Putting Christ in Christmas - 2012

If you were to ask me “What was your favorite month of Epistle readings at Sunday Mass?”, I would immediately answer that it was September 2012.  During that month, the second readings at Sunday Mass were from the Epistle of St. James.  Here are some samples:

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

“Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?”

“Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.  Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten, your gold and silver have corroded, and that corrosion will be a testimony against you; it will devour your flesh like a fire.  You have stored up treasure for the last days.  Behold the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.”

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works. … If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, eat well,’ but do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?  So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

The second readings at Sunday Mass usually don’t get a lot of attention during the homilies.  Typically, the first reading (Old Testament) and the Gospel reading share a common theme and it’s easier to focus on them in preparing a cohesive homily.  But I think the readings from St. James include very important messages.

During the Christmas season, we focus on God taking on human form, in the person of Jesus.  We celebrate that the Almighty came to earth and lived among us.  But, we can also look beyond that to a key theme of Jesus’s life.  God could have chosen to come among us in glory and majesty, born into a wealthy and influential family.  But he did not.  He was born in a manger, to a carpenter and his young wife.  The Holy Family fled to Egypt, to avoid the wrath of Herod.  During his public ministry, Jesus reached out to the poor and needy, healing the sick, the blind, the lame, the lepers.  He preached about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison and said that, when we have done this for the least of his brethren, we have done it for him.  He told the wealthy young man that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.  Certainly, as God and as a charismatic preacher, Jesus could have built an earthly empire and acquired much wealth, influence and power.  Instead he chose to give his life for us, dying on a cross between two common criminals.  He was a King, but his Kingdom was “not of this earth”.

At a time when the income gap between rich and poor keeps widening, when politicians argue about whether to cut social safety net programs that needy folks rely on (unemployment, Medicaid, heating assistance, the Women, Infants and Children program, etc.), let’s remember how our Savior lived his life and the things he preached about.  In thinking about how we deal with the problems of our society, let’s ask ourselves “What Would Jesus Do?”.

Have a very merry and blessed Christmas!

Voting for President in 2012

On November 6, I will cast my vote for Barack Obama for President of the United States.

There was a time when I thought I wouldn't do that.  What I'd really like to do is write in Bernie Sanders for President.  Do you know Bernie Sanders?  He is the Independent US Senator from Vermont.  He supports progressive ideas and is a great advocate for the middle class and the poor.  Both Pres. Obama and Gov. Romney say in their speeches and debate statements that they want to make the middle class stronger.  But their policies would continue to advantage the wealthy more than the middle class.  But, for Bernie Sanders, support for the middle class is more than election rhetoric.  

On December 10, 2010, Sen. Sanders spoke for 8 hours and 37 minutes on the Senate floor in opposition to a 2 year extension of the Bush tax cuts and the deal that had been agreed to by Democrats and Republicans to continue tax breaks for the wealthy.  That speech has now been released as a book, titled The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class.

In my opinion, Bernie Sanders is a statesman, not just a politician.  I believe he is sincerely concerned about the best interests of the American people, not just the wealthy and powerful.  Here's a link to his appearance on Moyers and Company, which gives a small taste of what he is like:

Bernie Sanders on Moyers and Company

If you decide to keep watching after the Bernie Sanders segment, you can hear the Green Party Presidential candidate, Jill Stein, talk about the Green Party platform.  For a while, I thought of voting for her.

However, in the end I have decided to vote for Barack Obama.  I could probably get away with voting for Bernie Sanders or Jill Stein without affecting the outcome in New Jersey, which is expected to be won by Obama easily.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that Pres. Obama's policies, as a whole, are horrible.  And they are certainly much better than Gov. Romney's and the Republican party's.  But, I think he has been too willing to compromise with Republicans and not willing enough to fight for the middle class and the poor.  He has gotten us out of Iraq but is not getting us out of Afghanistan quickly enough.  He is too committed to using drones and too willing to accept the civilian casualties that result.  He is too beholden to Wall St.

