400 Palestinians have been killed, 1,700 injured, compared to the 4 Israelis, and Israel is calling in MORE reserves. They also rejected a French-proposed two-day cease-fire for necessary food and medical supplies to be able to get into the region’s 1.5 million people. That’s 1.5 MILLION. Israel isn’t only fighting Hamas here. They’ve cut off ALL supplies, the last lifelines to people from whom they’ve already taken everything else away.
That is the other side of the story. Israel is at fault. Hamas is at fault. Neither is free from blame. Both engage in terrorist activities, but both consider themsevles “freedom fighters”… the difference is simply a matter of perspective.
I’ve sometimes wished that there was a semi-polite was to give someone the finger. It would really come in quite hand-y I think, but then I remember that the only instances in which I could give it with a clear conscience, would be ones where I only concerned myself with MY side of the story. If I knew the other side, cause there always is one, I would HAVE to stay my weapon or I’d be plagued by guilt the rest of my days.
The unfortunate thing is that sometimes we never learn the other side of the story. It can be avoided quite easily, so usually needs to be sought out. How often do we do that though? …
If only we always concerned ourselves with learning the other side before bombing, literally or figuratively, the begeezus out of our neighbors.
If only…
*You can click on “Palestinian News Network” under my Blogroll if you are interesting in staying abreast to news from Israel/Palestine that has not been corrupted by American bias.
Filed under My Better Posts, Palestine/Israel, Politics
I did something scary today. I diagnosed someone! Well, with supervision.
Today I did my first diagnostic assessment at the mental health center. It is obvious to me that I still don’t know the paperwork well enough (there’s a ton), but that will come with practice. She, the client, was referred to counseling for what we thought was depression, but once we were talking, it didn’t actually sound like she was that anxious or depression. The lady had a serious psychosocial stressor recently in relation to a daughter, so we decided on an Adjustment disorder, the catch-all of mental health diagnosis’. She’s going to be my first client with who I’m going to be doing counseling. Yea!… er… Yikes!!!
After that assessment I went with my supervisor to a local nursing home, where a lady who is severely depressed looked at me with some of the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen in my life. I wished I could hug her soul and felt with certainty that I am going into the right field.
On a side note, good things (<click) were happening in Miami, Florida today.
Filed under Daily Happenings, Depression / Mental Health, Politics
