Bigger Is Better: Monster Mansions and Happiness

 

"Many wealthy people are little more

than the janitors of their possession."

 

  --Frank Lloyd Wright

 

 

I recently took a long drive down a two-lane, rural road in Scioto County. It was a beautiful day and a very pleasant ride as the country scenery offered so many scenic delights. I couldn't help but notice the beautiful homes along the way -- large, palatial home after home on well-kept, large acre estates. So many of these impressive, expensive places dotted the state route.

I was very surprised by the sheer number of these sprawling dwellings in my poor Appalachian county of 80,000, As I pondered the cost of each piece of real estate, I marveled at the magnitude of families who were able to afford to build and upkeep their country manors. I felt very proud of the industry of my fellow citizens because I know that just finding and holding a good job in my county is difficult. I am happy that hard work "pays off."

Yet, something about the size and scope of these dream dwellings gave me pause. In our society, we have subscribed to the philosophy that "bigger is better." More house, more land, more money, more expensive adult "toys" = what I want, what I need, what I live my life to own. I began to wonder when this material "richness equates to happiness" concept began to dominate the minds of so many.

I do not deny people who work hard their material dreams. In fact, I am happy for them. Perhaps, I am somewhat envious of their money flow, but as a 62 year-old man, I am beginning to wonder why "large" is the desired measure of success. People seem to be so driven to acquire more and more expensive "things" they just do not need, and still they increase their "hoard" until they finally expire.

True, it would have been wonderful to afford a spacious house when my in-home family consisted of my wife, my four children, and me. We honestly needed the space then; however, we just didn't have the money to buy the needed property, so we managed to get by in our small home. And, now, with all of the children "out of the nest," such surplus space would fall under "vain wants" and not "frugal needs."

When is the last time you heard someone wish for "just enough" or for "a small house and needed possessions"? I know most people view their happiness and success in material terms. They are conditioned to believe "the bigger, the better," and they love to sport symbols they perceive will raise their status.

Although in some cases, quantity certainly matters, I question that great wealth brings true contentment. Instead, I have seen the love of money breed insatiable greed while destroying families and futures.

Understand that people do become bored with the objects they purchase. Research suggests the novelty of a tangible item is finite, averaging six to twelve weeks. After a relatively brief period of time, the materialistic must feed the beast of possession.

 

(Ryan Howell, assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University, 2009)

In addition, current research also shows that people who place a high value on wealth, status, and material possessions are more depressed and anxious and less sociable than those who do not. The new research shows that materialism is not just a personal problem. It’s also environmental.

“We found that irrespective of personality, in situations that activate a consumer mindset, people show the same sorts of problematic patterns in well being, including negative affect and social disengagement,” says Northwestern University psychologist Galen V. Bodenhausen.

The study, conducted with colleagues Monika A. Bauer, James E. B. Wilkie, and Jung K. Kim, appears in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

(Lucy Hyde, "Consumerism and Its Antisocial Effects Can Be Turned On -- Or Off,"

Association for Psychological Science, April 9 2012)

Material-driven extremists are so exhausted from the pursuit of "nice things" -- a big house, private school for the kids, fancy cars - that they are time-starved and depleted. Life is luxurious but unsatisfying and simply no fun.

I do think everyone needs to have some extras to be happy. Poverty is certainly not a desirable state. Those who are financially strapped are also miserable. So, perhaps the pertinent question is "How does money create the most lasting happiness?"

A study conducted in 2009 at San Francisco State University found that, when compared side by side, experiences made people much happier than objects. The survey asked 154 college students to write about either a certain experience or an object purchased within the last three months just to make him or her happy.

(San Francisco State University, "Buying Experiences, Not Possessions, Leads To Greater Happiness," ScienceDaily, February 17 2009)

The psychologists found that the participants expressed happiness about their purchases -- they were, of course, asked to write about a purchase that made them happy. However, the respondents who wrote about purchases of experiences, like a night out, tended to show more satisfaction when they actually made their purchase. They also showed expressed more satisfaction about the purchase at the time of the survey.

The San Francisco study showed that experiences not only give people greater happiness, they also provide lasting happiness. Experiences aren't quite as fleeting, possibly because folks can revise their memories of experiences. They don't tend to get bored with happy memories like they do with a tangible object.