I read a couple columns recently that encouraged people to vote for Pres. Obama in order to register votes against Gov. Romney.  I guess that's where I am in this election.  I believe that a Romney administration would be a disaster for the country.  I believe Romney would be heavily influenced by the extreme right wing of the Republican party and I couldn't live with the results of that.  So, I think it's best to try to put as many votes in the Obama column as possible, to send a message that he is preferable to Romney.

What I would really like to see is a third (progressive) party that is not reliant on wealthy individuals for its campaign funds and that would represent the interests of the people of this country.

P.S. - Network, a Catholic lobbying group, has created an election guide that compares Pres. Obama's and Gov. Romney's positions, in relation to Network's framing of the issues according to Catholic Social Teaching.  Pres. Obama seems to be more in line with Catholic Social Teaching than Gov. Romney.  Although I think they do not include some of Obama's negatives (e.g., the drone strikes), I agree that Obama's policies are more in line with Catholic Social Teaching.

Click here to see Network's Election Guide

Individualism - Some Consequences

Last time I wrote about the extraordinary emphasis in our country on individualism.  I think this focus on the rights of the individual versus the responsibilities each of us has to promote the common good results in a number of things that do harm to the world we live in.  Here are some examples:

·      People throwing cigarette butts, empty plastic bottles and paper cups, papers that food was wrapped in on the ground or out of the car window.

·      Bumper stickers and car decals that include curse words, crude comments and pictures, e.g., a decal of Calvin peeing on the Ford logo.  I recently saw a decal on the back of a mini-van that had a father, mother and kids, with names underneath.  The family was labeled “The Ass Family” and the names underneath were “Smart Ass”, “Wise Ass”, “Stupid Ass”, etc.

·      The greed of bankers, hedge fund managers, CEOs and other corporate executives, who believe there is nothing wrong with making millions of dollars a year while others earn only minimum wage and millions of children live in poverty.

·      The belief among many Americans that taxes need to be decreased over and over again so they can pay less and less, regardless of the impact it has overall on the society.

Can you think of others?

I've Been Wondering ...

I’ve been wondering whether the shooting in the Pathmark store in Old Bridge, NJ, which killed two employees, is related to the extreme emphasis on individualism in America.  Also, the shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, CO; and the one in the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, WI.  Certainly, we can’t identify a direct link between the specific shootings and the individualism phenomenon.  The gunmen in these situations most likely had some sort of mental health problems that could be pointed to as being a more direct cause.  But, could the focus on each of us as an individual, with individual rights that others can’t abridge (as opposed to seeing us as part of a larger community) have played a part?

When I was growing up, people talked about the common good.  It meant that, as individuals, we should act in a way that promoted the common good of the communities we lived in – our town, our state, our country, and our world.  It meant seeing ourselves as part of a larger community.  I don’t hear many people talk about that very much these days.  It seems that, for many people, the focus is on the individual person.  Some people act as though they have made themselves everything they are.  As though they didn’t have parents who acted as models for them and taught them their basic values.  As though they weren’t influenced by the teachers they spent hours a day with for 12 or 16 or more years.  As though they weren’t affected by the friends who listened to them, argued with them, played sports or musical instruments with them, supported them and hugged them when they needed it.

Our society and many of our leaders emphasize the importance of each of us standing up for ourselves and taking care of our own needs, instead of relying on others.  George W. Bush advocated for America to become an “ownership society”, in which individual Americans would take more responsibility for themselves and depend less on government programs.  One of the keystones of this “ownership society” would be people’s investment of their money in the stock market for their retirement, instead of contributing to the government-run Social Security system.  Theoretically, it sounds good.  But it can be a risky venture, as recent years have shown.  Ayn Rand, the philosopher whose ideas Paul Ryan espouses, believes that people should act on “rational self-interest.”  She believes that each of us has to act in our own best interests, that what we achieve by our efforts is ours and that government’s role is to make sure no one takes it away from us.  Again, this puts the focus on the individual, and doesn’t acknowledge the societal supports we have throughout our lives.  The two examples I have given are of Republican politicians.  But Democrats have been all too willing to go along with emphasizing the responsibilities of the individual and cutting programs that support those who have fallen on hard times.

