Lord of the Flies and the Mueller Report

In 9th grade English, we were assigned to read the book "Lord of the Flies".  If you have not read it, put it on your summer reading list. From the moment I turned the first page, it captured my imagination. It's about a group of boys who get stranded on an island and attempt to govern themselves. Before long, things go very badly. I loved the character, Ralphie, who desperately tried to do the right things and get the group organized but few listened to his ideas.
I was excited to get back to class and discuss the book but others in class weren't reading it or didn't like it as much as I did. Terribly disappointed, I tried to get the class interested. But they just did what they had to do to get through the class.
I'm feeling that same sense of disappointment over the Mueller report. It's not hard to read and it's fascinating. If it seems like too many pages, just read the summaries at the beginning of each volume and the conclusions at the end.
How can any American not care that the Russians interfered with our election? Volume One of the report lays out some startling evidence of manipulation by Russian operatives. That interference has not stopped and failure to acknowledge it and directly confront it leaves our country vulnerable to widespread foreign interference. The volume also shows startling evidence of parallel activities by members of the current administration's staff as well as evidence tampering. While the investigators could not prove direct agreement to collaborate between the two parties, there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence to indicate that coordination was happening.
Add that last possibility to the findings in Volume Two. That volume outlines overwhelming evidence of obstruction. Mueller clearly stated that the president was not exonerated. Attorney General William Barr argued the opposite with an odd logic. His logic is that if criminal conspiracy (erroneously labeled "collusion") was not proven, there could not be criminal obstruction. Say what???
By his standards a person can commit a crime then successfully thwart the investigation and cover up the crime, then escape prosecution for both the crime AND the obstruction.
In this case, there would be no checks and balances for power and corruption.
We have a real problem here. Our constitution is built around a balance of power - Judicial, Congressional and Executive. Central is the rule of law. The thought was that the Judicial branch could offset the political influence that may come with executive and congressional branch power and control. With longer appointments, the judicial branch should have longer perspective that spans political will and is most focused on constitutional intent. But something went wrong.
The judicial branch, through a policy under which the Mueller team was guided, he determined that a president could not be indicted while in office. That leaves the judicial branch of government powerless. In case of potential criminal activity by the executive branch, only congress is now the safeguard through impeachment. Actually, now only the Senate is our safeguard. Only the Senate can hold the president accountable for federal crimes. ONLY the Senate and only after the House has raised impeachment. That's not a balance of power. That is not what the constitution intends. But that is what we now have.
Meanwhile, we have a president who is continuing to obstruct investigations into potential wrong doing. Every effort is being made to obstruct congress from seeing evidence. By the Attorney General's standard, that obstruction is perfectly legal unless a crime is proven. Really?!?
During the campaign, this president said he could walk down 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and everyone would still love him. With the current situation, as president, he could do that and not be indicted. He could ensure that evidence was buried. And if Senate Republicans "still love him", he could escape accountability.
It's an insane twist. We're headed toward having the same type of "democracy" that Russia has.

Tune your spirit

We talk a lot about strategies for taking care of our bodies. We know we should eat better and get more exercise. It seems to me, we are not very good about discussing strategies for taking care of our spirit. What are the day to day things we can do to keep us spiritually healthy? It's an inside job.

Whatever your religious belief or your belief in no religion at all, there is a spiritual part of everyone one of us. That spiritual part of us is driven by how we think, speak and act. And there is universal spiritual truth. It is just TRUE. That truth is what I believe is God. When we align with that truth, our lives change for the better.

It begins with how we think. We are in charge of that. No one else makes us think one way or another. It takes practice and discipline just like learning any kind of skill. Many of us have a really hard time with this. We allow negative thoughts to dominate. We focus on self loathing, disappoint or anger with others, desire that are unfulfilled and dozens of other thoughts that drag us down. These make our spirit sick. 

What we think drives what we say. As we allow negative thoughts to dominate, the words we say follow the same pattern. We speak self deprecating. We criticize others. We make snarky remarks. We talk about all the things we don't have or can't do.

Those thoughts and words then drive how we act. We avoid doing things that we know we can and should. We treat others badly. We are easily overwhelmed and angry. Others see a dark cloud around us. We act as though everyone else and everything else needs to change to make our world right. Our spirit is sick and it shows.

How do we change that?

We hold great spiritual power. It is just true. No one else can give it to us. We need to learn to tap into it and use it. 

It begins with what we allow ourselves to THINK. It's not always easy to stop negative thoughts. A world of trouble surrounds us. So how do we change the negative around us?

Your thoughts control what you are tuning in. Your words are the volume. These and your actions are what the audience experience with you. Imagine a radio. Your negative thoughts are the static and squeals. As you speak negative, it increases the volume. The rest of the world experiences your words and actions. You are in control of the radio – that's YOU.

Start with tuning in to a positive thought. Every time you find yourself slipping into worry, self doubt, blame... stop. Retune the radio. The best start is Thank you. Start a mental list of all the good things around you. Wake up with “thank you”. Thank you for the roof over my head. Thank you for my feet and hands. Thank you for my sight. Thank you for those in my life. Keep doing it every time a negative thought crosses you mind. Make a game of it. One negative thought requires 10 thank you's.

As you re-tune your thinking and focus on what is good around you, you will value those things more. As you value them more, you will care for them better. Then as good things come into your life, you will focus more carefully. And you will attract more of what you value.

Even in difficult situations, there are opportunities to be thankful. You'll begin to look for them. It will calm your spirit. You will find what you expect to find if your spirit is tuned in. You will need to build that belief and that spirit little by little. Much like an unused muscle, it needs to grow strong over time with constant practice and attention. You will regress. Start again.

