subject: LIVING OUT LOUD--September 2010 [print this page] LIVING OUT LOUD--September 2010 LIVING OUT LOUD--September 2010
This is a blog about a life (mine) that is really largely uneventful but for me quite satisfying, or as Shakespeare once so aptly wrote, "a poor thing but mine own". I plan to give the bare bones outline of the days, the weeks etc. of my daily experiences with pertinent ( I hope) comments. Why would I want to do this? I suppose, because I can!
---------------------
September 2010
September is usually the month that children start back to school and also perhaps a good time to think about education and what it means both to the individual and to our society. In spite of the many problems that we have in our education system, we still have a system that is open to all children which many countries in the world have not yet achieved. Of course we must constantly work to make our schools better. We must continue to encourage all of our children to value their educational opportunities both for career advancement and also for added personal happiness and growth. Our schools must focus on teaching our children not only what to think but rather how to think, so that they will be prepared to make their own good choices not only for their personal lives but also for our society.
--------------------------
Last week I finished book I of a four volume set of books " The Raj Quartet" by Paul Scott, an English writer. The first volume is "The Jewel in the Crown" which documents the English rule in India and depicts the injustices of the occupying English government against the Indian people who lived there. The English were an occupying force in India from 1857-1947 and although they always tried to follow the rule of just laws for the English, they were not equally fair in the administration of their empire.
Another example of the same kind of discrimination is depicted in the movie "Days of Glory" by director Rachid Buchareb--an Oscar nominated true story about Northern African Arab men who volunteered to help the French (their occupying government) fight the Nazis in World War 2. These men suffered demeaning discrimination as soldiers in the French army much as our own black soldiers suffered discrimination not so long ago in our own army.
Unfortunately it seems that when one group has power over another they don't always act in a humane manner. Man first walked on this earth in our present form about 200,000 years ago. In 2010 isn't it time that we finally insist on ending discrimination in all its forms wherever it exists and begin to value all living creatures.
-------------------------
Another interesting movie I recently saw was "True Crime" directed by Clint Eastwood who is also one of the stars. It is the story of a man falsely accused of murder and given the death penalty which would have been carried out, except for one courageous journalist who was able to expose the truth of a false imprisonment and a government cover-up and was able to save an innocent man's life at the last moment. It made me begin to wonder how many innocent men have been executed since the death penalty began. I believe that we must now re-think the death penalty which has never really been a deterrent to crime and which ultimately runs the risk of executing innocent people.
------------------------
I will be back again soon writing more about "Living Out Loud", to try to understand and illuminate not only daily living but also some of the complicated world issues that effect not only my life, but all of our lives.
