The Buddhist monks on their Walk for Peace continue to say, “May this be your peaceful day.”
Today I listened to Robert Hubbell’s 33-minute update. It’s a timely summary of “the resistance,” particularly encouraging if you feel weary or fearful.
Today, Don Manning-Miller sent a good word from Hugh Hollowell Jr.’s Facebook post to the Open Door Mennonite Church about “It’s Always Egypt,” from the closing lines of Michael Walzer’s Exodus and Revolution:
My parents were born in eastern Kentucky and grew up in Jellico, Tennessee. They married in early 1945 and both worked at the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge. A few post World War II decisions led to my birth and childhood in Alabama. When the 1950 census was released, my uncle Jerry, the family genealogist, noted that my parents resided in Jellico the year of my birth. But, I didn’t make the census because I was still in utero. I lived in Alabama my first 55 years, but my grandparents lived in their Tennessee homes well into their 80s and 90s, so when I think of my ancestral home, it’s the Cumberland Mountains of Campbell County, Tennessee. I’ve been to more reunions at Jellico High School than to my Alabama high school.
As a child, I was more familiar with east Tennessee than Alabama. Children tend to bond with fellow children, so by the time I was eight years old, I was a fan of the new Alabama football coach, Paul W. Bryant, a loyalty that solidified over the ensuing years. When the City of Gadsden celebrated the Civil War centennial in 1961, I had a gray shirt and a little gray felt hat. My dad, then with mostly dark hair, grew a beard like Abraham Lincoln’s and wore a top hat. (I didn’t catch the irony then, but now it makes me smile.) I never felt totally at home in Sweet Home, Alabama. Thanks to my parents, I resonated with black Alabamians. In this dystopian moment, we need to know our fullest identity and we need to know the value of looking from the “outside.”
My parents, grandparents and extended family, particularly my mother, encouraged me to think for myself. She was independent and intelligent. She explained to me that many things about life in Alabama were not “right,” such as racial segregation. But, she was savvy enough to understand the costs involved with being an “outside agitator,” as George Wallace and others were fond of labeling any dissenter. Many parents underestimate the power of one-on-one conversations with a child who is respected as if he or she is an adult. I was an only child, which meant I had ample attention. But, my parents had eleven siblings between them, most of whom we engaged at regular intervals, so (as I’ve said before), I was an only child in a large family.
I learned from my extended family that this is a big world and America is a great country. I saw how things were somewhat (though not entirely) different in Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, California, Kentucky, Florida, overseas and in other places family members visited, worked or resided. I learned that everyone at times feels like an outsider. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Paul, Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Luther, and Wesley were significant “outside agitators.” If you find yourself feeling like an outsider, you’re in good company. If you’re ridiculed for asking questions or if someone calls you a “troublemaker,” remember that when King Ahab called the prophet Elijah a ‘troublemaker,” Elijah said to the king, “I’m not the troublemaker. You are!”
ICE knows your face. Own it. The Creator of the Universe knows your face. Own that above all else!
I hope we all live long enough, and the Republic lives long enough, for us to look back on these dystopian days with gratitude for those who stood in the breach for truth, justice and the rule of law. Tonight, we watched a 23-minute conversation hosted by Joyce Vance, with Preet Bharara and Dan Goldman. It’s an update by three former federal prosecutors who know the law about the atrocities brought on by the current federal administration against the people of Minnesota. This conversation was watched live by 4,000+ viewers and by many others via Joyce Vance’s Substack platform, Civil Discourse.
Recovering from RSV has been aided by PBS: All Creatures Great and Small, Bookish, Firing Line and Miss Scarlett. Yesterday, I found refuge from ICE and snow via a December 23, 2022 episode of Firing Line that featured a conversation and concert with Yo-Yo Ma and the cello, my favorite instrument: “Yo-Yo Ma discusses how music connects cultures and comforts people in their darkest hour.” It was relevant for me in these times and maybe it would be for you, too. An excerpt::
In a life dedicated to using music to unite people, in 2018 he launched “Songs of Comfort and Hope,” an ambitious two year project to play Bach solo suites for cello in 36 cities around the world with the goal of healing divisions. Ma said, “I play Bach music as a convening force.” … “I receive from (Bach’s) music a great deal of comfort, and the kind of comfort that comes not from someone just saying, ‘I understand your pain,’ but from someone who actually says, ‘Yeah, I understand what you’re going through, but I can also give you another perspective.’ And to have that kind of equilibrium in someone’s music, I think is something all of us are looking for.” Ma began his 36 city tour at home early during the pandemic by recording Dvorak’s “Going Home.”
