For the last three years, I have written a poem to include in my Christmas cards. Each was inspired by a traditional carol.

Joy to the world,
Spread love throughout!
Embrace diversity!
Let gentleness surround you,
Encourage all around you:
Enlightening each soul;
Brightening every life;
Creating- CREATING!
A world of joy!

Christmas 2020

Heavenly Peace

Silent night, fateful night;
Each must choose: the dark or the light?
Human minds are drawn both ways;
Fear or love: how will you spend your days?
Wisely choose your path through life,
But ask your heart which path is right.

~So you may~

Dream in Heavenly peace
And sleep in Heavenly peace.

Christmas 2021

Our Angels Sing

“Hark!” earth’s children all proclaim,
Hear our voices, heal our pain!
You who’ve taught us God’s design
Live His Word- don’t redefine!
Love our neighbors, love our home.
Love each child as if your own.
Love is the answer and the key
For earth’s children to be free!

Honoring the memory of the 20 children and 6 adults who were
murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School on 12/12/2012.

Christmas 2022

Today is Friday, February 25, 2022. Early this morning I watched as CNN interviewed Petro Poroshenko, the former Ukrainian president, as he stood armed alongside about 300 of his compatriots. They were on the streets of the capital, Kyiv, while Russian forces were reportedly nearby in the Obolon District. He thanked the US and other countries for their support but asked for unified world support. He said Putin has declared war not just on Ukraine but on the whole world. “Putin is simply mad,” Poroshenko proclaimed. Pointing out a bomb shelter nearby, he declared he would not interrupt the interview with CNN because since the Russian info-war was ongoing, Poroshenko continued, “the world should know the truth. We are not standing in line for the bread or cash from the bank machine. We are standing in line for weapons, we are standing in line to give our blood to our soldiers.” CNN’s John Brennan then asked him, “How long do you think you can hold out?” Poroshenko paused, looked up and to his left then gave an answer that will go down in history. “Forever. Putin never will capture Ukraine, no matter how many soldiers he has, how many missiles he has, how many nuclear weapons he has . . . We Ukrainians are free people with a great European future.”

As the interview ended, I knew Poroshenko was speaking of and to deeper human traits and truths: our free will and our unique minds. His conclusions recognized the illusory nature of power and control. Poroshenko was not naively boasting about Ukrainian stamina or love of freedom. No doubt he knows the human mind can be swayed by fear, lies and promises. Fealty- or at least co-operation- is bought through such manipulations by bullies, fear mongers, power seekers, and other aggressors. Yet such purchases come at a high price: loss of personal freedom and/or extreme interest due after acquisition of TEMPORARY benefits. Those who seek power and control are never sated.

By our very human nature, people are susceptible to manipulation. But it is also our human nature which allows us to rely upon our intelligence and innate free will to expose those who wish to control and manipulate us! We know our thoughts, actions and reactions are ours alone. We each choose how to define the events and circumstances of our individual lives. We also choose how to act and react to those same events.

And yet . . . and yet. Somehow, we have a tendency to equate power and control with strength. This conception is only true in a narrow but personal sense. We each recognize the strength and power of being able to make our own choices and decisions; of being capable of directing our thoughts in directions beneficial to our lives; of our ability to learn anew and revisit previous beliefs and decisions. These are our most powerful tools as individual people. Trying to use these tools to manipulate another person interferes with that person’s own choices, their own free will. The need to do so exposes weakness of the manipulator, NOT STRENGTH!

Bullies. Aggressors. Fear mongers. Power seekers. All are the weakest members of our civilization. They are flawed human beings. They aspire to creating a world (or culture) which pleases only them, a world in which free will can only exist within him/ herself. Recognize them for what they are. If temporarily afflicted with seeing them as POWERFUL, remind yourself of the strength of your own free will.

Guilty as charged!  For reasons I am probably incapable of understanding, I have a tendency to be a “glass half-empty” person.  This fact has been pointed out to me throughout my life.  Even my mother, who died more than 50 years ago, used to say, “Susie! DON’T borrow trouble!”  Of course in my mind, I was simply facing facts, analyzing situations.  Although true in part, I was also rationalizing my negativity.  By the time I turned thirty, awareness of how my mindset affected my life approach crept in.  I challenged myself to change how I thought.  The challenge continues almost daily; I am now 73.

So when I began writing “The Dreamer” in January this year, it was a struggle for me to decide how to approach a subject I believed to be crucial to the success of humankind going forward.  Patriarchy and the lowest of human desires which engendered it- namely, power, greed and righteousness-  also perpetuated patriarchy along with its darkest desires.  Human growth as a unified, caring and  prosperous civilization has consequently been grievously arrested, stunted. Our civilization has been stumbling along for 10,000 years as if we were all born with just one leg.  We’ve gotten used to it, but imagine how much more we could accomplish if we had two functioning legs!

