Topic: Dansjournal Life-Coaching Inc. is open for business!!!!

I realize I’ve been posting a lot recently, faster than people may get a chance to read and comment.  But I recently came a cross a website for a service to help people cure their anxiety/depression problems.  The product was a series of cd’s and readings, along with some basic life coaching from staff over the telephone.  No therapy or medications needed, just pure self-help…The cost was about $450!

Having done a decent amount of thinking, reading, and discussion about the topic of mental well-being, and having done a bit of informal coaching to people on the side, I’ve decided I’d like to announce my intentions to jump into the life-coaching marketplace.

Simply put, life-coaching is about helping people overcome their negative hangups in life, and achieve those things that bring them bliss.  Using the tools of journaling and conversation, in about 3mos. I should be able to provide clear results, and in, well…let’s just say 6mos., I should be able to get someone to the point where they’re good to go on their own, doing well mentally through a good chunk of their lives.  Through journaling, I can help people see more clearly how they “think” and “perceive” things, and through conversation, whether online or in person, I can help someone better understand their journaling, and to also share further thoughts.  Ultimately, I aim to get people to the point where they feel truly satisfied with their lives and the direction their lives are heading (although I cannot help anyone gain complete control of their lives…because ultimately, there’s too many factors that will always be beyond our control in life).

Now…life coaching is a strange thing, because to be a coach you have to truly want to help someone, but at the same time there’s this inherent tension because the client is paying the coach money for something that could be gained for $1.50 in late fees to a public library, or for free with a conversation with a close-friend who can help someone talk through their problems.  Selling this kind of service to many people for a cost of more than $1, I believe, reduces somewhat the relationship between the “coach” and the “client”. 

That’s why I’m thinking of selling my service for a one-time fee of $1.  That’s right…I will help people, and also talk to them like normal human beings, and at some point, any point really, I ask that that person send me $1.  Cash or check.  Just a simple $1 to say, “Dan, this is to recognize that you have coached me and I am willing to give up $1 in exchange for that service.”

What is my thinking behind this?  Mostly so I can gain practical experience running a business, which will be easy since my expenses are none.  My goals are to develop myself personally from the experience, and to gain credibility for future endeavors by gaining “clients.”  The $1 is mostly to gain some credibility.  

So…I’m gonna ponder this more and sharpen this up…but in the meantime, if anyone reading this is experiencing a bit of a lull in life, struggling to make or meet goals, or feels as though they could use a little life-pep talk along with some practical tools that I’ve found useful in my own life, please contact me for a free-consultation…If you’re satisfied, we’ll continue services at no extra-charge, except for a $1-fee to be paid at your convenience…

…OR, with the option of waving the fee entirely

…OR, simply making a donation to my new business.  Cash, food, beer, crafts, space on your couch, reciprocal coaching or advice, or any other form of creative payment are also welcome.

For further information, please e-mail me at dan_lilienthal@yahoo.com

-Dan Lilienthal
Founder and CEO of Dansjournal Life Coaching, Inc.

Topic: Crime & Punishment….Behavior in society

Just finished reading an interesting article in the NYT about a Minnesota judge, Judge Amundson, who was convicted of misusing $400,000 worth of funds from a trust that was for a handicapped woman, to fill his house with marble, pianos, scultures, and more.  He was sentenced to 69mos. in prison.

There was no doubt about Amundon’s guilt…what was in doubt was how to punish him.  The judge tried to argue that he suffered from bi-polar disorder, but that argument was shot down based on Amundson’s own rulings that severely restricted psychological factors as mitigating factors in sentencing.  The prosecution also used another argument that Amundson had once used, arguing that the punishment should be longer if the victim was someone vulnerable, which in this case, it was.

It’s interesting to see here how subjective and arbitrary law can be.  The standard by which Amundson was judged, was in part the standard by which he ruled.  It turned out that his previously harsh sentencing’s were a factor in his receiving a harsher sentence…which begs the question, if Amundson had been more sympathetic in his sentencings while a judge, would the prosecution have been more sympathetic to him?  Is that how the law is supposed to work?

