Archive for January, 2008

>     How timely that in yesterday’s blog I wrote about the ways to deal with chaos born of change and today we have a three-continent wide interruption to internet and electronic communications as a result of a severed underwater cable. This “interruption”, as governments and media are characterizing it, is more like a high-tech tsunami. And it’s just one of many such “interruptions” that will be occurring. As I said yesterday, we are in the midst of enormous change and change’s “middle name” is chaos.
    For those of you who may not have read the previous blog, the point was that the challenging economic experiences we are encountering are symptomatic of a deeper and more profound shift taking place in the “non-material” realm. You can read “non-material” as “spiritual”, “religious”, “cosmic”, “extra-terrestrial”, or “religious”…whatever your preference. What matters is that you secure your boat for these are rough seas approaching. While I don’t intend to sound like I’m prophesying anything, or giving credence to prophecies gone by, I can’t help calling it as I see it.
    What I see is an
imbalance among Nature, humanity and technology. At some point in
our development we lost sight of the inter-relationship and necessary
balance between these aspects of our existence.     The natural state of an organism, if allowed, is to self-organize when out of balance. Given the “opportunity”, it will bring itself back into balance through realignment of those parts that are the source of the imbalance. We are now experiencing the correction, or realignment, of the parts of our world, our reality, that have become so misaligned as to inhibit it’s proper functioning and impede movement along it’s intended path. Simply stated, our choices have created misalignments that are in need of correction. Now, also as I see it, all parts are impacted by realignment but not all parts are impacted equally. Depending on where a part(you) are “located” in relation to where the “change” occurs, you will experience that change differently.
    Since the “organism” in this case is human consciousness and what we have created with it, changes will occur at critical points where misalignment is most egregious. So, if for example, you are a day trader in Dubai and you’re working on a multi-billion dollar trade that needs to take place today or it will result in a loss of mega sums of money, you will feel the effects of the damaged cable, “the realignment”, significantly greater than a charitable person feeding the homeless on the streets of New Delhi. Same part of the world, same humanity…just positioned differently in relation to the misaligned part and the applied correction.
    If it all sounds a little mystical, or just a little esoteric…let me simplify it.
     We have let the technology that we created run us. We became too caught up in power. We lost sight of our connectedness to one another and the responsibility of what that means. We abandoned the children. We abandoned the women. We abandoned the elderly. We became egocentric. We, humanity, lost our way. That’s the bad news.
    Wait. There’s good news.
    You can’t find your way home unless you’ve been lost. Well, maybe you can but it’s not the same. Once you’ve been lost, the journey home takes on profound meaning and the arrival untold joy. Yes, we have been lost and the journey home is a difficult one filled with obstacles. We can surmount those obstacles with lesser or greater difficulty, depending on where we put our thoughts, words and actions. Like the day trader in Dubai and the person feeding the homeless in New Delhi.
    We are on our way home and determined to get there. Each of us has a faint memory of how wonderful it feels to rest safely in the warm Light of Home. It is toward that feeling, and by that Light, we now travel. Welcome and embrace the opportunities to make personal choices that help move the collective consciousness, Oneness, back into alignment with Itself.
    That’s a homecoming no one should want to miss.