Flip the negative on it's head. You believe someone has wronged you, focus on someone who hasn't. Value them. Show them you value them. Then be thankful.

At my lowest points when I have allowed my spirit to grow weak, I've picked up inspirational books. I write to remind myself of the importance of spiritual focus. Life is constantly challenging us. Often, for me, it takes a little kick in the pants to remind myself that I'm not doing my best at what I know I can do. But I can look back and know I am better this decade than I was the last.

Now, quite often, a magical thing happens. The other day I chatted with a neighbor with whom I sometimes exchange a short conversation. We don't know each other well. He started the conversation with “you are really positive, thoughtful and optimistic....” and then asked me my opinion about something. It struck me that in just a few conversations and simple chit chat, I had given him an impression of what I would hope to be my essence. Oddly, I nearly reacted with a negative about myself. Instead I walked away inspired to keep tuned in and turning up the volume of that kind of spirit.

I recalled the 19 year old college me whose friends commented that they had never seen me smile. I recalled the 20 something me sitting in a foreign country seething in remote anger about all the wrongs I had endured in my young life. I recalled the decades of poor choices and stupid mistakes. I recalled a dark night when I believed there would be no better tomorrow. And then I embraced the magic of knowing that all of those things did not and do not need to define me TODAY. Today, I am thankful for what all of those experiences taught me.

Perspective and Expectations: Life's regulators

Years ago I had a very good counselor. Oddly, I cannot recall her name. But I remember many things she helped me with that I still carry with me. I also remember that she would take time off from counseling now and then to run a fork lift at a factory for a while. I can understand why.
Several of the biggest things I took away from it all I often revisit when things are tough. First, life has highs and lows. That's natural. But if our highs are very high and our lows are very low, we may need to look deeper at how we handle life. The goal is to keep the lows from being too low and the highs not dangerous to fall from.
The second was to check my perspective. Often, I read things into what another would say and I would over react. She helped me to see how my perspective was contributing to those highs and lows.
Third, was about expectations. Were my expectations of others realistic? Did I expect too little or too much from myself? Did I understand what others were expecting of me and were they reasonable? How were those expectations affecting those around me?
Finally, and perhaps most important of all, was to rate situations on a scale of 1 to 10. Ten would result in actual death. My reactions should reflect the reality of the severity of the situation. I was reminded of this one recently when talking to a restaurant owner. Before buying the restaurant, she was an ER Trauma nurse. When things got crazy in the kitchen, she would remind her people, "It's just scrambled eggs. No one is going to bleed out over this situation." Perspective.
If you're the cook and just burned 3 orders of scrambled eggs with 6 orders waiting, it feels like a freak out moment. If your assistant was supposed to be watching while you attended to something else, it feels like a freak out moment. On a scale of 1 to 10, no one is going to die.
A lot of our highs and lows are caused by our perspective about that 1 to 10 scale. If we are really bad at assigning value to the natural highs and lows of life, we're going to struggle. Perspective and expectations are our regulators. Those things are ours and ours alone. WE regulate our highs and lows. WE assign perspective. WE assign the 1-10 scale to situations we encounter.

What is normal for you?

If you are surrounded by kind and positive people, that becomes your normal. It's not that you and they don't face life challenges, troubles and even a little unnecessary dramas now and then but it's now and then. The majority of the time is positive. Even the challenges and troubles are met with encouragement and calm determination.
If this is your normal, facing loud, dramatic and divisive people is shocking. It's like hearing a siren go off in your normally quiet neighborhood. It grabs your attention and you wonder what is wrong. If it starts happening more often, it becomes alarming.
On the other hand, if you live in a city where the sirens and other noises are more common, you become immune to them. Unless it's the police coming for you or an ambulance that will carry you, you just go about your own business.
If we are exposed to chaos, abuse, corruption, etc., day after day, it can become normal. We will overlook it, excuse it, and even expect it. Over time we may begin to create our own chaos, abuse, corruption, etc.
We can see it in family cycles of abuse. We can see it on a national level with the degradation of civility. It is not new. Slavery required an acceptance of abuse as society overlooked humanity and excused behavior focused on an entire race.
It happens with a "them and us" mentality. If the person belongs to "us", we will overlook and excuse behavior. If it's "them", there are no limits to the punishment that we're willing to exact. We will assign "them" with every possible danger and affliction we can imagine without thought of truth. If it's "us", we will mask over the very dangers and afflictions we so quickly assign "them" in spite of the truth.
We can watch for the warning signs. If your first reaction to hearing a criticism of one of "us", is to say "yes, but he/she is very good at", you are avoiding the issue. Or if you immediately begin saying, "Yes, but 'they'" and divert the discussion to an affliction of someone who is not "us", you are avoiding the issue.
What is your standard of normalcy? What is your standard of consistency? How willing are you to seek and hold to truth?
Your spirit depends on it. Your immediate community depends on it. Your nation depends on it.
Our families, our communities and our nation cannot be healthy without consistent standards of behaviors and norms. It takes real work within our selves and in reaching out to those around us.
We cannot focus on changing others. But if we change what we are willing to accept, we will impact everyone around us. The opposite is true as well. If we are willing to accept less than we believe is right, it will also impact everyone around us. It's slow. But if we collectively work to improve the standards of behavior that are spiritually true, the best changes will happen. We cannot do it out of hurt or anger. We need to consistently speak and act in truth and love. Demonstrate with everything you do and say what you believe to be the highest standard. It is the very definition of "the Meek shall inherit the earth." While many understand it as lacking strength, it is the most powerful spiritual truth.