The judge in Amundon’s case said that Amundson had been drunk on power, that he was not acting out of depression, but out of a sense of entitlement.  We see again how human the legal system is.  One person making a decision about a person’s intent.  What was the True intent, or the True psychological motivations for Amundson to steal?  Can anyone ever know the true psychological state of another person…an expert or the individual themselves?

As I’ve been writing recently, I believe that what makes each person unique is how they imagine and perceive the world to be, which is based on each individual’s life experiences.  When it comes to right and wrong, legal and illegal, everyone brings a slightly different set of eyes to the issue.  I don’t believe that any individual can be described as “good,” or “bad,” nor do I believe that any individual is capable of making that sort of moral judgement upon another individual.  I do believe, however, that we, as a society, can judge a person’s actions to be right or wrong, but the person committing those actions I still believe to be neutral throughout their lifetimes. 

The reason, I believe, that neutral individuals think, say, and act in ways that can be generally accepted as “good, ” or “bad,” has to do with the internal logic and perceptions of the individual.  In the case of Amundson, as for most people, I believe their misdeeds stem purely from their life experiences, and I believe that they are just as capable of acting good or bad in the future, depending on how society, in this case being the criminial justice system, is able to affect their perceptions of reality.

Was the judge right in saying that Amundson was drunk on power, not depressed or bi-polar, and acting out of a sense of entitlement?  Was the prosecution right in saying that Amundson was simply greedy and needed the money to afford an extravagant lifestyle?  Maybe.  If they were right, then do we show no sympathy to the guilty, or do we attempt to understand why a person might come to be that way, in an effort to rehabilitate them so that they may contribute positively to society in the fugure?  Or maybe the judge and prosecution were wrong, and Amundson was actually acting out of a sense, as he put it, that his public life as a judge was getting to be too much, and he was looking to get caught and have it all come crashing down.  If that’s the case, should we feel sympathetic to Amundson, or should we once again remain neutral in judging the individual, and instead try to get to the root of understanding of why he thought and acted as he did?  Shouldn’t the primary goal of the criminal justice system be to best help the accused to find their unique way to live positively within society?

While in jail, Amundson realized how cruel the penal system can be.  How little focus there is on rehab.  How an 18yr. old can spend the next 18yrs. of their life being essentially raised and influenced by the other inmates and corrections officers, without the support of any family or friends. 

So…what are your thoughts on any of this?  On the penal system, and on how we judge those who commit “wrongs,” “misdeeds” or “illegal acts?”  What are your thoughts on being sympathetic, unsympathetic, or neutral towards “criminals,” or those who have failed in the eyes of society?

Topic: A quick blog assessment

I struggle oftentimes with deciding what to write on this blog.  I currently don’t have specific goals or purposes for this blog, and I guess I’ll use this post to address that.

Writing for myself isn’t my goal…I have personal journals for that.  I’ve also accepted that I’m not writing to a set-audience…in fact, I know close to nothing about my audience.  Depending on the post, I may gain a reader for life, or ensure that someone never re-visits this site. 

Recently…I’ve been using xanga to reach people and their ideas.  Slowly building virtual relationships that I’ve learned can be quickly translated into real and tangible friendships.

Sometimes, I think this blog is practice for something bigger I hope to achieve.  I’ve managed to persevere at this for 2+ years now, and while my thoughts have developed immensely, I’m still addressing the core issues that I began with.  Primarily, addressing issues related to education, mental health, lifestyle, and society.  By staying true and consistant to those themes, I’ve put together a wealth of writing that people can one day look back on.

In time, I hope to have a massive reader base, who come to this site as one of several central places to discuss matters related to the themes I just described.  I hope to reach a point where I can have an idea, and be able to write with the knowledge that parents, children, students, workers, foreigners, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and a whole wide-range of groups will be immediately access my idea and be able to transform it in some way. 

For example…I’d love to write on this blog, “This summer…we’re organizing a massive picnic in Central Park to celebrate leisure a good friggin’ time, and as part of a political movement to make our society more leisure centered,” and in an instant I’d have credible people who could give me feedback and work towards organizing such an event.

