If I have to be honest, I am really thankful for my teachers. Through a profession of sacrifice they have really had a strong effect on me. The longer I stay in school, the more seriously I take it, and the feeling of regret about not paying attention in a single math class in high school grows stronger.
At some point one starts to realize parents and teachers are real people who make mistakes, and are just as selfish and immature as you are and yet they carry themselves with the wisdom for which they are held accountable. They are required to behave sagely, yet reach and inspire people personally every day, often in heartbreaking conditions of backwards bureaucracy. How thankful am I to be a student and not a teacher. So this Thanksgiving I want to give it up to the teachers and parents as teachers, who are rarely given enough credit. Go call or write your favorite teacher and tell them thanks.
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As for what I don't give thanks for, I know this is rather abstract, but I could do with less greed and corruption in the world. I have a love-hate relationship with the fundamentals of capitalism. On the one hand, I believe it's a flawed system that depends on the exploitation of people and resources or the oppression of people as consumers. (Not to mention awful side-effects such as the homogenization of cultural production through commodification.)
At the same time, though, I grant that it is a pretty ingenious system that fundamentally doesn't do too much more than monetize and organize the concept of value or wealth. Theoretically relative to the cruel forces of survival in the natural world, it is fair. So why has this system produced such an unfair and inefficient distribution of wealth and power? Of inequity? Witness the ridiculous globe-trotting abilities of some versus the total lack of economic freedom of others. It is only when the system is cheated or manipulated through corruption -- and this is not rare, sadly -- that we see the terrible conditions it is capable of creating.
So this Thanksgiving, on the cusp of an economic recession, material resource depletion, and a James Bond film lacking suaveness or actual dialogue, take a moment to think about what wealth really means. If the most powerful people were much more rigorous capitalists, they would understand that behaving solely in economic self-interest is not in anyone's long term interest—not even theirs.
Article 9 of the Japanese constitution known as the No War clause renouces the right of soverignty and the refusal to settle disputes using mililtary force. The official English translation of the article reads:
"ARTICLE 9. Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. (2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized."
The article is somewhat controversial because its origins are conflicted and many believe that it was forced into the japanese constitution by Allied powers after World War II. To me it reads like one of the most honorable, enlightened and civilized principles I have read in the governing laws of a society and its authorship or acceptance is inspiring.
The submission of a nation’s army and war waging capabilities seems unimaginable for America, a nation born out of violence. Cowboys, guns, uniforms, and Manifest Destiny are ingrained in the American identity. But Japan’s history is not so different. Japanese culture emerged in a feudal era governed by a warrior class of samurai. And the Japanese state in the 20th century was characterized by colonialism and militarization. From the Meiji to Showa period Japan extended its rule and force to South Korea, parts of China, and Taiwan similar to US interventions in South America. So maybe we are not so far as we think from Japan in this evolutionary step in foreign policy.
Immaculate Conception
Graphite on Vellum
The gay marriage ban is a clear example of religious prejudice/discrimination/bigotry. I don’t know which is more outrageous: That a gay couple cannot get married in California or that they do not have the right to adopt a child in Utah?
Thomas Beatie, a man who used to be a woman, is married to a woman and is pregnant for the second time. His situation raises a lot questions about parenting a child. Is he a father or is he a mother?
One thing is certain: As scientific advances permit people to inhabit the outskirts of nature, the literal interpretation of religious texts becomes more problematic. I am so relieved that in 2004, 42.6% of people in America believed God created man in his present but only 29.1% believe that God is angered by human sin.
That's why I drew this piece.
Progressive is a word that has come to define some of the greatest and worst rock bands (the Beatles and Kansas), a brand name for insurance (Progressive), and has largely been accepted as a synonym for "alternative" (as in, "My daughter attends a progressive school").
But embodied in the word is and always has been the idea of moving forward. If I take a step forward towards a door, I am one step close and I have progressed towards it. However the one-dimensional aspect of the word and its binary implications of backwards and forwards is misleading. It assumes there is a door in front of me and a straight line to progress towards it. (What's behind that crazy door anyway?) In reality, the idea of moving forward is much more complicated, The axis of history and development is multi-dimensional and defined by a variety of values giving different directions and orientation to what progress is and isn't.
Moving backwards, in fact, can be a form of progress. A person who rides a bike or the train or even a horse today could be considered a much more forward-thinking person than the one who drives a car every day, even though the automobile, freeway systems, and the suburbs were all once hailed as signs of progressive living. So keeping in mind that the definition of progressive is largely determinate on one's own personal or collective values. Now is the time for our generation, through conversation and debate, to define our problems and aspirations and progress accordingly.
I am joining Whyroots because I find the medium of conversation as the medium or process for generating ideas incredibly powerful and important. In my experience, critical conversation often takes form in either mind numbing superficiality or elitist theoretical rhetoric.
Whyroots is a place to question things intelligently through a new vernacular, where I can participate in a collective relationship and critique a range of issues which I find relevant to my life. I see Whyroots as a tool that not only allows me to gain a fuller understanding of issues discussed but to make discoveries that may guide and inspire my life and work.
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