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| George to my daughter: "Going on a trip? Take me with you!" |
Weather: Still very lovely. We hear that much hotter weather is on its way but it has been very comfortable and lovely this past week with high temperatures in the 70s.
Sunday we travel. Today I post: I've been on a frenzy, of sorts. Frantic about the state of our nation, and world. Neo-Nazis up to no good. People blind to what is happening. The following topics on Emerson, Christian Nationalism, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer all spoke to me and helped me to process. Maybe they will help you, too. I hope so.
The great American poet-philosopher-abolitionist Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with coining the popular truism. It applies to us today:
One aspect of this proverb is that it works both ways:
- If you sow lots of benevolent/courageous/honest/just/wise thoughts — you will eventually reap a heroic, noble destiny.
- But, if you sow lots of hateful/cowardly/fraudulent/lawless/ignorant thoughts — you will eventually reap a vile, miserable destiny.
Christians today often act very unloving towards others. Which is the opposite of what the Bible teaches. When examining the Ten Commandments, the basis of the Christian faith, the last five could be grouped
together into one overarching commandment known as “Love your neighbor”.
A Bird Identification Story: We're pretty obsessed with birds these days. It all started with the game Wingspan and evolved into trying to figure out which birds are singing outside. My daughter found an App called Merlin Bird ID. If you set it to record as birds are singing nearby, it will identify them or make a suggestion of what bird it might be. The other day, while we were babysitting our youngest grandson, we set up the app to record. We got a hit on the House Finch and the Chestnut-backed Chickadee, both frequent visitors to our backyard. Then we got an unusual hit -- A Great Horned Owl! Excitement was tempered with skepticism. When we played back the recording we could only hear our grandson in the background talking softly to himself. So no, it wasn't a Great Horned Owl but a grandson who has embraced his new persona and now goes around hooting! When I told the story to Jamie's brother, Ian, he wanted to be a bird, too. We went out back just as the Black-Capped Chickadee was singing. Ian repeated the call and the bird answered. He fell in love. 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮 "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee." Love those boys!
-Anne
6. Don’t murder. 7. Don’t cheat on your partner. 8. Don’t steal. 9. Don’t deceive your neighbor. 10. Don’t covet things that don’t belong to you. = LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF!
At the beginning, Emerson laid the foundation for his wisdom construct
by appealing to us to “sow a kind thought” — yet many of us sow covetous
thoughts that are fundamentally unkind. Today, we see many, many people believing and spreading lies,
because their hearts are desperately coveting privileges that are solely
based on their whiteness. Some graduate to fraud, intimidation, and
violence, but the starting point for each perversion is always
covetousness. Instead SOW A KIND THOUGHT TODAY. (DKos)
And yet kindness is what goes a long way...
Christian Nationalism: Know what it is?
A survey published in October by Pew Research Center found that most American adults don't know what Christian nationalism is. One survey respondent described Christian nationalism as “patriotic Christians who believe in God, family and country, morality and kindness.” And I suspect that many people just think of Christian nationalists as patriotic white people who go to church.
But Christian nationalism isn’t merely “patriotic Christians” and it’s not Christianity, but rather, it can be understood as “an impostor Christianity that uses evangelical language to cloak ethnocentric and nationalist loyalties.”
And DeSantis is a paragon among the impostors. His anti-woke crusade is a manifestation of the intolerance and battle-thirst of Christian nationalism, and Florida’s distortion of Black history and its attempt to rehabilitate the image of slavery is part of it. (Charles Blow, NYT)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Explained How Stupidity Enables Tyranny:
In the 1930s, as many Germans were swept into an
antisemitic fervor by the Nazis, while others stood by and did nothing,
the Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer
actively resisted Hitler’s genocide. In April 1943, the Gestapo
arrested him. The authorities accused him of being a part of the July
20, 1944, plot to assassinate Hitler. In April 1945, he was hanged by the Nazis, two weeks before WWII ended.
Few people have had a better view and a deeper understanding of the forces that caused so many unexceptional citizens to become cogs in the Nazi's death machine. At the end of 1942, Bonhoeffer dissected the causes of the Nazi rise to power in his essay “After Ten Years." In the piece, he reflected on the role of stupidity in enabling tyranny. He said:
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease.”
“Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed — in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical — and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.”
“The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil.” (Bonhoeffer on stupidity)
Does this remind you of anyone or a full group of people?
Democrats having a great summer. Read this if you are feeling discouraged by all the nonsense you read/watch about in politics and the state of our world. This will help you feel more encouraged. (Rosenberg) As a tease, here is the opening paragraph:
Democrats are having a good summer. Inflation is down, growth is strong. Our recovery here is the best in the G7, inflation is much lower than Europe. Putin continues to struggle in Ukraine, the Western alliance has been revitalized and is expanding. The President’s big climate agenda has made America once a world leader in the existential fight to ensure the planet doesn’t warm, and his broader investment agenda is already bringing growth, investment and jobs across the US. The flow to the border has plummeted, murder rates are way down, the deficit is a fraction of what it was under Trump, and this year America will produce more oil than any year in history. (Rosenberg)
Heading out for a little summertime fun-in-the-sun family reunion in Oregon this coming week. But what will I be reading?
- Possible audiobooks to listen to in the car for the trip there and back -- three people will need to agree, so there are options:
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann. This is the author of The Lost City of Z and Killers of the Flower Moon. I'd say this book has a high probability of being selected.
- The Loneliest Polar Bear: A True Story on the Edge of Survival and Peril On the Edge of a Warming World by Kate Williams. This is a book club selection for me. Not sure the rest of the travelers want to listen to it. If not I will eventually read or listen to it myself.
- Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano. This is another book club selection. I think it is the least likely of the three to be chosen because it is over 15 hours of listening and the round trip time in the car will be less than 12 hours. No one wants to be left hanging on a story.
- Likely print books I will carry in my bag to the pool:
- Long Division by Kiese Laymon. Yet another book club selection. This one is two stories in one and it presents itself in a unique way -- read one story to the end, then turn the book upside down and start the second story. This is a high priority since it is for the August meeting.
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. As I was going through my book shelf this month for my Try It In July Challenge, I came upon two copies of this old classic. Every time the Classic Club hosts another SPIN, I put it on my list of twenty books as possible reads. Then the thought occurred to me, why not read it now? Not because it is a SPIN book, but because you want to! So I am.
- The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. I went to the library bookstore and purchased a few books for my mom who counts on me to supply her with new reading material. I bought this book for her, but decided to keep it for the time being, since I haven't read it either. If I finish it on vacation, I'll hand it to Mom, since we'll be together.
Currently reading/listening to:
- I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai. I loved the author's book The Great Believers. I hoped I would love this one, too. So far, the jury is out. 30% audiobook.
- They Call Us Enemy by George Takei. A graphic memoir. 5% print.
- Middlemarch by George Eliot. I decided to reorder my priorities and just jump in. I'm participating in a read-along for this famous classic. I'll be reading a chapter a day for almost three months. Send your positive energy my direction!
Recently finished:
- Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery. Loved her book The Elegance of the Hedgehog. This is not a favorite, but has certainly given me food for thought. (Pun intended.) 3 stars.
Recent blog posts:
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| Is it an owl or is it Jamie? |
A Bird Identification Story: We're pretty obsessed with birds these days. It all started with the game Wingspan and evolved into trying to figure out which birds are singing outside. My daughter found an App called Merlin Bird ID. If you set it to record as birds are singing nearby, it will identify them or make a suggestion of what bird it might be. The other day, while we were babysitting our youngest grandson, we set up the app to record. We got a hit on the House Finch and the Chestnut-backed Chickadee, both frequent visitors to our backyard. Then we got an unusual hit -- A Great Horned Owl! Excitement was tempered with skepticism. When we played back the recording we could only hear our grandson in the background talking softly to himself. So no, it wasn't a Great Horned Owl but a grandson who has embraced his new persona and now goes around hooting! When I told the story to Jamie's brother, Ian, he wanted to be a bird, too. We went out back just as the Black-Capped Chickadee was singing. Ian repeated the call and the bird answered. He fell in love. 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮 "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee." Love those boys!
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| A flock of bushtits mobbing our suet feeder. |
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