The message is that each of needs to be self-reliant.  That we should not depend on others and others should not depend on us.  Does a society that emphasizes this message so much encourage isolation of its citizens?  Does it make it more likely that individuals will feel they are disconnected from others?  Does it make it more likely that an individual who could benefit from the support of others will not see reaching out to others as a viable option?

How would it affect our country and our citizens if the message coming from our leaders was that we are connected to one another, that each of us is part of a community that cares about us?  If that message permeated our society and our lives, would it make our society a more supportive one and help prevent the mass violence we saw in Old Bridge and Aurora and Oak Creek?  I’ve been wondering …

Happy Retirement, Fr. Brian!

I’ve always felt that, as Catholics, we need to have both an inner spiritual life and an outward life of Christian action in the world.  We have to have be prayerful and contemplative, spending time establishing a relationship with God and making the teachings of the Bible part of our lives.  But, we also have to act on those teachings, bringing God’s love to others.  However, I have to admit, my inclination is more toward the action-in-the-world aspect of my religion.

A couple weeks ago my wife, Pat, and I attended a retirement party for a priest friend who is a great example of bringing God’s love to others.  Fr. Brian McCormick lived and worked in the Wilbur section of Trenton, NJ, for 42 years as a living sign of the love of God in this world.  Initially, the home where he lived and welcomed others into was called The Martin House.  Over the time he lived and worked there, it developed into The Martin HouseFoundation: A Community for Justice.  The programs sponsored by MHFCJ include rehabbing and building homes, Boy Scout and Girl Scout programs, an early learning center, a homeless shelter, a used clothing/thrift store, a summer camp program, and more.

A major part of the Martin House Foundation is Better Community Housing of Trenton. Over the past 42 years, BCHT has renovated or built a total of 167 homes.  Its process is similar to Habitat for Humanity, in that it relies on volunteers to help renovate and build the homes, the prospective homeowners have to put sweat equity into the home and homeowners receive a low-cost mortgage that is interest-free.  But it goes beyond that, in that it is a job-training program for young people who live in the neighborhood.  Working alongside skilled craftsmen, they learn marketable skills that will help them improve their lives and their employment prospects.

There were about 300 guests at Fr. Brian’s retirement party.  They included family, friends, BCHT home owners, people from the Wilbur section and employees  and volunteers of The Martin House family of programs.  While there were tributes and declarations from city and state politicians, the most moving words came from individuals who had been helped by the Martin House programs.  There were women who had been involved in the drill team as teenagers, who are now working as social workers.  Homeowners who talked about how home ownership had changed their lives.  And volunteers who talked about how helping renovate and build the homes had made such a big difference in their lives.  But most of all, they talked about Fr. Brian and how much they admired him for all he had done for their community.  More than one person said that he had saved their lives.

Fr. Brian’s ministry at Martin House was different from most parish priests.  Although many parishes have some ministries to focus on the poor and the needy, it frequently seems like a small slice of the pie.  For Fr. Brian, it was most of the pie, if not the whole pie.  Thinking about Fr. Brian’s work in Trenton brings to mind Jesus being criticized for spending so much time with the poor, the sick, the leprous, the sinners.  I think of Him saying that at the end of time he will welcome into his kingdom those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger and cared for the sick.

Now, Fr. Brian is retired.  His ministry to the people of the Wilbur section is done.  But his vision lives on in the organization he founded and nurtured over the last 42 years.  Throughout those years, he created, cultivated and reinforced a culture that will continue to have a very positive influence on the Wilbur section.  And we are all better off because of it.  Thank God for Fr. Brian McCormick!