How, I wondered, might I present such an issue and convey the urgency to change how we structure civilization and to view each other as equally worthy and interdependent participants in human life on earth?  Having offered some insight into my thinking, you will not be surprised by my first thoughts . . .

     Notes to self, mid-January, 2020:  “I wonder what it’s going to take to bring us  together, to encourage civilization to make indiscriminate use of all the talent and ingenuity available to us. I fear the answer is CATASTROPHE!  Throughout history we’ve witnessed the wars and struggles between each era’s haves and have-nots.  The players on each side are in constant flux, but women are always at the bottom, on the losing side.  Only a catastrophe could change the dynamics at play.  Only a catastrophe could force us to abandon our tendency to return to the basis of how our civilization was built and seek a new beginning.”

The feared catastrophe has arrived.  According to worldwide experts, we are experiencing just the beginning of how our social structure is crumbling around us.  We seem to have gone through the early stages of grief- denial, bargaining- and are now starting to accept at least some of the reality of the situation we are facing.  Yet we cling to the hope of a return to normal. I suggest we have the opportunity now to aspire to something far greater than our accustomed “normal;”  for it is our cherished “normal” that has created the catastrophe we face.  Note the last stanza of my poem written as a prelude to the three parts of “The Dreamer:”

If ever we met
In a world where our minds
Perpetually sought
Care, not control,
Perhaps I would love you.

Care, NOT control!  Obviously human beings are very capable of both.  Just as obviously, we need each other to survive as a species.  Shall we choose to survive as people who respect and accept one another, or shall we choose to control or allow others to control how we live?  In the first case, we are choosing our innate lovingkindness and humanitarianism. In the second, we allow our baser needs or the baser needs of others to rule.

All human beings are equally worthy and deserve equal rights simply because we are human.  But we also must take responsibility for contributing to civilization as mindful participants of an interdependent species.  That means we cannot bury our heads in the sand and allow anyone or any group to claim superiority or privilege.  Their claims are based on greed and need for power; their claims are invalid.

As we face our personal struggles and losses during the COVID 19 pandemic, let us allow ourselves a bit of time for reflection and introspection.  Let’s challenge our beliefs, our thinking and our relationships with others.  Meanwhile, let us choose to become aware of all that is happening outside ourselves and our control (or lack thereof!)  Watch how our elected leaders and our acknowledged  experts approach the societal dangers and human issues we all face.  Let us ask and demand answers regarding their agendas and their bases for the choices they make for us.  All will, of course, say they act on behalf of the “good of all the people.” Can we believe them?  If our confidence in the answer is questionable, the leaders and experts must be challenged!  We cannot be complacent.  We can pray and hope, but we must also take responsibility.  Our lives depend on each of  us caring for one another, on each of us caring for all humanity.

I did NOT want to move to Cairo, Egypt!  I had already moved across the country with my three children to join my new husband in 1981. Virginia had become our home.  Schools were wonderful, we all made new friends, and I was happy with my better-paying job.  I was an equal contributor to our family finances. And after the death of my first husband, I had sued his estate to create a trust fund for our children’s future educational needs.  But after a few years of marriage, my second husband wanted to join the State Department’s Foreign service- destination TBD!  After working a couple years at the State Department in Washington, DC, he was finally given a three year foreign assignment in Cairo, beginning in August of 1987.  We had magnificent arguments for months! Finally we agreed on a compromise. I agreed to interrupt my career and quit my job early enough to set up a study program as a student abroad.  I had been taking evening classes at George Mason University (GMU) toward an anthropology degree for two years.  Being a full time student for awhile again appealed to me. In return, my husband agreed our time overseas would be limited to three years, under any and all circumstances.

Over the nine months prior to our departure, I applied to and was accepted by the American University in Cairo (AUC.)  I then secured an appointment with the Dean at GMU to propose my course of study at AUC.  Because the two universities had no contract allowing credit transfer, I would have to do all the groundwork myself. I had to show courses at AUC were comparable to those required at GMU for my desired major. To do so, I must visit with the heads of all departments involved and get their formal written consent.  Eight of the classes I needed must be taken only at GMU before I left.  One of those was a senior class for which I would need special permission to take early.  For the first time in my life, I worried there was insufficient time available to accomplish all the necessary requirements!  Not to mention I would also have to pack up my household for a move halfway across the world! But I got through it all and the Dean finally gave his blessings to my proposal after I presented him with the formal consents from five department heads and the record of my six A’s and two B’s in the eight courses I’d completed!