Still, there is one common thread when it comes to experientialism and materialism -- money. What's significant about the idea that experience can bring happiness is that experience often does cost money.

Reporter Josh Clark says, "Orca whale watching trips, tickets to Japanese drumming shows, romantic dinners, birthday parties -- all of these things cost money. By extension, then, studies like the one conducted at San Francisco State University have inadvertently proven that money can buy happiness, despite reams of data that show wealthy people aren't any happier than the average Joe."

(Josh Clark, "What Makes People Happier -- Objects or Experiences?" howstuffworks.com)

 

 

 

My Take

Happiness remains the most cherished yet elusive of all human desires. It can be moment-to-moment or long-term.

Houses are material objects built of wood, brick, metal, and stone. Money is legal tender adorned by images of dead presidents. Large sums of dead presidents can buy mansions, but buying expensive material possessions does not guarantee long-term satisfaction or does not guarantee a happy, carefree life.

Worshiping materialism does not satisfy the longing inherent in some greedy individuals. They see possessions as status symbols that invoke power and allow dominance and control. They misuse their financial resources because they believe their quest and attainment of "more" is the measure of success.

I, personally, disagree. I think the wise realize "enough stuff is enough" and treasure many means other than wealth to help create their needed love and happiness. What do we teach our children about materialism? More, more, more... money, money, money... status, status, status... enough is enough?

Let me leave this post with some words from Josh Clark as he attempts to answer "What is happiness?" (howstuffworks.com)

"To a behaviorist, happiness is a cocktail of emotions we experience when we do something good or positive.

"To a neurologist, happiness is the experience of a flood of hormones released in the brain as a reward for behavior that prolongs survival.

"According to the tenets of several major religions, happiness indicates the presence of God.

"Philosophers have investigated happiness more thoroughly than anyone. They've boiled the debate over happiness down to a battle between two basic views, hedonia and eudaimonia.

"The hedonistic view of well-being is that happiness is the polar opposite of suffering; the presence of happiness indicates the absence of pain. Because of this, hedonists believe that the purpose of life is to maximize happiness, which minimizes misery.

"On the other side of the debate is eudaimonia, a term that combines the Greek words for "good" and "spirit" to describe the ideology. Eudaimonia defines happiness as the pursuit of becoming a better person. Eudaimonists do this by challenging themselves intellectually or by engaging in activities that make them spiritually richer people.

"The distinction between the two comes down to whether happiness is a destination (the hedonic view) or a journey (the eudaimonic philosophy). Put another way, hedonism is the belief that happiness is derived externally, while eudaimonism expresses the idea that happiness comes from within.

"Perhaps the distinction of what constitutes happiness should be left to the individual. After all, anxiety, a contradiction to happiness, might surface when you don't follow your own values -- whatever they may be."

A Home for Those Left Alone

Alone

Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
I came up with one thing
And I don't believe I'm wrong
That nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

There are some millionaires
With money they can't use
Their wives run round like banshees
Their children sing the blues
They've got expensive doctors
To cure their hearts of stone.
But nobody
No, nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Now if you listen closely
I'll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan,
'Cause nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

– Maya Angelou

During some difficult times in my life, I am certain I have felt alone; however, I am just as certain I do not comprehend the depths of loneliness. How can I honestly understand an emotion so forlorn created by terrible events that exceed all bounds of my experience? To feel totally alone must be the most tortuous emotion.

Yet, so many others I have met have traveled the wilderness of base despair. Some still live in the environment. I have often heard them talk about how a terrible loss or an unfortunate accident has left them feeling hopeless, vacant, and alone. I empathize with these unfortunate people as I use my imagination to project my mind into a similar subjective state.

Still, I find my attempts to identify with their unique, painful realities to fall far short of my empathetic grasp. Then, I find I hate the state of my human condition -- that of ignorance when I seek comprehension.

In short, I often feel helpless to offer a meaningful balm of healing. I mouth words of comfort and offer gestures of aid only to reach one conclusion: I, alone, am inadequate to suffice. I believe that without the loving help of many, someone alone on the bottom of the sea of heartbreak is likely to remain submerged for a long time.