Here’s a picture of Pat and me with Fr. Brian on the day of the party.

Rituals of Comfort

Here's a picture of my slippers.  You may recall that, in an earlier post, I said that one of the things I was looking forward to in retirement is being able to spend more time wearing my slippers.  The biggest reason that I'm looking forward to that is that my feet really hurt when I'm wearing shoes.  Wearing sneakers isn't so bad, but sometimes they hurt my feet too.  When I wear shoes I get a pain across my feet just at the base of my toes.  More so on my right foot than on my left.  By the end of the day, when I get home, I just want to get out of my shoes and put on my slippers.

I got my current slippers for Christmas this past year.  I actually ordered them on-line without having seen them in person or having tried them on.  I know I was taking a risk but it seems to have worked out.  I'd been looking at slippers for a while in stores and didn't find any that called out to me.  A lot of the slippers I saw in stores seemed too stiff to me.  I like slippers that are soft and flexible.  Not just the top part but also the sole.

For a number of years, I bought my slippers from Lands End.  But, they don't seem to sell them any more.  The ones from Lands End were very soft and the soles were made from soft leather, not from rubber.  Here's a picture of an old pair of slippers from Lands End.

I still have these and keep them in the stairway that goes from the kitchen to the basement - nice and handy.  If I don't want to go up to our bedroom on the third floor to get my new slippers, I just pull these old faithfuls out and put them on.  Ahhhh!

A number of years ago, I attended a presentation where the speaker talked about rituals of comfort.   He spoke about how we all have these and how they make our lives ... well, more comfortable.  Some people might always start their day by having a cup of coffee and reading the morning newspaper.  Some might go for a run or go to the gym when they get home from work.  Some people like to watch the evening news each evening after finishing dinner.  These can be rituals of comfort.  If you like to start your day off with a cup of coffee and the newspaper, imagine how out-of-sorts you might feel if you discover that you're out of coffee or the newpaper didn't show up on your porch.  It would throw you off.  We all have ways that we organize things and we take comfort that we can find things when we want them.  Imagine if someone had moved everything in your kitchen cabinets and drawers to different locations and you had to search through all the cabinets and drawers to find something you always kept in a certain place.  How disruptive that would be!

Wearing my slippers is a ritual of comfort for me.  It's a ritual that provides comfort not only to my feet but also to my soul.  (Pun intended.)

What are your rituals of comfort?

Thomas Merton

There once was a convert to Catholicism who entered the Gethsemani Trappist Monastery in Kentucky when he was 27 years old.  He died 27 years later, in 1968.  He is one of the best-known Catholic writers of our time.  He wrote books about theology and spirituality, and books about contemporary social issues (e.g., racism, war and nuclear proliferation).  He was also a poet and photographer.  To his brother monks in the monastery, he was known as Father Louis.  But to his readers, he was known by his given name, Thomas Merton.

One of the things that I like about Merton is that he viewed life as a journey and believed that he could always learn more, always improve his understanding of himself and his relationship to God.  As a Trappist monk, he was of course focused on prayer and deepening his understanding of God and his relationship to God.  He studied the lives and writings of saints and spiritual writers who had preceded him.  He learned whatever he could about monastic life.  He was deeply committed to his monastic vocation.  However, he was not constricted by the traditional structure of Catholic monasticism.  He was always open to new ideas.  Toward the end of his life, he became very interested in Eastern religions (e.g., Zen Buddhism, Sufism).  In these religions, he saw monks who were able to achieve transcendence that was similar to the contemplative experience of God that those in the Western religious traditions might achieve.  He believed he could learn from these Eastern monks lessons that would help enrich and complement his Catholic faith.

