Category Archives: Inspiration

A Hundred Days of Hana

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Education, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

March 31, 2026-A good report came back today, regarding an abnormality that had been previously diagnosed in my granddaughter. It turned out the diagnosis was wrong, and her functioning is normal. This was particularly welcomed, because today is Hana’s Hundredth Day, or Baek-il,

Korean Tradition of Baek-il *

To outsiders, celebrating a 100-day mark might seem excessive—but in Korea, it’s a milestone rich in history, emotion, and symbolism. Whether for a newborn baby, a blossoming romance, or a personal journey, the Korean “100-day” tradition—known as baek-il (백일)—represents survival, progress, and shared joy. Let’s explore the roots and evolution of this beloved custom.

Why Babies’ First 100 Days Matter*

Historically, infant survival in Korea was uncertain. If a child made it to 100 days, families would celebrate with a ceremony called baek-il. Traditional rice cakes, fruit, and prayers to ancestors were common. Today, modern parents mark this milestone with professional photos, private parties, and social media posts—still honoring life’s fragile beginnings.

As Hana is half Korean, we are making a big deal out of the milestone. We aren’t going in for professional photos, but a Baek-il dress, special rice cakes and giving thanks to all our departed family will be on the agenda. Due to a miscount, the celebration will be held tomorrow, but it’ll be joyful, nonetheless.

The little girl’s first hundred days have been a study in someone who pushes herself to develop skills: Ambulatory (Army crawling, sitting up with support), hygienic (holding a bib to her mouth to wipe any residue, readily taking and swallowing oral medication-without fussing) and communicating (using both babbling and about a dozen clearly pronounced one-syllable words, maintaining eye contact). She has a broad smile and an infectious laugh. Conversely, when she is upset,her voice can be thunderous. She has large, cerulean blue/green eyes that twinkle when she feels playful.

When she wakes up tomorrow, there will be a big sign, made of letter balloons: “Happy 100 Days, Hana!” She will go through the day with usual activities, then when her father gets off work, we will dress her and happy Korean songs will play. We adults will enjoy the goodies, but she is congenial about that. As long as she is sitting in her little chair alongside us, all is well for my granddaughter.

I look forward to the next 100 days, and all that follows.

*https://www.koreanhabits.com/2025/05/koreanhabits-20250512-70.html#

Fleshing Out

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 30, 2026- In the film, “Nuremberg”, Russell Crowe’s Hermann Goring is fascinated by the term “abracadra”, which he hopes to use in playing magic tricks on his young daughter. Many people in the present environment seem to be focused on magical thinking-either that the current administration will rid the country of their perceived opponents or that large demonstrations, by themselves, will rid the country of the current administration.

I’ve been asked, a few times, whether I’ve let myself get so busy that my views on critical issues are just being cherry-picked from Chat GPT or a handful of blogs and podcasts. I don’t use Chat GPT and I don’t listen to podcasts. I do read some others’ blogs-a few progressive, two neutral and one conservative.

I take what is being written under consideration, but here’s the deal: I seek solutions to the problems that vex the worker, the provider, the parent or grandparent. There is no ideology that, in and of itself, will put human beings first. There are those that say they will, but then, once in power, the lure of wealth and control comes with its icy glare.

So, I need to ask hard questions of those who seem like breaths of fresh air. Do they understand the history that led good-hearted people to embrace the corrupt? Have they thought out a plan of action that will root out corruption and repair the damage that has been done? What will be their response when the corrupting influences show up at their doorsteps, with enticement and appeals to ego? What is in it for the struggling families?

So, no, I am not satisfied with slogans and memes. I do not think name-calling or painting groups with broad brushes accomplish anything. I have known good-hearted people who are conservative and others who are liberal. I have known the opposite, in both groups. Both groups inform my thinking, but do not determine it, Basically, I believe that each human being , from birth, has the right to self-determination, and that people who have reached the age of maturity, one and all, have all the rights and duties of citizenship, in the country whose passport they hold.

Every living soul has the right, and responsibility, to investigate truth for her/himself. To none is given the right to dictate to others,

Nuremberg, The Motion Picture

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

March 29, 2026- I want, more than anything else, a place where I can know, of a certainty, that my son and daughter-in-law can raise their daughter, and any other child they may choose to bring into the world, to be a strong and free human being. I want to see Hana realize her gifts and fulfill her dreams. She is already showing signs of being a self-directed, internally-disciplined person, with a very basic sense of at least her biological needs and how to communicate them.

