Ponderings

The nuns in grade school would be proud that I have finally mastered the dictionary. As a matter of fact, the word missal has become a part of me, like an appendage, and I troll it whenever a new word pops up. Sometimes even an old word is dissected and information is gleaned about its origins. Three years of Latin in high school certainly has given me a leg up on tracking down the core meaning of words. . .and Jim's Latin dictionary doesn't hurt either. Yes, Jim owns a Latin Dictionary and a couple of German ones, too. You could say we are both word junkies.

Because of my passion for words and creating new words when the right one isn't available, it has become necessary to create a whole new dictionary. After all, there's no reason that Webster should continue to have a corner on the market. Thus, Susan's Brand New Word Dictionary is being created right now, right here on this blog. Here's the first entry:

ponderings (n.) (1) seemingly random seed ideas or thoughts that may or may not be ultimately true or useful and may spur action, or not as the case may be; (2) the waves created when a rock is thrown into a pool of water.

Used in a sentence (the nuns would insist): Saturday night I hunkered down with two WSJ's and a TIME in anticipation of uncovering those ponderings that have not been elevated to trends, but are worth watching, none-the-less. Ponderings are more fun, in a sense, because the reader can consider the matter with as many brain cells as available at the moment. There is no push to think too deeply--but, that is OK too, if desired. The freedom of contemplating, or not contemplating, ponderings opens the brain and let's the sun shine in.

Pondering One: A new word is emerging that is an offshoot of the green movement--biomimicry, literally "imitating life." What it means practically is taking those great fractal shapes--you know the ones from whirling sunflower seeds, sea urchins, serrated owl's wings--and creating household items that are appealing to the eye and, in fact, many times improve the performance of an already existing product. A good example is a new building in Zimbabwe that looks like a termite mound in order to vent heat better. Other newly emerging words are biomorphism (resembling a living organism, a tooth stool that resembles a molar,) biophila (love of living things, a wall made of plants) and biotechnology (technology based on biology, biodegradable plastic based on bacteria.) Someone with a better sense of humor than I could most likely make up other pithy words along these lines. Feel free to send me those for posting in the New Word Dictionary. In a year or two's time, we could have quite a collection.

Pondering Two: The latest best pick-up spot is the Home Depot. Why? The Home Depot has introduced a "Do It Herself" class to teach woman how to do such things as using a stud finder. Men have figured this out and dally in the isles following the classes. (Beats meeting in the bars, don't you think?) The WSJ further reports that the Girl Scouts now offer a Ms. Fix-It Badge for "members eager to learn how to wire a lamp or fix a leaky toilet." I think the real reason is that these young women have been conversing with the older gals in the "Do It Herself" classes and want to get a head start. It's never too early to learn the skill of using power tools wisely, wouldn't you agree?

Pondering Three: The Swedes are the kings of pirated technology. I thought that crown went to the Chinese, but no, it's those smart Scandinavians who have too much time on their hands during those long, cold winters. However, at the insistence of the US, Swedish authorities recently raided the offices of the greatest perpetrator, an outfit called The Pirate Bay, and are hauling them into court. The pirates are not worried. They believe that pirating cannot be legally stopped because it's so widespread, but have taken measures to move their servers out of Sweden, just in case. A majority of Swedes believe that pirating is fair game and an inevitable outcome of the World Wide Web. So, will the current rule of law prevail, or will a new rule emerge that includes sharing without cost?

Pondering Four: Scientists have figured out a way to create stem-cell lines without killing an embryo. How do they do that? These smarties take out one cell of an embryo's first eight to create the stem-cells, which can be theoretically remanufactured into any kind of cell imaginable. However, the scientists don't know if this extraction process damages the remaining seven-celled embryo in any way. Seems to me that they ought to settle that question before announcing this as a big breakthrough, or we'll be right back to where we started. Or am I missing something?

Pondering Five: Poachers may be out of the abalone business because they have taken most of the catch. These criminals are pretty smart guys; the more they take, the higher the price goes, and the more they take. Humans are pretty wiley animals themselves, however, and have devised methods to subvert the subverters. In the case of abalone, the tasty crustaceans are now being farm raised all over the world--and are more tender and taste better than their poached counterparts. Thus, the price of abalone has dropped precipitously, leaving the poachers holding the bag. The abalone may now get a chance to regenerate in the wild without the criminal pilfering. Could this model be extrapolated to other criminal activities, such as diamond trafficking or drug dealing? Maybe the lighted use of the mind--coupled with good old fashioned capitalist ingenuity--could prevail over activities meant to hoard wealth into the coffers of a chosen few in ways that circumvent the law.

