Star light, star bright...

I stood this evening simply gazing into the sky admiring the pinks, blues, golds and oranges of the sunset. The sunsets lately have seemed more beautiful than ever before though I'm sure it's just my current perception. I find that I do this a lot lately since the sun is usually setting as I lock up after work. Sometimes, I'll remember that I have a camera with me and will shoot a photo or two for later enjoyment. The landscape outside my workplace is not exactly conducive to beautiful sunset photos since there's an interstate which runs just behind it in the direction of the setting sun. Although I've daydreamed that interstate was a barrier hiding my view of the beach and ocean just on the other side, the dream is difficult to maintain thanks to the eyesores populating the place. There are areas within the U.S. which preserve the beauty of the natural landscape by strictly restricting what may be placed alongside the roadways but, apparently, my area isn't one of them.

I went outside tonight after something I'd left in the car and once again found myself pausing and admiring the night sky. Unlike so often lately, the sky was perfectly clear and I could see stars both near and far. Though I'm not familiar with the constellations and their placement, I can always find the "Dippers". I don't think I know anyone who hasn't, at one time or another, wished upon a star...the first of the evening, a shooting one, or all at once in hopes that maybe, just maybe, there might be some iota of truth in the fantasy.

I can remember wishing for my mother's return as a child, wishing to be pretty as a teen, and wishing for someone special as an adult. That my mother did return years later, that I was granted looks which some found favorable, and that someone special did come into my life, does that mean there was magic at work? Who am I to discount the possibility?

Life is a gamble. Control is an illusion. We have no control over all the elements involved in any given moment. We'll never hope to fathom all the mysteries in this universe. We can't begin to comprehend even our own miniscule part in this grand universe so how can we discount the presence of angels, the shadow of spirits, the existence of a parallel universe, or the power of fairy rings?

We hope when things seem their darkest. We wish when things seem out of our reach. We dream to enhance our reality. We find faith so we have something to hold on to. We believe so that there's meaning to it all. We participate in life and we go on. It is what we do and we do it well.

Bolstering my courage

How do you define a life?

How much do we get caught up in living a life which is shaped by someone other than us? Is it society's patterns which we automatically conform or adjust to without giving it much thought to break the pattern? Those who choose to follow the tune of a different drummer are, within their own time, looked upon as nonconformists, rebels, weirdos, and often very misunderstood and unfortunate individuals. Is not the point of life to live it for yourself? Is not the pursuit in life to be happy and live it to the fullest? So, within the constraints of what is expected of us, do we miss out on many small experiences which we should be mourning? Many of those seen as rebels and ridiculed or condemned for being different are the very souls who have created enough change in their individual environments to reverberate into the remainder of society affecting much needed change or have left an indelible legacy behind now admired by many.

With regards to women, for generations it was expected that each woman would grow up, marry, start a family and never desire more for herself than that. Most accepted this and never looked beyond it. There are rules for society which we automatically follow and, if we step outside of what's acceptable, we are ourselves unacceptable. Those women who chose to seek more for themselves faced many obstacles and, while many fell to the wayside, others fought for themselves and in turn opened the door for the rest of us.

Take children for instance. We conceive them most usually within the confines of what is accepted overall by society. It is accepted that the best environment is two married parents of the opposite sex. In raising those children, there is a fundamentally accepted way to do so. Much of what we do for our children we do so in conformity to what government has ruled is decent and acceptable for the future of the nation's society overall. They must attend school, for instance. I'm not arguing the validity of that particular rule but there was a time not terribly long ago when only the most fortunate or wealthy children attended school. Some children became apprentices and learned a trade even when they didn't learn to read and write. It is expected that we can only love our children if we're seen to provide the basic necessities on a regular basis and many people have been convinced to give up their children when unable to provide on the premise that they'd do so if they truly wanted the best for their children. It is a general rule that if you marry and have children, you must become secondary in your own life so most of us relinquish our individual dreams and desires to direct all our efforts in their direction. For a lot of people, this is enough. For others, all their families are left with is an automated shell of a person just getting through the day.

I guess I'm sitting here wondering exactly how much of our lives we live confined to acceptable limits. While many of us grumble about our lives, we're obviously either secretly comfortable and happy with them but feel the need to explain away why we did nothing more or we don't have the gumption or courage to break the cycle we've created for ourselves or we've allowed to be settled upon us by society's expectations. Society has determined, through eons of history, what is best for individuals, families, and other groups. What happens when you choose to live outside the norm? Does it do irreparable harm to you, to your children or can it possibly shape a stronger generation?