FLASHBACK: 1989

We are sitting in the Dean’s office at AUC. On my left is Virginia Governor Gerald Baliles; on my right is the Dean of AUC; across from me is a woman who is from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, who has chosen a path similar to mine.  Governor Baliles is greeting us: “We wanted to honor you both today for the work you’ve done in creating programs of study at AUC.  You have shown courses at AUC are comparable to those at your respective home universities.  In part due to the work you have done, we are prepared to create contracts with AUC so future students at public universities in both Virginia and the District Of Columbia may use AUC to pursue their studies abroad. They will be able to transfer their credits without having to do all the preparation you both have done.”  (paraphrased by me from memory.)  The Governor and Dean ask for further input from us. We converse for an hour then part with warm handshakes.

When we are able to define our own priorities and what we want in life; when we know we can create and direct our own path; when we are prepared to change course as necessary to enhance our path,  life becomes more joyful!  Don’t we all  have the right to pursue our own destiny and experience the joy inherent in doing so?

Women can complain and manipulate.  We can demand. We can argue and fight. We can join groups, march for what we want, what we believe.  All will create societal change to a greater or lesser extent.  All will be temporary . . .  UNLESS OUR MINDSETS CHANGE ON A GRAND SCALE!

Patriarchy has defined civilization for at least 10,000 years. It is ingrained deeply in our minds, in our world view.  It’s almost like the air we breathe; it just seems “normal.”  But abuse and atrocities perpetrated by one group over any other is not normal.  Claims of superiority by abusers are invalid and used by those who wish to enhance their own lives at the expense of anyone who gets in their way.  Intellectually we all know this to be true.  But until we become capable of feeling and believing we are all equal though different and instilling this same sense of worthiness into the minds of our children,  we risk succumbing to those who claim to be “better than- .”

Let us stand together and reclaim the course of civilization for the benefit of all humanity.

One of my mom’s favorite bits of advice was the cliché, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade!”  The problem with such advice, as I see it, is that each and every one of us was born into a pool of lemonade created by the thousands of generations which came before us.  Our natal micro- and macro-cultures are all the result of how each group defined their societal and organizational challenges and created solutions which would be passed down to the next generation.  Civilization as we see it today is a composite of the varying solutions our ancestors created, including: the methods to provide basic human needs, such as food and shelter; educational and legal systems, defining acceptable knowledge and behavior; belief systems, defining our character and morals.  All have evolved over millennia as our population grew, moved and changed.  Some present day solutions retain elements of their origins, but most would be unrecognizable to our ancient ancestors.  Yet patriarchy, the foundation of human civilization, persists.

Early on,  men claimed the right to define  the challenges society faced and then to create the solutions to those challenges.  Through asserted superiority and power, they forcefully subjugated women.  Their solutions inevitably perpetuated their assertions of superiority and the right to enforce their choices.  When challenged, they fought. Eventually, according to Professor Lerner, patriarchal success led to the subjugation of weaker men and of children.  Slavery was born.

Patriarchy itself has evolved of course.  Women through the ages have manipulated their manipulators, rebelled, yelled, and marched for their freedom and equality.  But not until women became capable of controlling their own fertility did they realize a modicum of true success.  In 1960, the first birth control pill became available for use by married women.  It took another twelve years before the Supreme Court ruled birth control methods could also be used by unmarried women.

In 1991, Susan Faludi, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, published Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women.  In about 500 pages, Ms. Faludi describes in excruciating detail the patriarchal denigration of feminism and the fight for women’s rights concurrently and in recent history.  Now in 2020, the “Me Too” movement and the “Supermajority” are taking up the very same causes of fifty-plus years ago.  Meanwhile, the “Right to Life” group are claiming a moral high ground, stating their goal is to “end the murder of the unborn.”  Their actual end-game is to once again legally control the sexual and reproductive lives of women.

Yes, patriarchy is alive and well around the world. Consider the control over women in countries ruled by dictators and royal families.  The very core of our civilization has irreparably damaged us as a civilization.  By subjugating more than half of us, it has limited our education and wisdom, our imagination and creativity.  The solutions to the challenges we face will thus be flawed and inadequate.  They will also be skewed to benefit the minority who claim authority to choose them.

It is time we deny that claim.

My Only Regret

If ever we met
In a world newly blind
To the acceptance of
Maid-whore and man-
The idyllic couple . . .

