r e s o u r c e s f o r l i v i n g
THE LANE BETWEEN THE TREES
Look closely at the picture (top) and you will see words behind me on the memorial wall at DachauConcentration Camp.
NEVER AGAIN is the simple and forceful 'five language' admonishment to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have walked through the so-called Jourhaus Gate since the memorial's dedication in the late sixties.
The iron gate (right) bears the infamous motto "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Makes You Free), intended to fool the world into thinking that Dachau was dedicated to rehabilitating its inhabitants.
The night before I took the 2 hour trip by automobile and walked through that gate, I lay in bed wondering how difficult the day would be. I knew ...
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ON OPTIMISM
An optimist is the human personification of spring. Susan J. Bissonette
I once met a true optimist, 14 years ago. She has lasted ever since as my Saint of Hope and personification of spring.
I had been on vacation in Bermuda with a good friend. After a week of incredible fun and leisure, good food and bike riding all over the island, we were headed for the airport in the shuttle bus along with eight other vacationers.
The morning was heavily overcast and rainy. Dark and gloomy clouds were not only above us, but rested within us. No one wanted to leave, and yet, the end had come.
We all got on the bus with weary and heavy hearts. No one said a word. We just sat, waiting for the driver. The bus might have been heavy, but could not hold a candle to the...
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ON BEGINNINGS
The beginning is the most important part of the work. Plato
Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we in south Louisiana have been faced with the power of beginnings. We rise daily to new scripts for the road, to new songs for the journey, to new people with whom we put fresh ideas into projects toward the rebuilding of a better world out of the chaos.
While endings hold us in one hand, beginnings hold us in the other. And we know that even in our grief, we must start anew.
Long ago, Plato captured the influence of beginnings on our psyches and reminded us that whether we choose to make them important or not, beginnings are the most important part of a new venture, and their influence goes far and wide. We would do well to consider
· beginning each day with eagerness
...
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ON ARGUING
The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion. G. K. Chesterton
It took me a long time to learn a very valuable lesson about life.
Never argue.
Arguments are about one party trying to convince the other party to convert - a happening that rarely if ever happens. By their very nature, arguments end in one of two ways: There is either a winner and a loser or both will lose. From an unscientific perspective, I would conclude that the numbers of the latter far outweigh the former.
Arguments erupt when the pressure is on, when ,insecurities are high and when we feel the urgency of maintaining some small degree of power. We react with oppositional and defiant energy, both of which seek conversion instead of the common good.
Ever since I made the conscious decision that my l...
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ON RE-FRAMING
When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Kahlil Gibran
When working with the Louisiana Recovery effort, I visited many instantly formed neighborhoods. My first visit not long after Hurricane Katrina was to Renaissance Village, an evacuation camp of more than 1,500 evacuated families in north Baton Rouge. Upon entering, I had an irresistible urge to kiss the ground of this "sacred space,"– a colony of displaced, "dis-eased " by the plight of the storm.
As I listened to the Louisiana Spirit team – a group of outreach workers who assist the families -- my heart grew heavy, and I was overwhelmed by a sadness that had been building within me ever since my involvement with the recovery effort.
During the trip back to the office, my soul reached critical mass. Sitting in the confer...
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ON RACISM
The Army has been the most successful of all major institutions in advancing racial equality based on merit, not preference. For promotion, the Army insists that everyone jump over the bar, but it provides special training and instruction to minorities who need help before they leap. The results are dramatic: Officers' clubs are more integrated than faculty clubs and boardrooms anywhere in the country.
- David Gergen
For the past six monday evenings, people from various walks of life, black and white, male and female, have gathered to discuss what is probably our nation's unhappiest of legacies - Racism.
Little did I know what would be served to me at the fifth class - or the family pride I would feel as we discussed the differing perspectives of Affirmative Action.
Although entering the dialogue with a conscious disdain for racism, I was equally passionate about creating a society that looked beyond color and toward access, competence, social skills, hard work, merit and ongoing development. I searched for a middle ground between two false worlds - one in which diversity and equal access is avoided through skillful manipulation of available re...
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Dr. Nick at the Old Town Square in Prague. |
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Dr. Nick with Jane Lyon and April Estill at
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