Empathy and Apathy
Please enjoy a great Blog by, Jonathon Brooks.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another human being. It’s an excellent mark of character whenever an individual displays empathy. Caring and thoughtful people have this mark about them as they meet their fellow life travelers. Having the character trait of empathy makes life sweeter for the person who has it while also benefitting humanity as a whole. Apathy states that he doesn’t care, but empathy says she cares wholeheartedly.
Special moments for me happen when I share with someone else that I have bipolar disorder and I can see the empathy on their countenance and in their eyes. The person with empathy often proceeds to tell me about someone they love dearly who also has bipolar or they begin to reveal that they personally have bipolar. These moments, and these individuals who understand and care, have been some of the greatest moments in my…
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SIU@ Carbondale…Waits
As I walked the SIUC Campus, today, I marveled at the majestic autumnal beauty of my surroundings.
After the, untimely passing, of chancellor Montemagno, our campus waits for the clarion call for renewal and revitalization of our proud institution of higher education.
One of SIUC’s greatest, natural assets, is the, profound, natural beauty of its’ physical location. With two woods on campus and a plethora of wildlife…it is a. learning laboratory, in the great tradition of; Emerson and Thoreau.
There are so many of us, countless thousands, that have received, not only our education, but life opportunities and lessons, regarding the beauty of inclusion and diversity…at our great university…that it is never far from our thoughts and our hearts.
The, unique, combination of the friendliness of the Southern Illinois region and the, natural wonders, of its’ environment…with the elite academic programs offered by SIU; has been a, compelling draw for students from across the country and around the world.
Over 40 years ago, when I became a member of the housekeeping department, Building Services, on Campus; I noticed that I soon became a member of the SIUC family. I, quickly, met students from Malaysia and Turkey and Japan and Africa.
I felt that I wanted to remain a part of the SIUC family…for the rest of my life!
I met and spoke with the Holocaust survivor and famous author and lecturer, Elie Wiesel.
I spoke with John Updike and Carl Bernstein.
I became friends with two of the nations most noteworthy historians, Peter and Jo Ann Argersinger.
I enjoyed the, unwavering, support of the, superior, Building Services staff…and I was humbled by their confidence in me…and their friendship.
Miraculous transformations occur…when you allow yourself to be exposed to people and ideas…that, at one time, you had not imagined!
‘ Thinking outside the box,’ leads to a stadium…which leads to an ocean…which leads to a planet…which leads to a universe…of ideas and acceptance and working together for the…human family!
The Mystery of Cults
‘A system of religious veneration and devotion toward a particular figure or object.’
‘A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.’
‘A misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing. A cult of personality surrounding the leaders.’ Dictionary
Many times, I have witnessed the, supremely confident orator, sway people to his or her opinion.
We tend to listen to leaders who tell us what we, already believe, or what we want to hear.
Religious groups and ideologies are, abundant, throughout the world. When we think of cults, we think of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple, who moved their church from Los Angles, California to Guyana, South America and subsequently drank, Kool Aid laced with cyanide…and over 900 of the parishioners died…at the instructions of their leader.
Or the, Heaven’s Gate cult, where 39 members participated in,’ mass suicide in order to reach what they believed was an extraterrestrial spacecraft following Comet Hale-Bopp.’ Wikipedia
The Heaven’s Gate cult was led by Marshall Applewhite.
The reality of religious cults is much more endemic and profuse in the societies of the world.
Many of us are affiliated with a cult…and do not realize it.
When a religious leader is doing your thinking for you…you are in a cult.
If you are giving more money than you can afford to give to your, faith community, and it is not your idea, but rather the ministers idea…you are in a cult.
If your religious doctrine is centered around hate of others that are different than you and your fellow congregants….you are in a cult.
If your faith dogma is based in hate of other members of the human family….you are not in a Christian Faith…you are in….something else?
I remember, like it was yesterday, when Reverend Jerry Falwell was the minister at the Liberty Baptist Church and his sermons were televised, each Sunday. I watched him, most Sundays. He began speaking about his, initial concepts, of creating the Moral Majority…and attempting to have, fundamentalist christianity, have an influence on the political arena.
The concept sounded interesting…but the results have been devastating.
Of late, all fundamentalist standards of holiness and Christian ethics, have been set aside to facilitate the, unwavering support of the current chief executive.
Politics, over the past 50 years, has become; tribal and caustic and vile…and cultish!
We have morphed from a country that had many moderate senators and congressmen. Our founding fathers created a system of government that is based on compromise. Fifty years ago most of the south was Democrats.
Now we decide that if our friends and family do not see politics as we see it…something is wrong with our friends and family.
We do not believe the, mainstream news that we see on television, unless it is the news that portrays, only, our political point of view.
