“Is it what you were looking for?” The professor spoke curiously.

“No, not exactly, but encouraging.” She felt him looking for more. “I was hoping to see a mother, or one in their first year. Just an older male. More signs of stability rather than growth.”

“Isn’t that the truth with everything these days?” He took a deep breath and sighed. “Can you see the streets?”

The ranger looked blankly at the random question. “I see forest, but I am sure there is some pattern I’m missing.”

“You see that maple there? Yes, the old one.” He felt the need to point. “Now, follow it to that red maple, and then to that oak. Yes, making sense. Now, look to the left and see the same kinds of trees the same age. They are a little less consistent there though.”

“Could this be noticed from the air?”

“Of course, just like this day in age we can track the owls using drones. But, of course, that isn’t the point. I think there is something more to be seen. I’m here to find one of these tree groupings and trace their DNA. This way I can know exactly what they were thinking.”

The ranger nodded understanding, but curiosity found a way to ask a question. “Is this particular area any different from what I learned in high school?”

“A little. I am sure you were taught about the great disasters: the flooding, the storms, the heat waves, the draughts.” He paused. “And, the wars?” She nodded. “I know it is hard for high school teachers to get into the specifics. So, this area was faring better than most all in all. Yet it still seems people that lived here about 50 or 70 years faced a world on the same trajectory.”

“So this was a tree planting program?” The ranger connected it to common prior learning of the time.

“Yes, but that’s not really why they fared better. That was more due to the overall geography. But, yes they did try. Just not enough or too small of a group to make up for the global failing that we look at now from that time period. Not really that long ago, but not too many survived to tell us about it today.” The professor looked deep into the forest in reflection. “You see,” he said pointing, “this used to be a neighborhood. The trees I pointed out were planted in the right of way between private property and the public street. The idea was to plant more trees there because people didn’t really want to plant them as much as they should have.

I remember growing up as a teenager and going bowling or playing cards. Where did we learn that bowling was fun or the rules to Euchre? Our parents and grandparents would teach us as they played together with friends and family. As brick and mortar shopping keeps fading and as more adults hunch over smart phones, we lose the places that held those kinds of traditions. The thing that I know about this age group is that they still need to be taught many things about life: what people call the wisdom that comes with age. A teenager has the capacity of adulthood without the experience. So when some of these takeovers turn violent, could it be that society models less appropriate public behavior for the youngest among us?

Here’s another thing. How many places near you can you think of that are great places to hang out and are low cost or even free? In the United States it can be very difficult to name more than one or two. Teens don’t usually have a lot of money to spend. This is why a generation or two ago they would just walk around the mall. Also, I grew up hearing about block parties, which the kids of the same ages would gather and have fun within ear shot of parents. Often the only recourse is for teens to go over another teen’s house if there are parents willing to have so many people that age over so often. That is not a true public solution.

It would be great for them to go to concerts, but again that takes money, and lately a lot of money to see a headlining act. The movies, but prices go up there as well. It is easy to find fault with such an age group and see them as a problem, but I have found this age group to be generous and forgiving. Most teens avoid trouble, while the watchful eye finds the few acting up.

As the society of adults slowly fades into the scroll, I think we are seeing young people rebel against it seeking human connection. I came to this realization one day hearing the New Radials song “You Get What You Give” on the radio. I naturally looked the song up on Youtube and watched the video. Guess what? The video is a Teen Takeover in a mall. The song was released in 1998, well before the smart phone started to dominate our brain waves. Then of course The Smashing Pumpkins “1979” is a video of socializing and misbehaving teens. I don’t remember there being an outrage over teenagers acting up in the 1990s, but probably complaints that they were a nuisance at times. (Both videos are posted below for your reference.)

Today seems to be a different story. Teens sometimes (and I mean rarely) act in ways that are irresponsible. They rebel. Everyone knows this about the age group. Most Teen Takeovers are happy events showing that maybe this generation is not unlike the ones before, but maybe, in spite of it all, a little better than the teens that came before. So maybe we just need to relax a bit about it all.

Some points from this article to be more Socially Benevolent:

1. We can find lessons about ourselves in generations other than the one we identify.

2. What happens with one age group often teaches about the society as a whole.

3. It is important to listen, rather than simply grasp at headlines.

To Dolly

You were
the knowledge of a Country song
the wisdom of a Mountain song
the comfort of Gospel song
and the joy of a Bluegrass song.

You read every book you could get your hands on
and shared reading with every child you knew.

You’re remembered for being down to earth,
while giving voice to the salt of the earth.

You gave us pride for working 9 to 5
and opened us to the love we will always have.

We were never just fans.
We were followers
learning how to be true to ourselves,
while being kind,
while being generous, 
while living life with love
beyond the limits of time. 

There are some people in life that are simply great persons. Sometimes those people become famous. Thanks Dolly and to everyone inspired to be better because of her. A true example of being Socially Benevolent.

Now here is some music:

But first, we have to be clear what we call AI Slop. I think we know it when we see it, but it is not very rational to rely on that kind of definition. AI Slop is not the system designed to help medical professionals diagnose or the system to help scientists decode dolphin language. My point is that AI Slop specifically is the inundation of content generated by AI that gets in the way of meaningful content.

In my further and incomplete thoughts about Artificial Intelligence I would say that it is a combination of calculus, in particular differential calculus, and Analytic Philosophy. Supercomputers before would use an algorithm to process data points faster, yielding results a mathematician would understand. This evolves to graphics and video games responding to our inputs like it was a really complex flow chart. The AI we have today takes very little prompting to get going, which is not really true because poor prompting leads to poorer results. At this point we have AI prompting AI, with someone acting as a first mover, that tends to generate the slop we despise. For all this to happen, the super computer would have to start interacting with language. It is very difficult to understand the nuance of language, which includes nonverbal communication from images to gestures to tone and everything we derive meaning from. Just think about how valuable a person becomes in business and politics when they are able to read the room better than everyone else. Essentially, in the way I think about it, they want AI to be able to do that.

This is the whole large language model (LLM) we hear so much about. This is where I think Analytic Philosophy comes in. (I’m not really the person to fully explain Analytic Philosophy so please check out the link.) Analytic Philosophy treats language as a logic game where real meaning and insights can be found. So if language can be treated as a set of logical rules, then there might be an app for that. AI isn’t reading or thinking, it is processing a data set to develop logical rules to then respond to the prompt. Kind of starts to sound like the video game flow chart idea. Of course Wittgenstein, of Analytic Philosophy fame, says that these language rules cannot be written down or stated, but rather they are rules we, as humans, constantly develop and know through a human social phenomenon.