I start with this, because I watched the film, the motion picture “Nuremberg”, this evening. The military psychiatrist, Douglas Kelley, wrote one of the first scholarly descriptions of the totalitarian mindset, having conducted several hours of interviews with the second-in-command of the Third Reich: Hermann Goring. Kelley wrote a book on the subject, after his discharge from the Army. The book cautioned that totalitarian personalities exist in every nation on Earth, including the United States. For this, he was castigated. The book failed to sell.. That was in 1949. A year later, Dr. Kelley, and the nation, witnessed the rise of Joseph McCarthy, and his reckless campaign against anyone who opposed him, on the grounds that they “might be Communists”.

McCarthy’s campaign lasted four years. finally being undone by the suicide of a Senate colleague whom McCarthy had hounded relentlessly for over a year, and by the increasing indecency of his campaign, orchestrated by a hack lawyer named Roy Cohn. Cohn went underground after McCarthy’s fall from grace, but continued to mentor certain individuals whose personality and viewpoints struck him as being similar to McCarthy’s.

I have rambled a bit, but we have witnessed, in the past year or so, unbridled use of Federal officials to round up, harass and even kill those deemed “less than” loyal American citizens. They don’t number in the millions, or even the hundreds of thousands, yet. The campaign was supposed to focus on criminals in this country illegally, who were to be deported to their home nation. As time has gone on, the campaign has been plagued by indiscipline, wild lack of focus and scattershot detentions of even American citizens. A Canadian mother and daughter, both legally in the United States, are now at a Federal detention facility, in Dilley, Texas, after being picked up at a border checkpoint in Hebbronville, Texas. There have been several cases of infants, some of whom needed medical attention, being taken to similar facilities. The miscarriages of justice differ from the Holocaust only in degree and in the number of victims.

There is nothing, in the statements of Executive Branch Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, to indicate that the activities of the agencies doing his bidding will not get worse. Only a reasoned stance by the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, would show that the present administration is bringing the travesties to a halt. The scenes depicted towards the end of “Nuremberg” and the scenes I saw in the museums at Auschwitz-Birkenau and at Srebrenica, last autumn, should never even closely be allowed to be replicated in our country.

I wait, and promise my grandchild that she will have a path to fully and freely pursue what she is meant to achieve. God bless America.

The Slow Death of Subterfuge

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Family, Historical, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 26, 2026- The meeting apparently went relatively well. Credit was given where, and to whom it was due. My daughter-in-law stood her ground and was at least recognized for making a concerted effort to set things right. An attempt, by a less-motivated individual, to shift blame onto their superiors,fell flat. The process will continue tomorrow, but YH’s in-person participation is done, for now. She can focus on her little girl and perhaps get some rest, over the weekend.

The thing that irritates me, a bystander in the whole affair, is the same thing that aggravates about a number of situations: The devaluing of any human being by another, I used to think that this was merely the result of elitism, misdirected cronyism or even narcissism. Yet the more that I recognize put-downs and dismissive comments as largely being reflections of the critic’s self-perception, the more hope I actually have that we, as a species, can move away from subterfuge.

In terms of cosmic energy, a formative civilizational period, of 6000 years, has come to an end. We have gotten all the mileage we are going to get out of one-upmanship , achievement based on cutthroat competition and a zero sum mentality. The Age of Brutus, of Machiavelli and the Borgias, of John Henry Hammond and John D. Rockefeller, even of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, is at an end.

To be sure, we have not seen the literal end of the last two mentioned above, but to have any influence in the emerging civilization that is based on openness, self-awareness and a cooperative mentality, they, and others like them, will have to sharply pivot from all that has sustained their prominence, and be re-born in the same manner as Saul of Tarsus. It worked for Andrew Carnegie, towards the end of the Gilded Age. It might have worked for Woodrow Wilson, had he not suffered that incapacitating stroke

Here at our little home, I will continue to foster a culture of frequent consultation, team planning and celebration of each achievement by any member of the family, no matter how small. Hana’s initiation of “Army crawling” (moving forward on her belly, using her hands and feet, with head raised) is one such cause for joy. Her mother’s soldiering through the rectifying of crisis that was manufactured by the ennui of others is another such cause celebre. Aram may well have climbed another rung on his ladder.

In the life of society, as well as in the life of a family, nature abhors a vacuum. What appears, on the surface, as collapse and chaos, is ever underpinned by an emerging layer of solidarity and certitude. This is what I see happening in our time.

Pushing Off

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Education, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 25, 2026- Hana took her first moves forward, this evening. She did this by pushing her feet off against my hands. It marks the first time she has been able to propel herself forward, while on her hands and knees.I look forward to helping her build on this, and seeing her crawl using her hands and feet, very soon.