In "Alone," Maya Angelou writes that "nobody can make it here alone." Nobody. I believe this. Do you? Her poem speaks to my comprehension of living "here," on earth, among those who "hear the moan" of others who are lost and lonely. We all surely feel some sympathy as we process these cries.
So, why do we so often rely upon others to assist the people who suffer the greatest trials and to help these desperately lonely individuals gain kindred love? I believe most of us not only have never experienced desperation but also have no desire to connect with the defeated and the downtrodden.

Instead, we believe we have attained good fortune because that is what we deserve. To use the words of Angelou, we have never experienced  "water that is not thirsty" and "bread loaf that is not stone." Therefore, we see no direct connection to the lonely and "to finding our souls a home" in aiding their plight. We may commit by our words but seldom by our actions.

My life has been filled with good fortune. And for that, I thank God. Yet, I know so many others who are much more deserving of the Almighty's favor than me who are filled with loneliness, the kind that never really "goes away." I marvel at how so many of them can find enough help -- through their faith and the kindness of others -- to live well.

I would love to say to them "I know how you feel." But, that would be deceitful. Nonetheless, I can honestly say I hope to help them the best I know how. Why? Because I, too, believe "nobody, but nobody, can make it out here alone" and everyone deserves clean, pure water and life-sustaining bread. Everybody, but everybody.

Mickelson and KPMG and Barclays and Enbrel

 

First of all, let me be clear. I admire the career of Phil Mickelson, and I also have great respect for his determination and fortitude as he struggles through some very hard times. I do not wish to tarnish the man nor his reputation. I understand he is suffering greatly, and I pray for his complete recovery from his illness. He is, by all accounts, one of the greatest golfers of all time.

I do, however, want to write a post demonstrating how prescription drugs are marketed and advertised in the United States. All I am asking is that you read this post, watch the commercial featuring Phil Mickelson and Enbrel, and see if you feel any reservations about how drugs are sold in America. I will leave any conclusions up to you. I do feel you may find some of the following post very interesting and, perhaps, you may have some further questions. Thank you.


Phil Mickelson and Psoriatic Arthritis

Pro Golfer Phil Mickelson has psoriatic arthritis, a painful condition where the immune system attacks the joints. It is said to affect about 2% of white males

Mickelson first felt it like a bolt five days before the U.S. Open in June 2010.

"I woke up and I had some intense pain in some areas of my body, so much so that I couldn't walk," he revealed Tuesday. "It was my Achilles and my piriformis muscle. My left index finger was sprained and I couldn't bend it, and my right wrist was sprained.

"It would loosen up throughout the day ...and after two or three hours of stretching I was able to play very effectively, but then it started into the hips and ankle and elbows and that's when I got concerned."

(Hank Gola, "Phil Mickelson Uses Enbrel to Treat Psoriatic Arthritis, Joint Condition That Arose Before U.S. Open," New York Daily News, August 11 2010)

 

A  doctor prescribed anti-inflammatory medication, but a week after the British Open in mid-July, the condition hit him again on vacation in Hawaii.

"I wasn't on anything. I was just trying to see what was going to happen," he said. "Every joint in my body started to hurt to where I couldn't move."

At the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis, doctors confirmed the original diagnosis. They prescribed Mickelson  Enbrel, a drug jointly marketed by AMGEN & PFIZER, which blocks the protein that cases the inflammation. He self-administers a once-a-week injection.

"It's very treatable," added Mickelson, 40, who says he is at 90%. "I'll probably take this drug for about a year. I'll stop it and see if it goes into remission."

Yet, Michael Paranzino , president of the nonprofit Psoriasis Cure Now, explains that in many cases, people with psoriatic arthritis find, for reasons still unclear to experts, that their treatments, including the biologics like the one Phil Mickelson is on, lose effectiveness over time. Psoriatic arthritis is a serious disease, and it can be debilitating.

("Phil Mickelson's Arthritis Shocks Golf World, Psoriasis Cure Now Says a Reminder That Psoriatic Arthritis Is a Serious Disease," PR Newswire, August 11 2010)

Sometimes, the sufferers switch to a different biologic treatment and buy more time, but there are patients who have run through all existing treatments. The treatments also carry FDA-required black box warnings for possible rare but serious side effects.