So…I guess I’ll just continue to write whatever I’ve been writing.  For those reading this now, I’m open to feedback on what I might write about, and in what style.  Ultimately…writing is secondary to human contact, and that’s another area I’m using to build community.  I just discovered my book had a brief write-up in the Alternative Education Resource Organization’s magazine, and I’m trying to read as much as possible about current educational issues, and finding the key players.  So…I can only expect things to grow slowly w/ time, and while I may benefit from random events, I hope to find deliberate ways to grow.

I’ve been struggling to reconcile my energy for creating something, and my need to control that energy in a way that maintains balance in my life.  I’ve recently grown interested by words…and in my next post, I think I’ll explore the several words such as: “create” ”creative” “image” “imagine” “imaginary.”

To give a rought draft of my thoughts, I feel as much of life is imagined through our minds, and we work to imagine, or create meaning, in our lives.  The differences between any two people are how they imagine, or conceive (giving birth to images?), of the world outside of themselves. 

For example, my desire to promote more alternative schools…is that similar to an artists’ desire to paint a landscape?  Is political idealism merely a creative expression of how to ”paint” metaphorically speaking, a society?  I’ve also often been drawn to the idea of making a documentary to better communicate or visualize my thoughts to other people.  Perhaps my interest there is to create something as a small piece of painting a bigger canvas of cultural change.

Creation, or being creative, is something we all possess as a quality.  It’s the process of organizing our thoughts in unique ways to make other thoughts, decisions, and actions.  People can be creative with words as in joke-telling, actions as in dancing, sound as in music. 

These thoughts are bringing me back to a book that caught my attention once about lateral thinking, by Edward de Bono, which was a book about not only how to achieve creative thinking as a practical thinking tool, but how to use those thinking tools to create new ideas to create a better society.  And if you think my writing is sometimes out there, this guy did it first!  He presented tons of ideas, and I think he was able to achieve some by building real-world connections.

The Time magazine article on creativity also noted that most people are mystified by people who have developed creative ideas.  What the article notes is that those people, Einstein, the Wright Brothers, Darwin, were people who failed in their thoughts many times before hitting one that worked.  The article also noted that creative thinkers almost always build on their thoughts from others.

Create meaning
Meaning is creative
Create
Hmmm….

thoughts?

Topic: terms that are important and funny

mystification – confusion resulting from failure to understand
                        – a mental state characterized by a lack of clear and orderly thought                               and behavior; “a confusion of impressions”

demystify – make less mysterious or remove the mystery from

mist – something that dims or conceals.
          - a haze before the eyes that blurs the vision.

Sometimes in my writing, I go a bit overboard with idealist zeal, to the point that I offend even myself.  Even when I write things like, “I want to improve happiness around the world,” I flinch, because I feel as though I’m taking things seriously, which is a condition, I believe, of unhappiness.

To me, comedy is one of the greatest tools human beings have at their disposal.  The life that we cannot laugh at, is a life not worth living…how does that sound?  If we can’t laugh at our own finiteness, our own faults, mistakes, misdeeds…our warts and pimples, our limps and scars.  If we can’t make fun of the Hitlers and Martin Luther King’s of the world, where does that leave us?

In an effort to reduce my educational sunk costs (read last post for my thoughts on sunk costs), I picked up one of the few books I didn’t sell-back in college.  It’s not a book I read, just a book I spend a lot of money on and didn’t think it was right to accept $5 for it, when I knew the college would then sell it to some other unsuspecting college student for a considerable amount more. 

The book was for an argumentation writing course I took…and in the opening chapter they “argue,” what the purpose of argumentation is.  They say it’s not to win-or-lose, as in a debate, but to engage in discussion in order to better understand others, to persuade others when appropriate, and to work together to reach best solutions.  The talk a bit about the Greek philosophers like Socrates, and the idea of an absolute, Truth, with a capital T.  The writers argue that their is no Truth in life because human beings are subjective in their viewpoints.  What the writers did support, and this is an idea I also believe in, is that through argumentation we can come to better understand our own views and values, and work towards “improving” society.

