MLK JR / April 1967

On this day with the freshness of the Black Lives Matter movement all around us, the concern over injury and loss suffered as a result of words and cartoons with the recent Charlie Hebdo tragedy and while I am sitting in the middle of Uttar Pradesh, India with its own injustices at hand, the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. continue to apply. This is one piece I have never read -- when he speaks about the injustice inherent in the Vietnam War and the USA's role in the war. 

Below are snippets. The full piece is powerful; find it here. 

It is with such activity that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on to the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin, we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

- - - - -

 A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see than an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. 

 - - - - -

A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, “This is not just.” It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, “This is not just.” The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.

- - - - - 

A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies.

do I cage you.

do I cage you bird by asking you to stay?
you said no. but maybe yes.
and then you said yes.
yes, again.
do I cage you bird by merely desiring you to stay?

do I cage you bird by having a different cadence, rhythm than you?
my sleeping hours and waking hours
your sleeping hours and waking hours
they differ.
does that cage you, bird?

do you love me bird, even with my cage?

I don't want to cage you, bird
but tell me.
so I don't.
what is freedom for you, bird?
so I know.

your magnificent wings must not be caged.
especially not by me.

one year later

we must expand our understanding of terrorism. this is in memory of the boston marathon bombing and the events immediately following in april 2013. terror was felt on the streets of boston; may it never be repeated. 

may we also see terror as multi-facted and better understand that terror, for some people, is an everyday experience. that everyday experience with terror is something no one should be exposed to. 




there is terror
in war
in racism
in abuse
in conflict

in fear

no human should live in terror
outside
or
inside
their home.

one step forward for nebraska

the past two days the first PFLAG conference was held in Nebraska. 

this is big. 

like a walk on the moon. 

nebraska has bounds to go to learn to be more open.

one of my favorite people helped make it happen. 

more than 80 people attended.

they found kindred spirits and similar stories.

they found hope. 

congratulations to all who helped make it happen. 

at the roots

around the edges
we find prejudice rooted 
in the foundation of our world

it's there. yes, it's there. 
its strength inflicted upon all that tries to grow in its presence

we must.
cut it down. 
chop it down. 
root it out. 
we must. 

it has been here for so long
we stopped questioning 
its cause

are the weeds seen
as normal? 

we must root it out
for what is always true, may be viewed as what is normal
for what is always true, may be viewed as what should be normal

we must make a new normal.

learn and share

A simple list by John Hagel / the Labor Day Manifesto. The two points that stuck out for me: 

Prioritize learning over efficiency. We are focused on trajectories that lead us toward excellence and progress. We know that to reach our highest potential, we must never compromise growth for short term efficiencies, and we support others on their own learning paths. Mistakes, while the enemy of efficiency, are the fuel for learning. 

Share freely. As we find better ways to share and exchange knowledge, each new discovery we make individually has the potential to benefit everyone collectively. We see each person’s enormous potential to contribute to our global knowledge base, and we are committed to moving from a zero sum mentality to one of collaboration and increasing returns.

the deluded

hope fails us often

grief never.

that's why some think 

that known grief

is better than unknown grief. 

they believe that hope is an illusion. 

they are deluded by grief. 

- by Juan Gelman of Argentina, who passed away in January 2014