>     Remember the 1990’s when the stock market was soaring through the ceiling and everyone who had the chance to have been invested in it was making more money than they ever dreamed they could? Back then every news report led with the DOW and NASDAQ numbers. I remember it clearly because it drove me crazy that the world seemed to revolve around the money. I tired of it, and yet it was almost impossible not to be inundated with those rising numbers on an hourly basis.
    Now, we’re headed back there again. But this time it’s the falling numbers and the growing apprehension around an economy that appears to be headed into tricky, some even say disastrous, waters. The tension, fear if you will, is becoming palpable. Combine this with a Presidential election on the horizon and we’re smack in the middle of some serious uncertainty.
    What’s a person to do? There are a few guidelines.
    First, hold on, but not too tightly. The ride is likely to be a bumpy one with a fair share of tossing and turning…that’s why the admonition is to keep your grip steady but flexible. Holding on too tightly can get something you’d rather not, snapped. Changing times are an opportunity to exercise the skill of adaptability. Better to ebb and flow than hunker down. From a flexible position, you will be better positioned to make necessary adjustments as things unfold.
    Secondly, know your core. By that I mean know what your guiding principles are and where your bottom line is in regard to what you value and what you are willing to let go. By having a good, working knowledge of what is important to you in Life, you will be positioned to be both inner directed and flexible.
  Thirdly, change is chaotic by it’s very nature. So expect the unexpected. Let go now of ideas and ways of doing things that have previously worked for you, as they will likely no longer bring the same end result. Old ways applied to new patterns will hardly create harmony. What will be required is an open mind and willingness to not react to the chaos, but rather to creatively approach situations with an expansive eye toward possible solutions…for there will be many.
     Finally, as the chaos intensifies, resist the urge to look to others for “answers.” Instead, go within and source your own inner guidance, trusting your own instincts to see you through.
     The economic news is a symptom, not a root cause. And when symptoms appear, there is always the choice between acquiescing to the potential “bad news” before it’s confirmed that it even exists (thereby guaranteeing that it will come)…or refocusing one’s efforts on identifying the most prudent and expeditious course to wellness.
     Let’s treat the economic indicators as symptoms that the underlying organism is out of balance and realign our priorities and our goals to bring It back to Center.
    This isn’t the end of anything other than worn out ways of living Life that need to be updated.
    We are living through Source’s correction. The DOW is just a symptom.

>     There’s a buzzword on the campaign trail for 2008 and it’s “change.” It started with Senator Barack Obama and has now spread to almost every candidate, regardless of party affiliation. When I first wrote about   Senator Obama back in the Fall of 2007, I made the observation that while I wasn’t sure he was “the man” he was certainly carrying “the message.” The message has taken off to the point where the word “change” itself has become the object of political punditry. So let’s be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak.
     There is a very real reason that Senator Obama’s appeal caught on so quickly and, some might say, surprisingly. It is because he uses language in a way, and espouses a specific message, that speaks to what so many of us are feeling within ourselves as well as experiencing in our daily lives. The message is that old systems and methods of conducting business as usual…be they personal or professional…simply aren’t working. The feeling is endemic and it is real. Old ways of “doing” are not, in fact, working because something has shifted.
    That something is an awakening, across the planet, by people who are experiencing their own inherent, creative power to manifest a reality other than the one they have been previously presented. When power shifts, it must necessarily go from one place to another. Remember, energy is neither created nor destroyed, simply redistributed. So, the shift that we are living through, the Paradigm Shift if you will, is a redistribution of power (the energy) from the few to the many. 
    While historically it has been the habit and custom to search outside ourselves for guidance and answers to Life’s big questions, to look for gurus and groups to show us the way, we are now both realizing and experiencing the blossoming of the seeds of personal power that have been germinating within our consciousness since the first act of Creation.
    The change we are now evolving through is both monumental and long awaited. It is important that we give it the recognition and depth of attention it warrants. And while the political process is reflective of this change, it is not the root but merely a symptom.
    It will take more than superficial references to change to transit this shift. It will take focus, attention, intention, and an unquestioned knowing that each of us is directly responsible for the choices we make. Whether that choice is the lever we pull in the voting booth or what we think about and say to the stranger in our midst…we are each empowered with the potential to create or destroy.
    There is a teaching in mystical Judaism that says that when the Messiah comes there will be a new circumcision… and it will be a circumcision of the heart. That the spiritual barrier that surrounds our hearts and causes us to see one another as separate will be removed, allowing us to know Oneness, finally.
    Change is at hand. Let us keep our eyes and ears on it and not be sidetracked by marketing attempts to water down it’s magnitude or it’s potential. Change is as hand, surely.
    Know that YOU ARE THAT CHANGE.
  

>     Someone made an interesting comment about my blog yesterday. Because it’s my nature to see if there is any credence or learning for me in the truth of another, I have given the comment due consideration and come to my conclusion.
    But first, the comment. The person told me that as to the content of my blog, “it’s always the same message” and so he has stopped reading it. Now, ordinarily this might be a hurtful message to give a writer, especially one who aspires to inspire others. So, I had to look carefully at the comment and be honest with myself. After due consideration, I have decided that he is right. However, rather than it being the basis for folding my tent and moving on, so to speak, his observation re-energizes me in my mission and motivates me to continue along this chosen path.
    Why?
    Because he is right. There is only One message. Just as there is only One Source, One You, One Me, and One of Us. That is the underlying structure upon which I build every blog entry. And the reason it is both the foundation and the repetition is because like all things new, it will take time and reinforcement to become the accepted norm.
    We have lived thousands of years under an illusion of separation and the consequences of division, aggression, competition and war that separation breeds. It will take time to establish a comfort level with the new awareness of our connectedness and all that it implies.
    It will also take repeated exposure to the multifaceted and multidimensional ways in which that connectedness, the Oneness, plays out in our lives. My contribution to reinforcing the underlying principle is to show how and where, in our daily lives, the principle can be detected and applied. And so, I look at personal, local, national and international stories to extract and highlight the seed of Oneness that is inherent in everything that occurs, no matter how obscure it may seem at first glance. For what I am doing is teaching an exercise in consciousness development that is here for the taking.
    One of the things I have learned in my life thus far is best summed up in a parable about the Buddha.

