Authentic

Think about this. At birth, we are simply creatures. As children, we rely on the adults within our sphere to respect us, love us and guide us toward an emerging understanding of what it means to be a human being. As adolescents, we build on this guidance together with our educational lives to stumble our way to our first understanding of our human responsibilities. As adults, our task becomes to make our best efforts to become decent and authentic human beings. Some people fully reach this goal (Martin Luther King, Jr.). Some get close (a dedicated teacher). For some there is no chance (Donald Trump).

Reaching authentic humanity has nothing to do with wealth or fame. It’s a matter of the heart, and making the commitment to the work it demands.

Another shooting

 Another shooting, another dissection. The shooter was responsible. Were the parents responsible? Was law enforcement responsible? Were teachers responsible? Was the school responsible? Were bullies responsible? Was social media responsible? Will mental health care be responsible?

All these questions will be asked. But in every situation, there was a gun that shouldn’t have been in the hands of the perpetrator. And, in the end, it got there because of cowardly legislators, mostly Republican, who hide behind the Second Amendment with some outdated macho creed while gun money gets stuffed in their pockets.

Call them out. Make them accountable.

If only

 

Stop

 STOP:  Your whining and act.

LOOK:  For the beauty beneath the surface.

LISTEN:  To the wise voices not the marketers.

easythink

 In America we are now in the age of easythink. Easythink assumes that thinking is not hard work. Easythink is not concerned with truth. Easythink believes that the answer one wants to hear is always the correct answer. Easythink believes that the brain is a rigid structure trained to select only affirming information. Easythink opens up more time for leisurethink.

Doubt

 Doubt and faith are siblings, and they both take courage. Faith that hides from doubt is weak faith. Doubt nudges faith to look outside itself, to test itself. Faith affirms the fundamental need for doubt. From this arises healthy faith, always constant yet able to adjust to a world in flux.

Shooting

 Another. Then another. Then one more. Then one more after that. The next one? What? School shootings, a category in which America is clearly #1. Of course, the anxiety, the fear for the staff and children, the news coverage, the shooter, the victims, the police chief. Absent: the lawmakers, action on gun control, information on how the gun wound up in the hands of a teen, consequences for responsible adults.

I’ve worked on gun control issues, supported gun control organizations and written legislators—whose responses are usually flabby and lame. But still, this is the least we all can do.