The middle is watching... it may not have a leader but it has points of views... and it see what is happening. Sometimes the right or the left WINS and the middle carries on ok. Sometimes the middle gets mucked up. BUT... the middle which is moderate and all is good in moderation and that which is extreme and immoderate is usually not good... well --- in the Jewish Community there IS -- Right and there is Wrong...
The middle is watching. Do not embarrass yourself in front of the middle.
Is the middle more right than wrong? Is a tyranny of the majority a possibility?
Bashing one point of view... and then trying to silence that bashing... WELL --- there is the rub. Silencing anyone can be done... but really it is only really done by brute force.
I want all discussions to go forward. I would limit who can hear certain discussions... since I would not want those outside our community to think that we are in any way endorsing certain points of view...--- BUT -- if someone in our community wants to talk about some enemy and suggest ways of respecting that enemy and even supporting some of what that "other" may demand -- WELL -- it might be easier for the person in our community to get someone from the other side to talk and make their own case....
Talking is better than killing. I would like to hear directly and unfiltered some of what the Other might have to say. I would like them to hear me directly, too. I would hope that some of that listening might lead to more talking and more listening and less killing and some sort of understanding and accomodation.
ahhh.... wishes.....
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
2007 New Years Resolutions
Updated/checked - today - 4/16/07
Few things done. I have been continuing to check and consider #1 - Tai Chi - and in fact received today information form Ilia. Exercising has been done but sporadically. Eating is not being done very well. The book list is going ok and is significantly done. The gardening is not done but may yet come to be. I had forgotten about the 100 things to do list and the "fix-up" stuff has had some action.
NOTE: the "drink more tea" thing is probably a no-go especially in light of our gifting to ourselves the "fully-automatic coffee center"!
1. Improve health - eat less and better, exercise more, take up Tai Chi (Eugene Tashima - 6-5750 or Sue Chan - 8-1478) (or? - http://www.aikidoinstitutedavis.com/), learn and do mental exercising. Ride bike to work regularly, drink more tea....
2. Begin Gardening - as hobby
3. Fix-up, maintain, etc.. around the house... Get contractors, etc, and stuff done by a handyman, and "temporary" window coverings... Update entertainment and computing equpment. Plan garden/back and front yard.
4. Complete making the list of "100 things to do, see, etc...." and begin doing some.
5. List all books in our house on our computer and label and re-shelve by call numbers.
(originally posted: 1/2/07)
Few things done. I have been continuing to check and consider #1 - Tai Chi - and in fact received today information form Ilia. Exercising has been done but sporadically. Eating is not being done very well. The book list is going ok and is significantly done. The gardening is not done but may yet come to be. I had forgotten about the 100 things to do list and the "fix-up" stuff has had some action.
NOTE: the "drink more tea" thing is probably a no-go especially in light of our gifting to ourselves the "fully-automatic coffee center"!
1. Improve health - eat less and better, exercise more, take up Tai Chi (Eugene Tashima - 6-5750 or Sue Chan - 8-1478) (or? - http://www.aikidoinstitutedavis.com/), learn and do mental exercising. Ride bike to work regularly, drink more tea....
2. Begin Gardening - as hobby
3. Fix-up, maintain, etc.. around the house... Get contractors, etc, and stuff done by a handyman, and "temporary" window coverings... Update entertainment and computing equpment. Plan garden/back and front yard.
4. Complete making the list of "100 things to do, see, etc...." and begin doing some.
5. List all books in our house on our computer and label and re-shelve by call numbers.
(originally posted: 1/2/07)
100 things/places to do/go...
Banff in Canada
Alaska... lots of it....
Antarctic
Autralia - and dive in Great Barrier Reef...
New Zealand
Tahiti
...??? Argentina ???
Brazil - ????
The Falls??? -- in S. America - where three countried come together???
China - The Great Wall, The Forbidden City...
Tokyo and other cities in Japan
Pyramids in Egypt
Israel ... again.... and again...
Iceland and/or Greenland???
Warsaw
Moscow
Paris -- again
Florence - again...
Oslo - again
parts of Africa?????
That list consists of:
(look for written version and add here!)
Alaska... lots of it....
Antarctic
Autralia - and dive in Great Barrier Reef...
New Zealand
Tahiti
...??? Argentina ???
Brazil - ????
The Falls??? -- in S. America - where three countried come together???
China - The Great Wall, The Forbidden City...
Tokyo and other cities in Japan
Pyramids in Egypt
Israel ... again.... and again...
Iceland and/or Greenland???