Pondering Six: Kofi Annan, the past Secretary General of the UN, will be the next mediator to try his hand at fixing the Kenyan election mess. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who I mentioned on this blog last week, has had little luck in the matter. Nor has Barack Obama, who is half Kenyan and was called in by Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice to intervene. Nor has anyone else even though the political pressure to do so has been great. Maybe they will all fail in this round. Turns out, that although the current President espoused democracy and was supposedly a shining African example of such, economic inequality ran deep and cut along tribal lines (42 tribes = 42 lines.) Therefore, a allegedly stolen election exploded the democracy myth and the country went up in flames with it. What is the answer for Kenya and the rest of Africa? Jeffrey Sacks thinks he has some ideas, and they rest on accountability and real economic improvement for the masses. When I read his book, it didn't seem like rocket science. Only thing is, the ins will have to give up on their insatiable greed and share the fruits of the labor with the outs. Just makes sense to me, how about you? To read more about Sacks' ideas, turn to his book The End of Poverty: The Economic Possibilities of Our Time. If that doesn't sate your appetite, try The Mystery Of Capital by Hernando DeSoto or Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. That should seed your own ponderings for a long time to come--at least on this subject.

Pondering Seven: You might think I have a thing for Barack, and I do in a way. He is undoubtedly the most interesting politician we have had to look at in some time, probably in my lifetime of 50+ years. Mind you, my observations will not necessarily translate into a vote, but looking at the changes his popularity creates is fodder for all sort of ponderings. This current one, number seven, reflects some pundit's comments that go like this: with the ascendancy of Barack to his place in history--even if it is just giving Hillary a run for her money, folks like the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will no longer be able to capitalize on their proxy victim roles. Although that may speak truthfully about a purely American phenomenon, I would add that Barack's example could give hope to blacks worldwide. This thought came to me after seeing an interview of Barack's uncle from his humble home in Kenya. The reporter asked the uncle how Barack's presidential race made him feel. The man used the words "pride" and "honor to the family" but his beaming face said it all. How many times have we had a Presidential race when foreign-born relatives are watching the outcome with as much expectancy as the rest of us? How many times have these relatives been black? Thus, Barack, whether he wins the Democratic nomination or not, has changed our grandkid's history books for good. They will now read that America went from segregation to a run for the Presidency without using the race card in the short span of fifty years. What is fact now could not even have been imagined a year ago and that speaks volumes about the evolution of the United States.

And finally, Pondering Eight: Diapers-Go-Green was an announcement in this week's TIME magazine (1-21-08, p. 57.) My two kids were raised on clothe diapers, the ones that had to be swished in the toilet, so I read this with interest. Certainly, modern moms would not go back to that obnoxious toilet routine, I thought. Well, I was right and wrong. Modern moms may give up the 27.4 billion disposable diapers that get transported annually to landfills, but they will now be serviced by diaper companies or new improved clothe diapers. These new contrivances have pockets for disposable pads and elastic bands around the legs to keep in the wet and goo, just like the environmentally unfriendly models. My question, what will be next? Tampons, after all women used to use clothe, or toilet paper? Cloth, anyone?

This line of speculation could head straight to the toilet fast, so we will say, "Good evening, and it will be on to more enlightened topics when we return."

Two Taboo Topics

Politics and religion are two topics never discussed in polite society, it is said. There is no better way to make enemies than to vehemently expound on one or both of these usually controversial subjects, especially in a group just trying to have fun. In this blog, I had not talked much about either because lighted trends are not indigenous to the way the populace as a whole generally handles itself politically or religiously. It seems that both COULD be enlightened but generally aren't at this time--with notable exceptions, like the Burmese Monks so often mentioned here. Could it be that lack of true leadership is one of the main components missing?

Having asked that question, three articles caught my eye in the past couple of days that may show a lighted change in the realm of political and religious leadership. In each case religious leaders stepped up to the political plate to promote freedom of the people and democracy, a role that could be fitting for them if handled well.

First, as reported by the United Press International today on its website, Archbishop Desmond Tutu arrived in Kenya to help broker a peace between rivaling factions following an allegedly flawed election in that previously quiet country:

"Archbishop Tutu began an attempt to restore calm to the African nation torn apart by post-election violence. Tutu, a Nobel Laureate heading up a delegation from the All Africa Conference of Churches, said he would meet with Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odina. . .Tutu said the group had hopes of reaching an acceptable agreement to save the country and its people."