So AI in terms of generating content will always be coming up a little short to expectation. Still true even when an AI bot has a constant stream of new language input for new rules like Google Gemini using Reddit so much. It makes sense to use Reddit since it is a platform of continuous language evolution, but even in that case it is still what I would call. in the AI content sphere, as yesterday’s news.

This is how I am thinking about AI content, but first let’s think about content. People have always wanted to produce content whether it be performance, texts, cave paintings, architecture, and so on. For me, content has two aspects that combine to make it. One is quality and the other is quantity. You are only as good as your next novel, song, or performance. The ratio between how much effort or energy used for quality and quantity ebbs from time periods to mediums. Social media, before all the new AI tools, already rewards quantity over quality. The quality still had to be there, knows every influence or wannabe influencer, but you had to get the networks attention by flooding the zone. To me, it just seems obvious that we would see AI used to flood the zone at a remarkable rate, of course this means quality reaches a new low that we are not used to. Remember AI is still incomplete in how it understands language. If you are really good at prompting and playing with AI, you might be able to get a decent enough quality content depending on audience and purpose. But think about it, the more effort you put in alongside AI, the better the AI infused content becomes.

Case in point, the legendary rock’n’roll band The Rolling Stones released a new album and some videos to go with it. The track “In the Stars” has a video that showcases the band as much younger versions of themselves. Sure, AI was used, but this is closer to what we used to call Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), which back in the 1990’s was met with wonder. You cannot take the human out of the content is what I am saying. AI is a tool with specific applications. The general use of AI is more of a toy or a way for students not to write essays. (Trust me as a teacher I have seen plenty of AI slop.) For me to write this newsletter, I don’t see the need to use AI since it is about me, why cheapen myself?

Check out the video below and let me know what you think the theme of the video is in the comments.

Some points from this article to reflect on being Socially Benevolent:

1. If content is quality and quantity, think of the content of your life.

2. We should not let AI control us, meaning we are allowing it - not that it is doing it.

3. Celebrate being a human.

A Classroom Objective

In my classroom, where I teach
a student puts her head down.
Another asks for a pencil knowing there are none left
in the box I pay for with my short salary.
And I rest my hand on the shoulder, 
head in her arms. Other students know, but
I don't. "Are you feeling ok?"
No motion, but a sigh.
"Come on, (name), we need to focus."
Now a shake of the head, and a kneel down by myself.
"Are you sure you are ok?" I plead. 

"I'm just really tired. . ." she replies with 
her head still down.

"How about we take a look at the assignment?"
And for someone's sake, maybe mine, maybe hers
maybe for her future self, or in defiance of a past
she allows her head to rise. I see a tear roll down her cheek.
Now I know I don't know. "What is wrong?"
I say.

"I don't want to talk about it," and then she cries, trying
to push the anger back from where it boils. I take a break from
being what politicians feel I should be. A break from the 
business model they force upon my school, and I become
the reason I became a teacher.

"Would you like a pass to see your counselor?" 
And to this I get a nod and an action plan.

The objective today: Students will analyze the biggest test in life
are not the ones that are standardized. 

(I would also like to include a link to the Philosopher Seneca’s Of, or on, Anger as pointed out by in the comments. I have not been able to read through it all, but a good addition to this discussion. Thanks Human Potential and Resilience. Link to the free text: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/56075/56075-h/56075-h.htm#SENECA_OF_ANGER )

In my effort to analyze my life and existence and to be socially benevolent by making every choice in order to better the world, I stumbled upon a startling personal revelation. There was anger in just about every other emotion I would have. This even included happiness. I know this sounds bizarre to those who do not experience this. I know it is odd to those who did not grow up being shown that anger is an acceptable response to just about any situation. And yet, I think many people, yes many men, experience anger in situations and moments that have nothing to do with anger and they aren’t even angry.

So wait. How can someone be experiencing anger without being angry?

The acceptability and conditioning of a person can be internalized. The easiest way to explain this is when someone has a negative emotion or feeling. It can be sad, frustrated, annoyed, or even just having an upset stomach. It gets to the point that anything negative can only be expressed as angry. How many times do you see a person who is annoyed by another get outwardly angry and then aggressive, sometimes physically, to the person they find annoying? Annoyance is not anger. When something is annoying it is simply annoying. Another example is when a chore around the house is taking longer than you thought it would. This is frustrating and not anger.

How many times do you ask an angry person what they are angry about and they say they are frustrated, annoyed, upset, not feeling well, or sad? I asked myself this question when I felt angry and found that most of the time there was no real reason to be angry. Often, anger is seen as strength, as explained by Dr. Weiss writing for Psychology Today. Anger is then associated with masculinity. The irony is that uncontrolled anger leaves a person vulnerable like when someone is ranting out of anger and someone has a quick, witty quip that humiliates the ranting person. Or, when someone is in a rage, it is so easy for them to make a mistake and get tripped up. To help prove this point, various martial arts teach combatants how to regulate their emotions, including anger, because it clouds the reaction and judgement needed to be strong in the moment.

Anger is an exhausting emotion. I find that when I sit with frustration as just frustration for example, it is much easier to let it pass. I think the problem for much of the advice given to those who are prone to anger is that they are simply told to not be angry so much. Of course this just makes the person more angry because it is denying what they feel. The true advice is to analyze what they are feeling for clarity. The question isn’t, why are you angry? The question is, what happened? Anger is really an emotion of justice. Something or someone has been wronged and the balance of fairness is off kilter. The issue is that many are convinced to be angry for another’s advantage. Many are convinced that life is unfair for them and any encounter with adversity immediately is dictated by anger.

Anger becomes a drug

When someone is brought up in a society where anger is encouraged, as it is for many men, then the world is always looked at through angry eyes. Just like someone who is addicted to a substance can have happy moments, they still see that day through their addiction. This is what anger can be for some people. If anger is the only thing you can express without being made fun of or even humiliated, then anger becomes part of a person’s identity. They learn to become comfortable as an angry person.

In a society that privileges anger, men are encouraged to be angry whereas women are labeled as hysterical. A patriarchal society will then treat the masses based on gender. Women are dismissed on grounds of hysteria and men are told to compete in a competitive anger, both are oppressive. In a society that encourages people to compete with anger, people are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to win, like in a physical fight. What is commonly sacrificed is self esteem, family life, joy, happiness, fun, peace, and contentment. This is not exclusive to men, I have seen this in women as well. We have made some strides in balancing society between genders, but we have never addressed the issue of competitive anger.