One day there was a knock on the Buddha’s door. Upon opening it, a man confronted the Buddha and began to rail against the Buddha’s teachings, insulting the Buddha as well. After allowing the man to express himself fully, the Buddha looked the man in the eyes and said.”Thank you. But I cannot accept your gifts. You’ll have to take them with you when you leave.”
    The man who made the comment about “there being only one message” has obviously chosen to pass on the opportunity to reinforce the message. I can only hope that in so doing, he is choosing to find alternative resources that mirror and thereby reinforce for him, on a daily basis, the magnificence of the unfolding that we are All Now a part of.
    And I wish him well as he leaves on his journey.
   

>     I begin this entry thinking that it will be short. I am tired. Woke up that way this morning. In fact, didn’t think there would be an entry at all. But as the day moves on, and I sluggishly with it, it seems that fatigue and rest are subjects with as much merit as Presidential candidates or fluctuating economies. So, I am writing on commitment, responsibility, and guilt. All subject matter that directly tie in to why as tired as I am, I’m still writing.
    We are not taught to believe that some days it’s quite all right, even perfect, to NOT do what it is we do every day. Some days seem to hit us in the face the moment we open our eyes. You know the feeling. It’s like a knot in your solar plexus combined with a heaviness in your heart. Even routine morning tasks appear to be an uphill climb. Now, I’m not talking about depression or some mental or emotional deficiency that needs attention. I’m simply talking about honoring our internal message system.
    This morning mine was a blinking sign flashing “Gridlock. Proceed With Caution.”
    I’ve become pretty adept at hearing and following my internal guidance. I’ve come to trust It and know It guides me in the right direction. But even those of us who hear the inner call can stumble. And so I proceeded out into the world today to attend to what it was I had intended to tend to…and I’ve gotten some of it accomplished.
    Although not very well.
    You see, when we ignore our inner guidance we are really asserting what I would call the “will of ego” over Thy Will. Thy Will is the knowing of our Authentic Self that is directly connected to All That Is. Thy Will (which is My Highest Will) has my growth and creative expression as it’s highest intention. So when I choose to ignore it’s direction, I am more likely than not bucking traffic. Which is why setting out today with business as usual felt like gridlock. Or spinning my wheels. Or any other auto analogy one can come up with. You get the point.
    I write to the blog Monday through Friday. It’s Friday. So, I needed to write to the blog. That’s my commitment. Not having done that gave me feelings of guilt that I was not being responsible. Now, honestly, I know better than to get trapped by useless feelings of guilt. And yet, it was the guilt that propelled me to here and now so maybe it’s not so useless after all.
    I’d like to believe that this stream of consciousness blog entry will be of value to someone, somewhere. That would certainly be worth the exhaustion I’m feeling as I wrap this up. I am headed for a nap because I’m running out of what it takes not to.
    Those of you who are regular readers know I like to end with a punch and give you a “take away” as you go. So here it is.
    If you’re tired, rest. Life waits. Really.

