Sherrie R. Cronin's Blog, page 56
April 19, 2013
That which does not kill us ……. (thoughts from Budapest)
Chain Bridge over Danube River
I’m riding a tour bus across the Danube and I’m thinking of Nietzsche. He had the reputation of being a depressing godless existentialist where I was raised, and only as an adult have I learned of the many uplifting things that he had to say.
One of my favorites: That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
I am thinking about this because I can’t see out of the bus all that well, because I am in an aisle seat and my sister has the window. She loves the window but she would take turns with me if I wanted, but I don’t. Like Lola, my hero of x0, I too was trapped under a canoe a few years ago and was lucky to live through the incident. Lola used the experience to help her grow into a strong telepath Me, I still find myself uncomfortable being anywhere for very long where I cannot easily get out. After berating myself for being silly and forcing myself to endure mildly uncomfortable situations, I’ve finally just accepted the new me and now I keep plenty of open space between me and the exit. So, no window seats.
I have decided that I love the Hungarians. I love the wild violin music and the rich food and this hilly city called Buda pushed right up against the Danube and the flatness of Pesht. This happens to me a lot when I travel. I tend to fall in love with whole cultures and pieces of the earth.
Hungarian war memorial with bullet holes preserved
I am fascinated with how these warriors on horseback arrived in Europe the 800′s (that’s right, 800 not 1800). After hundreds of good years, disaster struck. The Mongols passed through, killing most Hungarians and burning their villages to the ground. Tough times.
It took a couple of hundred years to recover from that, but the Hungarians did. Then the Turks came through, killed and burnt as before, and stayed for a couple of hundred years. The Austrians showed up and kicked out the Turks, but then they milked the Hungarians dry before they pulled them into the losing side of World War I. After the war, Hungary lost two thirds of its land and half its people as punishment.
A guy named Hitler came along and promised the Hungarians their land back, and they made an unfortunate alliance. Once they learned to know their ally better and tried to end the relationship, Hitler simply invaded and occupied Hungary. But not to worry, the Soviets showed up and pushed Hitler out. The Hungarians were so happy that they made then statues of thanksgiving. Then, the Soviets imposed their own stern totalitarian regime on the Hungarians for decades, behind a political artifact known as the “iron curtain”.
Today, Hungary is a sliver of its former self, fighting to regain its economic footing and cultural cohesiveness. Our tour guide quips that “really we’re just hanging around to see who is going to invade us next.” My science fiction brains is already thinking about an alien invasion story that begins in Hungary. It has promise.
I think that what Nietzshe said is technically true regarding germs. I wish it was true more generally. I think we should all be resilient and not leading lives of fear. Survive and grow stronger. It sounds good and when it happens, it’s great. But the truth is that what doesn’t kill us, sometimes damages us. To deny that fact doesn’t help.
If there is there a message in there for those times when what doesn’t kill leaves marks instead, I think it must be about the need for us all to be far more gentle with each other. We’re strong But as people and as societies, we are fragile too. We’d all be far better off if we did less damage to each other to begin with.
April 9, 2013
Playing a kids’ game for world peace
I am in awe of teacher John Hunter. I just watched him give a talk on TED about his class room game that takes a new twist on RISK, the famous board game of world conquest. In John Hunter’s classroom, fourth graders play “The World Peace Game” in which four imaginary nations struggle with war, poverty, climate change, and nuclear proliferation. Students only win by working together to find solutions to issues that many adults think have no solution. The good news is that these kids don’t yet know that the problems “cannot be solved”.
John Hunter’s book at Amazon.com
Hunter has recently written a book about his experiences with his World Peace Game and you can click on the image on the right to read more about it at Amazon.com. Compassion, Hunter writes in the book, “is the ultimate point of education and everything else. The game emphasizes compassion.” he says.
He says that the solutions his students devise are always complex and include negotiations, treaties, compromising, and a willingness to not to have the perfect answer. He claims that several classes have found workable solutions to global warming.