Inspired by Ma, 24 young cellists around the world collaborated during the Pandemic to play “The Swan,” Ma said, “This makes me think is there is this amazing inner motivation that’s been with humans throughout human history: the idea of connecting. Here are 24 people who have found a way… to split this into 24 segments and it’s going to actually sing.’ … The essence of collaboration for the sake of creating something beautiful, creating something meaningful, especially during this time, is amazing and they have that all their lives.
Ma talked about the value of making music, rather than merely listening to music. “It’s a “creative killer,” he said. “And it’s the same with citizenship: ‘Until we participate, until we are fully engaged, it’s not our country. It’s somebody else’s because, The problems are too big for me. Leave it to the professionals.’ We have to be involved. And in the creative process, it was the amateurs, the people who were the funders and the creators all worked really closely together.”
Ma closed the 27-minute program with exit music from “Going Home.”
I pray. All the time. It’s rarely obvious. I don’t care to be associated with much of today’s religion, which (with blessed exceptions) I find naive at best or nefarious at worst. If this is disturbing, let’s have a cup of coffee after this RSV departs what’s left of me. I’ve ordered some Bourbon Infused Pecan Coffee from Jumpingoat Coffee Roasters in Cleveland, Georgia. Like those sisters I met in a Mobile monastery in 1972, we can “pray for the world” as we share our individual and collective fears and hopes.
I pray as I process. I’m wired for moments like Friday night Jewish sabbath ceremonies, a Sunday night jazz service, a Midnight Christmas Eve Communion, a Dying Moments ceremony at a Kairos prison ministry weekend, or Barack Obama ending Clementa Pinckney’s eulogy by singing “Amazing Grace.” The Buddhist Walk for Peace has opened an inner dialogue with whatever Christianity is in me and whatever Buddhism might be in me. This nascent Buddhism has been helpful as I deal with RSV. I pray as I write each of these 2,084 posts. It’s a vital part of my ongoing spiritual therapy. By the way “salvation” means “healing.”
I missed church today. I’m more impoverished when I don’t participate. The amazing congregation embodies a kind of diverse community that expresses the best of our world. The staff understands and lives out the concept of Servant Leaders, a much-needed practice that (that our present federal administration seems hell bent to exterminate). Our senior pastor, Kevin Thomas, spoke prophetically at a hearing last week as the Alabama Legislature considers immigration legislation.
I’m still prayerfully processing yesterday’s embarrassing performance at the Homeland Security Director’s news conference (played to an “audience of one” who resides at Pennsylvania Avenue). Much is going on. In case you missed it:
To help us cope, to pray, to be safe, to be faithful, let’s have a cup of coffee together if possible, or virtually. Be well. Stay warm. Be strong. When it arrives, I’ll give you a review of the Bourbon Infused Pecan Coffee from Jumpingoat Coffee Roasters.
Ben Sasse, according to former Senate colleague Doug Jones, called entrenched ideologies in their midst “partisan tribalism” …that is “insta-certain.” (The three links in this paragraph provide 30+ minutes of viewing and reading that I found enjoyable.)
I’ve been blessed with rest brought on by RSV, an unwanted Respiratory syncytial virus. The rest has been facilitated by a caring spouse, medical science, a nurse practitioner managing my case, and by our pet Friar, who was released from Canine Companions service dog training years ago. Two of his friends happened to need temporary lodging at our house, so we’ve had some delightful “three dog nights.” The virus, the critters and the winter storm have kept me from wandering far from the recliner.
Today, the weather forecast was interrupted by an unwanted example of the first paragraph. It was a news conference from Washington by the head of Homeland Security about today’s killing of Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minneapolis. The news conference was a strong dose of partisan tribalism and insta-certainty. Local news reporting from Minneapolis gave very different accounts than the one presented in Washington. The 30+ minutes of viewing and reading linked in this paragraph aren’t so enjoyable.
I need, and the world seems to need, more patient wisdom and less insta-certainty. Dogs can learn patience. Can we?
Canine Companion puppies learn to “sit” before dinner. Here, three veterans, with healthy Lab/Golden Retriever appetites, wait for the command “Okay,” their cue to chow down. Our Friar, a “change of career” dog, is on the left, with his two friends. One serves a member of our congregation. One is a recently retired facility dog who lives near us.
