Teachings & Typhoons

She looked to be about 15 - the Filipino girl who sat in the rubble of super typhoon Haiyan and grieved for her family.

Her mother had been a doctor; her father an accountant. Both were dead, along with the rest of her family. All that remained of them was she and her little brother. Between sobs, she said to the American news correspondent covering the disaster, "I only want to be like my mother." He said, "Be a doctor?" She shook her head: "Be a great mother."

We don't get it. We think it is about us (adults) and our fancy careers - about fun and fame and fortune; we think it is about sex, and money. It is not. It is about the children. (They do not know this.) It is up to us to know - and more importantly, act like we know. We do that by raising them well; by joining in their lives.

Again:  It is about the children. Teach them discipline and respect, and - whether rich or poor - your family will prosper. And the future of this nation will be in good hands.  

Running Scared, Into the Night

Bill Russell, basketball legend and icon of the Civil Rights era, was arrested the other day for carrying a loaded gun at an airport. How disappointing.  (What is he afraid of?)

When a man is afraid to leave his home without a gun, he sends a chilling message to his family. His son must think:  If my father is afraid to leave the house without a gun, then I should be afraid - my mother should be afraid; my sister should be afraid - to leave the house without a gun.

So, what do we do now? Give everyone a gun and say, "Have a nice day?"

Fear shrinks our society by the minute. Soon, all that will be left of us is our trembling. What is left of our courage will be jammed between the pages of a history book.

One Child, One Book...

With his recent initiative to disarm the Syrian regime of its chemical weapons, and by his outreach to the new president of Iran, could Obama be on the verge of earning that Nobel Peace Prize he won four years ago? Then, many of his detractors said he had "not earned" it, but had only been awarded the prize out of promise. They may be right.

Once Obama began to flex his presidential muscles, drone strikes, war, and surveillance has been his legacy. That does not mean Obama did not want peace. it may mean that he simply inherited the mantle of leader of a warrior nation, and felt compelled to prove his bonafides.

In America, our position is this: "We do not seek peace with you; you seek peace with us." The terms of peace with America is surrender. Even now, in his overtures, Obama is more warrior than peacemaker. To both Syria's Assad and Iran's Rouhani, the terms are: "Surrender your weapons (WMD)." Americans call that "peace."

As far as Nobel Peace Prizes go, I look to the Pakistani child whom the Taliban shot in the head because sh dared go to school. After surviving the wicked wound, she stood on the floor of the United Nations and declared, "One child, One book…"

That young lady knows more about peace than all of the American presidents. She gets my vote.