Contemplation was very important to Merton.  He wrote a number of books that focused on that subject.  But he also understood the need for Christian action in the world.  I admire the way he respected both these important aspects of Christianity.  Merton believed that solitude was very important in people’s lives.  For himself, he advocated for years for the opportunity to live as a hermit.  For the last 3 years of his life he was able to do this, living alone in a hermitage on the grounds of Gethsemani.  For those of us not living in a monastery, Merton believed that contemplation and solitude could help us to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and focus on the important things of life.  This contemplation and solitude help us experience God’s love in a deeper way and then lead us to bring God’s love to the world through social action.

One of the other things that I like about Thomas Merton is how down-to-earth he seemed.  Despite his being a well-known author, whose books were read around the world, the other monks at Gethsemani typically regarded him as just a brother monk.  And that is the way he saw himself.  His journals show that he was anything but perfect.  He struggled with obedience to his superiors throughout his monastic life.  Other monks described how he could be curt and abrupt when he thought a conversation was not worth having.  So, despite his great understanding of the spiritual life and his valuable writings that have guided so many others, we see Merton struggling in his spiritual journey, just as we do.

I admire Merton’s dedication to his faith, his journey to deepen that faith and draw closer to God throughout his life, his recognition of the importance of both contemplation and faith-driven social action, and a recognition of his ongoing struggle to become the best person he could be.  His writings cover a wide range of topics, so there might be something for everyone’s interests.  I’m listing some of them below.

Spirituality

Seven Story Mountain (autobiography from birth to life in the monastery)

New Seeds of Contemplation

No Man Is an Island

Contemplation in a World of Action

The Wisdom of the Desert

Social Action

Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

Cold War Letters

Raids on the Unspeakable

Spirituality of the East

The Way of Chuang Tzu

Mystics and Zen Masters

Zen and the Birds of Appetite

Also, here’s a link to a webpage about Merton on the Abbey of Gethsemani website.  It includes a picture of Merton.

Be Open to the Truth - Addendum

Just a couple days after I posted my blog Be Open to the Truth, I came across a column on Common Dreams that included some good examples of things that many people believe that are not supported by facts.  I thought the information included supported the point I was making in my blog post.  The piece I'm referring to is "U.S. Running on Myths, Lies, Deceptions and Distractions" by John Atcheson.  I hope it rings true for you as it did for me.  You can get to the column by clicking on the name of the article above.

 

Be Open to the Truth

I have a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy.  Sometimes I feel embarrassed to admit that, since I think a lot of people’s reaction would be “What can you do with a degree in Philosophy?”  But, I’m glad that I studied Philosophy and believe it has benefited me greatly throughout my life.

Philosophy is about the meaning of life, what we know, how we know it and how to live ethically. Having a philosophical perspective on life means being open to new ideas, new experiences, new information.  It means being willing to consider ideas, experiences and information, even if they seem to conflict with our currently-held beliefs.  It means thinking critically about our experiences and not just accepting things as true because we saw it on tv, read it in the paper or heard it from a politician.

During my senior year in college, I wrote a paper about philosophy and ideology.  As opposed to philosophy, which is open to all information, ideas and experiences, ideology is rooted in specific ideas and rejects concepts that don’t fit with them.  Presented with new information, philosophy would evaluate it, try to determine its validity and see how it could fit in with the current belief system.  This process might result in that belief system being modified.  Ideology would reject it if it were not compatible with the current belief system.

Racism is a good example of an ideology.  Many people who grew up in the southern United States before the civil rights movement, held a deeply rooted belief that black people were, by nature, inferior to whites.   That belief made them reject facts that would have required them to accept blacks as equals.  Another example of an ideology is the belief of many Americans that global warming does not exist, despite a consensus among most scientists that it is a reality.

We all have a natural tendency to accept certain information and ideas and shut out others.  It’s easier to do this than to leave ourselves open to information and ideas that challenge our current belief system.  However, I think that conservatives in America have a greater tendency to do this.  For example, currently one of the major tenets of conservatism is that taxes not be increased for any reason.  This belief is practically absolute.  No matter what’s happening in our country, taxes must remain as they are; or, better yet, be decreased.  It’s the solution to everything.  If the economy is doing well, the best way to keep it that way is to decrease taxes.  If the economy is doing poorly, decreasing taxes will help it improve.