Every skill I’ve ever mastered has involved a learning curve. It has often been mastered under a modicum of pressure. I’ve made a fair number of mistakes and at times been labeled a slow learner. In the end, though, I’ve been able to perform the task with a fair proficiency. It’s gone best, when I haven’t had a well-meaning family member or friend tell me to “just let an expert take care of it”

That may work when it comes to repairing a car engine or rewiring a house, neither of which I have the least bit of confidence in doing. Other tasks, which I have found interesting, and simple enough to do on my own, have turned out fairly well. I painted the exterior of my house in Phoenix, and got about 2/3 of the way through painting the interior, before the place was caught up in the housing crisis of 2008-9. I cleared the roof of snow, at the school where I worked in Maine, in the winter of 1976-7. I used to do routine maintenance (changing oil & filter, gapping spark plugs, changing belts and hoses) on my cars, before vehicles became computerized. I can do simple plumbing tasks. Athletic skills, even as mediocre as they are, came late in life.

All of which come back to mind, as my granddaughter’s life begins to take root. The skills she acquires in infancy and as a toddler will be achieved in an atmosphere of patience and support. There will be no pressure on this end, only the loving encouragement of three people who have lived through situations in which pressure was applied, by well-meaning but insecure friends and teachers, to get the skill learned quickly.

She will have a solid foundation in confidence building, before heading off to whatever school her parents choose for her. She will push off from a pier of love.

Ninety-Nine

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Posted by on in children, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 22, 2026- That is the age my father would have attained, had he lived to now. It’s been nearly forty years since his passing, yet I can envision a world with him, his older brother (who would be 101, in August) and his eldest sister (would have turned 102, in January). They were each fairly conservative in their world views, but they would likely be rather disconcerted at what is being done in the name of the system they each cherished.

Dad believed in the importance of character. He kept his word and expected us to keep ours. When one of us dropped the ball, which for me was more often than I’d like to admit, his admonitions were short and to the quick. He was not a violent man, so corporal punishment was rare. Letting him down was bad enough.

He would have been mildly amused to have seen me struggle with parenting a teenager, but he would be proud of the man Aram has become. He would be concerned with making sure that his great granddaughter was in a stable home-and so far, she is. I have no doubt that this will continue to be the case.

He would also be glad to see the overall size and stability of the family that he and our mother got started. Each of us has made our mark in the world, and none of it has come without struggle. In that respect, we shared his experiences. Our children have also done well, and his great-grandchildren, many of whom are in their teen years, are starting to make their mark in the world.

It has been said, in places, that 99 is a perfect culmination, a place to assess one’s legacy. I would say Ferdinand Joseph Boivin’s legacy is quite solid.

Springing Forward

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Family, Historical, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 21, 2026- Hana came into the world with winter, being born on the December Solstice, last year. It was a day later than usual, but that worked for my granddaughter. Early this morning, as her second season began, she turned over, from her back to her belly, and quickly turned her head to her left, as her father came over to see what had happened. I watched it all on the monitor in my bedroom, glad to have been in on the milestone.

Today is Naw-Ruz, which for Baha’is begins a new spiritual year. Iranians, Tajiks and Pashtuns have celebrated Naw-Ruz (“New Day”) for over 3000 years, since the Dispensation of Zoroaster. In the latter tradition, it is a twelve-day celebration. For Baha’is, it is this one day, and our local community gathered at Plano Baha’i Center, a spacious and lovely facility, for two hours of readings, songs, a Q & A game for children and youth and a large, delectable spread.

What was most heartening about this gathering is that, when children under 12 were presented with gifts by the Spiritual Assembly, and there were more kids than gifts, the children made sure that each of their fellows had a gift, even if it meant dividing up a whole gift. One girl was given a snack wand and, since her brother already had a wand, she gave hers to a girl who had a small bag of chocolates. The second girl brought over half of her chocolates to share with the first.

Ours is one of the strongest models for a society which is now struggling. It remains, though, a matter of acquiring knowledge, adopting volition and taking action. This is the bounty given to every person, in these days of confusion and disruption. I invite anyone reading this to check http://www.bahai.org.

Happy Equinox!

Not Invincible

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Posted by on in Assistance, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 20, 2026- Chuck Norris died today, the last day of winter taking one of the last Winter Soldiers. He was a lot more politically conservative than I am- I think the last Presidential candidate we both supported was Ronald Reagan-and for different reasons. I thought the Great Communicator was a man of character (until Iran-Contra). Chuck said he liked the aura of machismo. Years ago, I was told, by two different groups of young men, that I looked like Chuck. The first group, of Navajo adolescents, would approach me by getting into martial arts stances-only joking, of course. The second, a trio of young Black men, on a bus going to Buffalo, said I could go around spouting lines from his movies, and some people would do a double take. No one really close to me, though, has ever recognized a likeness.