So when a person sees the world through anger, and there is no place or person to direct that anger, then often the anger is directed inward. Because you then feel negative about yourself, you are then angry that you feel this way and look outward, then lead inward, and the loop continues. If anger is the only emotion that you are allowed to have, then the whole world is seen through anger, including happiness. It can become so internalized that a person doesn’t even know they are angry and when people point it out to them, they say they are not angry. And then, we believe them. The truth is anger is observable in another person. We can see clearly that a person can be angry and they don’t even know it.

The solution

When you are upset, stop and think about how you truly feel. Most of the time you will find you are not angry but some other negative emotion discussed above. Sit with the true emotion you are having. If you feel you will be criticized, then you don’t have to share that you are annoyed or frustrated or saddened. It is better to become quiet and then you can privately sit with your emotion and see how rare anger truly is.

Some points from this article to be more Socially Benevolent:

1. Realize that anger is often encouraged in society as a form of oppression,

2. Especially when you are angry, but at all times, take time to analyze how you truly feel.

3. Once you start to have a healthy relationship with anger, you will see happiness come more into the everyday moments.

I Hear America Singing

By Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

I, Too

By Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

I am

By Paul Ruth

I am 
An individual 
A wild one
Somewhat ill tempered
Ferocious like a wolf
Running like a bison
Tough as a trout
Migrating like a monarch butterfly 

I am 
A regrown forest
Sweating like corn
Spewing like a factory
Rolling like a tire
Raging like a fire

I am
An impassioned voter
Thinking like a son
Hoping like a parent
Reading like a scholar
Working like a sinner - repenting

I am
The land
An amendment
And eagle - flying
Because we banned DDT 

So if the stock market is like a rollercoaster, then what is providing the potential energy? In short I would say it is greed. I have also heard this analogy used with life itself, and this is the one I want to stick with. If rollercoasters teach us about anything, they teach us about potential. Yes, as in the potential energy they use. But also, what do we mean when we say people have potential? We don’t usually break out the rollercoaster analogy for that.

Every person has potential. What we learn from rollercoasters’ potential energy, is that kinetic energy is needed to build the potential energy. This is the same with human potential. People have potential because of the resources that have gone into them either by their own doing, other persons’ doing, or even by collective or societal doing. It doesn’t just happen.

I happen to believe that in any society, people are the greatest resource. In any economy, it is the labor force that will give it the potential to thrive. Without a labor force, you don’t have a consumer force. Without a labor force, it is really hard to have trade. The potential of the population determines the success of any economic model. Think about K-Pop. South Korea put in a lot of energy to develop artists and performers and now it is a significant part of their economy. Kind of similar to art school in the UK producing the British rock’n’roll invasion to The United States in the 1960s. Talking about the economy is a nuts and bolts kind of an answer. I include this in case there are skeptics reading that fail to believe people are the greatest investment.

Societies put a lot of effort into people. Public school is a prime example. Much of the curriculum is determined by what society expects people to become. It is really hard to have enough engineers if we don’t teach arithmetic at a young age. Moreover, it is hard to have a democracy if people don’t know what it means to be a responsible civic minded citizen. But we can take this a step further. We have choice. We can choose the energy we put into ourselves, and we can choose the energy we want to see in others. The influence you have in society, like voting and buying stuff among others, has real impacts on the potential of others and future generations. Social Benevolence says that it should be a decision, not just a go with the flow.

Some points from this article about Social Benevolence:

1. People are the greatest investment.

2. Every person has the potential we put into us.

3. We have a choice in what we become.

Assimilated Blues

I fight against my assimilation.
I fight against it tooth and nail.
I fight against the power caste 
against the creator’s tale. 
But what have I gained without a lie?
ignorant and similar to those 
who don’t care if someone lives or dies? 
In the end I cannot be what I have been created to be. 
I cannot claim that I was not given, provided, made to love
a guilt that they tried to get me to ignore. 
The Irish were white British enough 
by the American score
that by time’s measure they were white for sure.
Italians became a fancy ristorante,
Germans outnumbered them all, 
and as long as they all were Catholic 
it didn’t matter after the fall. 
They all preferred to be silent
when 20th century turned them WASPie
as if they weren’t immigrants,
as if they never were poor. 

But what can I do,
as I read Maya or James?
What can I do,
as I lose my money to an Indian casino game?

I fight against my assimilation 
but it is of no use.
I’m not the voice that they should hear.
I must listen and open a beer.
I fight against my assimilation, 
but it is of no use,
no education is ever enough
to learn what made people so tough. 
Yet my trying is better than crying
about what is fair and right.
I fight against my assimilation
but I’m not willing to starve.
Even though I would hate -- to see another lying statue carved.
I fight against assimilation
when I learn about Medgar Evers from a white man’s folk song.
And when I sing along,
for a moment, my guilt is gone.

What has become very clear is that we are not stuck in our ways, but we can change them. There is another component that you can find on the internet, that it takes so many days to change a habit. It goes something like this. When starting a new habit, the first 3 days are the hardest, then the next 3 weeks become progressively easier, and after 6 months you might still think about it, but the new habit is set. This is actually the time frame that it takes for me. I find this when I fast for Lent. Lent is 46 days. So 3 days plus 3 weeks, puts me at about 24 days in. It is about half way through Lent when it starts to feel normal, like this is just how I eat now. The thing is doing this every year (as a yearly habit) gives me tools to use outside Lent. If I put on a few extra pounds from over eating the wrong things, it is easier for me to just give them up completely for a while and reset my cravings.

2 Examples

It is always easier for me to change something physical like working out more or changing my diet. I used to drink a 20oz Coca Cola every day at lunch. It gave me a rush for the second half of the day. And, when you have it every day, the rush fades, but then you crave it. You need it. Just like people who can’t function in the morning without their coffee. I knew this was a bad habit and I tried to cut back. I continuously failed. Then, I did the ultimate as a Catholic. I gave it up for Lent. (I did other fasting as well.) I connected it to a bigger reason. I knew giving up this habit was good for me, but I also knew it has outside benefits as well.

A 20oz bottle of Coca Cola has 65 grams of sugar. I did that every day of the school year, which for me was about 184 days a year. That same amount is 240 calories, every day. So in the school year I was adding 11,960 grams of sugar to my yearly intake (or about 26 pounds of sugar). This also brings a grand total of extra calories to 44,160.

