Many Native Americans and their supporters like myself recognize the importance of celebrating the history and contributions of ALL AMERICANS, but there has to be a better way to honor Italian Americans, without associating them with Christopher Columbus.
I hope that we could find a reasonable compromise to satisfy all parties involved moving forward.
George Orwell’s novel, 1984, was so successful at creating an imagined yet potential future reality that seventy years later, one of its most famous phrases ‘Big Brother is watching you’, continues to be used when describing the potential for governments and business to use technology to intrude into our daily lives via technology. This past week, that phrase was used by many journalists writing about another breach of technological security. This time, the text messaging service WhatsApp had been hacked by people who had installed spyware, turning users’ cell phones into a surveillance system by activating its camera and microphone, tracking users movements and extracting information from messages that were sent. As Orwell envisioned, that potential in the hands of those seeking to cause harm or to control others has some very serious consequences and implications. If someone hacked my phone, I suspect the most interesting thing they would find would be my wife and I discussing our dinner plans, but the incident is another reminder of how much we value our privacy. Technology has created a double bind. It facilitates communication to an amazing degree. We can send a message to anyone, anywhere, anytime. But it seems to be coming with an increase in surveillance that makes private communication risky. What are we to do? Throw away the phone and return to sending letters with the Pony Express? I hope not. In Psalm 139, traditionally attributed to King David, we hear a half-complaint and half-rejoicing in the truth that he is unable to escape the omniscient God. ‘Where can I hide from your spirit?’ he asks. He answers his own question by saying that he can’t and that perhaps it doesn’t matter. He knows that God’s gaze not only penetrates the rock of the cave in which he hides, it sees into his very soul. God is able to read his life, decrypt it end to end. To use a modern idiom, David knows he has been soul-hacked. The idea of being soul-hacked would be appalling if the one knowing the secrets of our hearts was a malignant force out to mine the data of our lives and use the information for their own ends to crush and oppress us. But as the Psalmist goes on to say: ‘Your eyes have seen my unformed substance.’ ‘Created my inmost being.’ The God who cracks the encryption of our hearts, created that heart and gives us the code to open it. The One who is watching us, in this instance, is not against us but for us.
The Arizona Interfaith Movement (AZIFM) holds the Golden Rule Banquet each year where people and organizations are honored for upholding the principles of the Golden Rule. I had the pleasure of attending the 14th annual banquet on Thursday evening, April 11, at the Mesa Convention Center and found it an awesome and inspiring evening. Those of us attending from Beatitudes Campus, besides myself, were Sybil Eppinger (whose husband Dr. Paul Eppinger founded the AZIFM), Karen Shannon, Cammy Clevenger, Bob Van Riper and Nancy Splain.
When we arrived at the Mesa Convention Center, we were greeted in the courtyard by hosts at several booths providing information about different religions. At the Sikh booth, I met Rani Sodhi, the brother of the man who was murdered in Mesa right after 9/11. Mr. Sodhi has spent all of the intervening years since then, travelling all over the United States and beyond, working to build bridges of understanding among people of different faiths and backgrounds.
At 6:30PM, we joined the over 800 other attendees inside for the evening program and banquet.
The evening started with the sounding of the Jewish Shofar followed by a welcome from Anita Rangaswami, Vice President of the AZIFM Board and a representative of the Hindu faith.
Pat McMahon, radio personality and Hall of Fame Broadcaster, was Master of Ceremonies for the evening.
Opening prayers were given by a Christian, someone from the BahaIi faith tradition, someone from Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, and a Buddhist. Each prayer ended with the statement of the Golden Rule as expressed in their respective faith traditions.
Mesa’s Mayor, John Giles, and AZIFM’s Executive Director, Rev. Larry Fultz, each then welcomed us, and dinner was served. During dinner, we were treated to an impressive musical performance by Taiko drum artist, Ken Koshio, and his son.
After dinner, the awards were given as the next part of the program. This year’s Golden Rule Awards recipients were as follows:
The Serving the Children Award went to Sunshine Acres, a home for children with no place to go.