I never met Chuck Norris, but I watched “The Way of the Dragon” and many of the “Walker, Texas Ranger” episodes. I also got a kick out of the Chuck Norris jokes, even doing a spoof on Xanga: “Chuck Norris vs. The Most Interesting Man in the World”. (The latter was a character on a Dos Equis beer commercial, who was played by Jonathan Goldsmith). I believe one of the lines was “Chuck Norris yawns at the Most Interesting Man, who doesn’t dare yawn back.”

It is at times tempting to take solace in the exploits of a supremely masculine figure-but eventually, the He-Men pass from the scene, as Chuck Norris did today. When I was a kid, I was in awe of Charles Atlas and Jack LaLanne. Charles (nee Angelo Siciliano) was a body builder, well before the heyday of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He lived to be 80, then died of a heart attack. Jack was a diet and exercise guru and lived to be 96, then died of pneumonia, after refusing to see a doctor. In the 1960s, the two were seen as invincible-Jack even said he “could never die, because it’d ruin my image.”

So it goes, and it is equally true of those public figures who seem invincible in their own right. They will come to a reckoning, like you and I and everyone in between. It’ll shock some of their admirers, but as Chuck would say; “You become what you choose.”

Pledges and Promises

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, Community, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

March 15, 2026- Hana looked at me with concern in her eyes, as I was next to her, while she was busy pumping her legs in the balloon exercise that I described a few days ago. It seemed she was wondering what I was thinking, as my face was serious. I told her that I wanted her to go after whatever dreams she might have, as long as they help her and other people. She likely has only a very limited understanding of what I was talking about, but a smile returned to her face.

I finished reading “Nobody’s Girl”, by Virginia Giuffre, who was prominent in getting the Epstein Files top of mind, for so many people. She died last year, under murky circumstances, with even one of her own collaborators casting doubt on her mental stability and the status of her marriage. Any of the insinuations, or none of them, could be true. The woman had more health issues in her last years of life than most people have to even momentarily face. It may have been impossible for her and her husband to stay together, though she ends her narrative on a positive note, in that regard. (The collaborator makes a veiled reference to the couple being “estranged”, in the opening pages of the book and a Wikipedia article on Virginia casts her husband as an abusive brute. That same article says that the FBI doesn’t believe a word she said about a sex trafficking network headed by Jeffrey Epstein.)

The drivel in parentheses is one of the reasons that I take official accounts of abuse of women and children with several grains of salt. When I was a counselor, and a young person, usually a girl, came to me and said s(he) had been abused, only once was it untrue-and that fabulist came to me on her own and admitted she had made the whole thing up. I was far more skeptical of people in high places-or journalists, who took the side of the accused. There was always money or power behind their counterclaims. Generally speaking, I found that children should be seen, heard and believed.

I’ve said it before, and will maintain as long as I have all my faculties and senses about me-no one hurts my granddaughter-ever. That was what was on my mind, when she looked at me, with such probing eyes.

Baby Planks

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

March 13, 2026- Hana held her head up, while prone, for over three minutes, this evening. She has been working very hard at this prerequisite to crawling and has been frustrated with herself, up to now. Each time, we have told her that we are proud of her for trying and to not give up. She is internalizing our encouragement, smiling each time we offer it. Tonight was a big advance for her.This skill is, roughly speaking, the infant’s equivalent of a plank, which of course is an adult holding self up on elbows and extended toes, for 1-3 minutes. Babies are hardwired to want to develop mobility skills, just as they want to build language skills.

Speaking of which, Hana is making clearly thought out sounds, in a sentence-like cadence, and is happy when we maintain eye contact, while she is speaking. We generally get a sense of what she is saying, by reading her facial expression and deciphering her tone of voice. A soft voice indicates she is happy or peaceful. A serious tone means she needs cleaning or that she is getting tired. A loud tone means she is frustrated or feels ignored. This last will be followed by crying, if we don’t pick up on it right away.

She is also paying close attention to what her mother needs her to do. When bathing, for example, when Yunhee goes to wash under Hana’s arms, the baby lifts her arms straight up. When she goes to change Hana into night clothes, the child will take her own arms out of the day outfit’s sleeves. She is also very much into cleanliness and neatness. This seems in keeping with what has been noticed about Capricorns, (Hana was born on the December Solstice).

Early development of physical skills could be followed by backsliding, if we make too much of the matter and up the ante. That said, we are proud of what our girl is doing, at just under three months of age.