The first year I did this for Lent, I failed a few times. The second year I was successful 100%. I now drink a 12oz can of soda pop about once a year or less. I now drink tea, with nothing else in it as the replacement. This saves me about 12 and half pounds of unhealthy weight every year. More importantly, this experience taught me that I could change anything about myself. These changes become easier with each one I make. I would say make habit changing a habit.

My second example is about changing my reaction to stress and the world in general. I have a habit of responding to stress and anxiety with anger. This has been more difficult to change. The resources that I linked above helped to understand this. The frustrating thing is that often what I was angry about was usually reasonable. People would agree with me feeling like I had the right to be upset. This has taken much longer than 3 days, 3 weeks, and 6 months. But, I am better and I have learned to seek help and resources with my improvement.

A Word on Key Stone Habits

Giving up my soda everyday really committed me to becoming a tea drinker, which has so many benefits. I also looked up the most important thing to do to feel more away after the alarm goes off, is to drink water. Hydration wakes you up more than caffeine. I don’t have my first cup of tea until I am at work.

The concept of a Keystone habit is that this one change will set off many other habits. I started making my own nut and seed mixes that I really enjoy and make me feel better. I started to think about my consumption and the impact on the environment. I started going to church regularly and now I know I need to work all week on my reaction to stress.

The Ultimate Take Away About Changing Your Habits

You are not stuck in your ways. In fact, no one is. People can change. For many things people can change their habits on their own if they want. For other things, usually more important things, we need help from one another. So as important it is to change yourself to be better, know that one of the most powerful changes you can make is to be a helper. Be somebody who wants to help others to be better. If you need examples, look up Steve Hartman’s reporting on CBS Sunday Morning.

Half Melted 

Dew rides on a grass leaf 
before turning green. 
Spring will soon uncoil the tension 
through a lightning bolt on the edge of a storm.
Still a late winter morning snow confuses the bulbs
keeps the coats from storage, scarf still wrapped,
mittens still not needing to be found
in the vestibule closet. 
Like fairies’ tears transpiring to doubt,
I fail to predict a need for frost. 

The follow up to this expression of wealth as money is to point out that wealth isn’t just money. Wealth can also be health. Wealth can also be knowledge and education. Wealth can also be the connections a person has. This also circles back to illustrate the role of money in our world because just think about how these other definitions can be used or translated into currency.

When I talk about the absence of worry, I am saying what is stuck on your mind. Are you worried about the roof possibly leaking? Are you worried about a sick child? Are you worried about the geopolitical state of the world and how it might impact your well being? Do you see how having financial resources fixes the roof, pays for healthcare, and provides a family the option to relocate? Even with all the money in the world, or even just enough to solve all these problems the best we know how, there is still worry.

I most likely arrived at the title of this piece (which was originally a note on Substack) from my reading into Buddhism by the Dalai Lama and others. His Holiness often talks about calming the mind and illuminating tried and ancestral techniques for doing so. (I link to some recommended books below.) Wealth in this concept is connected to education. I access this because I was taught to read and have awareness of Buddhism, but also the drive to seek truth. I would suppose this gives some insight into the saying, the truth will set you free.

And so people can find the absence of worry, which some identify as being happy, without the trappings of life pursuing gold. We see some of the longest lived people on the planet tend not to come from highly rich areas or families. This is what creates the point about wealth in the illustration of longevity (much credit given to Dan Buettner of Blue Zones). If you come from a family that has a lot of money, you can preserve your life longer because you can pay for medical care. The thing is, though, the people who live the longest are those who inherited a lifestyle that promotes happiness and well being. Buettner recently pointed out that people who live in Blue Zones have the same stresses as everyone else. It is just that they have customs and traditions to deal with the stress. The wealth does not come from money, but from inherited knowledge.

The point that I am making is that the truly wealthy person is the one who is happy and has a way (or ways) to quiet the worry. The absence of worry is wealth. Ultimately this is not achieved by just spending a lot of money, although having resources, which money can pay for, can make life easier. The thing is that money can only go so far. You have to have the grounding and place that tradition, religion, therapy, culture, reading, and relationships can bring. Living well, and thus living wellthy, is not complicated, but if someone doesn’t know then what is simply ceases to exist. The world is full of ideas. You just have to pick the ones that make the most sense. They tend to be the oldest ideas spoken most often by the eldest among us.

Some points from this article to help you be more Socially Benevolent:

1. There is no denying that money can help, but it will not take you all the way to happiness.

2. You need to seek out traditions and ideas that make sense and seek to help to calm the mind.

3. Our societies are often ruled by money because that is the system people developed, but it is just a system. Life is for living well. Take some time to really think about what it means to live well.

Some books by the Dalai Lama that help to quiet the mind:

Mind in Comfort and Ease - https://bookshop.org/a/116073/9780861714933

The Art of Happiness- https://bookshop.org/a/116073/9781573227544

Sunflowers in the Bay Window

It’s time to leave
after being dressed twenty minutes early.
I waited out the day from when my eyes opened
in the bedroom shared no longer until tonight,
I asked, “Can we keep sunflowers in the bay window?”

And so, I did.

It’s time to leave like powdered sugar through a sieve
dusting a cake made just for me and for her. 
Time to leave like sun through a pine tree forest
dappling visions of paradise from a camera lens. 
Shoes tied, foot taping for the absent rhythm,
and I rise from the sunken couch to go from my life
to my life. 

And when we return, there will be sunflowers in the bay window.

I can give you an example from my own career. I am a high school teacher. Often, especially early in my career, people would advise me that I cared too much. It can be puzzling to think how a teacher could care too much, but here is the thing. Teaching, like many other professions, will take on the trauma from the students and the institution. This is an example of secondary trauma. Teachers care about their students and students will often open up to their teachers with their first hand trauma. This caring, or benevolence, leads to a real hurt (obviously less than first hand trauma) that builds over the years and career of, in this case, a teacher. By distancing themselves some teachers simply put a stop gap on how much they care, when in fact they care a great deal more than they show or let on. The advice comes to me as I care too much because they are seeing it impact my mental health.

Placing a distance between yourself and an uncomfortable situation you are helping with can aid in assisting the situation from a more objective and useful place. The distance is often required in order to keep focused on the task like a surgical team helping to treat a patient. Yet, how do we know we are not moving too far away and it all becomes simply mechanical and we start to underutilize our caring and benevolence? Is it as simple as striking a balance?

