… or why the 1959 Chinese annexation of Tibet has benefited the world.
There’s numerable examples of why mankind has been served by the tragedy of Tibet. In America, I only need mention Allen Ginsberg, Pema Chodron, or Lama Surya Das. Sometimes, Buddhist wisdom pops up in surprising places.
Places like the TEDxYouth@Manchester event. Here is Julian Baggini shaping the minds of British teen: Is There a Real You?
One of the tenets of Buddhism is Inter-connectivity: Everything, everyone, is interconnected, interdependent. Our fragile society is so complex that sometimes it’s hard for people to connect the dots. But the following seemingly disparate news items are - to me, at least - so intertwined as to be one, yet I don’t hear anyone putting them together. Taken together, they form a bleak view of American politics over the past few decades.
Exhibit a: President Obama’s July, 25 2011 speech on the Debt Debacle.
This quote alone secures my vote.
“For the last decade, we’ve spent more money than we take in. In the year 2000, the government had a budget surplus. But instead of using it to pay off our debt, the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts, while two wars and an expensive prescription drug program were simply added to our nation’s credit card.”
Exhibit B: An artistic portrayal of the state of education in America.
Put these together and what do you get? A nation with mistaken priorities.
Clearly the nations of the world would agree with this assessment. Our “leaders” should take this, pour it into a bucket and stir - Liberally.
I’ve always worked the Unglamorous jobs; retail clerk, general laborer, warehouse schlep. My ongoing joke, good for one use per work crew attended, I comment on how, when scientists advance humanoid robots sufficiently, our jobs are toast.
This is not far wrong, as manual, repetitive tasks are ripe for future robotic drones. But today I realized I was missing a crucial corporate function that already has been refined to non-human algorithms: Human Resources.
I easily envision a near-future candidate (call him Bob) nervously tugging on his Windsor knot and checking for lint on his shoulders in a sterile waiting room, when his name is called by a pinkish Bakelite construct in a neutral pant suit. He rises and extends his hand. The Robot (call her Jane) fails the nonverbal cue and says “Pleased to meet you. Follow me.” In Jane’s tiny cubicle, Bob squeezes into a uncomfortable wire framed chair close enough to her desk to bump his knee. She pauses, then begins her programmed litany delivered in an impersonal, emotionless state expected of a walking computer…
Just like the woman I met the other day. Reading from a memorized script, asking situational questions about hypothetical performance issues that assumes I had run into them before: “Explain a time when a coworker took his lunch before his scheduled break. What did you do?” You know the drill.
Before I got to talk to an arguably real person, I had to endure the hour-long process of creating a user profile on the company’s careers web site, type in my work history, education, references, and THEN upload my resume - upon which all the above information already resides. Then comes the 125 question “Personality Test,” designed to screen out 9 out of 10 applicants. Since all this is already online, expect future HR drones to come equipped standard issue.
Back to Bob and Jane. As she politely but firmly leads him out of her space, uttering platitudes timed with her steps to end precisely as they reach the door, Bob again moved to shake her hand, stopping awkwardly midway. He glances are her vacant eyes, her rubbery smile, her total lack of interest. And he thinks, “A human could do this job.”
Another in the never-ending series of I-Should’ve-Thought-Of-That:
Time to get our National Shit Together.
This abomination needs to be shared.
According to thinkprogress.org, the Republican led House has drafted H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act. This bill is trying to redefine what constitute rape, by narrowing the legal criteria. It increases taxes on women who might use their company’s healthcare to fund an abortion, as well as her company for offering such coverage in it’s benefit package. Essentially, this is a tax increase.
By banning deductions or tax credits to pay for abortions, women would have to prove in an audit that her circumstances fell under the “rape/incest/life-of-the-mother exception.” If passed, this bill would turn the IRS into Abortion Police. Very scary.
It also seeks to ban abortion funding in the District of Columbia. (Why would anyone live there, when they have less representation than the rest of America. Sorry, I digress.) This insanity has yet to run the gauntlet of the senate, and President Obama vows to veto the bill if it does.
What I don’t understand: How can these misogynists come home and face their wives? How can these same wives allow this? Religious tenets aside, has anyone reminded the GOP of the constitutional edict of “separation of Church and State?”
Empathy. It’s sadly lacking on the world’s stage. Watch Sam discuss what can happen when people and nations show none.
Studying Buddhism taught me the value of Empathy and Compassion. During my Christian upbringing, no one mentioned them. In fact, I didn’t know what Compassion meant until it was explained by a high school English teacher. How sad.
I started this blog to to poke at the idiocy that was the Bush Administration. That’s all history now, although we are still reeling from it’s many impacts. Now that my Guy is in the White House, I have no snark, therefore no inspiration.