The 3 words I chose at the beginning of this post, are words that I believe are important in clarifying our view and values, and in “improving” society.  They’re also words that are funny, becaues wanting to “improve” society is a pretty funny thing.  Why is it funny?  Well…i’ll leave the jokes to you guys.  But, the idea again is that there’s no cure better for existential dread, or depressed idealism, than a shot of laughter.

But…the words demystification, and mystification, have struck me…because that’s what so much of life is.  I used to be mystified by “grown-ups,” and the “adult-world,” based on so much “confusion of impressions,” and the feeling that life was “mysterious.”  And, I don’t believe my process of demystification of this world have come this now becuase I’m 24, 2+ years removed from college, and 6mos.+ into a grown-up desk-job.  I don’t believe experience alone accounts for a person’s ability to see through the mist, to see through the haze before our metaphoric eyes which blurs our ability to see reality a bit more clearly. 

I want to turn this post now over to you, and ask…in what ways do you see yourself/society, as plagued by mystification?  In what ways has the mist gotten thicker, and in what ways has it cleared?  And…if you have any good jokes, please share…

-dan

p.s. This movie I just watched, a documentary I found on Netflix called “The Gleaners and I,” it’s about people who live off the leftovers of others.  It covers the homeless and hungry who stoop down to pick leftover potatoes or cabbage from after harvests, or those who dumpster dive and discover fresh meals and technology to repair.  Thought provoking…and stirring an idea in me to make a documentary of my own one day…

Topic: The psychology of sunk costs…the legitimate potential to improve the psychology of the world

On Sunday, I got on the Long Island Rail Road to watch the Giants game in New York City.  I have a monthly train ticket, that cost $203.  On Sunday, I left my ticket in a different jacket.  My initial thought was, “shit…i’m gonna have to pay $6 for no reason.”  Well…because I bought the ticket on the train, and not from the machine, there was an additional $6 charge.  I ended up WASTING $12.  Plus the $6 to get home, that’s nearly $20 that I spent simply because I left that little monthly ticket at home.

Some people in this situation would feel various emotions.  Regret. Guilt. Anger.  For me, I realized that the circumstances were fixed.  There was nothing I could do to change the situation.  So my thinking was based on the reality of the present moment, not some fictitious moment where I might still have had my ticket and would have avoided the payment.

After my junior year of college, I worked at a restaurant.  Within a couple of days, I had made about $250, and bought myself a Specialized mountain bike that I rode around St. Louis and to work.  One night after work, around 1am, I discovered someone had stolen my bike seat.  After about 10seconds of running through negative emotions, I quickly accepted the situation, rode home while standing out of the saddle the whole time, and went to buy a new bike seat the next day.  At that moment, I learned the lesson of the sunk cost.

The idea of the sunk cost is the idea that you have lost something meaningful to you.  You wish you could have access to you bike seat, or to your train ticket, but you don’t, and as a result, you are inconvenienced.  You suffer pracitcally, logistically, and financially.  However, you do not necessarily need to suffer emotionally!

There is one type of sunk cost that has managed to plague me emotionally.  And that is the idea of lost relationships, and lost experiences.  For a while, I suffered with the idea that I had 4years to learn so much in college, but I didn’t.  That time is a sunk cost.  For a while, I suffered with not being able to access in my memory so many people and conversations I’ve had in my life.  For a while, I suffered with not being able to be friends with so many people who I had felt close to at one point or another in my life.  Friends from school, from summer program, from travelling.

In an effort to combat the negative psychology that has affected me, with regards to the sunk costs of time and relationships, I have begun dedicating myself to concentrating on the past, as part of an effort to build my future.  I not only want to learn new things, I want to learn those things that I was exposed to growing up.  I not only want to make new friends, I want to build on friendships that have faded slightly over time.  I not only want to develop new ideas…I want to dig back into my journals and my past, and build on those things.