Of course, I've been reading and it's caused me to think beyond the pages. "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls is a story about her own life. She and her siblings were raised by free-spirited, non-conformist parents and, though there was much they were deprived of, she reveals much that she and her siblings experienced which many children will never do. After the last page of her story, I'm left wishing I could know even more of what she and her siblings think about their lives as compared to those children who lived "normal" lives. Their accomplishments are their own but I wonder who they'd have become had their parents been the run-of-the-mill responsible, suburban conformists. Would they be different people? How much of our environment does affect who we become or would we be the same thanks to inherent characteristics despite our environment?

Ah well, I have to admit that while I'm glad I was able to provide for my children and they lived a normal existence, I sometimes wish I'd taken detours along the way just so they'd have comparison and experiences to draw upon. I so often wish I'd been less of the "expected" mother and more of a free spirit for them. Is it too late to affect anything? lol

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Are we happy?

I suppose, due to the political issue of Socialized health care, we're hearing more and more about that and other programs within other countries as compared to the US. I have a friend in Canada who has suggested negatives in the Socialized system so I'm no closer to knowing whether it would be a good way to go or not. If Michael Moore's movie, Sicko, is to be believed, then Americans are definitely getting the short end of the stick, so to speak. Sometimes, it seems, that somewhere in between both health care systems would be preferable.

Sixty Minutes as well as Good Morning America and other shows have televised pieces regarding this issue as well as the American pursuit of happiness. Right now, you can see some of the video clips on Yahoo.com. Denmark was one country visited due to the fact that Danes are considered some of the happiest people on Earth. They have "free" health care, child care, elder care, 6 weeks of paid vacation each year (unless I remember incorrectly) and 6 months of maternity/paternity leave paid. Of course, it's not really free for they are taxed at a much higher rate than Americans are. All of this is not the reason for their happiness, according to those interviewed. Instead, it's because of their level of expectation. As compared to our "pursuit of happiness", they're more content to focus on family and simpler pleasures in life instead of competing for bigger and better, more, more, more. Other countries have similar programs and, when interviewed, their citizens don't seem too unhappy with it. We would argue government control when we're fully controlled by government anyway. We would argue the high taxes, but wouldn't higher taxes and a better, more secure existence be attractive? Considering the cost of insurance and even the most minimal medical procedures, one can go bankrupt quickly if faced with something serious. Then, there's the cost of medication. Research is a given, but should it push the prices to an unaffordable level?

Are we sabotaging ourselves by believing that we must achieve, that we must pursue the impossible dream? What is the percentage of college graduates who never work within their chosen fields or those who can't find suitable employment within it? How many of us would trade more time with our families, more vacation time, more security, for the pressure put upon us to perform, to achieve? It was also reported tonight that Americans, the 75% who actually get paid vacation time, on average forfeit 3 days of their time and that this time is valued at $60 billion. Many never take a day off and others stay in touch with business while on vacation. It stands to reason that if we were to practice the policies set by the European Union, we, as individuals, would have to re-train ourselves and businesses would have to reorganize seriously.

When you consider the individuals who won't seek healthcare in the US because they don't have the available funds to cover what their insurance doesn't cover, those who can't afford insurance, those who are destitute, what does it say for us as a nation? When corporations can lobby to the detriment of citizens, when the economy favors the elite, why would we not seek change? Are we afraid of change?

Just now, I heard on the news that American women are viewed by people of other countries to care less about their children, that we'd rather spend time on the phone, computer, or some other pursuit than spend time with our kids. The justification for their view is that American women are too busy juggling work, home, and other activities. Do you think we have our priorities skewed, as a nation, that is?

Of course, all I'm talking about has been viewed and not all readily available to verify my own "facts" so don't hold me to figures.

Pollyanna no longer lives here.

That is all.

It is said that we live in a civilized world

I began the day by reading current news and ran across an article regarding a war criminal extradited from Canada. His age caused my thoughts to wander and, not being a Jew directly affected by the atrocities, I wondered if this occurrence creates peace for anyone, if there is a feeling of justice being served and did this man in any way escape the monstrous personality he apparently was during that earlier time. As with those individuals now being identified and brought to trial for their participation in American Civil Rights atrocities, this man went on to live a long life, become a parent, and influenced those he surely would have come into contact with during that lifetime. He escaped justice and recognition as the monster he was and I’m not entirely sure that incarcerating or executing someone whose life is almost over serves justice well. Yes, I’m sure that the rounding up of these individuals validates the reality of the crime and the suffering of the victims and their loved ones, that the conviction of each individual causes him to “own” the deed, that taking him away from those he loves and eliminating him from society is its own justice, but I just think it’s a shame that it takes a society so long to identify the perpetrators and then to bring them to that justice and, in the meantime, they’ve had the ability to propagate their detrimental message and less-than-desirable human qualities.