I, being an old guy, remember when the news did not contain, by and large, the newscasters political opinion. I recall, vividly, when cable news shows began to include, talking heads, who would argue the merits of each political or social issue.
Have you ever witnessed a Hitler Rally on an old newsreel?
Adolf Hitler, a failed artist, had a style of oratory that captivated his listeners. He began his speeches by watching the gathered, thousands of Germans, for several minutes…until many wondered if he was going to speak at all. He then started speaking, slowly and in a low and calm voice…and, systematically, began to raise the volume of his voice and the passion of his speech…until he had the audience…enraptured…and worshipful.
The eyes of the members of Hitler’s audience are, dilated and manic, and the logic of his points…were not examined by the throngs of spectators…who were in a religious-ecstasy…that promised them a relief from their suffering and a scapegoat for their problems.
How did an entire nation…sit idly by…while 6 million Jews were murdered?
How did an entire nation not say a word when Jews were taken from their homes and their businesses were vandalized and they were placed into box cars, like cattle…no, worse than cattle…to be taken by rail to…Aushcwitz and Treblinka…for the purpose of being…gassed?
Think for yourself!
Do not let anyone tell you what to believe or who to worship…or who to vote for!
I have written and spoken about the wonderful gift that all of us are afforded…the ability to think for ourselves! When something seems; wrong, or ‘fishy’ or not in concurrence with what our eyes have seen or our ears have heard or what we have understood by research of the subject, being disseminated,…beware!
The day is coming…and soon…when the United States will need all of it’s citizenry to be united against an outside force that wants to; capture us…and enslave us…and take our finances and our homes and our personal possessions…and they will no longer be afraid…because the poem of Emma Lazarus…no longer applies…and it is dry as cotton in our mouth…when we attempt to quote it.
‘The New Colossus’
‘Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame.
With Conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lighting, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she
With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’
VOTE!
Welcome Holidays!
It seems that it was only, yesterday, that I was wishing those who I met…Happy New Year!
The next two months will, rapidly, fly by.
‘ Thanksgiving Day is a National holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2018 occurs on Thursday, November 22. In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest fest that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states.’ Wikipedia
‘ A Proclamation’
‘I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do herby designate Thursday, the twenty-first day of November, 1940, to be observed nationally as a day of thanksgiving.’
‘In a year which has seen calamity and sorrow fall upon many peoples elsewhere in the world may we give thanks for our preservation.’
‘On the same day, in the same hour, let us pray:’ The American Presidency Project
Thanksgiving, for me as a child, consisted of the Macy’s Day Parade on television. Mom insisted that, due to the close proximity of Thanksgiving to Christmas…that she, simply, did not have the time or the energy…for both.
Now, the joys of Thanksgiving…were not lost on me, as we colored and cut out turkeys and pilgrims, at school, and there was usually a roast for the holiday dinner…and mom made, delicious, roast!
But, Christmas…was a different kettle of fish…as the old timers once said.
This was the time that we unboxed the aluminum christmas tree and placed the multi-colored light wheel next to it. It was the time of; christmas coffee cake and Laughing Santa and the Sears Catalogue Wish Book.
People seemed a little nicer…and there was the Lion’s Club Free Movie at the Orpheum Theatre and afterward a, large, basket of candy and toys…that every, hopeful child, received.
In financially secure years, when my mom and dad were still together…there was a plethora of toys and games and cowboy outfits and laughter and a lightness of being!
During the years when mom and I were going it alone…the gifts were fewer…but special.
Santa Claus came to our house at 116 West Street, the Christmas after mom and Earl got married. I could not believe, that the majestic man of the season, had time to visit me in Eldorado, Illinois. He not only knew my name but assured me that I would receive the gifts that I requested of him…and, lo and behold, I did!
After our boys were born, they throughly enjoyed Christmas in Eldorado…at Grandma and Grandpa Fitzsimmons.
On our drive to the big event, we passed, annually, a, spooky, three storied house that had one, lone, candle in each of the, many windows in the home. The candles were red and were accompanied by, black, banners that stretched from the roof to the ground. It was, much more, reminiscent of Halloween than Christmas.
Grandma Neva June had talked and talked about her grandsons seeing her Christmas Tree that she had, painstakingly, erected for the magical event!
When they arrived, they raced throughout the house to be the first one to see the Christmas Tree in all of it’s holiday splendor!
Finally…they exclaimed…where is your Christmas Tree…Grandma?
She pointed to a table in the dinning room that had a foot tall christmas tree with, tiny, christmas ornaments, attached.
During the latter years of our Eldorado Christmas Holidays, we enjoyed a glass…or two…of Franzia Boxed Wine. We thought ourselves wine connoisseur.
Grandma Neva June….served the red wine in 12oz water glasses…and she filled them to the top.
The, luxurious, red wine…enhanced the warmth of the holiday!
The Happy Traveler 