I honestly can’t critique Obama. He’s taking the harder road, doing his job properly, by being Democratic instead of Dictatorial. Unfortunately, most Americans do not have patience with "Due Process." Most do not understand prioritizing and compromise. Most have no patience, as we are the "Instant Gratification" society.
We have also lived through 30+ years of under-funded public education; We are Idiots.
That is why I fear a second term for Obama is nigh impossible. Joe Sixpack cannot fathom the complexities our President is wrestling with daily. He has no concept of the issues (due largely to corporate-owned "news" outlets that spin facts out of truthful alignment.) Indeed, Mr. Bluecollar is being (mis-)Informed by said Media, which will impact the national vote in 2012.
Our Founding Fathers assumed that the Public would stay Informed. We are the opposite, these days. We are Misguided, Misdirected, Disinterested, and Misinformed. We, as a society, are too busy chasing after the newest iPhone.
We are all guilty of Democracy’s Demise. We’ve been distracted by the newest bauble, the hottest film star, the latest gimmick. We’re fed this stuff all the time, but we have the choice to turn away; this is within our power. But we don’t.
That’s the problem.
When did “-ass” enter our lexicon?
We can all think of a few bad-ass movie heroes or villains. And we all know a smart-ass when we see one. I supposed smart-ass came out smart-alack, so that may be the first incidence of what I call “Hyphen Ass Syndrome.”
Some people might bemoan the dumbing down of American culture and complain that we just don’t have the vocabulary previous generations enjoyed. Some might see it as evidence how inured we have become to swearing. We all know people who can string together slightly coherent sentences prominently featuring the F-word…
Its weird how “-ass” has grown in popularity. I was in a store a while back when I heard the twenty-something clerk chat with the slightly older clerk about something in TV the previous night:
“Did you watch (whatever it was)?” She asked.
“No.”
“Aww, you missed a good-ass (program.)”
“Good-ass”? Hmm. Is that the opposite of bad-ass? That got me thinking: what other kinds of Hyphenated Posteriors have I head of? Besides the aforementioned, there are…
So that young clerk could have described the episode like this: ” So this bad-ass was following this dumb-ass through some weird-ass building…”
I love the English language. It’s so kick-ass!
This week I am again confronted with a common theme in my life: Self-absorption. This is my Karma-cleansing in progress.
For the past decade, as I embrace Buddhist tenets, I am meeting people who can show me myself as I have been. They are as different from each other as can be, but what they have in common is varying degrees of Self-Absorption. As I embrace the theory that everyone I meet in life is here to teach something, I am open to what I need to learn from them.
I grew up with people who were self-centered. Nothing outside of their worldview could be valid; and must be scorned. As I, myself, was often beyond their worldview, I was therefore scorned. As a result, I also became self-centered in defiance. Otherwise I would be destroyed as an individual, a damaged soul. Such was the vehemence of the incessant attacks against my personality and perspective. End result: and angry, self-absorbed young man tossed unto the world. I hated, was angry, couldn’t stand anyone’s views but my own.
I was miserable.
But a book changed all that. I worked in the receiving room at a Barnes & Noble when I open an incoming box and saw an elderly smiling face of the Dalai Lama shining out. He was captivating, but not as much as the title of the book: “The Art of Happiness.”
“That’s just what I need,” I thought. I was right.
I read the book, delved into its practices. I learned more about meditation and Buddhist teaching. For a while I hung out with a Shambala Temple nearby. My healing had started.
Then began the parade of Hurting souls who were mirrors of me at different phases of my earlier life. The first was red-faced Anger. The next was Intolerant and Racist. The third was a Thief, followed closely by the Egotist. Next, the Maniac and the Worrier. More recently I have met the Slacker, and this week I have to deal with the Embittered Soul. All are reflections of the person I once was. All are here, I believe, to help cleanse me of my past, to prepare me for a future rebirth where I can grow further and become more compassionate, closer to Nirvana.
The theme of Self-absorption is the reason I live this life, to rid myself of it’s influence, to raise a daughter free from it’s grip, to stare it down and transcend it. The Echoes of my Soul whom I meet, tortured people that they are, are my friends. They are here to help me. And if I can share my experiences with them, perhaps I can help them as well in their journeys toward Nirvana.
I truly hope so.
Am I the only one who doesn’t care about the imminent interment of Michael Jackson? I’ve been wondering this all week, followed closely by the observation that, in this brave, new century the News Media is utterly clueless about what people care about. They are anachronistic constructs of a by-gone era doomed to follow the Edsel. I will not miss them.
Micheal and Farrah aren’t the only ones that died this week. So, too, did the Old Media. Not a tear is shed.