The two vying Kenyan political leaders are from separate tribes, and the words between them have grown incendiary. There is fear that, without intervention in the current fledgling democracy, the prevailing peace between the 40 Kenyan tribes will fail, leading the country into civil war. Archbishop Tutu's role as an African religious leader could turn the tide in Kenya, and also set an example for other African religious leaders--whether they be Muslim, Christian or Jew--to lead the way to freedom for other beleaguered African nations.

Darfur is another example where African religious leadership could make a difference--most likely from a Muslim cleric of some kind. It is obvious that the political will is lacking to bring that sorry situation to an end. Thus, inspiration will have to come from another sector, and it might be time for religious leaders to step forward into that quagmire.

Second, the WSJ as a year end send-off entitled "Liberty Theology" opined that the Catholic Church is having a change of heart regarding its role in Latin America:

"Catholic Church bishops, priests and other Church leaders in Latin America were once a reliable ally of the left, owing to the influence of 'liberation theology,' which tries to link the Gospel to the socialist cause. Today the Church is coming to recognize the link between socialism and the loss of freedom, and a shift in thinking is taking place. In a region that is 90% Catholic, this change might have enormous implications. A Church that emphasizes liberty could play a role in Latin America similar to that which it played in Eastern Europe in the 1980's, as a counterweight in defense of freedom during a time of rising despotism. Fro proof of the change. . .consider the recent statement from the Catholic Bishops of Venezuela: It blasted the political agenda of President Hugo Chavez for its assault on liberty under the guise of helping the poor. It is morally unacceptable, the statement said, and will drive the country backward in terms of respect for human rights."

Bolivia has apparently also been under the gun of the Church in the form of its late Cardinal Castillo who said that the country was slipping toward dictatorship. Mind you, the Catholic Church is not put forward by me as THE answer--its own checkered past would preclude entirely trusting the Church's motives. However, motives aside, the trend is enlightening when religious leaders stand up for freedom, particularly in the face of adversity and death as in the Myanmar case.

Third, on a slightly different note, it is newsworthy that the people of Bhutan went to the polls Monday to elect a Parliament for the first time. I put this into the enlightened religious leader category because it was remarkably that their former monarch, the Dragon King and a religious leader in his own right, led the way forward without fight or friction. The WSJ reported this story as an op-ed entitled "Democracy in Shangri-La" January 2, 2008. The story is so compelling, I include it in its entirety:

"The citizens of the world's newest democracy went to the polls Monday to elect members of the upper house of Parliament. In coming months they will vote on a draft constitution that has been mailed to every household in the nation and choose representation for the lower house."

"Welcome to Bhutan, an isolated Himalayan Kingdom wedged between India and China and made famous for a national philosophy of 'gross domestic happiness.' Until recently, Bhutan has been an absolute monarchy, under the reign of King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, who ascended the throne in 1972 at the age of 16. The monarch's official title is Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King, but His Majesty also deserves to go down in history as the country's George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson."

"In 1998, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk voluntarily reduced the scope of his powers. A few years later he decreed that Bhutan would become a constitutional monarchy and set out to educate his people on the virtues of democracy. He accomplished this task by personally presiding at informational meetings throughout the country and holding mock elections. In December 2006, after 34 years as sovereign, he abdicated, turning over his limited responsibilities to his Oxford-educated son."

"In drafting a constitution, the elder King ordered his legal experts to study the constitutions of all the world's greatest democracies. The final project opens with 'We the People' and speaks in the preamble of securing the 'blessings of liberty.' These words were originally penned by a group of men who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787. Their power has not diminished over the centuries. Today, the ideals that stand at the heart of the world's oldest democracy are understood anew by men and women led by an enlightened former monarch in Thimphu."

My hat goes off to Bhutan for continuing with its democracy dreams while many in the rest of the world spit on the word. Democracies have gotten somewhat of a bad name in the last several years under our current President who believes that this political form should be spread like evangelical religion rather than through a slow, steady process like Bhutan's. Study of this tiny country's experiment might prove illustrative to those interested in seeing how a true democracy is born.

And finally, here is enlightening news you can use that could make a difference in your waistline by this time next year. MEN'S HEALTH magazine website reports on nine "health foods" that are pulling your leg. David Zinczenko wrote in his book "Eat This Not That" that these hyped non-fat and/or low-calorie foods are anything but that. The nine offenders? Bran muffins, chicken Caesar salad, tuna melt, chicken wrap, turkey burger, fruit smoothies, granola bars, pastas salad, and yogurt with fruit on the bottom which each and every one containing hidden fats and sugars.