Tag Archives: dichotomy

Scripted

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

January 20, 2022- The spirited young woman minced few words in reacting to the make-work assignment which her class had been given. The classroom was replete with posters that tout “getting your hands dirty” and “outdoor experience”. Yet, on this day of sunshine and 50 degree weather, in the sixth month of the academic year-there was a class of a dozen people working on packets.

The biggest generational struggle is ever between those who are tired and want to promote passive learning, and those for whom the world is new; thus things to be experienced. I remember being part of the “Sit with your hands folded and listen” cadre of instructors-and when it was a drag on all concerned, I did make a concerted effort to change things up and craft a fair amount of hands-on activities. Then, being a caretaker happened, the Housing Bubble burst, and I came of age, alone.

Millennials, Generation Z and the Alphas have been my guardian angels, in more ways they can imagine-because of the much-needed propensity for flipping the script. As with any new way of seeing things, there is some overkill-mostly with regard to trying out “replacement phrases” for long-accepted words. (“Pregnant people”, instead of mothers, comes to mind. I do see mothers as people, first, because that is how I was raised. There is no reason to introduce opacity into the mix.) Overall, though, the forthrightness of these generations, and their willingness to stand up and speak eloquently, without looking down their noses at their elders, just for our being older, is a facet of generational personae that I find most gratifying.

In the debate about how students best acquire knowledge, let me take the side of those who eschew patronizing, or infantilizing, our charges. It is nothing new, this notion of seeing children and teenagers as people, first and foremost. The best teachers I had were those who looked me at eye level and spoke as if they expected me to carry myself with dignity. Following a script, or toeing a line, was the stuff of the insecure. I am grateful for every young person who says “I know what I’m doing” and goes on to prove it by their actions.

Let the circle be even more unbroken.

(In)tractible-Part I

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 12, 2021-

So much of what remains to be resolved, in our world, seems insoluble. People speak of being depressed, mired in anger or even bored by “same old” requests and demands from others, day-to-day. Many of the same headlines get pushed, in the news cycle.

Allow me to post an observation: In reading just two friends’ posts on another social media site, this afternoon, I saw people about whom I care deeply, with one foot in the a land of compassion and justice, and the other in a place of suspicion and the denial of humanity towards people of a different point of view.

It is, simply put, this dichotomy, this lack of inward and outward unity, that keeps the individual, and thus the community, from addressing what truly matters. Unless and until we can truly, of our own choosing, put our eggs in the basket of the Oneness of Mankind, the same problems WILL continue to pop up, and put a damper on our days.

I am keeping this post, and its companion post on Sunday, short and succinct. In that post, the focus will be on two continually vexing issues, of which some of my fellows in Faith are aware, but about which they choose to complain, wishing the matters would just disappear. As my late wife said, “Standing at the foot of the mountain doesn’t put you at the top.”

The Summer of the Rising Tides, Day 44: And Love Will Steer The Stars

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

July 14, 2020-

Today was Bastille Day, commemorating the ultimate proof that, when rulers ignore the governed, there may be severe consequences-for all concerned. Today also was the final day of the weeklong Harmonic Convergence, an online celebration of our connections to the Universe as a whole.

Unity was the theme, as it was in the last such gathering, in 1987. I saw little evidence of the roiling mayhem that continues on, outside these serene sessions. Our focus was on understanding the connections that this planet has always had with the greater Creation.

Astrology points us to the planet, at long last, entering into the sign of Aquarius, come December. To some, Aquarius is the sign of love and harmony. To others, it is the sign of the ascendancy of technology. I naturally favour the former, finding the latter to be somewhat a harbinger of control, of externally-imposed agendas and of a cold, emotionally-distant society.

There are both positive and negative forces, throughout the Universe, so the dichotomy between which will control our destiny makes it all the more imperative that we rise to control it ourselves. I cannot, very happily, live in a world where there is little concern for anyone outside one’s own space.

Thus, this series of sessions has given a boost to what I have learned, over 38 years, from the Baha’i Teachings. It has given me a boost past the mercantile veneer of “Cosmic Wisdom” which is, at this stage of the game, a means to an end, though I have hope that those who ply the trade of Reiki, and other intuitive arts, will actually come to feel the sentiments they vocalize.

In the last meditation of the series, I closed my eyes and mouthed the mantra, as best as my lungs and diaphragm could muster, for 21minutes. I saw Penny, in a blue-tinted forest, my cousins who have gone on and, my youngest brother, Brian. My departed Godmother, Hazel, Uncle Jim and their rambunctious brother, Charles, were also present. All are in a good place. I felt feline energy, inside the apartment, though none of the ferals has ever been inside here. Lastly, a walk around the perimeter of the place was a marvel of stars and the planets Jupiter and Saturn.

Love is steering me, and the stars. More instructions are coming.

And Now…..

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Posted by on in Community, Personal Values, Social, Striving

January 20, 2017, Prescott-

The snow came, in the afternoon.  Then, it turned to rain, for a while, this evening.  Now,snow is back, is falling lightly, here, and heavier, in higher parts of Prescott.  The snow discombobulates our students, but we were able to get everyone in an orderly line and to the bus, without incident.  I hope they get a lot of activity and enjoyment of the snow, this weekend, just as I did as a child.

The bluster was tame, in Washington, this morning. I caught the new President’s Inaugural Address, on my laptop, when I got off work, this evening.  It was neither among the best, nor was it the worst, speech I’ve heard, from a sitting President.  Mr. Trump gave us, basically, what he felt necessary to say.  I do want to see a better shake for the nation’s long left-behind towns and cities, of the Midwest and Northeast- the Eries, Dubuques, Zanesvilles, Wheelings and Tauntons of our collective back-burner memory.  I also do NOT want to see a back-slide, with regard to the rights and well-treatment of people of colour, of gender transversal or of either gender.  I don’t see any need for a dichotomy between the two; no cause for an either-or mentality.

So, there has been a changing of the guard.  It’s not how I would have wanted things, but as the now-former President said, on Wednesday, this is our system and we each need to do what we can, to make it work.  I will be very vigilant, watching closely so that no one in power misleads the blue-collar people, with whom I grew up, and that no one mistreats the people on the margins, whose safety and well-being have been close to my heart, for at least the past fifty years.  My prayer is that we all hold our leaders accountable and guard those we love.