Warsaw
Moscow
Paris -- again
Florence - again...
Oslo - again
parts of Africa?????
That list consists of:
(look for written version and add here!)
right or wrong?
Where does the idea to follow - a leader or support a country - right or wrong come from and what are its implications?
some sources:
"AUTHOR:
Carl Schurz (1829–1906)
QUOTATION:
The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, “My country, right or wrong.” In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." (from Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989. on http://www.bartleby.com/73/1641.html)
The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996.
NUMBER:
12204
QUOTATION:
“My country, right or wrong” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying “My mother, drunk or sober.”
ATTRIBUTION:
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936), British author. The Defendant, “Defence of Patriotism,” (1901). See Decatur.
BIOGRAPHY:
Columbia Encyclopedia.
WORKS:
Chesterton Collection.
(on: http://www.bartleby.com/66/4/12204.html)
Chesterton quote begs the question - what is "a desparate case"? - SO - to read... it...
In any case - Chesterton is an interesting case as he was roundly accused of being an anti-semite, "suggested the formation of a Jewish homeland as a solution, and was later invited to Palestine by Jewish Zionists who saw him as an ally in their goal to achieve just that", and "with the rise of Nazi Germany, denounced the persecution of the Jews.' 'I am quite ready to believe now,' he said, 'that Belloc and I will die defending the last Jew in Europe'.".
Ah... NATIONALISM.... - why and why not?!
some sources:
"AUTHOR:
Carl Schurz (1829–1906)
QUOTATION:
The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, “My country, right or wrong.” In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." (from Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989. on http://www.bartleby.com/73/1641.html)
The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996.
NUMBER:
12204
QUOTATION:
“My country, right or wrong” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying “My mother, drunk or sober.”
ATTRIBUTION:
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936), British author. The Defendant, “Defence of Patriotism,” (1901). See Decatur.
BIOGRAPHY:
Columbia Encyclopedia.
WORKS:
Chesterton Collection.
(on: http://www.bartleby.com/66/4/12204.html)
Chesterton quote begs the question - what is "a desparate case"? - SO - to read... it...
In any case - Chesterton is an interesting case as he was roundly accused of being an anti-semite, "suggested the formation of a Jewish homeland as a solution, and was later invited to Palestine by Jewish Zionists who saw him as an ally in their goal to achieve just that", and "with the rise of Nazi Germany, denounced the persecution of the Jews.' 'I am quite ready to believe now,' he said, 'that Belloc and I will die defending the last Jew in Europe'.".
Ah... NATIONALISM.... - why and why not?!
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
hardness and deathness
Death -- big D or little "d's".....
Passover Seders have come and been done this year. The hardening of the heart of the Pharoah was, perhaps, examples of little "d's" and I would suggest that such lead to the big D - real, final, DEATH. In the Bible the big D is visited upon the 1st born of Egypt and then upon the Pharoah's army which obeyed the hard and hardened Pharoah who kept breaking his promises.
Being flexible is where one sees and is most strong. Not hard and brittle but strong and flexible. The ability to really change is difficult but always possible and likely to be always a good thing. While there is a saying - "the more things change the more they stay the same" - "change" is still happening and the direction of the changes are what is significant. The directions may lead to some alteration in the "same". In any event the "changes" will be what we live with now.
WHAT IS "hardeing of the heart"? I think it is stubborness and meaness and negative to the person who is doing it. The person who makes himself stubborn and hard and who does not change and develop is well on the way to the big D since the hardness and stillness of that person is already into the little "d's" and that is something to see and be sorry about but for which each person is personally responsible.
Passover Seders have come and been done this year. The hardening of the heart of the Pharoah was, perhaps, examples of little "d's" and I would suggest that such lead to the big D - real, final, DEATH. In the Bible the big D is visited upon the 1st born of Egypt and then upon the Pharoah's army which obeyed the hard and hardened Pharoah who kept breaking his promises.
Being flexible is where one sees and is most strong. Not hard and brittle but strong and flexible. The ability to really change is difficult but always possible and likely to be always a good thing. While there is a saying - "the more things change the more they stay the same" - "change" is still happening and the direction of the changes are what is significant. The directions may lead to some alteration in the "same". In any event the "changes" will be what we live with now.
WHAT IS "hardeing of the heart"? I think it is stubborness and meaness and negative to the person who is doing it. The person who makes himself stubborn and hard and who does not change and develop is well on the way to the big D since the hardness and stillness of that person is already into the little "d's" and that is something to see and be sorry about but for which each person is personally responsible.
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