>     The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a three page article on a local high school student who in an attempted suicide, jumped 9 stories from the bedroom window of his family’s apartment and survived the fall. With potentially fatal injuries, he endured 89 days of critical care hospitalization and has recently been moved to a rehabilitation facility. Miraculously he is on the mend. He will live, although the long-term effects of his injuries may not be known for some time.
    As a survivor of attempted suicide at age 23, I have written about the topic in prior blog entries, most recently in the entry “Appointment in Life” about my presentation on the topic to 500 high school sophomores in New Jersey. What shocked me in reading the Inquirer article was the statistic that 1 million high school age children attempt suicide each year. It is the third leading cause of death among young people between the ages 10 to 24.
    Thirty years ago a psychologist and friend, Linda Marcoccia, observed that historically, no society that “abandoned” its children has ever survived. At the time, she was remarking on the astounding number of runaway children in this country. Now that number is matched by those trying to kill themselves.
    Something is terribly wrong.
    I think the children are like the “canary in the mine” analogy. We should look at the runaways and the attempted suicides as an “early warning system” that an environment insufficient to maintain Life is unfolding.
    What has gone wrong and what do we do about it?
    I can only speak to the present day culture of the United States since that is where, and within which, I live (and am raising a teenage daughter, by the way). There are, no doubt, apparent factors gone awry both within the nuclear family and within the society-at-large.
    On the home front, too many parents have abdicated their responsibility to acculturate and educate their children to unsupervised technological creations. It started with television, the technology of choice during the latter half of the 20th century. And while television had its programming pluses and minuses back then, the minuses pale in comparison with the programming of today. To this, add PC’s, cell phones, text messaging, ipods, iphones, and whatever “advances” are on the horizon and you have the basic ingredients for the requisite alienation that is the underpinning of depression and suicide.
    I’m not saying this is the cause. Or even the root cause. After all, I tried to commit suicide during the relatively less technological period of the 1970’s. What I am saying is that as you multiply and compound the factors that create separation and alienation, you also increase the likelihood that more and more people will be unable to cope. At some point, our humanity is subsumed and obscured by the demands, and particularly the pace, of technology. 
    In the broader view, our values have been askew for sometime now. We have as a nation forsaken, if we ever fully valued at all, the stories, examples and extraordinary accomplishments of creative individuals and advanced societies that exemplified the best of what humankind is capable of creating. We teach the advanced sciences and encourage brutal levels of competition at the expense of history, culture, values, ethics, inspiration, kindness, charity, and love.
    The effects of our misguided aspirations can be seen in the 2.5 million runaways and attempted suicides annually.
    Children start out in life unencumbered and unrestrained by social constraints. As the grow, however, they take on more and more of the values and goals of their family and society-at-large. I think what the children are trying to tell us is that the quality of life we are modeling for them holds no attraction. What they are experiencing and feeling is too far removed from what the heart and Soul aspire to.
    They simply don’t see the point in staying.
    I have always been a firm believer that when the student cannot understand the teaching, it’s the teacher’s failure to communicate and inspire, not the student’s failure to learn.
    So, too, in Life.
    If the children are, in fact, our “canaries”…then they are signaling that we are failing at modeling by example a life worth living.
    Starting today, take every opportunity you have to replace expediency with genuineness, winning with allowing, and acquisition with simplicity.
    And know that as you make these changes, the children are watching.
    
    
    
    

>     I am in the habit of briefly tuning in to some talk radio shows each morning just to get the drift of each day’s stories before I write my blog. This morning, Glenn Beck was doing a commercial at the end of one of the segments. It was for a product that let’s you access the files on your PC from any computer no matter where you are. As part of the sales pitch, he said that he no longer believes in a “balanced” life but now believes in an “integrated” one. In support of his new perspective, he gave the example of how he now does his “homework” along side his children while they are doing theirs and he “learns more about what’s going on” in their lives this way than in prior deliberate attempts to converse with them.
    No offense, Glenn, but any mother who has ever driven her child to or from anywhere as part of her job description, or stayed home with a child who wasn’t feeing well and read a story or played a game to pass the time, knows that you learn more about your child in those unscripted moments than in all your deliberate efforts combined.
    Now I understand that Glenn is a Dad and not a Mom so (sexism aside) it may have taken him a decade or two (and a child or four) longer to figure this out. Plus, he’s got a pretty demanding career. But the fact that this was some sort of revelation for him made me think that perhaps it’s worth elaborating upon.
    When people bemoan “the good old days” it’s often a longing for a time recalled only for it’s high points and little else. For in reality, there is no “good old day” that was exempt from all the fundamental challenges of Life. However, one legitimate yearning for what was may be for a time when things were slower paced, and therefore, created more “space” between obligations that allowed us as people, and particularly as parents, to just “hang out” with one another. It’s in “hanging out” that we discover the little things about others that are not always readily apparent…and certainly not knowable “on the run.”
    The pace of the technology has created many “overlays” between aspects of our lives better kept separate. This makes it imperative that we re-prioritize our obligations based upon our inner-most intentions in order to bring enhanced meaning to relationships…personal and professional.
    One caution about Mr. Beck’s concept of an integrated life as opposed to a balanced one. It’s possible to be integrated and out of balance at the same time. These are not mutually exclusive concepts. You can find a way to bring diverse aspects of your life into new relationship to one another and still have a disproportionate amount of time and energy going to some parts as opposed to others.
    And by the way, it’s also possible to integrate the various aspects of your life in form only without being fully conscious and aware of their substance or, for that matter, what your responsibility is in relationship to it all.
    I do offer congratulations to Mr. Beck for his awakening around this subject. I would only suggest that he, as should we all, seek to create paced, balanced and integrated lives that manifest the best of what we are capable of as Beings Human.