Another example of conservative ideology is its opposition to regulations.  The belief is that all regulations stifle American business.  There is no acknowledgement that deregulation of the financial industry resulted in a worldwide economic crisis that we are still suffering through.  Related to this is the concept that millionaires and billionaires need to have their taxes reduced so they can be job creators.  Their taxes have been reduced and it hasn’t led to significant job creation.  It doesn’t work – but conservatives won’t admit it.  The belief of many conservatives that President Obama was not born in the United States is based on ideology.  When his long form birth certificate was released, the reaction of some conservatives was that it must be a fake.

Let’s all work at not becoming ideologues, people who won’t take the risk of considering new information and ideas that don’t fit in with our current beliefs.  Let’s be open to new ideas.  Let’s evaluate them carefully.  Let’s be willing to change our ideas and beliefs if we encounter new ideas that are valid and truthful.  Let’s act like philosophers!

Looking Forward to Retirement

Here are some things I’m looking forward to when I retire:

Not having to drive at least an hour to and from work.

Not having to get up at around 5:45 am to exercise before work.

Not having to get out early to shovel 6 inches of snow before going to work.

Being able to choose how I will spend my day.

Being able to have lunch with my lovely wife.

Having time to read more (serious things and entertaining mysteries).

Having time to use the woodshop tools I’ve been collecting.

Having time to ride my bicycle during the week (for exercise and leisure).

Not having to wear a tie to work.

Being able to dress casually every day.

Being able to wear my slippers for more than a couple hours a day.

Saving money on gas and servicing for my car.

Not having to worry about how bad the traffic will be on Route 80 at the end of the day, when I’m driving back from Paterson.

Being able to sleep in if I haven’t slept well during the night.

Not having to worry about requests for reports, lists, etc., by the end of the day.

Having more time to get repairs done around the house.

Less stress and having my blood pressure be lower than it’s been in the past few years.  Now there’s one I’m really looking forward to.

Giving people the opportunity to say “Boy, Emil looks really good since he retired.”  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say that about other retirees.  I’m not sure why that is.  But, I’m looking forward to seeing whether it works for me.  I’ll let you know a year from now.

The Face of Poverty

January 15 is the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.  He is honored as an icon of the Civil Rights movement and his speeches and leadership helped guide that movement.  However, his involvement in working for economic justice is not as well remembered.  Before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, he had begun to focus his efforts on the Poor People’s Campaign.  He recognized the importance of economic justice in the fight for equality between the races but also as a basic human right.

Now, more than 40 years later, there are still too many poor among us.  Take a look at these statistics:

¨ In 2010, the Census Bureau reported 46.2 million Americans living below the poverty line.

¨ In that same year, there were almost 50 million Americans without health insurance. 

¨ In December 2011, 13.1 million Americans were unemployed, with 5.6 million of those being long-term unemployed, meaning they had been unemployed 27 weeks or more.  In addition, there were 8.1 million categorized as involuntary part-time workers (who had their hours cut back to part time or were unable to find full-time jobs). 

¨ According to the USDA, in 2007, 3.3 million households were food insecure for the children living there, meaning that those households lacked consistent access to food for the children in the household.  Of those 3.3 million households, 85% had one or more adults who were working; 70% had one or more adults working full-time.

I remember seeing a video clip of George W. Bush at a campaign rally, where he was praising one of his supporters who was on the stage with him because that person was working three jobs to support her family.  Come on!  No one should have to work three jobs to support their family.

America is the richest country in the world.  And yet, we have many people who do not have adequate food, housing, employment or health care.  There are many people and politicians who would say that those Americans who are living in poverty could lift themselves out of poverty if they wanted to.  But, with a minimum wage that is not a living wage, that’s not easy to do.  The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.  A person who works full-time for that wage will earn just $14,500 per year.