Paranzino says, "In short, there is no guarantee that Phil Mickelson 's psoriatic arthritis troubles are behind him. Psoriatic arthritis is a lifelong disease...  "for many people with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, even those who can afford the latest treatments (the cost of which can easily exceed $15,000 annually), their disease is a daily battle. That is why research is so important. We need a cure for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis."

The sad truth is that psoriatic arthritis could cause him more trouble down the road, even with the world's best doctors and best medical treatments.

Examine the trials of golfer and broadcaster Bob Murphy. He started feeling aches and pains in the early 1980s, more than a decade after he had turned professional and built a respectable career on the PGA Tour. The pain got worse, leaving him almost unable to function by 1986, when he edged Greg Norman by three strokes to win the Canadian Open despite his condition.

Within a year, he concluded that his golf career had run its course. “I had six fingers that swelled up so badly that I just couldn’t play,” Murphy recalled. “The stuff just exploded on me. That’s how quickly it happened; you never knew what was going to hurt next.”

Murphy, 67, was found to have psoriatic arthritis in 1989. After receiving treatment, he recovered to the point that he was able to join the Senior PGA Tour (now the Champions Tour) in 1993 and restart his golf career.

Today, like Mickelson, Murphy takes injections of Enbrel, though they are intended to relieve his skin condition more than his arthritis, from which he has all but recovered thanks to years of treatment.

(Thomas Kaplan, "Immune Disorder Could Be an Enduring Test for Mickelson,"

The New York Times, August 11 2010)

In the early '90s Murphy began taking massive doses of intravenous antibiotics such as tetracycline. The regimen helped. He also took methotrexate. "Lo and behold, it became under control," he says of the arthritis. "I was able to play with no pain or swelling." He won 11 times on the Champions Tour. Today, he takes Enbrel shots once a week and also uses magnet therapy on the parts of his body that hurt.

(Cliff Collins, "Pro Golfer Phil Mickelson's Early Diagnosis Could Help Keep the Disease at Bay," Psoriasis Advance and the National Psoriasis Foundation, Fall 2010)  

The same Thomas Kaplan article in New York Times helped Enbrel's cause by supplying the following dire statistics about this medical condition: "As many as 7.5 million people in the United States have psoriasis, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation, and about 30 percent of those with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis. While psoriasis often appears between the ages of 15 and 25, the arthritis symptoms usually appear later, often between 30 and 50. When it does, there is no rhyme or reason as to which joints will hurt at any given time."

John Mack, publisher and editor of Pharma Marketing News, believes this bit of information came straight from AMGEN/PFIZER's PR people.

Mack says, "It probably did NOT come from the 'nonprofit Psoriasis Cure Now' group. That group, which includes Amgen and Pfizer as sponsors, claimed ONLY 1 million people (less than half the number cited in the NYT article) in the US have psoriatic arthritis."

(John Mack, "Is Phil Mickelson Shilling for Enbrel?" Pharma Marketing Blog, August 12 2010)

Mack's question -- "Is Phil Mickelson Shilling for Enbrel?" -- was prompted by a couple of news stories, one of which proclaimed "PGA Championship 2010, Whistling Straits: Phil Mickelson Has Psoriatic Arthritis - Uses Enbrel To Help Manage Condition."

This story also included this quote from Mickelson: "I have no aches and pains. My back feels great. I feel stronger and more flexible than I've ever been."

Here is Mack's take on the situation:

"That's quite a claim! If Phil made such a claim while being a paid spokesperson for Enbrel, he would have probably violated FDA regulations regarding unsubstantiated claims. He also would have violated FTC regulations regarding celebrity endorsements and testimonials by not disclosing 'material connections' (payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect."

 

(John Mack, "Amgen Blows Its Marketing Budget on Phil Mickelson Campaign," 

Pharma Marketing Blog, January 7 2011)

Phil Mickelson, Enbrel and Business

According to a November 2010 AMGEN/PFIZER press release, Phil Mickelson is now a fully branded spokesperson for Enbrel. He is featured prominently on the Enbrel Web site, TV and in third-party publications such as Arthritis Today. He picked up the deal to promote Enbrel after he was diagnosed with the disease in 2010 and used the drug for his treatment.