The Humanitarian Award went to members of the Japanese American Citizens League made up of Japanese Internment survivors. This group talks to schools and encourages the breakdown of fear and hatred and the empowerment of kindness.
The Community Building Award went to the East Valley Community Builders. This group encourages interracial and social activities between citizens and police to encourage mutual understanding.
The Media Award went to AZTV and its director, Lynn Londen, for programming focusing on the positive qualities of our community, including airing a teenage group which does a media show on kindness and helpfulness.
The Darl Anderson Award went to Nick Lowery, the Hall of Fame Kicker of the Kansas City Chiefs. He started the Nick Lowery Youth Foundation that assists homeless youth.
At the end of the award ceremony, to bring the evening to a close, AZIFM Executive Director, Rev. Larry Fultz, called his family members in attendance to the stage. Assembling on the stage were a husband and wife from Nigeria (the husband had been a young student sent by his father to study in America who had lived with the Fultz’s during that time), a Jewish rabbi, Rev. Fultz’s brother and his Russian wife, a son with his Japanese wife, and a grandson with his Pakistani wife. Each gave a prayer or blessing to us all in his or her native language, followed by his or her spouse’s rendering the prayer in English. What a powerful visual.
The family closing was a magnificent end to a very inspiring evening.
Radical: “out of the ordinary,” “revolutionary”, favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions. Hospitality: generous and friendly treatment of visitors and guests. Put them together and you are part of a movement that began a few years back but is still every bit of who we are as a community.
What does it mean for us to have someone we have never met and has no relationship to us – in other words, a stranger – being treated by every single one of us at Beatitudes Campus with not just politeness, but overwhelming “revolutionary” generosity? It is radical!
Back when I served a church, I had a relationship with a Samoan United Church of Christ Congregation where I was invited to preach. I did not realize at the time that, in their culture, the minister was considered the descendent of what once was the Chief of all of Samoa. Consequently, ministers are treated like royalty today. That was a new experience for me to be sure. I am not saying I have been mistreated as a clergyperson – except for some hate mail now and then from some justice issues I stood for. Being treated like royalty, though, was not an experience I was accustomed to in the American church. But at this church I was showered with a plate of food so big that it was a weeks’ worth in one sitting. (After a stomach ache later, I learned that it is permissible to take some home.) I was given gift after gift including every member and child giving dollar bills or more to me as I was seated in front of them – and not just once but numerous times by each. It was an experience that I will never forget and a people I will always cherish.
What was amazing to me was how authentic and heartfelt it was; it was their culture but it was also them. There was such a deep feeling of sincerity in their gestures that it moved me deeply. It was the most radical of all hospitality experiences I have ever happened upon.
I want you to feel that way here at Beatitudes Campus. I want to feel that way. I want all staff to feel that same way when they are around you and me. I want every guest, volunteer, visitor, prospective resident, family member or stranger to have a radical hospitality experience. There is not a person in the community, from any faith, any race, any sexual orientation, any gender who is not worthy of our most radical of all welcomes. It is how everybody deserves to feel when they walk into our Beatitudes Community. It is a spiritual experience when it happens, and I look forward to continuing to work with you to make sure it does here (ok, minus the money—no tipping policy, you know).
Every year 47,000 Americans kill themselves and 72,000 more die from drug addiction. Journalist David Brooks says: “This kind of pain is an epidemic in our society. When you cover the sociology beat as I do, you see other kinds of pain. The African-American woman in Greenville who is indignant because young black kids in… read the whole article here https://wp.me/p7o8lu-gQi
There’s a story about the famous painter Leonardo da Vinci. During the time when he was working on his famous painting “The Last Supper,” he became angry with an acquaintance of his. The two men had words and parted from each other on very bad terms. Leonardo returned to the church on whose wall he was painting the fresco. It was no use. Leonardo could paint nothing he was happy with. He had reached the point in the project where he was doing the face of Jesus. Time and again he tried to render a likeness of the Lord, but he was unable to do so. Finally the great artist realized that he had work to do, but it was not in the church he had been commissioned to decorate. Leonardo put down his brushes and sought out the man who had been the subject of his wrath. He asked the man’s forgiveness. The man accepted his apology and offered an apology of his own. It was only then that Leonardo was able to return to the church and finish painting the face of Jesus.