Thanks to xanga, and the efforts I made in the past, I had an old acquaintance comment on my site, a guy named Andrew who I wrote about in Dec. of 2003.  The last 2 years of my life have been so life altering and ridiculous in terms of the scope of experiences, people, and thoughts, that the sunk costs of not having instant access to all of them have sometimes caused me great mental anguish.  But, the person who commented had the effect of shaking the snow-globe that is my brain…referring to those tourist trinkets people buy, where there’s a snowman in an encased glass full of water, and when you shake it white bits begin to fill the globe, giving the effect of snow. 

That’s how my brian is…perhaps, that’s how all our brains are.  I don’t believe we lose memories, rather, memory is merely organizing information within the brain.  Time magazine has its cover article about neuroscience, and improving our brains.  Scientists are learning that our ability to learn actually increases in age, perhaps because we become more equipped with tools for accessing files inside our memories. 

In the next 5yrs. i’ll be working hard to access all those files, and will be working hard to recover some of those sunk costs, those forgotten ideas, writings, people, and experiences, that have shaped my life, and that have the potential to work together to help improve the lives of others. 

Now…time for lunch.  Need to find some hearty bread and perhaps cheese, and some veggies and dip to get me through the afternoon.

-dan

Topic: Deep and shallow thoughts, conversations on life and death, growth and decay

I have titled this post “deep and shallow thoughts,” because I want to address how our culture perceives thought.  Yesturday, while watching the Giants season come crashing to an end, my friend and I had one of those conversations that overflows into a wide-range of topics.  Were we just 2 friends conversing away our afternoon, or 2 people engaging in real intellectual thought?  When 2 professors get together to discuss the philosophy of life, the psychology of thought, the sociology of human interaction, the history of religion, the economics of poverty, are they engaging in real intellectual thought, or are they just 2 peers conversing away their afternoons?

Our conversation about religion and life led me to some startling thoughts, which were mundane things that others had already discovered before…I was just discovering them in my own way, maybe wasting my time re-inventing the wheel.

Anyways…I was thinking how a human body is simply made out of cells, which are continuously growing and dying.  When I scraped my hand, my body grew new cells.  Our limbs, skin, blood, brain, everything about our bodies are simply a collection of cells.  The process from conception, to birth, through aging, and to death, is a scientific process.  We may be unable to explain why the process happens as it does, in the same way we can’t explain ultimately why gravity exists, but i’m going to hold off on those ultimate questions for now.

So…what makes a couch different from a living organism?  Well…eventually a couch will decay and turn into dust, just as a plant, an ant, an elephant, and a human being will.  The various forms of matter that create us, are everchanging.  I’ll have to dig up my biology notes from freshman year of highschool to get you that definition for a living organism.

I’ll save all the biological speculation, and get to the idea of what it means to be human.  What is a human life?  Well…humans are a unique species on this planet.  We evolved from chimpanzees, to the point where our unique brains allowed us to do unique things.  Most unique, was the development of language.  Just think how many thousands of years it took for cave men to evolve language from simple grunts, to some of the complex forms of language that we now use.  The combination of language and tools allowed our species to differentiate itself from all the others.

We can study the psychology and sociology of animals.  Some species of monkeys have relatively complex forms of communication, using different sounds towards different family members.  Animals have unique mating habits, and unique ways of organizing themselves in community.  Human beings have made enormous leaps beyond other animals, but these leaps do not make us anything more than animals.  We’re born, we live, our cells grow, our cells die…ultimately our brains, the sources of our consciousness, turn off, like an old computer.

To many people, these ideas (incomplete as they are), come off as upsetting.  The idea of our mortality is upsetting, as is the idea that their may be no greater purpose for us as human beings.  However, I’d like to note that with our great developments as a species, we are most likely the only species that has woven meaning into the fabric of our lives.  No other species comes close to the level ot thinking and action done by human beings, that would constitute “giving life meaning.”  In addition, we’re perhaps the only species that has the knowledge of the inevitability of decay.  We know we’re going to die.  But, we also know how to “live.”

So…through rational thought, we may come to discover the spirituality that many seek in this otherwise meaningless world.

your thoughts…
 

Topic: mission statement

I just wrote up my personal mission statement / goal sheet for the month of January.  Since around Oct., I’ve been writing assorted notes to myself, and carry around probably too many scraps of paper with reminders and ideas to follow-up on.

