My writings - and those of others.
Ponderings
An Easter weekend rather like no other. A minor knee injury made staying in less of a punishment than the current pandemic. And other experiences gave it some positive flavour that probably would not have happened otherwise.
I finished Elizabeth Wilkerson’s admirable book Caste. As a PBS Newshour watcher I feel in good company when I see it on the bookshelves of both Jonathan Capehart and David Brooks. Its strengths relate to its impeccable research and portrayals of three examples of caste systems - India, Nazi Germany, and the United States - with their long term effects on their cultures and how they handle them. Her personal experience in India and America also brings the experience of caste to light. This is a must read for anyone who wants to see a different outcome to our heritage of race and caste and gives a reality to any settler culture like our Canadian one.
The next was a presentation that happens once a month, led by a Roman Catholic leader called an eco-sabbath. In past times it would not be possible for me to attend these because of a time conflict, but in Zoom time, that changes. Dennis O’Hara noted that he had tried this presentation ten years ago and met considerable pushback - but decided to try it again on Easter Day. His main point was that resurrection applies not only to the Christian story but the story of the universe itself. These views come from his understanding presented in the writings of American “geologian” Thomas Berry and Australian theologian Denis Edwards. In both writers, the universe itself moves toward fullness and fulfillment. The resurrection for today happens through our meeting all the creatures and creations of the world with the opportunity to ease their suffering and help them realize their full reality and beauty.
His audience was far more accepting of this view this time - formed by the writings of Berry whose influence on the book and film presentation “Journey of the Universe” is also celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
The last was a good column yesterday celebrating the views of indigenous leaders in The Globe and Mail. Known as Jaqueline Ottman where she is Vice Provost of Indigenous Engagement and Professor at the University of Saskatchwan. But she is also known as Misiwaykommigk Paypomwayotung in her Anishinabe first nations community. She is an advocate for indigenous ways of knowing and being.
Spending a lot of time with a grandmother who understood medicinal plants and astronomy, and who had escaped being sent to residential schools and retained her original language, was a rare advantage. Ottman learned both the language and her culture first hand. She had the rare privilege of seeing western culture through those eyes as she was able to continue her secondary school and further education. And this combination as well as encountering racism framed her search for social justice.
She notes that the closest ideas of western leadership to those of her own community would be servant or adaptive leadership, adding to this both respect for the views of the ancestors and a recognition that decisions look ahead to the next seven generations. Our North American culture contrasts strongly as we neglect our history and express concern for our grandchildren - only two generations ahead. It also has huge implications for how we treat the land - not as part of all our relations, but as something to exploit.
A good Easter - transformative and thought provoking. What actions can evolve?
Minimalism
Technology simplifies our lives but it also affects us in ways we don’t realize until we are without it. I recently fell and wrecked a knee; that meant I prevailed upon a son to drive me to a routine eye appointment. I could take a few steps with a cane or hiking poles but going any distance was still pretty panful.
He called ten minutes before arriving to ensure I was at the door. In fact we were early and drove around so as not to arrive too early - showing how we use the automobile without thinking as to how we are affecting the planet by doing so - but that’s another story. I got to the office, went through the inevitable Covid screening and as usual sat for a wait. A woman sitting across from me - properly distanced - was gazing at her phone and I automatically reached for mine. It wasn’t in my purse.
My first reaction was to panic - and then to beat myself up. It was already in the purse when my son called. How could I have stupidly laid it aside? To make things worse I was to text him back when I was ready for a ride home. What was his cell number? I could remember the land line, but had they cancelled it when all four members of that household had Iphones? I couldn’t recall his cell - or that of any other family member.
I had lots of time to think through a way to connect. I was pretty sure I remembered another son’s cell - but now my stupidity would be revealed even more widely. But son number one has a business website. Wait a minute, I thought - he probably has a phone number on that site. When I finally saw the optometrist and sheepishly told her my problem, I asked whether she could check his site. She did and asked the receptionist to call my son letting him know I would be ready for a pick up in five minutes. Problem solved. The receptionist handed me a little slip with his number on it - as well as giving me a card with my next appointment. It’s still in the purse and reminds me to jot it down in my Bullet Journal. I just did. I’ll also try to memorize his cell number.
I’ve been recently reading Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism - actually listening to it as an audiobook on the Libby app on my tablet. Is this Minimialist? I’m not addicted to social media but my aging brain has conveniently downloaded some important information to a small portable computer. I didn’t need my own - but it was interesting how reliant I was on those of others.
As it happened, my own phone had dropped out of the small purse and my son noticed it on his car seat. He did have confidence that I would figure something out - so that’s at least something. And instead of going home we went to his house where a bunch of Celtic musicians were playing in the back yard - and I got to join in by playing on a 77 key battery powered Roland keyboard. I still agree with Newport that we are overly reliant on our technologies. The important thing is good choice of where and when.
Polarization around climate change
Photo Credit::University of Virginia Race and Democracy Lab
A recent conversation with one of my sons centered on the importance of curation in the age of too much information. I’m interested in how what I read frames and changes my own knowledge. I came upon this video recently which tackles this important divergence. While the video is quite long I urge you to watch the whole thing. If you can’t because of your own information overload, you could use the trailer which I have also posted below.
We sometimes forget that any point of view in the present has a history of formation in the past as well as implications for how it plays out in the future. The University of Virginia created a Religion, Race & Democracy Lab and explored how these elements interface. It tells us:
“The video addresses decades of what it calls “religious polarization, political propaganda, corporate deal-making, and environmental injustice based on systemic racism.”
You can find the full version here.
Or view the trailer here
Celebrating Women
Begun in 19111 and marked annually on March 8th, International Women's Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:
celebrate women's achievements
raise awareness about women's equality
lobby for accelerated gender parity
fundraise for female-focused charities
The theme this year is Choose to Challenge. It directs people to do so by looking a statements on social media, through images that show bias and stereotypes, and to foster discussions, The Canadian Women’s Foundation has been particularly active in sponsoring gender justice.
And as the pandemic’s effects continue and there is a call to return to “normal” it may also well to to rethink the less attractive aspects of normal. You can see some of them.
Values and strategies
Continuing on the report of Climate Action.
These are the values that the Alberta study found need to focus upon in engaging young people. While they were specific, they also have broader application.
Security - learning needs to suggest that climate changes and the actions we are asked to take bear a relationship to a predictable future.
Achievement and self direction - a desire to learn the skills to build the world they want to create.
Place attachment - focus on the locality where students live and love.
Continuity - young people want to see new energy initiatives create the prosperity that former ones did.
Responsibility and agency - Young people realize that the future is theirs - and they are prepared to take responsibility for it.
The study noted that only a small number - 10% - dismissed the reality of climate change. Building on the previous studies of Alberta adults, these are the narratives that are seen as relevant to teens
Love of locale (in this case, Alberta, but the same could apply to any province or region.
Early adulthood - high school students are the next generation and are eager to take responsibility for their world.
Climate - it will be challenging to talk about when parents’ employment or family history has depended upon fossil fuel industries. This must be a starting point. We do have to talk about it and recognize climate science based facts. It also helps to face the fact that we have overcome hard issues in the past by facing them realistically and honestly
Energy - Clean energy solutions are under development. There have been energy transitions in the past and we have survived them.+