         >There’s a great scene in the movie “Jerry Maguire” where Tom Cruise,having been fired from his corporate job as a Sport’s Agent, scrambles to retain the one client, a recent college graduate all star, who could make Cruise a success all on his own. After meeting with the young man and his father and getting their agreement to exclusively sign with him, Cruise heads off to catch his flight back home. Exhilarated by the coup, Cruise is seen driving his rental car while station-surfing the car radio to find music that resonates with his mood. When he finally finds the song, it’s “Free Fallin” by Tom Petty. Both the lyrics and the music seem to capture the precipice that Cruise is walking between the “valley of death” and “heaven on earth.”
    I should be humming that same song today following another in the series of Democratic debates last night on television and this morning’s economic news of a DOW and NASDAQ in free fall. You see, we are traversing a precipice of our own and it has to do with Consciousness.  
    Let’s liken Tom Cruise’s firing to the huge drop in global markets over the last 24 (and perhaps coming 24) hours. What was the given is suddenly no longer true or reliable.  A sudden and, on the surface at least, devastating occurrence takes place. At such moments, one is suddenly confronted with two options: succumb to the apparent devastation with panic, fear and immobility or seize the moment to source oneself for calm, meaning and appropriate action.
    Now let’s liken Cruise’s decision to go out on his own and seize the opportunity to create a reality that exceeded even his own prior expectations of himself to what Clinton, Obama and Edwards did last night in the 2nd hour of their debate. In that hour, there were no time constraints on the candidates for their answers. In fact, there were no rules. They went from standing at podiums and answering pre-determined, moderator-imposed questions in the first hour to sitting down in three chairs and having a “conversation” among themselves in the 2nd. It was glorious. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.
    We, the People, were able to see them more relaxed, more unscripted, and more like what they might be like in talking with heads of state where policy concerns differ. It was previously unavailable insight into all three of them, for those of us who looked, although my point here is not about those insights or who they are. Kudos for whoever had the courage to put forth that format! We, the People are not interested in the show any longer. We want the Truth of the matter…and if you have the courage to present it to us we are awakened and courageous enough ourselves to see and hear it.
    My point is that humankind is walking a precipice between the old and the new, between what has always been and what is now possible in real time, between being pushed by fear or led by hope. We are Jerry Maguire. We’re in that car, taking that chance, and station-surfing for the music to express our heart-songs
    “Free Fallin” works for us as well.
    Ignore the economic news. It’s just an opportunity to move past the external, fear-based reality construct that has been in place for thousands of years and move towards sourcing inner guidance that propels you towards your highest good and the good of all concerned.
    Times of uncertainty create lots of unknowns which generate many questions. It is neither those questions nor their answers that matter. What matters is knowing with certainty that the Source of All questions and their answers Is within you…for you alone to discover.
    Walk this precipice with your eyes and heart wide open and discover a landscape rich and beautiful beyond your wildest imaginings.
    It just might turn out to be heaven on earth.