When he was president, Ronald Reagan told a story about a Welfare Queen who was able to acquire so much money through the welfare system that she was able to purchase a Cadillac with the money.  The story created a lot of outrage against the welfare system among Americans.  It turned out the story wasn’t true.  However, it helped develop a mindset among many Americans that people on welfare and poor working people don’t deserve the aid that our social safety net programs provide.

It seems to me that one of the reasons we don’t provide adequate help to other Americans in need is that many of us focus on policies and politics instead of people.  I remember reading that, when respondents to a survey were asked whether they favored specific social programs (e.g., welfare, food stamps), a majority were not in favor of them.  However, if they were asked whether they thought we should help others who were in need, a majority were in favoring of helping them.

Today, with so much unemployment and so many home mortgage foreclosures, perhaps each of us knows a relative or friend or neighbor who has fallen on hard times.  Perhaps we know someone who wants to work but can’t find a job; someone who was talked into a mortgage they couldn’t afford and has now lost their home; someone who is homeless because of not being able to find work; someone who is physically or mentally disabled and is unable to work; a vet returning from war who has PTSD and is unable to work.  Perhaps putting a human face on the issue of poverty will make a difference in the way we approach the issue of poverty and the social safety net programs that help those people.

Give Peace a Chance

Every year the Catholic Church celebrates World Day of Peace on January 1 and the Pope delivers an address related to Peace.  Since it’s the beginning of 2012, I’ve been thinking about World Peace, or the lack of it.

Recently I’ve been reading Come to Think of It, a book of commentaries that Daniel Schorr delivered on National Public Radio for many years.  Every year, beginning in 1991, he had a commentary toward the end of December in which he spoke about how Peace on Earth had fared in the year that was coming to an end.  Each year, from his perspective, Peace had not fared very well on this Earth.  In 2002, he finished his commentary this way:  “Sorry about the gloomy note.  Maybe there’ll be a happier assessment of peace on Earth this time next year.  If not, I’m going to beg off doing these wrap-ups.”  He finally gave up in December of 2005, in a commentary that started “This is my last contribution of the year to All Things Considered, and so allow me to say good-bye 2005 and good riddance.”

For 2011, score one for Peace on Earth with the end of the war in Iraq and all US soldiers coming home.  However, we’re still fighting in Afghanistan and the news is telling us about a possible conflict with Iran, which is threatening to block oil shipments if additional sanctions are put in place against it.  Those are only the conflicts the US is involved in.  There are plenty of other armed conflicts we’re not a party to.

Having spent a fair amount of time this holiday season with my cute and delightful grandchildren, I’ve come up with an idea that I think might work.  My suggestion involves planting children, between the ages of newborn and four years, in places where people in power are making decisions about whether to get along with others or stir things up.

Have you been in places where cute little kids are doing their thing?  They attract people’s attention and inevitably bring a smile to their faces.  Whether it’s an eight month old showing a big bright smile, or an eighteen month old talking animatedly with words that only he understands, or a two and a half year old making all the adults with her copy her as she dances around.  I hadn’t been around young children much for a long time.  But, since we’ve had grandchildren, I’ve become much more aware of this phenomenon.  If you don’t spend much time around them, take my word for it – little kids change things.  All they have to do is walk into the room in all their cuteness and people start to smile.  So, if they were just around everywhere, I think people would lighten up.  The adults’ moods would change and they’d make better (more peaceful) decisions.

Two caveats – I think the kids need to be (as I said above) between the ages of newborn and four years and I think they need to be someone else’s kids.  I mention this last thing because little kids are not always being cute; sometimes they’re cranky because they’re not getting their own way.  But, if they’re someone else’s kids, we seem to be able to tolerate that more than with our own.  Actually, as I think about it, it might work best if they are grandchildren of the adults in the room.  We grandparents seem to think that everything our grandkids do is cute.

Anyhow, that’s my suggestion.  It might not work but, hey, I think it’s worth a try!