After filling up a sheet of paper, I still felt something was incomplete.  I had written down a bunch of things, but I didn’t feel as though I had really motivated myself to accomplish anything.  So…I went back through everything and began circling words that stood out.  And without further ado, in no particular order, my top 12 list for how I hope to prioritize and spend my time this month:

friends
family
exercising
reading
reflecting
network
cooking parties
running
responsibility
FOCUS
plan
calm
balanced

Topic: Liberal means open-minded

I popped into B&N briefly today, and my eye caught a book titled, “Why Jews shouldn’t be liberal,” or something to that extent.  This book attracted me for a couple of reasons, one being my need to read criticisms of liberals, and the other being my curiosity as to why a Jew would argue for other Jews to oppose liberal politics.  Christians you hear about all the time on the news, and for the most part they succeed in coming off close-minded and angry, but a Jew?

As it turns out, Jews and Christians have many things in common besides the Old Testament.  The first few pages I read were a good look inside the thoughts of a conservative.  I find myself stopping and criticizing less, although still reading with a critical eye.  For example, I was struck by the almost fanatic worship of free-market capitalism that was celbrated by the author.  I was also struck, although not surprised, by the vicious language used to attack liberals.  It made me ask the question, “Can a person accuse another of being arrogant, without then being arrogant themselves?” 

I think the author had some ok points about society, but the way in which he begins with the presumption that all things conservative/libertarian are right, and then builds evidence around that, is what struck me most.  Certainly, liberals are guilty of that as well.  Guilty of worshiping blindly to theories and philosophies, making it nearly impossible to see the realites of society.

For example, conservatives tend to view “government as the problem.”  When the government takes money from people in the form of taxes, and spends that money in its budget, freedom has been destroyed.  That I believe to be an essential factor in conservative thought.  Private property, which includes the money we make, should under no circumstances be “stolen” from us.

So…conservatives start with a philosohpy which they hold to be true, and argue from there.  All government programs are bad, because in order for the government to pay for government programs, they need to first rob people of their property.  This is inherently unfair.

What liberals fail to realize, about conservatives, is that their views on politics stem from this particular philosophy.  Ultimately, understanding is more important than lashing out.  I had a 45-min. conversation w/ a conservative co-worker that never would have got off the ground if I had dug my heels in the sand when he argued that welfare and tax money for public schools was wasteful. 

Speaking of education (you knew i’d change the subject), my co-worker was arguing how it was unfair to have to pay such high tuition, when the actual education that comes from tuition is such a small percentage of what is paid.  “Why should i have to pay for a psychologist who probably gets paid $80,000 just to help females with their issues?  Why should i have to pay for a sports stadium that i never step foot in?”  I found his concerns interesting.  I believe there is a lot of waste in education…Wash U would plant and re-plant flowers every month and go overboard for parents weekend, and the business school had flat-screen tv’s that showed images of campus, a complete waste of cash in my eyes.  Yet, my friend’s comments made me see another philosophical difference between liberals and conservatives.  Liberals see community where conservatives don’t.  Liberals see money spent on others as important because those others are part of the community, whether a college community, or the US community.  If a conservative is not interested in being taxed so that some poor person can have food stamps, then that’s the very reason that we need to tax.  Because clearly people in this country are self-interested (which is not a problem in itself), but that self-interest does not take care of our nation’s poor.  Rather, we require the gov’t to come in and take a bit from everyone, “for the good of the community.”

This isn’t to say we shouldn’t be skeptical of government.  This shouldn’t say we shouldn’t be skeptical of the poor.  “Why should I have to support a woman who irresponsibly had 5 kids?”  That’s a genuine concern.  “Why should I be taxed higher because I busted my ass off to get a high paying job?”  That’s also a genuine concern. 

I ran into a girl at Wash U. last year, and during a discussion about higher education, I came a cross a new viewpoint, a conservative viewpoint.  “Why is it my problem if college kids are lazy?  Why should I be penalized by having some of my tuition money go towards extra programs or counseling for these people?  Why should I be sympathetic towards them when I grew up with nothing, and had to scrape my way to get where I am today?” 