Ah well, my mind wandered further into the realities of what we humans are capable of doing to one another and how it seems history is bound to repeat itself. If you go with the belief that all in the universe is balanced, then it stands to reason that, if there exists a Utopia, there must surely exist a Hell. On earth, we create our own of each and it seems sometimes that nature truly is about the survival of the fittest. If nothing else, the history of humanity, while displaying the worst we can do to one another, also substantiates the indestructible, indomitable human spirit. We survive and continue on. We always have.

~*~

~*~

By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer Sat Feb 16, 6:24 AM ET ROME - An 83-year-old former SS prison guard who was sentenced to life in prison in Italy for Nazi war crimes was jailed near Naples Saturday, hours after he was extradited from Canada.

Seifert, known as the "Beast of Bolzano," was convicted in absentia in 2000 by a military tribunal in Verona on nine counts of murder committed while he was an SS guard at a prison transit camp in Bolzano, northern Italy, which involved starving a 15-year-old prisoner to death, gouging out a person’s eyes, and torturing a woman before killing her and her daughter, according to testimony given by witnesses during his trial.

Statistics of the Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 was a truly traumatic and horrifying event. It was one of the most brutal acts of murder ever committed.

o Over the course of only 100 days, a stupefying 1,000,000 people were slaughtered.

o During this terrible slaughter of the innocent, more than 6 men, women and children were murdered every 60 seconds of every hour of every day. This brutally efficient pace was kept up for more than 3 months.

o An estimated 11% of all females, or approximately 535,000 women, living in Rwanda at the time of the genocide were victims of a concerted rape campaign.

o During the course of the rape campaign, an average of 4 women were violently sexually assaulted, most of them by HIV+ men, every minute of every hour of every day for 100 consecutive days.

o More than 67% of women who were raped in 1994 during the genocide are now facing death from AIDS.

o As a direct result of the 100 days of death and violence in 1994 there are more than 60,000 widows living in Rwanda, caring for more than 200,000 orphans.

o Otherwise stated, 3.25% of the total Rwandan population are orphans whose parents died from AIDS.

o By the end of 2001, there were 500,000 people in Rwanda living with HIV – approximately 13% of the population.

o That equates to more than 1 out of every 10 people suffering from HIV or AIDS.

o http://www.survivors-fund.org.uk/resources/history/statistics.php

Statistics on the Holocaust

It is estimated that 2 million Jews were killed by the Einsatzgruppen,* 3.3 million in the gas chambers,** and about 500,000 died in the ghettos of Eastern Europe of hunger, disease, and exhaustion, and as victims of random terror and reprisals. See Lucy S. Davidowicz, The Holocaust and the Historian (1981), pp. 12-13.

*Einsatzgruppen, special duty troops of the SS’s security service and security police, were assigned to each of the German armies invading the Soviet Union. They rounded up the Jews and killed them. The Jews were loaded on trucks or marched to remote areas. They were machine gunned into natural ravines, antitank trenches or the mass graves they were ordered to dig.

**Later, starting in 1942, the Nazis contructed six installations with large scale gassing facilities and with crematoria for the disposal of bodies. They were Auschwitz, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, and Treblinka. All were located in Poland. Gilbert notes that 1,500,000 Jews were murdered at Auschwitz; 360,000 at Chelmno; 250,000 at Sobibor; 600,000 at Belzec; and 840,000 at Treblinka. See Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust (1985), p. 257, n. 6. - http://faculty.ucc.edu/egh-damerow/Statistics.htm

CURRENT DARFUR STATISTICS:

· The death toll has reached up to 400,000 people since February 2003

· More than 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes

· More than 200,000 have fled to refugee camps in neighboring Chad

· As many as 1 million civilians could die in Darfur from lack of food and from disease within coming months

· 80% of the children under five years old are suffering from severe malnutrition and many are dying each day

· Humanitarian aid organizations have access to only 20% of those affected

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/daccampaigns/uploads/WhatIsTheCrisisInDarfurWhatIsTheCrisisInDarfurHistory_of_Darfur_FLYER.doc

Civil War Statistics

The Civil War, America's bloodiest conflict, cost nearly 1,100,000 casualties and claimed more than 620,000 lives. The campaigning armies left destruction in their wake, particularly in the Southern states that bore the brunt of the fighting. Best estimates place the total number of war-time clashes in excess of 10,000, many of them large scale encounters that resulted in staggering losses for both sides. http://www.phil.muni.cz/~vndrzl/amstudies/civilwar_stats.htm