Mickelson is a great athlete and a very rich man. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in May 2012, reflecting a stellar career that includes 40 PGA victories (ninth all-time), $66 million in career prize money (second all-time) and four major titles (second-most during the past 20 years).

Mickelson earns more than $30 million annually from endorsement partners: Callaway, Barclay's, KPMG, Exxon, Rolex and Amgen/Pfizer. Forbes lists Mickelson as #7 in The World's Highest-Paid Athletes and #48 in their Celebrity 100. Forbes also claims Mickelson is #34 in Money Celebrity and #42 in TV/Radio Celebrity.

* Please watch this recent television commercial featuring Phil Mickelson and Enbrel:
http://ispot.tv/a/7dU0


(1) About KPMG

All information from Wikipedia article: http://www.ask.com/wiki/KPMG?o=3986&qsrc=999

KPMG is one of the largest professional service companies in the world and one of the Big Four auditors. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands. KPMG employs 145,000 people and has three lines of services: audit, tax, and advisory. Its advisory services are further divided into three service groups – Management Consulting, Risk Consulting, and Transactions & Restructuring

In February 2008, Phil Mickelson, ranked one of the best golfers in the world, signed a three-year global sponsorship deal with KPMG. As part of the agreement, Mickelson will wear the KPMG logo on his headwear during all golf related appearances.

In 2003, KPMG agreed to pay $125 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from the firm's audits of the drug chain Rite Aid. In 2004, KPMG agreed to pay $115 million to settle lawsuits stemming from the collapse of software company Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV.

In early 2005, the United States member firm, KPMG LLP, was accused by the United States Department of Justice of fraud in marketing abusive tax shelters. KPMG LLP admitted criminal wrongdoing in creating fraudulent tax shelters to help wealthy clients avoid $2.5 billion in taxes and agreed to pay $456 million in penalties in exchange for a deferred prosecution agreement. KPMG LLP would not face criminal prosecution if it complied with the terms of its agreement with the government.

On 3 January 2007, the criminal conspiracy charges against KPMG were dropped. Before the settlement, the firm, on the advice of its counsel Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, removed several tax partners and admitted "unlawful conduct" by those partners. The firm agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation and help prosecute former partners who had devised and sold the tax shelters. Additionally, the firm hired former U.S. district judge Sven Erik Holmes to monitor its legal and regulatory affairs.

In February 2007, KPMG Germany was investigated for ignoring questionable payments in the Siemens bribery case.In November 2008, the Siemens Supervisory Board recommended changing auditors from KPMG to Ernst & Young.

Fannie Mae sued KPMG for malpractice for approving years of erroneous financial statements.

In March 2008, KPMG was accused of enabling "improper and imprudent practices" at New Century Financial, a failed mortgage company and KPMG agreed to pay $80 million to settle suits from Xerox shareholders over manipulated earnings reports.

It was announced in December that two of Tremont Group’s Rye Select funds, audited by KPMG, had $2.37 billion invested with the Madoff "Ponzi scheme." Class action suits were filed.

In April 2013, Scott London, a former KPMG LLP partner, admitted passing on stock tips about clients to a friend who gave him cash and gifts, in a scandal that led the big accounting firm to resign as auditor for two companies. Mr. London said the person gave him a discount on a watch, bought him dinners from time to time and "on a couple of occasions" gave him $1,000 to $2,000 in cash.


(2) About Barclays

All information taken from Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barclays

Barclays is a British multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It has operations in over 50 countries and territories and has around 48 million customers. As of 31 December 2010 it had total assets of US $2.33 trillion, the third largest of any bank worldwide. Founded in 1690, it is the 6th oldest bank in the world still in existence.

Barclays is organised within two business 'clusters': Corporate and Investment Banking, Wealth and Investment Management; and Retail and Business Banking.

Barclays has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalisation of approximately £21.8 billion as of 23 December 2011, the 22nd-largest company of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. It has a secondary listing on the  New York Stock Exchange.

