Monday, July 27, 2020

Thinking about John Robert Lewis

Random Quotations/Thoughts for the Conscience of America Who Lies in State in Washington, DC                    (credits on the right)

 

“Do not go gentle into that good night”                              (Dylan Thomas)

He left behind “footprints in the sands of time”                (H. W. Longfellow)

He dared “to disturb the universe”                                     (T. S. Eliot)\

He is still waiting for a” rebirth of wonder”                       (Lawrence Ferlinghetti)

He said what “people did not want to hear”                       (Friedrich Nietzschd)

His “life showed what he thought of himself”                     (Oets Kolk Bouwsma)

He asked “if I am only for myself, what am I?”                  (Rabbi Hillel)

He showed us that “beauty is in one’s heart”                       (Kahlil Gibran)

He would rather prevent poverty than give charity             (Maimonides)

His wisdom emanated from how little he understood          (Socrates)

He respected himself and his beliefs, as did others               (Confucius)

He did his best to bring out the best in others                       (Rabbi Spector)

He did not mistake paradise for fame of fortune                   (Bob Dylan)

 

 

J. Michael Spector

July 27, 2020

 

 


Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Untimely Reflections



As my 75th birthday approaches, I find myself engaged in the 9th phase of my critical thinking framework. I added reflection to all the other critical thinking competencies we found in the research literature. These reflections were prompted by the deteriorating relationship between China and the USA. I have had many rewarding experiences in China and with Chinese colleagues in the last ten plus years. Those experiences brought to mind many other enriching experiences in other countries including most especially Norway and Indonesia. I unconsciously grew up with a belief that America was the best in almost any category one could name. I have come to a much different conclusion late in life.

We are products shaped by our families, friends, education and experiences. My mother was a plain-spoken woman who did not hold her tongue nor hesitate to tell you directly what she thought. My father was more tactful and aimed to instill a sense of responsibility and respect in us. His words - “be the voice that encourages, the ear that listens, the eye that reflects, the hand that guides, the face that does not turn away” – still echo in my conscience. My older brother, Danny, was an accomplished Middle East scholar who embodied both of my parents strong attributes. My sister Peggy was someone dedicated to family, friends and strangers who was always willing to lend a helping hand. My sister Minnie overcame a childhood disability and raised two amazing children who live close to me here in Round Rock, Texas.

My five children have taught me far more than they are able to realize, And I am learning so much from my six grandchildren … children are such amazing creatures … learning … always learning … doing amazing things … always amazing.

My early friends disappointed me in many ways but I managed to find many friends in other countries, including Norway, Germany and Australia. My education at the United States Air Force Academy and the University of Texas at Austin have helped my professionally as well as personally. My experiences with scholars in other countries, though, are what have been most prominent in my reflections on my past, due in part to the global pandemic and worsening international relationships among so many countries.

I met a colleague in Norway who considered hiking on Sunday in the seven mountains around Bergen as his weekly religious obligation experience. Indeed, giving thanks for the beauty and bounty of this planet seems an appropriate way to say thanks to something higher. I met parents in a remote village in Java who said they wanted their sons and daughters to go on to high school in a faraway city and get an education even if it eventually led to demise of their remote mountain village. They valued education of their children more than their livelihood. Such a humbling experience and  not one I can ever forget.

After many years of collaborating with colleagues in Shanghai, Beijing, and Fuzhou I have come to the conclusion that there are many things in China which are getting better than things in the USA = and vice versa. Respect for elders is one thing I see very strong in China and from which I have personally benefitted – some Chinese doctoral students even call me their grandfather – the highest degree of respect I never earned. I see both China and the USA exceptionally adept at political spinning of truth and facts, although I doubt the Chinese leader has uttered 20,000 lies since becoming President. National unity seems much stronger in China than in the USA although my experience there is quite limited. The Chinese are apparently repressing Muslims in Xinjiang and the USA is repressing blacks in many places. Just as no individual is flawless, no nation is flawless. Individuals with integrity seem capable of admitting their flaws and striving to do betters. Perhaps it is the same with countries. Germany has admitted to the flaws of the Nazi regime and has systematically done better in the years since WWII. I am not sure the USA has fully admitted to dropping atomic bombs on Japan in the year I was born. We can do better. All of us can do better. Every nation can do better. I can do better however many years I have left to apply what I have gathered from coincidence over the years.