St. Paul wrote a letter to the church at Ephesus because he knew that the church was engaged in quarreling that threatened to tear them apart. He counseled them: “No more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.” Sometimes we feel we should never be angry, we should repress our true feelings. However, when we do that, our anger continues to simmer within us and ultimately festers or blows up and can be terribly destructive. Avoidance of conflict makes room for the devil. Anger is a natural part of our emotional makeup as humans.
Think back on your own life and reflect on what role anger has played in your relationships—was it healthy anger or destructive? Are you a spewer or a stewer? Anger itself is not a sin. Sometimes we are called to be angry. The world would have lost much without the blazing anger of William Wilberforce against the slave trade. If Martin Luther King had not been angry at racism, the civil rights movement would not have flourished. If Gandhi had not been angry at oppression, India’s independence might not have happened. Anger, channeled in a positive way, can be a catalyst for change. The famous writer Dr. Samuel Johnson was once asked to temper the harshness and anger in a book he was about to publish. His answer to that request was that “he would not cut off his claws, nor make his tiger a cat, to please anybody.” There is a place for the tiger in life; and when the tiger becomes a tabby cat, something is lost. How many relationships have been forever destroyed because some small issue was left to fester, grow, and divide the best of friends? Resolution of differences may take a long time but Paul is telling us to put aside our anger quickly. If we have been in the wrong, pray to God to give us the grace to go and admit that it was so; and even if we have been right, pray to God to give us the graciousness which will enable us to take the first step to put matters right.
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
I wanted to take this opportunity to follow up on Peggy Roberts’ article from last week regarding the Diversity and Inclusion Day to be held this Monday, January 21st in the Everett Luther Life Center, between 12:00 and 3:00PM. The Diversity and Inclusion Action Council (consisting of residents and staff) specifically chose to hold the event on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as an honor to the many contributions of King’s societal movement to a more inclusive society.
A day such as this makes me incredibly proud of our campus community as we resolve to stand together to recognize we have the power to change our attitudes, to overcome our ignorance and fears, and have the ability to influence our peers and neighbors to embrace and build together a more loving, caring community—open and affirming of all.
The campus is a community of caring people who, together, create a healthy, safe and secure place for everyone—no matter the geographic, ethnic, economic, religious, sexual orientations, age, or gender identity—to live, work and age with dignity. It is truly an environment which promotes acceptance, inclusion and diversity where everyone can thrive and live to their fullest potential by respecting each other.
I do hope you will join us for the open house. Whether it is for 10 minutes or the entire three hours, your presence is appreciated. Come by to hear what diversity and inclusion means to others, share your place of origin on the world map, and enjoy foods from around the globe. *
That title caught your attention, didn’t it?
That is the name of a campaign started by a colleague of mine in North Carolina. It is her action learning project for LeadingAge Leadership Academy, an executive leadership program within our national association of not-for-profit aging services organizations. This is the same program I had an opportunity to participate in 2008, Jon Shilling completed in 2014, and Cheryl Knupp in 2016. The action learning project is an important aspect of the curriculum, designed to influence change and help advance innovative programs and practices, by implementing a specific program or practice within their own organization.
Be Bold, Claim Old was recently highlighted in a LeadingAge webinar and is now an exhibit as part of the ChangingAging tour. The national tour is a social movement bringing communities a new and highly disruptive understanding of aging. The premise of Be Bold, Claim Old is simple; fight ageism by sparking a new way of thinking about old in a society that inherited a cultural value that youth is the gold standard and anything that does not appear young is less valued. Amy, the campaign creator, is working with residents in her community to take the Be Bold, Claim Old campaign to their broader community.
