“Smart people are dangerous,” some president said. “They have ideas, they ask questions, they research answers. They get together and have ideas, ask questions and research answers, like a conspiracy. This leads to big trouble. It is a threat to our national security. People in this country are smart enough for me, which is why I am also limiting education. If our people want answers, they can just ask me. I have answers, all the answers. Our people shouldn’t even ask questions. I have the answers without any questions.”
Birds in one ear bossa nova in the other. Hill in the desert peak of Corcovado. Waves of Sonoran cactus waves on the beach at Ipanema. Spanish and Portuguese and English. Old world new world.
It has been six months since my last post about Gaza.
I think I am weary of watching the situation daily devolve and yet seeing little change in the attitudes of many in the Jewish communities or of many Americans, including those in power. Among other things, we still hear those labeling this a humanitarian tragedy being called antisemitic, even if Jewish.
The following article in the Guardian moves me to post again.
Ehud Olmert says forcing people into camp would be ethnic cleansing, and anger at Israel over Gaza war is not all down to antisemitism
“When they build a camp where they [plan to] ‘clean’ more than half of Gaza, then the inevitable understanding of the strategy of this [is that] it is not to save [Palestinians]. It is to deport them, to push them and to throw them away. There is no other understanding that I have, at least.”…
“It is a concentration camp. I am sorry,” he said, when asked about the plans laid out by Israel Katz last week. Once inside, Palestinians would not be allowed to leave, except to go to other countries, Katz said.
Katz has ordered the military to start drawing up operational plans for construction of the “humanitarian city” on the ruins of southern Gaza, to house initially 600,000 people and eventually the entire Palestinian population.
“If they [Palestinians] will be deported into the new ‘humanitarian city’, then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing. It hasn’t yet happened,” Olmert said. That would be “the inevitable interpretation” of any attempt to create a camp for hundreds of thousands of people, he said.
Whoever you are and whatever communities you are in, please consider what is going on and what is planned in Gaza, please consider Olmert’s thoughts, and please consider a donation to the International Rescue Committee.
The opening scene of the TV series Justified shows Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens sitting across from drug kingpin Tommy Bucks at a Miami restaurant.
Givens has given Bucks 24 hours to get out of Miami, a High Noon moment. But Givens has a history with Bucks, and changes the deadline to right now. Bucks tries to pull a gun, Givens kills him across the table.
It’s the deadline and the change of plan that is relevant here.
Trump’s latest deadline, in a change of position, is giving Russia 50 DAYS to do something about its war in Ukraine. It isn’t clear what and besides, the cliched TACO (Trump always chickens out) applies.
You need two things to move up a deadline like Givens did: courage and ability. And to some extent a developed sense of right and wrong, which for Givens and anybody is a tricky one. You have to be willing to take a risk and live with consequences.
If you don’t have courage, ability, a developed sense of right and wrong, and a willingness to take risks and live with consequences, you should stay away from being a Deputy U.S. Marshal or from any job with power and authority. And you should stay away from hollow deadlines.
Here is one thing I’ve learned from having a near-infinite choice of media—music, movies, TV, books—to consume. The more I search, I still go back to the greats to relisten, rewatch, reread.
Today, after a search, I ended up at Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974), which I’ve watched countless times. It is fifty years old, so you do hear some newer generation movie aficionados saying “I don’t get why it is on so many best of lists.” Best of lists are never objective, even those generated by “experts”, because we are all still affected by different tastes.
But in the opinion of many lists, including mine, Chinatown is one of the greats, near the top. You can find millions of words written and spoken about it, so I won’t add to them. I will say that if you love movies as entertainment and/or as craft, you owe it to yourself to watch Chinatown.
Maybe you will never watch it again. Maybe you will think about the two hours and ten minutes you could have spent doing something else. Or maybe like me, you will watch it again and again, relishing and remembering every scene.