This conversation was truly eye-opening, as it made me realize part of the ideological gap between conservatives and liberals.  This girl was absolutely right to feel that her hard work should be rewarded, but what I had a hard time demonstrating to her was how she would benefit if those less hard-working students were assisted, even if it meant taking some time or resources away from her.  I told her we don’t need to necessarily sympathize or coddle those students who waste their time in school, just as we shouldn’t nurse the poor.  But to show disdain towards these people is equally irresponsible.

Another difference between ideologies that’s come up continues on this idea of responsibility.  When people fail to succeed, conservatives blame only the individual, while liberals are open to the idea that society played a role.  “With hard work and a little luck…” a conservative might say. 

And it’s true.  Countless poor people have succeeded in this country.  In the worst schools, students can still access any book they want from the free public libraries, and learn to their hearts content.  “Success is a choice.”  In a way, I respect the conservative line there. 

But…I believe the differences between conservatives and liberals also is that liberals see individual cases, whereas conservatives might only see genearlities.  “Poor people are poor because they’re lazy,” vs. “This poor person grew up in a single-parent household to an illiterate mother in a crime-ridden neighborhood.”  In the liberal mind, society plays a key rold in determining who will succeed in life, and therefor it is sometimes necessary to use gov’t to interfere with society in order to remedy things.

Many conservatives also have a longing for the past.  What was in 1776, is what should be in 2006.  A conservaitve might site what happened 230 years ago as our country was founded, in order to make a point about life today.  “Our founding fathers did not say anywhere in the Constitution that our purpose as a nation was to help the poor.”  In fact, the founding fathers had no objections to slavery either.  Many conservatives argue for the written word of the law, holding that higher than any modern interpretation of the relationship between law and society.

To me, politics isn’t all that complicated.  Help me to fill in any blanks, but there’s really only 2 pieces to politics.  There’s the issue of taxes and budgets, and the issue of legislation.  The difference between the US and Canada and the UK and Venezuela and China, politically speaking, are the differences in how much the gov’t taxes its people, in what way it taxes its people, and how those taxes are spent.  Its also the difference between what is allowed, and what is not allowed within a society.  Can gays marry?  How are business regulated?  How are criminals tried? 

And as people, we must never forget about the 4th arm of the gov’t, beyond the judicial, congressinal, and executive…the way in which we as individuals have any idea about what’s going on and are able to have discussions about politics.  The media.  Is the media “free?”  Who owns the media?  Who does the media serve?  Which biases are included and which biases are left out of the media?

My co-worker made a comment about how futile it is to discuss politics, except for entertainment purposes.  And I believe he’s largely right.  Our form of democracy as it stands today is stacked against the will of the people.  The media we receive is over-sensationalized and driven by corporate agendas, working against efforts to attract people into taking an active role in making change in society.

But…i may have struck a chord w/ my conservative friend.  He was going on about, “I have no control of the gov’t, my vote doesn’t count, and at the end of the day, I’m always going to have to pay 30% or more of my paycheck to Uncle Sam for services that don’t affect my life.  I work my job, and take care of my family.  Isn’t that enough?”

And I thought of my friend who got arrested in DC the other week for an act of civil disobedience, protesting against the House and Senate budget cuts.  And I told this story to my friend and I think it struck a chord.  “Our elected officials are about to cut food-stamps to thousands of poor people.”  I actually haven’t read all that much about poverty issues, but when it came down to the nitty gritty policies of food and shelter that people need, it was hard for my conservative friend (whose mom was the youngest of 9 and was briefly on welfare herself) to agree with the cuts.

Yet…on the flip side, I continue to see the conservative argument.  “How hard is it to get by in this country by working min. wage, if you spend responsibly?”  I have a copy of “Nicke & Dimed” at home, which I need to read and start sharing with people…because I believe the big problem in politics and society, really, is how little we know and understand one another, in particular, those within this community of America who we never even see or talk to.  What is life like really for those who are the beneficiaries of gov’t spending? 