If ever we met
In a world unconfined
By denial of our worth,
Woman and man-
Forever unequal . . .

If ever we met
In a world without lines
Drawn in anger and fear,
Man versus man-
Perceived to be normal . . .

If ever we met
In a world where our minds
Perpetually sought
Care, not control:
Perhaps I would love you.

After composing this poem I wrote a note to myself saying, “I cannot accept patriarchy as the basis of civilization.  Nevertheless, reality can’t be denied.  So I have lived: challenging and circumventing each barrier to my freedom as I encounter it.”

For decades I have played a little game with myself as I reflected on current events in my life.  For example, after a challenging day juggling my commitments I might say to myself, “Just one more day in the life of Sue, ‘Single Mom of Three’.”  Over the years my self-ascribed titles have reflected my changing life circumstances. Lately I have become “Sue, ‘Dreamer Extraordinaire’.”

And yet, I have always been a dreamer. My basic dream has never changed. I dream of a world in which all people are considered equally worthy and therefore all treat each other as they hope to be treated themselves.  But human civilization has not evolved in a direction conducive to realizing such dreams. The foundation of civilization was rooted in power, particularly the power of men over women.  [My assertion is most convincingly and eloquently documented in the prize winning book by UWM History Professor Gerda Lerner, The Creation of Patriarchy (1986).  Professor Lerner’s research is based on 10,000 years of recorded history of human civilization.]  So my dreams of late tend to revolve around imagining how the very core of our civilization might be overcome.

FLASHBACK:

It’s 1979.  I have worked in my first job as a Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) for just one year, having completed both nursing and anesthesia studies after my divorce in 1972.  I’m sitting in our tiny anesthesia office with three male anesthesiologists and our female secretary. We have been discussing various personal financial concerns.  The eldest doctor looks at me and says, “Sue, what you really need is a sugar daddy!”  We all respond with surprised, nervous laughter.  Everyone glances at me to note my reaction.  Now he’s elaborating on his proposal.  One of the other doctors responds asking, “So how much should she get from this ‘sugar daddy’?”  The elder anesthesiologist names a dollar amount.  Everyone seems uncomfortable and all are making excuses and standing to leave.  Absolutely mortified, I’m walking out as well.  This was not my first such offer.

Long before I had remarried and divorced again; long before I had added a degree in Cultural Anthropology to my resume; long before I had visited and lived in exotic areas of the world, I had concluded my freedom relied upon becoming financially independent.  Despite the challenges I faced in attaining my goal, I was learning this first step was necessary but insufficient.  In fact it would become, in retrospect, an easier part of my journey. Society favors conformity and conformists.

Recently in a text conversation with my 21 year old granddaughter I told her, “By 1972 I became what they called a ‘bra-burning feminist’!”  Actually, I never burned any of my bras; I simply didn’t wear them much of the time.  As a quiet rebel, I hoped to escape the double whammy of being viewed as both an intimidating,  independent woman and a ‘man-hating feminist.’  Yet I didn’t escape much.  Many women seemed to fear I was out to grab their husbands.  Many men assumed I was eager to grab their . . . well, you know.  I cared about neither.  All I’ve ever wanted was the freedom to live my life as I chose within the law and with the rights I believe should be afforded to me simply because I am a human being.  Knowing revenge and retaliation against those who may wish to block my quest for freedom would come at too high a cost- namely, my integrity- I sought gentler avenues.  The path would be difficult.  But ultimately, the path would be my very own.

Part II of The Dreamer will be published Monday, February 3rd. I hope you’ll return to follow my journey!

. . . begins within US!

The whispers of peace
Heard deep in our hearts
Tell us the story
Of how yearning imparts
Potential glory.

Our souls recognize
The wisdom within
Our sacred desire
For peace to begin
Demands love a-fire.

So our pathway is clear:
Let our hearts sing their story
While our souls seek rebirth,
And our love shares its glory
To CREATE Peace on Earth!

I wish you a loving and peaceful holiday season!

Yes YOU, with the white face and the heart of a tyrant.; YOU who claim Jesus Christ- a dark-skinned Jewish Middle Easterner- as you Savior, your inspiration;  YOU who have convinced yourself that your white skin proclaims your purity and superiority; YOU who believe your loving God, Creator of all humanity, has chosen YOU to oversee His creation; YOU whose warped pride and greed have allowed you  to believe you are better than all the OTHERS your God created;  YOU who choose to twist the intentions of your own God and Savior out of fear of losing your imagined superior status;  YOU who refuse to take responsibility for your own failings and betrayals- in fact, your own LIFE- and so must find a scapegoat; yes YOU, who hide behind your mask of hatred because you  know deep in your heart that you cannot face your fear of the vulnerability inherent in LOVE! 