“Whatever you want, others all want as much; so act accordingly!” Patrul Rinpoche (1808–1887)
The Kadampa teachings say that if we use our activities to open ourselves to the world with loving-kindness, patience, and understanding, we’ll bring the lojong spirit into everything we do. While our practices may be diverse, if our bodhichitta* attitude is natural and self-correcting, we’ll be doing everything with one intention. Patrul Rinpoche relates the following story to illustrate this:
When Trungpa Sinachen asked him for a complete instruction in a single sentence, Phadampa Sangye replied, “Whatever you want, others all want as much; so act accordingly!” (Patrul Rinpoche, Words of My Perfect Teacher)
Traleg Kyagbon, The Practice of Lojong
*Bodhichitta. There are two aspects to enlightened heart: an ultimate and a relative one. Ultimate enlightened heart refers to the nature of the mind and relative enlightened heart refers to the cultivation and generation of compassion.
This sounds familiar, like a version of the Golden Rule, which instructs us not to do to others what we would not have done to us. A difference is that this goes beyond what we and they do. It is about what is in our and their mind, what you and they want. Which, surprisingly or not, is elementally the same. What we do or don’t do follows from what we think. So this might be considered the precursor or foundation of the Golden Rule.
Can’t we give ourselves one more chance? Why can’t we give love that one more chance? Why can’t we give love, give love, give love, give love Give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?
When I saw a playlist with a 2020 cover recording of Under Pressure by Karen O and Willie Nelson, I was curious but skeptical. I shouldn’t have been.
The original by Queen and David Bowie (1981) is fast, loud and desperate—pressurized. This version is slow and lyrical. Which gives us a chance to hear the lyrics below.
As appropriate as any song I’ve heard lately.
Under Pressure
Pressure Pushing down on me Pressing down on you Under pressure That burns a building down Splits a family in two Puts people on streets
It’s the terror of knowing what this world is about Watching some good friends screaming, “Let me out” Pray tomorrow gets me higher Pressure on people, people on streets
Chipping around, kick my brains ’round the floor These are the days, it never rains, but it pours
Turned away from it all like a blind man Sat on a fence, but it don’t work Keep coming up with love, but it’s so slashed and torn Why, why, why? Love, love, love, love, love Insanity laughs under pressure we’re breaking
Can’t we give ourselves one more chance? Why can’t we give love that one more chance? Why can’t we give love, give love, give love, give love Give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?
‘Cause love’s such an old-fashioned word And love dares you to care for The people on the edge of the night And love dares you to change our way of Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance This is our last dance This is ourselves Under pressure
Hurricanes and other storms don’t recognize American state borders. That’s a fact. Some states may be harder hit than others, but a number of states can be severely affected at once.
Which is just one of the reasons federal involvement is essential and mandated by Congress. Yet up to this moment, the demand from the administration is that the states take care when disaster strikes, to the point of eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
It isn’t necessary to list all the states that each of our worst hurricanes have devastated. We can hope against hope that future hurricanes, including this season, limit any damage to just one state, if there is damage at all.
Hard realities make ideologically-driven politicians and officials sound stupid. If sounding stupid is all it is.
Our theistic religions promote humility, mostly in relation to a supreme God. Before God all are inferior. That is humbling.
What if we are inferior to everyone else, not just God?
Whenever I am in the company of others, May I regard myself as inferior to all And from the depths of my heart Cherish others as supreme. Geshe Langri Thangpa (1054–1123), Eight Verses for Training the Mind
This does not fit easily into our lives. If we look around our congregations, we may struggle, thinking, “Am I really inferior to him or her? I don’t think so.” And then if we look around at others in our community or the world, the comparison is even harder.
Regarding our inferiority, as hard as it is on our self-importance, is an essential step to humility and compassion. You can make a list of the ways that you are evidently and certifiably superior to others. But to what purpose?
We should think of ourselves as the lowest of all beings. This is not an attitude of low self-esteem. In fact, it is the opposite. If we put ourselves in the lowest, humblest seat, we remove any chance of feeling insecure. From the lowest seat, there is no place to fall down. Such humility naturally comes with a sense of nobility, which enables us to focus on other beings and bring them great benefit. Dzigar Kongtrul, The Intelligent Heart
At six a.m. the flowers coyly closed Soon the sun is high, hot and bright The flowers open petals spread In colored invitation To eye and heart, bee and hummingbird Awake
Bob Schwartz 