Category Archives: Human Behavior

Praise to the Women of Our World!

07 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by in Human Behavior, People

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United Nations Map of Women in Politics 2020
Created by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women, showing global rankings as of January 1, 2020
Source: UN Women

Praise to the women of our world on this International Women’s Day 2021!

Praise to the women of our world who grow and reap our food crops with little or no pay.

Praise to the women of our world in the health care services who risk their lives daily, fighting to save the lives of our loved ones stricken with COVID-19.

Praise to the women of our world left alone to care for children suffering from debilitating diseases and mental illness.

Praise to the women of our world who sacrifice their dreams and talents to raise their children or care for aging and sick parents.

Praise to the women of our world who struggle to eke out an existence doing low-paid essential work.

Praise to the women of our world who support, defend, uplift, and empower other women and girls.

Praise to the women of our world who, despite the challenges of married life, continue to hold their families together within a loving and nurturing environment.

Praise to the women of our world who work in all levels of our local and national government to bring about the changes we need for a more just and equitable world.

Continue reading →

Thought for Today: On Giving

13 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by in Human Behavior, Philosophy

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You give but little when you give of your possessions. / It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. // There are those who give little of the much which they have—and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome. / And there are those who have little and give it all. / These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty. // All you have shall some day be given; / Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors’.  

Excerpt from “On Giving” from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, first published 1923, reprinted edition by Alfred A Knopf, New York, USA, 2005.

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), a poet, philosopher, and artist, was born in Lebanon. At twelve years old, he migrated to the United States with his mother and siblings. The Prophet, written in English, is Gibran’s masterpiece and has become one of the beloved classics of our time. It is considered an expression of the deepest impulses of the human heart and mind.

Thought for Today: Grounds for Hope

02 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by in Human Behavior, United States

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Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. When you recognize uncertainty, you recognize that you may be able to influence the outcomes—you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists…. It’s the belief that what we do matters even though how and when it may matter, who and what it may impact, are not things we can know beforehand. We may not, in fact, know them afterward either, but they matter all the same, and history is full of people whose influence was most powerful after they were gone.

Rebecca Solnit in the Foreword to the Third Edition (2015) from Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities, published by Haymarket Books, Illinois, USA, 2016. First published by Nation Books, USA, 2004.

Rebecca Solnit, born in 1961 in Connecticut/USA, is a writer, historian, and activist. She is the author of more than twenty books on feminism, western and indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, hope and disaster. An independent writer since 1988, she is a columnist at the Guardian and a regular contributor to Literary Hub. Her most recent book, Recollections of My Non-Existence, was released in March 2020.

Thought for Today: We Must Imagine a Different World

26 Sunday Apr 2020

Posted by in Human Behavior, United States

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The [COVID-19] pandemic should awaken us to the realization that in a just world, social fetters should be replaced by social bonds, ideals that trace back to the Enlightenment and classical liberalism. Ideals that we see realized in many ways. The remarkable courage and selflessness of health workers is an inspiring tribute to the resources of the human spirit. In many places, communities of mutual aid are being formed to provide food for the needy and help and support for the elderly and disabled.

There is indeed “an uplift in solidarity among common people in many parts of the world, and perhaps even the realization that we are all global citizens.” The challenges are clear. They can be met. At this grim moment of human history, they must be met, or history will come to an inglorious end.

~ Noam Chomsky in excerpt from a discussion with Robert Pollin from the article “Chomsky and Pollin: To Heal From COVID-19, We Must Imagine a Different World” by C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout, published April 10, 2020.

NOAM CHOMSKY (born 1928) is an American linguist, cognitive scientist, philosopher, historian, social critic, and political commentator. Considered the father of modern linguistics, he holds a joint appointment as Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Laureate Professor at the University of Arizona. He is the author of more than a hundred books, covering such topics as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media.

Now is the time…

29 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by in Human Behavior

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We are living in a time of great societal disruption. Despite all our advanced technology, we have been kicked off our pedestal by a mere virus. The COVID-19 doesn’t adhere to humanity’s border controls nor our military might. Its rampant spread across human populations is yet another reminder of the consequences of the imbalance our species have exerted on our planetary interconnected Web of Life.

As we grapple with social isolation, anxiety about paying our bills, and uncertainty about our future, now is the time to take stock of how we got here and where we are headed. If we wish to survive as a species, we humans must drastically change the way we live.

It’s no coincidence that our planetary societal disruption is occurring at a time of climatic and ecological crises. They are all connected. What’s more, these crises all have a common denominator—homo sapiens, Earth’s apex predator. The COVID-19 pandemic is just a taste of what lies ahead for humanity with the ongoing unraveling of the Web of Life.

Now is the time to appreciate our collective contribution and responsibility in providing and caring for each other.

Now is the time to determine what is truly essential for our well-being.

Now is the time to question our values and priorities.

Now is the time to examine our economic theories and beliefs built on individual acquisition and ownership of Earth’s gifts to all in the Web of Life.

Now is the time to determine what kind of future we want for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, and future generations.

I recommend for your consideration the predictions of 34 big thinkers presented in the article, “Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How,” published by Politico Magazine on March 19, 2020. The areas covered include community, tech, health/science, government, elections, the global economy, and lifestyle.

Fear not the duality of life. New beginnings come with letting go of what we hold today as precious for our well-being.

Thought for Today: A Warrior of the Light faces the COVID-19

15 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by in Human Behavior

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A Warrior of the Light knows that certain moments repeat themselves.