>     There isn’t any subject that does not have an expert these days. It used to be that having an advanced degree in some field, or many years of employment at a specific job gave a person the apparent authority (right or wrong) to speak on a topic. Now, even those requirements seem to have vanished as everyone and anyone who can type (and find a publisher or self-publish) is an authority…or at least has the answers to whatever physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually ails you.
    And for a small fee, perhaps the price of the book, you too can know the “secret.”
    Well, here’s my secret. There are no secrets.  No one is a better authority on your life than you are. And no one is a better arbiter of what matters in life than you are. The challenge we all face, and try to avoid, is the necessary inner journey to where those answers lie. And the reason we try to avoid the journey is because it’s solo and it’s hard.
    No way around that one.
    I mean, you can try and pass it off to someone else by seeking their counsel, or opinion, or advice but all you’ll have to show for it is their view of the world and their view overlaid upon your unique landscape. None of us is born with more or less access to Truth. The question isn’t how much can we amass as a testimony to our accomplishments but rather how far inward can we traverse and how close can we get to that place of silence from where all knowing emanates?
    “Knowing” is an interesting word. We tend to take it to mean some intellectual awareness or clarity around information or data. But true knowing is as in “and Adam knew Eve.” It doesn’t mean he understood her, or that he had sexual relations with her…it means he was One with her in spirit and, as One, had an innate knowing of all there was to know. This is our birthright…to know all there is to know about Our Selves and The Source of All Selves.
    Birthright doesn’t necessarily mean cakewalk. Our pain originates from our sense of separation. But without a deep sense of separation, it would be almost impossible to know and appreciate Oneness. For it is in the awakening from separation, and the transcendence of it, that we are finally able to experience the fullness and wonder of knowing All That Is.
    So, the next time you’re inclined to buy that book, CD, DVD, or enroll in that course…remember that neither Moses nor Jesus nor Buddha nor Lao Tzu ever charged a fee although they did spend a lot of time and energy on the journey within.
    
    
    

>     Last week the petite, young wife of a Chinese TV News and Sports Reporter interrupted a televised promotional event meant to outline her husband’s TV station’s coverage of the pending Chinese Olympics. It seems the wife had, only hours prior, discovered that her husband was having an affair and took the opportunity to let the world know as well. A video of the actual event is floating around YouTube. In today’s world, there really are no secrets…at least not for long.
    Several aspects of this story grip me.
    First, we have a daughter from China. Watching several men trying to “corral” that petite young woman and move her off the stage was sad. But the aftermath is more than sad, it’s disgraceful. I have read that the young woman has been arrested, without benefit of judge or jury, and will remain incarcerated until after the Olympics. If this is true, human rights and womens’ groups around the world should be expressing their outrage. And if that’s not enough to have her released, may I suggest that no female athlete participate in the upcoming Olympics to be held in China unless she’s released. There may not be many ways to move an elephant…but there are a few.
    I take more than a little comfort in knowing that while I wish that someday my daughter enters into a loving, committed marriage, should that turn out not to be the case she will have the option to simply hire a lawyer and secure her marital rights. I’ll lose no sleep wondering if she’ll wind up in jail for making public the shameful behavior her husband tried to keep private.
    Secondly, let’s talk about that husband’s alleged behavior. If true, it’s certainly not confined to China and Now. It’s as old as recorded history, as is the unequal societal and legal responses to men who are promiscuous versus women who are. Under Sharia law, women are beheaded for that which men are admired. Even in democratic countries, there is still societal stigma and lowered opinion of women who have affairs. Yet, men wear them as some sort of accomplishment and are not subject to the same reactions. In fact, my husband has a “cute” little expression he favors about the male sex drive. He summarizes it by saying, “Basically, we’re dogs.” And while I believe he’s been true to our commitment, I think the saying is a rationale and justification for avoiding the challenges of growing past an ineffective perspective that inhibits real intimacy. Make no mistake, I condone neither male nor female infidelity. I simply condemn double standards and unequal justice.
    Thirdly, and most importantly, is the power of one, female voice. While I am certain there are those who would try and paint that young Chinese woman as mentally unstable, lacking in self-esteem, or vengeful, they would be wrong. It took a Herculean amount of courage to do what she did. To do it, she had to risk the outcry of the established thinking that she knew would follow, she had to announce to the world that her husband found her, in some petty way, “insufficient” (although his alleged behavior says infinitely more about his insufficiencies than hers), she had to face the consequences that might, and apparently have, resulted, and she had to anticipate living with the memory of her actions forever. This was a courageous act and, further, she had the inner strength to tie her comments to the lack of a human rights policy in China. What she was saying by that connection is that no nation can be a great nation without respecting equally all of its citizens. All means each...regardless of race, ethnicity, religious or political affiliation, age, and gender.
    So, a petite young woman from China has shone light upon a whole host of issues. She has done her job and done it well.
    Now the question remains, what do you and I do?