Now, you are probably wondering why I would write about this topic. I’m preaching to the choir-you are all well aware that age is just a number! Look at the amazing programs, projects, and events you all create, implement, and hold. And everyone who steps foot on this campus sees the vitality that exists here and it changes their view of aging and what goes on behind the walls of communities like ours.
During our new employee orientation I have the opportunity to talk to our new staff members about our mission, vision, and core values. We also have a long conversation about society’s views of aging, as well as their own views of aging. The typical stereotypes usually come up in the conversation and I, or better yet a new employee who has already worked a few shifts on Campus, have an opportunity to dispel the myths by lifting up examples of your lives. That is the rewarding work. As they experience it, they pass it on to others.
With this, the cultural shift continues and we each get to play a role in this important work. Keep spreading the message Be Bold, Claim Old!*
If you would like to learn more about Be Bold, Claim Old or the ChangingAging tour, you can find more information at the following links:
www.beboldclaimold.com/amy-gorely/
www.changingaging.org/tour/
As the temperatures in Phoenix continue to climb well over 100 degrees, it is particularly important for older adults to stay hydrated. Water represents an average of 55% of our body weight, and it assists in countless important bodily functions including: regulating our temperature and blood pressure, lubricating and cushioning our joints, and ridding our bodies of waste through urination, perspiration, and bowel movements.
Older adults can be at particular risk of dehydration for three key reasons:
How can you tell when you’re dehydrated? While we’ve all been told we should drink 8 glasses of water a day, the actual amount of water each individual requires varies based on weight, external temperatures, how active we are, and a variety of other factors. As a general rule of thumb, if your urine is dark yellow, you should be drinking more water. Pale/light yellow urine typically indicates adequate hydration. It may also be a sign of dehydration if you get dizzy standing up, if you’re unusually confused, if you are constipated, if you have a headache, if you are experiencing dry mouth, or if you have muscle spasms.
Following these tips can help ensure you are well hydrated this summer:
With these tips in mind, you’re sure to have a happier, healthier, hydrated summer!
There are many reasons we should honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy. Not only was he a transformational spokesperson for nonviolent activism during the Civil Rights Movement, he was an inspirational leader whose legacy continues to help pave the way to inclusion which we hold near and dear to us here at Beatitudes Campus. He was a visionary who was persistent, who knew when to push forward and when to pull back, and was someone who knew how to show compassion to those very people who were fighting against him. Below are a few excerpts from Jeff Goins’ blog entitled 5 Lessons from MLK on Living, Leading, & Communicating at http://goinswriter.com. Jeff blogs what many of us think and feel:
“Martin Luther King, Jr. left us a legacy, teaching us as much through what he did as what he said. Maybe more. One of the many lessons Dr. King exemplified was the effectiveness of a life lived out loud, one in which a person’s words and dreams are backed by considerable action. He showed us our lives must be lived intentionally and without regret, that words mean something and we must speak up in the face of injustice. He taught us that it is one thing to say you have an idea and quite another to act on it. And the man’s courage still inspires millions of people today.
I’m glad Dr. King spoke up and then acted. The world is a better place because of it.
Telling the truth is dangerous
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
There is nothing safe about being honest, nothing comfortable about doing the right thing. If anything, when you are committed to saying what needs to be said, it will likely get you into trouble. But the fruit is worth the pain. You’re the one who has to decide this, though. Choose wisely before opening your mouth, and be aware of the consequences. Because as with MLK, this may cost you your life. But of course, if you don’t speak, it could cost you something far greater.
The first person you need to convince is yourself
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
MLK often spoke about the importance of believing in yourself before trying to convince others to do so. He knew that if we doubt ourselves, so will others. He also knew human beings cannot act according to their identity until they believe it about themselves. In the field of creative disciplines, we see this to be especially true. “A writer is a writer when he says he is,” says Steven Pressfield. There’s something about the power of declaration via our voices that forces our hands to act. This may be the most important lesson Dr. King taught us: we are what we are when we decide to be it.
May we honor MLK’s memory by boldly being and believing who we are, then acting on it.”