Last week, I developed deep chest congestion. Drugs provided some relief, but a second visit to our primary physician’s practice resulted in chest x-rays and a CT scan. I was “swabbed” for various potential sources and yesterday I received word that the RSV swab was positive.
The drug arsenal has been fortified, providing much-needed relief. I shared memories of childhood asthma with the nurse practitioner handling my case. As an asthma sufferer, she understands nighttime panic attacks. This has been an exercise in mediation and mindfulness.
We watch very little TV. I subscribe to CNBC (the old Financial News Network) and Roku (thanks to cousin Ed), which provides free access to PBS and and other programming. This week, Roku has been part of my therapy. I’ve caught up with some missed episodes of Firing Line with Margaret Hoover.
William F. Buckley (1925-2008), founder of Firing Line, was the feature of several episodes in his centennial year. His biographer, Sam Tanenhaus, who was interviewed about his book in two Firing Line episodes (8/22/25 and 8/29/25), discussed how Buckley’s views evolved over time.
When the debate was raging over whether to transfer control of the Panama Canal to Panama, Buckley (who was fluent in Spanish) spent time talking with people in Panama. Upon returning, in 1978, he broke with then candidate Ronald Reagan by supporting the Panama Canal Treaties.
Buckley argued that retaining the Canal Zone was an unnecessary position for a great power: “…we are hypocritical if we hang on to a colonialist situation which is unwarranted by conditions of national security,” He said rather than acting like a desperate, insecure power, the U.S. should focus on treaty rights rather than a “colonial” presence.
Buckley’s position was rooted in the idea that a mature, secure superpower should not act like a peacock, strutting over territorial holdings, but rather secure its strategic interests through treaties. Timely. Relevant.
We can analyze leaders economically, politically, or (mostly in earlier days) religiously. This works best absent extremes in economic, political, social or religious ideology. We need a new paradigm to deal with psychotic leadership, which can lead to extreme economic, political, social or religious ideology.
The Cleveland Clinic says Psychosis is the term for a collection of symptoms that happen when a person has trouble telling the difference between what’s real and what’s not. Another relevant term is delusional. Historian Heather Cox Richardson documents a daily record of our leadership’s delusions.
Political power magnifies psychosis. We are observing our national leadership spiral downward, demanding more power, more uniformity of thought, and allowing less disagreement. If unchecked, this pattern ultimately leads to dictatorship, where one person rule transcends everything.
Political ideology and religious dogma become less important by the day. Old paradigms, such as progressive vs. conservative, have lost their meaning. The choice today is reality vs. delusion. The stakes include world peace, human freedom, the rule of law, economic stability, and the financial markets.
The Cleveland Clinic: This disconnection from reality can happen for several reasons, including many different mental and physical conditions. It’s usually treatable with medication and other techniques.
One semester in 1974, I spent eight hours each Wednesday learning from the staff and patients at a residential mental health center. At the end of a meeting to debrief the previous night’s bizarre behavior by numerous residents, the facility Director summed it up by saying, “craziness is contagious.”
Treatments for delusional leaders include removal by election, impeachment, or the 25th Amendment. The best treatment is intervention by those who love the delusional and their nation. Ironically, 1974 was the year a group of principled Republicans intervened by convincing Richard Nixon to resign.
The President’s various fixations, such as his desire to own Greenland, seem to surface as a way to divert attention from other matters, such as the Epstein Files. Oddly, thankfully, his designs on Greenland appear to be “bridge too far” for Congressional Republicans who have had enough.
Also oddly, the President simultaneously campaigns for the Nobel Peace Prize while trying to re-cast the Department of Defense as the “Department of War.” Could Greenland be a coup de grâce catalyst for unifying the opposition? Robert Hubbell points out that the country seems to be coming together.
Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) … telling Wolf Blitzer of CNN that an attack on Greenland will lead to impeachment regardless of who is in control of Congress after the midterm elections.
“You don’t threaten a NATO ally. They’ve been a great ally. We’ve had bases on there since World War II. Denmark has fought with us—by our side—in Iraq and Afghanistan. So I feel it’s incumbent on folks like me to speak up and say these threats and bullying of an ally are wrong. And just on the weird chance he’s serious about invading Greenland, I want to let him know it will probably be the end of his presidency. Most Republicans know this is immoral and wrong, and we’re going to stand up against it…. I think it would lead to impeachment. Invading an ally…is a high crime and a misdemeanor.”
ted.today 