ARE YOU PROUD OF YOURSELF?

Dedicated to:  All the souls lost as a result of the latest murderous hate crimes which took place in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio these last two days. While your souls are now at peace, the souls of all those who remain will grieve while cherishing the life you lived.

Oh those morning hours,
Those dark hours
Before the sun starts shining;
Oh those lonely hours!
The world looks gray and
You feel as though you’re dying.

It’s 3 AM, a dreamless hour,
You sit and wonder why
When only dreams are left
In your whole world
They too should be denied.

Oh those morning hours,
Those dark hours
Before the sun starts shining;
Oh those lonely hours!
The world looks gray and
You feel as though you’re dying.

The coffee’s cold, your mind is numb.
You think you can’t endure
The emptiness
Of another day
When nothingness is assured.

Oh those morning hours,
Those dark hours
Before the sun starts shining;
Oh those lonely hours!
The world looks gray and
You feel as though you’re dying . . .

[Poem written 11/21/1978 by SEV]

Despair. The anti-joy, the lure of darkness when sorrow and pain demand too much of you.  Despair. Relinquishing the light your being craves. Despair.  Unconsciously ignoring the brightness of your soul. Despair: its power over you lies in your control.

I suggest to you that joy is indelibly written into the essence of humanity. Joy is not an elusive state of mind, nor is it mere emotion.  I believe joy is actually the state of inner peace.  It is the serenity derived from recognizing the soul and the self are one, belonging in turn to something greater than both.  Joy is the realization that you were born with everything you need to create a life worthy of your efforts.  Joy need not be sought, nor is it a goal which you must achieve.  Joy simply awaits your acceptance.

“Dark nights of the soul” are temporary. The sun always rises. Joy is within you, ready to be claimed.

When the world seems to frown our way; when divisiveness surrounds our lives; when chaos appears to be our norm . . .   then it’s time to take a deep breath and remember who we are.  So I offer a reminder to my readers- and to myself- of our cherished inner being.  I offer this reminder of why I started writing these essays: to exemplify our humanity as ONE people and to urge  everyone to understand themselves so they can accept themselves and others, knowing we all share the same soul-beauty and life challenges.

Soul’s Breath

Beneath the veils of public faces,
Under the layers of cloth and flesh,
Between the beats of pulsing hearts
Breathe the souls of all mankind.

Though infinite and eternal,
Creator and all created,
Soul’s Breath is no more than the wind
Blowing softly across the earth.

But embodied within our hearts,
Soul’s Breath becomes a whisper:
Given voice to honor our nature,
Precious voice to cherish life.

Let’s speak of love, of joy and wonder,
The abundance of a single breath-
Which is shared by all humanity,
Intermingling Soul’s Breath with each other.

Indeed.  Let us speak!

In a world whose history seems to have been defined by the fears, power struggles and intolerances among its human inhabitants, it’s time we created a new kind of history.  We must speak with each other to do so, and we must speak from a different perspective. That perspective can be created by each person choosing to: honor all the things we humans have in common; acknowledge our differences without judgement; celebrate the uniqueness of each individual.

While most of us have heard such admonishments before, I think we forget- or possibly we don’t realize- that such actions do not happen naturally.  They are actions we choose- or not.  They are choices we make with each interaction, either consciously or unconsciously.  I suggest we bring such choices into our consciousness and decide to relate to others from this perspective, so we may help create better relationships among those who share our planet. Let us speak to both cherish our lives and create a life worthy of the perfection within us all.

Humankind has evolved as a thinking, feeling, intelligent species.  We all have a worldview, a belief system, a way of defining our lives within both our immediate and expanded societies.  This view, for the majority of people, includes belief in a Higher Power, a God, existence beyond earthly life, and/or a soul.  Widely varied as these beliefs may be, having such a set of beliefs is a part of human nature.  Therefore, when I refer to honoring all we have in common, I will call this the practice of honoring each other’s souls.

It all begins with speaking, though it can’t go far without listening- paying attention, truly hearing and internalizing thoughtfully what others have to say.  Sharing thoughts and life stories has helped create the bonds we have formed since before written human history.  By expanding our sharing outside our usual communities, we can increase human bonding.  With each such interaction, we get a glimpse of the souls within all participants.

Choosing to honor each other’s souls, deciding to interact with each other from a new perspective and interacting with those outside our usual comfort zone will positively impact all our lives.

Have faith!  Very soon we could become a Human Community which creates a history reflecting the beauty and wonder of our humanity!