World War II casualties

The total estimated human loss of life caused by World War II was roughly 72 million people. The civilian toll was around 47 million, including 20 million deaths due to war related famine and disease. The military toll was about 25 million, including the deaths of about 4 million prisoners of war in captivity. The Allies lost about 61 million people, and the Axis lost 11 million. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties

World War I casualties

The number of World War I casualties, both military and civilian, was over 40 million — 20 million deaths and 21 million wounded. This includes 9.7 million military deaths and about 10 million civilian deaths. The Entente Powers (also known as the Allies) lost more than 5 million soldiers and the Central Powers about 4 million. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties

Hiroshimo Casualties

The cumulative number of A-Bomb survivors who died during the period

By the end of 1945 the estimated number of people who died as a direct result of the bomb was 140,000. The collection of statistics, by the Hiroshima City Government, did not commence until 1952. For the period 1946 to 1951 the number of deaths due to the bomb was estimated at 60,000. As the number of deaths among survivors, in the first ten years of the survey, showed little difference from the population as a whole it has been concluded that the number of people who died as a direct result of the bomb was approximately 200,000. http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/data.html

9/11 by the Numbers

abbreviated

• Total number killed in attacks (official figure as of 9/5/02): 2,819
• Number of firefighters and paramedics killed: 343
• Number of NYPD officers: 23
• Number of Port Authority police officers: 37
• Number of nations whose citizens were killed in attacks: 115
• Number of families who got no remains: 1,717
• Jobs lost in New York owing to the attacks: 146,100
• Days after 9/11 that the U.S. began bombing Afghanistan: 26
• Total number of hate crimes reported to the Council on American-Islamic Relations nationwide since 9/11: 1,714
• Estimated amount donated to 9/11 charities: $1.4 billion
• Estimated amount of insurance paid worldwide related to 9/11: $40.2 billion
• Estimated amount of money raised for funds dedicated to NYPD and FDNY families: $500 million
• Percentage of total charity money raised going to FDNY and NYPD families: 25
• Average benefit already received by each FDNY and NYPD widow: $1 million
• Percentage increase in law-school applications from 2001 to 2002: 17.9
• Percentage increase in Peace Corps applications from 2001 to 2002: 40
• Percentage increase in CIA applications from 2001 to 2002: 50
• Number of songs Clear Channel Radio considered "inappropriate" to play after 9/11: 150
• http://nymag.com/news/articles/wtc/1year/numbers.htm

Atlantic Slave Trade

In "The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Holocaust" (Is the Holocaust Unique, A. Greebaum, ed., 1996), Seymour Drescher estimates that 21M were enslaved, 1700-1850, of which 7M remained in slavery inside Africa. 4M died "as a direct result of enslavement". Of the 12M shipped to America, 15%, or 2M more, died in the Middle Passage and seasoning year. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstatv.htm#Primitive

(Possibly) The Twenty (or so) Worst Things People Have Done to Each Other: http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat0.htm

Rank	Death Toll	Cause	Centuries
1	55 million	Second World War	20C
2	40 million	Mao Zedong (mostly famine)	20C
3	40 million	Mongol Conquests	13C
4	36 million	An Lushan Revolt	8C
5	25 million	Fall of the Ming Dynasty	17C
6	20 million	Taiping Rebellion	19C
7	20 million	Annihilation of the American Indians	15C-19C
8	20 million	Iosif Stalin	20C
9	19 million	Mideast Slave Trade	7C-19C
10	18 million	Atlantic Slave Trade	15C-19C
11	17 million	Timur Lenk	14C-15C
12	17 million	British India (mostly famine)	19C
13	15 million	First World War	20C
14	9 million	Russian Civil War	20C
15	8 million	Fall of Rome	3C-5C
16	8 million	Congo Free State	19C-20C
17	7 million	Thirty Years War	17C
18	5 million	Russia's Time of Troubles	16C-17C
19	4 million	Napoleonic Wars	19C
20	3 million	Chinese Civil War	20C
21	3 million	French Wars of Religion	16C

Primitive War

Analysing statistics in Lawrence Keeley's War Before Civilization: the Myth of the Peaceful Savage (1996):

• Table 6.2 lists the Percentage of Deaths Due to Warfare. Of the 8 primitive societies that survived long enough to be analyzed by modern demographics, the median indicates that some 15.4% of all primitives, male and female alike, died by warfare. Of the 14 prehistoric cultures excavated and analyzed by archaeologists, the median indicates that about 14.8% of all prehistorics, male and female alike, died by warfare. : http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat0.htm

Happy Valentines Day, Lovely People

There are seven hearts within this picture. Can you find them?

I wish you all much love and happiness on this day and every day.