“Children don’t bring a lot of baggage to things,” he said in an article on Yahoo News. “They come with a much more openheartedness and open-mindedness to solving problems, and they do it in unusual and amazing ways. It thrills me every time I see it.”
The best news I’ve heard in awhile on the world peace front is that he and his fourth grade class have been invited to come play the game at the Pentagon later this year.
You can check out Hunter’s enjoyable TED talk here.
April 6, 2013
World Peace Update
Click here to visit the
Waging Peace website
North Korea continues to try to position itself as a serious threat to world peace. Does it take size and might to seriously disrupt this world? Or will a minimum amount of destructive power combined with sufficient meanness suffice? Sadly, 911 supplied that answer to us all, and now we collectively hold our breaths while North Korea asks foreign embassies in Pyongyang to consider evacuation.
Meanwhile this past week Egyptian security officials say five people were killed in clashes between Muslims and Christians just outside Cairo, and a Taliban assassination attempt on the governor of Afghanistan’s southern province failed but caused several American and Afghan casualties.
There is some good news. Connecticut passed a new gun law that specifically bans the sale of ammunition clips that hold 10 bullets or more, and the state now requires background checks for private gun sales. Sadly, that momentum failed to carry over to the U.S. congress where, in spite of a majority support for both limiting the sale of automatic weapons and for strengthening background checks, our elected representatives won’t even let the issue come to vote.
Rich Lowry of the National Review took a bit of a victory lap yesterday saying “The president’s push for new gun laws looks, at this juncture, like a complete fizzle. … The most concrete effect of his advocacy has been … to stoke increased gun purchases on fear that the government wants to ban guns. He set out to lead a great crusade for gun control and ended up the best friend the gun industry ever had.”
Talk about sad.
However, this past week the U.N. General Assembly voted 154-3 to approve a treaty that regulates the international arms trade and will establish the first international standards for cross border sales of small arms and ammunition, tanks, attack helicopters, armored vehicles, missiles and missile launchers. Yes, missile launchers. The resolution aims to nudge nations towards barring weapons sales to terrorists, criminals and human rights violators.
Let’s hope the predators of the world don’t respond like so many of our own paranoid gun extremists in the United States have. Wouldn’t you just hate to read that the sales of armored vehicles and attack helicopters have spiked worldwide because we are trying to make the world a more peaceful place?
March 26, 2013
Searching for world peace …..
Metta World Peace
visit his blog at
mettaworldpeace.com/
I spend a lot of time searching the internet for information for my blogs and my books, and one subject I search on often is “world peace”. The idea fascinates me, and I devote much of this blog to the concept. And every single time I search, what do I find?
That’s right, I find World Peace. Metta World Peace to be specific, player for the Lakers formerly known as Ron Artest, and perhaps best known for his role in brawl with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. Who is this guy? And why does he keep getting in my way?
With basketball everywhere right now (yes I do know it is college, and Metta plays professionally) it seemed like the right time to learn more about this nemesis who keeps fouling up my searches.So I searched on him.
Well ….. He’s more than another rough player who makes a lot of money. He’s also the father of four, and he donates much of his money to causes, especially those aimed at helping high risk students and supporting mental health. He doesn’t just play basketball, he plays it well and is having an impressive career. He he speaks his mind, also raps, and just released a new single “Get Like Me.” (I listened and thought it was interesting but I’m really not part of the right demographic. If you like rap it might be great.)
He legally changed his name in September 2011 hoping to inspire youth and he chose Metta as his first name because it is a Buddhist word for loving kindness. He is described in the media as eccentric and outspoken, but frankly I’d call this man something of an idealist. An odd one, and hardly a perfect human, but upon some reflection I’ve decided that anyone who would actually change their name to World Peace is a kindred spirit. I’ve decided to stop groaning every he shows up in my searches, and to become a Lakers fan instead. Go World Peace!
March 24, 2013
Conversations in the Abyss
The book sounds every bit as cool as its title. Please check out an interview with the author on my z2 blog at Conversations in the Abyss.