He often finds himself faced by the same problems and situations, and seeing these difficult situations return, he grows depressed, thinking that he is incapable of making any progress in life.

“I’ve been through all this before,” he says to his heart.

“Yes, you have been through all this before,” replies his heart. “But you have never been beyond it.”

Then the Warrior realizes that these repeated experiences have but one aim: to teach him what he does not want to learn.

~ Excerpt from Warrior of the Light: A Manual by Paulo Coelho, Translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa, HarperOne, New York, USA, 2003.

PAULO COELHO, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist, best known for his novel, The Alchemist (1988). His work has been published in more than 170 countries and translated into eighty languages. His books have had a life-enchanting impact on millions of people worldwide.

“Revolutionary Suicide”: Remembering the Jonestown Massacre

18 Sunday Nov 2018

Posted by in Guyana, Human Behavior, United States

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Aerial view of Paradise off of Clark Road – Camp Fire, Northern California
November 15, 2018
Photo Credit: San Francisco Examiner (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

 

As California burns and super-storms ravage our southern and eastern coastal states, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Reverend Jim Jones and the People’s Temple. Today, November 18th, is the fortieth anniversary of the mass murder-suicide of 916 Americans at the People’s Temple Agricultural Project at Jonestown in the northwest forested region of Guyana.

The 276 dead American children had no choice.

Teacher with Children Singing – Jonestown – Guyana
Photo Credit: California Digital Library

 

Victim of his own megalomania and alternate reality, the Pentecostal leader coerced his followers into ingesting cyanide-laced, grape-flavored Flavor Aid.

“Revolutionary suicide,” the Reverend Jim Jones called his final, defiant act. Continue reading →

“Male and female He created them”

14 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by in Human Behavior, Social Injustice, United States

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Brett Kavanaugh sworn in to the US Supreme Court - 6 October 2018

Brett Kavanaugh sworn in to the U.S. Supreme Court – October 6, 2018
Photo Credit: The Press Democrat

 

Despite sexual assault allegations, on October 6, 2018, Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in to the U.S. Supreme Court. His contentious nomination process before the male-dominated Senate Committee hammered home the gnawing reality: Women have yet to achieve equal footing with men under our legal system.

To achieve what may have been a lifelong ambition, Kavanaugh exposed his “two spirited daughters” to the public bashing of his integrity. Has he used the sexual allegations – which he has denied with tears and anger – as a teaching moment for his ten- and thirteen-year old daughters? Has he considered the possibility that his daughters could one day suffer the same trauma as his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford?

Ford did not tell her parents what had happened that summer day while she was out with trusted friends. Like so many of us born female, she kept the sexual assault a secret. Continue reading →

Space-time: A Cosmic Perspective of Man’s Entanglement

27 Sunday May 2018

Posted by in Human Behavior, Poetry by Rosaliene Bacchus

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Artist conception of curved space-time around Earth - NASA

Artist’s conception of GP-B measuring the curved space-time around Earth
Photo Credit: NASA

 

Einstein’s theories of relativity
upending the way we view time.
Past – present – future but an illusion.
Time & space woven together
forming a four-dimensional fabric.
Space-time, Einstein called it.

Quantum entanglement defies physics.
Separate entangled photons
& they remain connected
mimicking the behavior of the other
at the same time.
Spooky action at a distance, Einstein called it.

What of Man made from stardust
of atoms & entangled photons
existing in space-time
mindless of his cosmic entanglement
and shared fate?

Misogyny – racism – xenophobia
expand space-time between photons
disrupting their entanglement.
Same but separate
yearning and friction without end.

America
rising from the detritus of war
splits the atom
unleashing humanity’s Doomsday Machine
in space-time.

Jerusalem
citadel of the gods
of Christians – Jews – Muslims
trapped in space-time
where past – present – future are one.

In space-time warped by Man
world peace is impossible.

Man of Earth
how do you undo
what can’t be disentangled?

 

LEARN MORE:
Space-time Continuum
http://einstein.stanford.edu/content/relativity/q411.html
Quantum Entanglement
http://www.livescience.com/28550-how-quantum-entanglement-works-infographic.html
The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg (USA 2017)
http://www.ellsberg.net/doomsday-documents/

 

 

Motherhood: Where is the joy?

13 Sunday May 2018

Posted by in Family Life, Human Behavior, United States

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Today on Mother’s Day in America, families are celebrating the day with their mothers and grandmothers. While my sons will mark the day by joining me in activities I enjoy, I see no cause to celebrate motherhood.

Where is the joy of motherhood, I ask myself, when you live in fear of ICE agents separating you from your American-born children? Where is the joy in motherhood when your hours of labor value little to provide food and shelter for your children? Where is the joy in motherhood when intolerance, bullying, and hate put your children’s lives at risk? Where is the joy in motherhood when you watch your child suffer for lack of medical treatment?

Why, I ask myself, do we bring children into a hostile world that no longer fights for their right to life once they leave our womb? Why do we bring children into a world facing ecological collapse, climate disruption, and threat of nuclear war?

Speak to me not of love. Love protects and defends our young. Love nurtures.

I speak not to parents and grandparents who are doing their best, going beyond the possible. Rather, I speak to those among us who support laws and policies that favor corporations and billionaires and punish the families of our nation.

In an overpopulated world, motherhood has lost its meaning. Our uterus is for “baby-hosting.” Just ask Katy Talento on the White House team.