The point of this post, was hopefully to demonstrate the need to understand one another, liberals and conservatives alike, we need to bring an open-mind and healthy skepticism to the table, and to recognize that besides science, there may be no absolutes in this world.  (i had an interesting discussion w/ my minister-to-be friend about god, and came up w/ the argument that if god existed and could affect the non-science world, meaning there was a supernatural relationship between god and society whereby we aren’t alone, than it’s only logical to believe that tom. gravity won’t exist because science is just a by-product of god…ugh, been too long since i’ve thought about that topic).

Anyways…discuss.  What do you think?

Topic: Chicago & Munich

Well…my trip to Chicago is nearly complete.  Have an early flight back to NY tom.  Unlike Sept. when I had such a good time here that I wanted to relocate, I’m now excited to head back to NY, and also excited for future returns to the Windy City.

As it turns out, many people from my college, Wash U., have relocated to Chicago.  Along with my 2 best friends, I have close to 10 acquaintances who live here, who I’ve grown much closer to after catching up with them this past weekend.  I have a friend at U of Chicago Divinity School who is studying to become a minister, and will be studying public policy there in a few years, with the hopes of using Christian values to influence politics(helping the poor, vs. helping to fight abortions and same-sex marriage).  Another friend is the drummer in a punk band, “Much the Same,” and will be recording an album this spring and doing some touring, trying to make the next big step towards a full-time career as a musician.  Two of my close friends from freshman year, who have been dating for some time.  My guy friend has a dog now, a real step up in responsibility from his days as a “drunkin’ frat boy.”  The girl, like myself, living at home in the ‘burbs, trying to save a buck and enjoy the city life.

It’s a great city for me to visit, and while I will miss having this kind of community at home, I’m starting to find some interesting people in NYC, and I’m looking forward to the next few months with them.

Tonight, my friend Doug and I went to see Munich.  Hands down, one of the best movies I’ve seen in ages.  While not meant to be a 100% accurate movie historically, the movie made some amazingly powerful commentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as addressing the issues of terrorism and violence in general.  What is gained?  Is this the only way?

There’s about 15 different issues I’ve been talking about tonight w/ my friend…and will slowly begin incorporating them into my writing.  I’ve also decided, that while I realize writing will not be my main pursuit in life, or at least, not my main pursuit financially, writing will always be central to me.  In fact, I’m just starting to think about what it means, “to be a writer.”  I’ve never considered myself a writer…even though I wrote a book (which…felt in many ways like writing a college paper.  I wrote, but more to convey a message than out of the desire to simply do some writing).  However, I now feel that the creative aspect of writing, as well as the social aspect, are two things that I love.  I love taking ideas in my head, and finding ways to lay them out there for others to look-at, to reflect on, and to respond to.  In fact, writing for myself now ranks significantly lower than writing for others.  Actually, affecting people and having them affect me with their responses are the ultimate things that drive me to write.

Anyways…it’s late, but topics that Munich has got me thinking about…

1) a future post, essay, something, perhaps titled, “Tomorrow” regarding the direction individuals and society are headed.  No argument or thesis, just thoughts and observations. 

2) a discussion on cultural psychology…ex)  If you had to put an age to our culture, what would it be?  For example, cave men would be like infints, without language or knowledge of the world.  What is the personality of the world, or just the US today?  My initial thoughts were that we’re about late-teens.  Relatively intelligent, although still in that angry phase, still ignorant and naiive, still having trouble relating to others, still unsure what direction we’re heading in.  I think the next 100-200 years will be along these lines, but I think it’s possible in 200-400 years, to reach a more adult-stage of culture, where we are a bit more mature, have lived more life and have more to reflect on and more experiences to have learned from, and we can look back at our awkward teenage years, and laugh a bit.

3) This movie Munich…i just want to digest the politics, history, commentary, cinema…so many things. 

Giants in the playoffs!
New Year’s resolutions to increase fitness and eat/cook more healthy/creatively.
Matisyahu…Hasidic regae.  Considering catching them at MSG next week.