I don’t think it is that simple. I think we experience a pit in the stomach every time we commit benevolent acts. If you have ever come from a place of privilege and have done some kind of ‘charity’ work, the ride home might elicit this kind of thought. “I know we did good work and helped people, but why do I go home to a situation where these problems don’t exist, but for others, in the big picture, they will persist?” For example, I give money every month to Catholic Relief Services to help people where food is insecure. I will then have a discussion about the choices we have for dinner, when that privilege does not exist for the people I am donating to help.

This can make a person feel small and inadequate even though they are the few that are choosing to do something while other people more powerful actively do nothing. At the core, benevolence is about fairness and justice. When we act in a benevolent way we are often confronted by the level of unfairness that exists in the world today. We take on the responsibility of doing something good for the world and then we often take on the weight of the injustice of the world as well.

Part of being Socially Benevolent is being an informed person, which brings along the realization of how much work there is to do. Ultimately we have to come to realize two pragmatic things: one, you are only just one person, but you have a lot of influence in your actions, and two, your influence through your good work is more important that you probably can realize or can measure.

More importantly than what you do, it is what influence you have from the action you perform. This doesn’t mean becoming an influencer and just talk about doing good work, but that your good deeds carry more weight in what they influence others to do. Every day people continue to be influenced by Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King Jr. Every day a grown adult remembers what a teacher told them and will act upon that for someone else. Every day countless people remember the random act of kindness bestowed upon them by a complete stranger. Good work is selfless, altruism is selfless, and so you should not expect to smile, but when you do smile it will be deeper because it comes from the heart.

Some lessons from this article on being more Socially Benevolent:

1. Caring about others is hard work and many times leads to secondary trauma.

2. Benevolence is an interaction with justice and fairness. Know it will be difficult.

3. When you feel burnt out and depleted, know your influence will continue to live on in others.

A few quotes on benevolence:

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”

Charles Dickens

“Good is positive. Evil is merely privative, not absolute: it is like cold, which is the privation of heat. All evil is so much death or nonentity. Benevolence is absolute and real. So much benevolence as a man hath, so much life hath he.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“General benevolence, but not general friendship, made a man what he ought to be.”

Jane Austen

Let’s be clear, the multi billion dollar rich are not taxed the same as the millionaire surgeon, lawyer, or small business owner. Too often we equate the working rich and small business owners, who contribute more to our community well bearing, with the supper, as Ray Madoff calls them, centibillionaires. There are those who are in the high tax bracket that do pay over 50% in taxes and then there are people much richer who pay less than 2 if not less than 1 percent in taxes.

Watch the show here for complete context and explanation.

Essentially, discussions around a wealth tax are really hoping for something that is unrealistic. The real issue, the way I see it, this episode was unable to touch on, is the larger picture of inequality. Ezra points out that with large sums of money comes a large amount of power. This is true and you can ask yourself or anyone else. The tax code is only one piece of this issue. Fundamentally it comes down to inequality. Sure wealthy people shield massive sums of money to influence politics, which even if you agree with their visions for the world, it degrades the very notion of democratic rule.

There are some legal issues and feelings Americans have that prevent the masses getting the government to just take a large sum of money from the super rich simply because they are super rich. One, there is a complicated issue with direct and indirect taxes and the 16th amendment had to clarify the justification for an income tax. Two, as Ray explains, it can be very difficult to accurately value private assets. She does a much better job explaining it, please watch the video and buy her book at the link below. (I am planning on buying it myself.) But more importantly the way I see it is, three, the concept of private property. There are many instances throughout history where property cannot be owned or where a single entity, like a monarch or government, just owns all property land and sometimes beyond that. The United States supports private property as a source of freedom. John Locke mentions property rather than happiness.

This doesn’t mean that taxation is theft. Taxation is how we fund the welfare of society, also mentioned a few times. The right to property means that the government or others cannot just take something of yours. There has to be a reason.

To get back on point, I think the simple concept of a wealth tax is over simplified for the complexity of the situation today. We need to take a step back and look at the larger issue of inequality. The concept of money supply says that there is ultimately a finite amount of money or wealth in a given society. So if we raise the well being and fairness of wages, housing, healthcare, and education, for all, I think we will see the influence of the super rich start to fade. Historically the United States has done this through unionization and large scale visionary policies like the New Deal, Reconstruction, or the War on Poverty.

If we think we can simply tweak a tax code here or there and think we are going to see the change we want to see, then we have a fool’s perspective. It will take a fundamental shift where we care more about people than we desire greed. It has gotten to a point in The United States where money is more important for the decision makers than the well being of all people they serve.

The United States spends an enormous amount of money just to service an enormous amount of debt. If that comes due, it will hurt average people much worse than the supper rich. We saw that with the Great Recession. As Ray Madoff explains, when you are super rich, you can make the world your oyster and dance around the world’s problems. Until we make the whole of society fair, changes to the tax code will be like painting a crumbling wall. It’s kind of like giving up plastic straws while individuals jet around on private jets all over the world. There needs to be a comprehensive strategy. Economic policy is deciding how to divide all goods and services in a society. We need to influence comprehensive policy by voting for candidates of character, joining unions or forming them, and voting for local services like public transit, education, and community.

Some points to take from this article to be more Socially Benevolent:

1. The big picture may inform correct and just individual action.

2. The idea of a wealth tax identifies the problem, but falls short on real solutions.

3. When we focus on human well being, many other things fall into place.

Buy Ray Madoff’s new book here supporting independent bookstores, not the super rich: https://bookshop.org/a/116073/9780226835204

and you can find her recommended books at these links:

https://bookshop.org/a/116073/9780593321249

https://bookshop.org/a/116073/9780197676318

https://bookshop.org/a/116073/9781250858702

As always, this newsletter is free for all, so please feel free to share it widely. Thanks

Share

A Moment in the Garden

I like to find the shade where my dog is laying,
well, because she knows the best places. 
I listen to the birds chirping beyond the morning song, 
it’s nature’s jazz.
A monarch butterfly glides past my left shoulder
and I am awed by a blooming sunflower. 
The light is right for the wisp of breath I take,
always is just right given the time of day.
I am overwhelmed and consumed by every scent:
from the basil, to the lilies, to the dirt.

I have made myself sore from lifting and hauling
things for the garden (to put it in shape).
And now my body rests in a folding lawn chair 
like a bear done foraging for the day. 