I so appreciate my many friends and colleagues in China, in Indonesia, in India, in Malaysia, in Hong Kong, in Taiwan, in Thailand, in Tunisia, in South Africa, in Chile, in Brazil, in Canada, in Mexico, in Norway, in Germany, in Belgium, in The Netherlands, in Portugal, in Spain, in Crete, in Greece, in Italy, in Turkey, in Israel, in New Zealand and in many places across the USA. From them I am slowly learning what it means to be human, to be flawed, to be capable of becoming still more human.



Saturday, July 11, 2020

The [b]right side?


When I wrote the  note below in my journal, aside from the irony and sarcasm I suppose I was really hoping that things would improve significantly and that reason, tolerance, and respect would return to dominance … and then I wondered if those values and others were ever widely embraced … there are wonderful stories and memories of people who lived those values – for example Franz Jägerstätter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDvW42iSeVs) comes to mind for me often … but then the story of Cain and Able, the first two brothers, is not all that encouraging … I used to joke about the first words in the Jewish bible … “In the beginning there was chaos and the void …” and then I would add that not much has changed since then. And then I imagine my father telling me from the grave that my interpretation is correct and that the message is for us to make needed changes … his words from the great beyond haunt me … what changes have I made to make things better … less chaotic … less empty of meaning …  my father's message echos: "the gift we have been given (life) is the opportunity to make things better." “If not now, then when?” as Hillel asked.

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Okay … I admit it. I tried listening to DJT and looking at the good things that have come to pass under his reign. I start with an advance organizer and a disclaimer pertaining to DJT’s advice about stemming the spread of the coronavirus by drinking or injecting disinfectant. Being cautious and somewhat creative, I thought that it made more sense to start with one’s feet rather than one’s mouth or arm. So … I soaked my feet in Lysol last week, and I am now happy to report that there is no evidence that my feet are contagious. More good news in what follows.
Because I believe that we should let evidence be the key arbiter in difficult situations, I have been examining several different bodies of evidence … but not any of the 134,000 American bodies lost to COVID-19 as access is restricted. So, a second disclaimer is that the evidence reviewed herein is basically evidence gathered due to the convenience of samples.
Mass shootings in the USA in 2020 are on a track similar to the number of mass shootings in the USA in 2019. However, there are many fewer mass shootings in schools, universities, shopping malls, movie theaters, concerts, and churches in 2020 compared with the previous year. Our analysis shows that this is one major benefit of the coronavirus … looking on the bright side. It should be noted that a possible confounding variable could be the percentage of schools, universities, shopping malls, movie theaters, concerts, and churches that have been closed or cancelled due to the coronavirus. Analysis continues.
Also, the number of foreigners wishing to enter the USAm, legally or illegally, has declined significantly in 2020. This means that those children currently held in cages at the border can be released, and the worries about an invading horde from the South can be set aside, except perhaps those seeking to leave Brazil where the coronavirus is spreading faster even than in the USA and where the rich-poor gap is even greater than that in the USA.
So, in closing, I am encouraging an attitude of hope along with that encouraged by DJT. Things could have been much worse. He could have bombed North Korea or sold Alaska to Russia or moved to Greenland. DJT has probably added more to his ego than to his bank account, although the evidence has yet to confirm that conclusion. And as a final note, air pollution due to automobile traffic seems to be declining in 2020 in the USA Take heart, America ... DJT is the one responsible for this new climate of hope.

mike spector