March 20, 2013
March 18, 2013
Ads for world peace
Yes, the point of an ad is to sell you something. And yes, it is probably something you don’t need. Yet given that ads are part of our world, no question I do prefer those that at least appeal to the better in each of us. As for those that hawk their product by suggesting that we annoy others and make fun of each other even more cruelly? Eh, I didn’t need what they were selling anyway.
Ads in this latter category are everywhere. For a while the Miller Lite commercials that used attractive but slightly tough looking women to insult the masculinity of guys who dressed or acted a little different was at the top of my “you’ve got to be kidding” list. Fine, no Miller Lite at my house. I like foreign beers better anyway. For more on this particularly offensive ad campaign, check out a great post on a blog called BitchMedia here.
Last night I was puzzled as I watched an ad for Netflex in which people kept annoying others by throwing out spoilers for movies their companions had not yet seen. Oh what fun. Let me spoil another movie for you.
The other extreme, of course, are ads that appeal to the greatness in each of us. Yes it was syrupy, but if you are old enough to remember seeing a 1971 TV ad with a bunch of teenagers from the world over standing on a hill together singing “I’d like to Teach the World to Sing in Perfect Harmony” I bet you liked it the first time you saw it. Come on, you know you did. Probably the first several times. And if you didn’t see the original, check it out here. It’s very 70′s, but you will probably still like it.
Yes, yes I know quite well that Coca Cola is bad for your teeth, your bones and your stomach. It has caffeine, used to have cocaine, and is filled with high fructose corn syrup. We should all drink water instead.
But guess what their latest ad campaign focuses on? These people are really stuck on world peace. Looks like Coca Cola is now designing vending machines that will allow a purchaser to wave hello to buyers in other countries. Particularly in countries they don’t get along well with. Clearly this is going to require some real time filtering to keep the idiots from mooning each other, but the idea has hope. It might even give hope. See more about this at Advertising Age here.
Consumers need to be wary and informed. And they need to drink water, mostly. But every once in awhile we all get to indulge ourselves. I pick my treats using lots of different criteria but I confess that if I’m going to drink a beer, you know what product it won’t be. And if it’s going to be soda — I’m buying from the world peace guys.
March 16, 2013
March 11, 2013
Becoming more emphathic
But how does one become more empathic? Consider checking out this article on Six Habits of Highly Empathic People by Roman Krznaric. There are real things one can do. My personal favorite? Experiential empathy. Walk a mile, or ten, in another person’s shoes and discover just how hard it is to criticize, much less hate. Of course, if the shoes look like these, it may also be hard for some of us even to walk…..
March 4, 2013
Seeing as how you’re going to have a little wire running into your brain anyway ….
One of the problems of writing speculative fiction, I suppose, is that reality has a way of getting weirder than the stuff you make up. So I’m going on about how amazing telepathy would be and how it would work ……. and then ….
1. My son sends me this link to check out google glass …. a technology he describes as both fascinating and frightening. No question he has a point. In the end, why bother with the glasses? He may be squeamish about having an implant in his head someday, but I bet that the generation that comes after him by and large won’t be. More entertainment and information faster, brighter and better? I think we’ve already proved as a species how we respond to that.
2. My news feed (yes I embrace all this better brighter information too, although I think in the end I do refuse the implant) just threw up a story in Science about lab rats who have successfully had their brains wired together. What one rats learns can be transmitted by direct wire to the other. Turns out that the other rat listens better if he gets a treat for doing so (big surprise) but basically they can communicate pretty well with what the researchers call a BTBI (brain to brain interface).
Not a big step to set these rats up with little wireless transmitters, is it? Then they can walk around talking to each other like all those obnoxious people in the grocery store checking in with their wives to see if they should get 1% or 2% milk. Only there are no vocal chords involved. One rat learns something and sends it straight to the others brain It’s like …. it’s like …. yes folks, we have telepathy. If we’re lucky, it can use the same implant that’s giving us that wonderful feed from Google.
At least the dairy aisle in the grocery store will be a little quieter. It could be an improvement over cell phones.