Writing a poem like this, where you simply try to capture a moment of time in verse can be a relaxing way to work out the day.

This may seem like a cop out from figures that are placed and chosen to be in positions of power and decision makers, but in actuality it is the very nature of how the system was set up. As many point out over these 237 of 250 years, The U.S. Constitution begins with “We the people.” And then of course 250 years ago The U.S. Declaration of Independence states that government derives “their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

So here are some quotes that came to mind when I started thinking about this.

“A Republic, if you can keep it” - Benjamin Franklin

“government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” - Abraham Lincoln

“the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” - Franklin D Roosevelt

“ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.” - John F Kennedy

““The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” Ronald Reagan

These quotes and documents pick up on a fundamental tenant of democracy and all organized societies. This points out that, one, government should always be at the service of the people, and two, the people are the change makers. This then means that you as an individual have the power to influence the collective decision making. For sake of efficiency there is a widely adopted practice of representational democracy in many places in the world. This might suggest the people given this power have the power, but this isn’t really true.

Of course the most fundamental practical part of this system is voting. In the United States we hold federal elections every two years with every other including a presidential election. (It should also be mentioned that the U.S. also has state local elections both along this schedule and between federal elections as well.) The most important way to give consent in the direction you feel is best is to vote (and yes, in the primaries too because in a two party dominated system primary elections serve to enact most influence on specific candidate platforms that become policy.)

But we also have the power everyday in a free society. These fundamental documents provide the rights to life, freedom of speech and assembly, civilian control of the military, due process, and so much more. This freedom means that we have the freedom to engage in our communities and talk to our neighbors. Everyday when a person decides to avoid people they disagree with, they are voting for division. Everyday when a person vilifies another for having a peaceful ideology, they are voting for division. Everyday when a person puts a candidate or political party over the country and the general public, they are voting for division.

On the contrary, when we still reach out respectfully to dutifully elected officials even though we did not vote for them, we are voting for a better government. When we make friends and find common ground with a neighbor that displays a political sign we disagree with, we are voting for better communities. When we uphold and defend the rights given in The Declaration and Constitution for all people regardless of who a person is or where they come from, we are voting for humanity.

Further we have the right to a free press as a fundamental right. This would also include the formation of public opinion and the ability to interpret these surveys and polls for ourselves. When I see a poll where 40% take the opposite opinion of what I would have responded, I seek to try and understand why someone would feel so strongly opposite of how I view this issue. Of course it doesn’t mean I will capitulate or agree with them. It means I am accessing my Socially Benevolent tool of empathy to humanize complex issues. It often gives my view consideration and makes my view clearer having understood the other side. Essentially, empathy puts me in a place to be able to have a respectful conversation.

After 250 years of The United States of America, many still describe it as an experiment. To experiment means people have to try. We have to do the work of citizenship and admit when things don’t go well. Experimentation also implies that we learn what works and what doesn’t work. Societies can be slow to change en mass. So, take some time to mark the occasion of the USA turning 250 whether you are U.S. resident or not. The words that we can quote are concepts we can put into action. Let us renew our commitment to freedom and humanity to correct the faults of the past and build a better future.

Let me know what you think, and since this is free and open, sharing is encouraged!

Share

Leave a comment

Some point from this article to be more Socially Benevolent:

1. Power comes from the people and you are a person. You have political power to make a better world.

2. Empathy recognizes the humanity of politics and puts in a place to have useful conversations.

3. America’s 250th birthday is a calling to embrace the ideals of democracy and act in the benefit of humanity.

The party was at a point where the food was still sitting out but cold and couples started the dance where one of them would want to leave, but the other would get a fresh drink. Jordan found himself eating too much and still wanting to take on a cold chicken leg. At the keg, the normal gang gathered as if it was the water cooler at work. Jordan was waiting on his uncle to fill his red cup by the means of a slow down the side pour, which was as fast as the process could go.

“Here let me get that for you.” A neighbor pumped the keg a few times and it seemed as though it went faster, but really it didn’t need to be done. Pumping the keg was one of things that people, especially men, liked to do, and do often. They needed to pump it even when it didn’t need to be pumped, and they would do it with a sense of duty and pride as if there was an obligation and sense of expertise to the process of getting the beer out. Everyman was an expert at pumping the keg, but few knew how to tap it.

Jordan’s uncle filled his cup to the rim and his uncle had to take a sip of foam to prevent wasting any of the keg beer. His mustache was dabbed with the beer foam as he smacked his lips in satisfaction. Jordan slowly filled his cup in the hunched over position that the tube forced him in to. “Does it need to be pumped again?” Jordan’s neighbor was becoming incessant.

“No, it’s fine.” Jordan snapped, but it didn’t seem to register with the neighbor. Jordan didn’t like this guy because he was always being too liberal with women at these kinds of events. Most assumed that his marriage was unhappy, which is why his wife never said anything, but really that was just the way the guy was. He would get into conversation with teen girls for twenty minutes or even an hour. There was a stupidity about him that allowed him to get away with things other men would have been in fights for.

“Here, let me pump it for you.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s almost full.” Jordan knew even at his young, but experienced, beer drinking age that pumping the keg at this moment would have just filled the cup with a bunch of foam, and then Jordan would be in the same situation as his uncle but without the comical mustache.

“Here . . .” He pumped it, and just as Jordan knew he would, his cup overfilled with foam. Jordan held back from saying anything, although he was frustrated. There was just something stupid about this man that prevented a verbal beat down. Jordan rose from the hunched position and just let the foam run down his hand and onto the patio. “So how’ve you been, Jordan?”

“I’m alright, I guess.” Jordan watched his uncle escape the stand around the keg conversation.

“Still working with those kids?”

“Yeah.”

“What was your major?”

“Business management.”

“Business management. When I was you age I had a career started, looking to get into a house, dating chicks. You seeing anyone?”

“No.”

“Yeah, it’s tough out there, with the economy and all.” The man just nodded off to some exotic point of the backyard scene. Jordan wondered if this was a good time to wander off. He spotted Jenny for about the fifth time in the last hour and a half. They hadn’t talked all night. She was wearing a fitted blue dress, which showed her off as a woman without attracting too much attention. She had a look that made Jordan stare longer than he should have, but it wasn’t a slovenly stare. It was a gaze of something interesting, or something more. It was like walking through a contemporary art exhibit where most of the art is easily predicted to be outdated fifteen minutes from now. And yet, there is always something that does more than just catch your eye. She was laughing at that moment, but it seemed like she was laughing the whole night the way her eyes were looking. She was drinking suburban wine and appeared a lot more elegant, but this was just a condition of her upbringing. Just as Jordan thought khaki shorts and a light green polo went well on a summer night party. These were just symptoms of their upbringing like young men wanting to marry economically across, and young women wanting to marry up. Not all suburban girls married up though, just the beautiful ones, the one with the supermodel like personality. To Jordan, Jenny had to be a girl that was required to marry up. “That Jen has turned into quite the looker.” The neighbor said this with a ‘you know what I mean’ pervert glance.

For a moment Jordan wanted to swing on him, but he had no justification. “She looks pretty tonight.”

“You should go talk to her. Girls like guys willing to work with stupid kids.”

Jordan shrugged.

“Well, if you don’t, I think I might.” The neighbor had a great big smile and burst into a laugh while nudging Jordan with his elbow.

“Hey assholes, stop jerking off by the keg!” Brad arrived with a scene, who had mastered the lewd comment so that only certain people heard it.

“How was work?” Jordan was glad to switch the conversation.

“Let me tell you how work was.” Brad grabbed a red cup and started to fill it with beer from the keg. “This woman comes in, this is why I am late. This woman comes in and . . .” he pauses his story to check the flow of the beer, “and she’s looking for a dresser. You know the ones with mirrors.” He checked the beer again. “So she has to sit down at each one of them. Yet this babe’s tit’s are flowing out of her shirt.” The beer was starting to slow. “I’m talking big ol’ titties, and I get to . . . Don’t fucking pump it.” Brad looks at the neighbor from his hunched position. “I don’t want a bunch of fucking foam in my beer.” The neighbor just stood as if he was still reaching to pump the keg, but he wasn’t. He was just in a drunken stare. “So anyway,” Brad finishes off his beer, with the best pour of the night. He rose from the hunched Neanderthal beer pouring position, “So anyway, big ol’ titties, and she just keeps sitting in front of these mirrors.” Jordan looked for Jenny in the same spot, but she was no longer there. “Every time she sits down I get to look in the mirror, right at those wonderful wonders of beauty and tell her she looks great.”

“How many did she try out?” This was now just a Jordan and Brad conversation.

“I don’t know, I lost count.”

“Were they real or fake?”

“Does it matter? Boobs are boobs. Plus I can’t tell the difference.”

“No, you just don’t want to know the difference.”

“That’s true.” Brad nodded and looked about the patio and yard to see if there was anyone else he knew. “Hey I’m going to say hi to your dad.”

Jordan walked into the house looking for something to do. He ends up contemplating whether or not he should have something more to eat since nobody had bothered to put any of it away. Yet as soon as he stepped through the door wall he was confronted with a collection of ladies, all too drunk for their own good. They were the kind of drunk that allowed them to grab young men’s asses and they were supposed to like it because if they didn’t they were gay. Jordan caught the eye of Jenny of which he thought it said, ‘save me,’ and which Jordan hopefully communicated back with, ‘just a second I have to pee.’ He walked past the women full well knowing their eyes were upon him like cats wanting to play with their food and never get around to eating it.

In the powder room, Jordan sat down his beer and unleashed the few too many he had already drank. He had to make sure he washed his hands, not for sanitary reasons, but for smell. Jordan’s mother had always bought hand soap that didn’t smell like soap. It gave the hand the smell like the hands were intended to be smelt by another, not worked with or used in any way. Just for another human being’s enjoyment. Outside the powder room, Jordan heard the pounding laughter of drunk women. It was not the laughter that Jenny was caught doing throughout the night. It was that time when collectively people drank past what was controllable. It was nights like these that nobody ever could remember, or simply did not bring up. Flushing the toilet and washing his hands, Jordan heard another pound of laughter, and felt a tinge of suspicion that they were talking about him. Laughing about him.

Jordan approached the group of women, and stood next to Jenny trying to be as casual as he could be. The attention of the women turned toward him in a close to silence. “How have you been, Jordan,” one of the women spoke to the level of her drunkenness.

“I’ve been fine.” Jordan wasn’t sure how he was going to get himself out of this conversation let alone get Jenny out too.

“How’s your brother?” One said.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen him tonight,” another spoke.

Jordan paused looking around to see if anyone knew the answer to the question. “He’s still in Afghanistan.” All the women just nodded their heads, while Jordan paused to let the gravity of the reality absorb into their already dripping brains. “He re-upped.” They continued to nod. “I guess the pay was good, and it’s not like there is much work to come back to here, you know.” They all nodded with a little more heaviness.

“How’d your mother take that,” the one said.

“I think she lets on to being stronger than she is. . . but that’s just the way she’s always been.” They started to shake off the conversation. At this point it was losing interest and dove into his mother who was standing, drinking, and talking just outside.

“So, Jordan, are you seeing anyone?” The women all got smiles of excitement.

“No, not at the moment.”

“Yeah, your mom said you broke up with that one,” the other one said with a desire to be understanding but all that strength was lost on his brother. Jordan turned his head to glance at Jenny, but she wasn’t even daring to give him the slightest hint. “Well, all I have to say is that you are damn cute.” A look of surprise and naughtiness came over the 5 women’s faces. “Can’t a woman be honest, I mean hell welcome to the 21st century.”

“I’m not going to lie, I would take a shot at him if I was 20 years younger,” one said.

“20, make it 25 at least.” The woman who said this didn’t really mean it as a joke, but they all laughed. Jordan was getting brutally embarrassed and wondered if Jenny really appreciated the level of his suffering in order to free her. It must have been visible because they switched their focus.

“I say Jenny, maybe you and Jordan should go out sometime.” Jenny felt the wave of being uncomfortable come over her after having thought that she was already at her tolerance level.

“Yeah, Jenny you guys would be perfect for each other. I mean you parents already get along, which trust me with my in-laws is a bigger deal than it seems when you’re a kid like yourself.” The bombardment of off the cuff comments made Jenny’s face turn red, but she still didn’t let on.

Jordan felt the need to say something, just to make them stop. “Jenny is already seeing someone.” He instantly wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to say because they fell quite again, and it seemed that Jenny had grown a little mad.

“No she isn’t.” One woman blurted not knowing that she was blurting.

Jordan just looked at Jenny and asked with his face, ‘Is this true?’ The comment wouldn’t have carried so much weight, but Jordan felt that he was lied to. He felt that he was being excluded when he wanted to be included in the worst way. The blurting women finally understood her mistake along with the rest of the pride and went on carrying their lone conversations. Jordan stepped back from the kitchen counter trying not to say something wrong, and instead he ended up saying nothing, forcing her to comment, “You need another beer.”

“Yeah, I guess I do. You need something to drink?”

“I could go for a beer right about now.”

“The wine not getting it done?”

“No, it just attracts too much conversation.”

The both walked back out to the patio together, and Jordan proceeded to grab a fresh cup for Jenny. This time the keg needed to be pumped. Mike came over and pumped it twice, which was the perfect amount Jordan needed to fill the cup honestly. “Hey Mike, what’s up.”

“Not too much.” He notices that Jordan is filling one cup and has another tucked between his left arm and his chest, hunched over. “How many have you had?” Mike said this with a smile, but noticed that he was wobbling a bit in the hunched position.

“This one’s for Jenny.”

“How is she?” Jordan wondered why he was asking since he thought Jenny was standing right behind him. “I saw she broke up with that Gary fag.”

“Where did you see that?”

“On Facebook. Gary made a post about breaking up and it set off a bunch of comments. It might have even been how she found out.” Jordan thought about what his friend was saying, and he set Jenny’s beer on the patio pavers and started to fill his cup. “I thought you would be the first to know.”

“I haven’t been on Facebook for a week.” Jordan glanced behind him and saw that Jenny had disappeared. He kept looking around the backyard and pacing the patio with his eyes, but things were starting to get a little blurry and he had a hard time keeping his balance if he wasn’t staring at his cup being slowly filled. Mike gave it one pump, and Jordan finished off his fill. He rose after grabbing Jenny’s beer off the patio, and looked around once he regained his balance. “Where did Jenny go?” Jordan said this while still looking around holding two full beers in his hands.

“She went back inside.” Jenny’s mother had been standing there the whole time, without Jordan realizing it, and he instantly was concerned about how much of his conversation with Mike she had heard. Mike was caught in conversation with that same neighbor who always found a host to latch onto by the keg.

“Oh.”

“She told me that she needed to use the restroom, and to let you know.” Jenny’s mother opened the door for Jordan’s full hands as he walked toward going back in the house, and he nodded with thanks.

Back inside he saw many of the same women who were there before, but none of them paid any attention. Jordan assumed that she was to use the same powder room, so he headed to check, which was on the same path to the door that led out to the garage. The door was open, but like earlier the screen door was closed. He got just two steps down the short hall, just far enough away to be out of sight of the women resting their hips against counters in the kitchen. The light of the moon and the street lights lit up the garage. It looked like he was staring into the softest light from his position in the house, just on the other side of the screen door from the garage. In the middle was Jenny, silhouetted and framed by the garage door opening. Her shoulders rested back, but without being pushed. Her hair was off to the right, laying on her shoulder, she was facing the street. Jordan took two more steps down the hallway placing himself just about at the screen. She wrapped her arms around herself, she was cold. Jordan looked for a while, it seemed beyond consciousness. The moment was thought of as a feeling.

She turned her head to look at Jordan holding the two beers, just staring into the garage. At first she looked hurt, and then she smiled starting with her eyes and finishing by widening her lips without opening her mouth. Her hips were balanced, even as she was turned. Her feet barefooted for summer. Her ankles carefully provided stability like a statue, and her calves naturally tightened. The blue dress had no color, but hid her naked form just enough for Jordan to hide his. Her hands fell to her side, and then the screen door slammed.

The event was this past Monday and I couldn’t say enough positive things about the day. We had a docent take us to the enclosure and spent time with the giraffes’ zoologist providing knowledge and answering questions. Such as giraffes can run up to 35 miles per hour and they can see things as far away as a mile.

Of course I am adding in many pictures of our experience. The fascinating aspect of giraffes, I was unaware of, is how personal they are. They are incredibly curious creatures. I remarked during our meeting how appreciative I was that the zoologist reminded us not to pet them. As you can see in the photos they get in close and personal. So much so it is easy to forget how massive they are and since they can come down to you, you get the urge to pet the top of their heads like you would a dog. They actually reminded me of our dog asking for pets. I am sure it helped that the zoologist gave us their favorite treat to feed them: rye crackers.

There is much to read and hear about what we can learn from animals. As much as I gush over giraffes in how personal and friendly they are, I have to point out that no animal is mean. It’s similar to how we think of animals in terms of human intelligence. Both smarts and temperament as ways to describe animals really misses the point. All creatures are adapted and evolved to fit their environment. To say one species is smarter or meaner is really just trying to fit them into our concept of acceptability. For instance, my favorite animal, bears, have often been characterized as a feared creature. It is true that bears generally are large mammals with strength to defend themselves. But if you have true respect for the being, there is nothing to fear.

And so with giraffes, I think what we are so enamored with is how they humble us. They are incredibly large animals and yet they tolerate humans so well. It shows that size and strength are relative to intent. Giraffes have the ability to defend themselves from lions by kicking them hard enough to disable and even kill the lion. Imagine that being done to a human that doesn’t respect and understand this adaptation. In a friendlier way, being such large creatures, giraffes’ heads are heavy enough that if they are going for something or they are being playful, they could easily sweep a person off their feet. It is not only that giraffes are humble animals, but that their strength and size are for reaching food, not fighting for it. They tower over us, but instantly let us know that we are friends.

So, you make sure you are in the right position to interact with them. Their keeper explained that she has to do hoof care, and so she trained the giraffes to place their hoofs up on a ledge so she could care for them. She can even give them a command like ‘not a good spot’ and they will move their hoof to a better spot.

These are the lessons that we learn when we go to a zoo these days. Zoos are about conservation and education with the utmost care for the animals. The Detroit Zoo epitomizes this mission. Now, if we learn from animals to meet them where they are, then why wouldn’t we do this with each other? The ultimate lesson from this zoo experience is that if our focus is to care and respect, then we will find happiness and joy in our interactions. And so we can be Socially Benevolent by seeking to respect and care first, then interact for mutual benefit. In doing so, we create a safer and kinder world.

Be sure to leave your thoughts and share!

Share

Leave a comment

Some points in this article to be Socially Benevolent:

1. Learn from animals how to be better humans.

2. Care and respect allows you to meet another person where they are creating greater chances for joy and happiness.

3. Sharing your knowledge leads to greater understanding about our world and easier for others, as well as yourself, to make the world a better place.