Barclays is a major sponsor of professional golf tournaments worldwide, the Barclays Scottish Open on the PGA European Tour at Loch Lomond since 2002, the Barclays Classic on the PGA Tour from 2005–2006, which became The Barclays in 2007, the first of four playoff tournaments for the FedEx Cup, and since 2006 Barclays has been title sponsor to the Singapore Open, the richest national open in Asia, and since 2009 has been co-sanctioned with the European Tour. Barclays also sponsors PGA Tour star Phil Mickelson and Europena Tour player Darren Clarke.

In March 2009, Barclays was accused of violating international anti-money laundering laws. According to the NGO Global Witness, the Paris branch of Barclays held the account of Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang's son, Teodorin Obiang, even after evidence that Obiang had siphoned oil revenues from government funds emerged in 2004. According to Global Witness, Obiang purchased a Ferrari and maintains a mansion in Malibu with the funds from this account.

A 2010 report by the Wall Street Journal described how Credit Suisse, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, and other banks were involved in helping the Alavi Foundation, Bank Melli, the Iranian government, and/or others circumvent US laws banning financial transactions with certain states. They did this by 'stripping' information out of wire transfers, thereby concealing the source of funds. Barclays settled with the government for US$298 million.

In March 2009, Barclays obtained an injunction against The Guardian to remove from its website confidential leaked documents describing how SCM, Barclays' structured capital markets division, planned to use more than £11bn of loans to create hundreds of millions of pounds of tax benefits, via "an elaborate circuit of Cayman Islands companies, US partnerships and Luxembourg subsidiaries."

In an editorial on the issue, The Guardian pointed out that, due to the mismatch of resources, tax-collectors (HMRC) have now to rely on websites such as WikiLeaks to obtain such documents, and indeed the documents in question have now appeared on WikiLeaks. Separately, another Barclays whistleblower revealed several days later that the SCM transactions had produced between £900m and £1bn in tax avoidance in one year, adding that "The deals start with tax and then commercial purpose is added to them."

In February 2012 Barclays was forced to pay back £500 million in tax which it had tried to avoid. Barclays was accused by HMRC of designing two schemes that were intended to avoid substantial amounts of tax. Tax rules forced the bank to tell the UK authorities about its plans.

David Gauke, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said that "We do not take today's action lightly, but the potential tax loss from this scheme and the history of previous abuse in this area mean that this is a circumstance where the decision to change the law with full retrospective effect is justified."

One tax scheme involved Barclays claiming it should not have to pay corporation tax on profits made when buying back its own IOUs. The second tax avoidance scheme, also designed by Barclays, involved investment funds claiming that non-taxable income entitled the funds to tax credits that could be reclaimed from HMRC. The treasury described this as "an attempt to secure 'repayment' from the Exchequer of tax that has not been paid."


What Do You Think About Selling Drugs In This Manner?

High power celebrity endorsements for drugs? Wearing gear that advertises KPMG and Barclays in drug advertisements? Possible oversimplification of the severity of a disease and the distortion of facts in promoting the means of controlling its painful symptoms? Skewed promotion and inaccurate fairy-tale videos? Misrepresentation or outstanding marketing?

I promised to leave the evaluation of this entire business up to you, and I will. If nothing else, I believe you may see a very fine line between proper and improper representation and responsible marketing.

Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising  (DTCPA) can be defined as an effort (usually via popular media) made by a pharmaceutical company to promote its prescription products directly to patients. At this time, the U.S. and New Zealand are the only countries that allow DTCPA that includes product claims. Most other countries don’t allow DTCPA at all; however, Canada does allow ads that mention either the product or the indication, but not both.

 

Rate Your Empathy -- Do You REALLY Want To Help the Diseased?

* Jim, a 60 year-old smoker since his teen years, discovers he has lung cancer.
 
* 240 pound Samantha, a 40 year-old self-professed glutton, discovers she has type 1 diabetes.
 
* Mike, a sedentary twenty-five year-old with high cholesterol, discovers he has heart disease.
 
* Fred, a fifty-year old alcoholic who also suffers from anxiety problems, discovers he has cirrhosis of the liver.
 
* Thirty-five year-old divorcee Carmen, a single mother of three young children who is dependent on welfare and child support, discovers she is addicted to prescription pain medication.


What's Your Index of Loving Sensitivity?

Terrible diseases cause great pain, misery, and premature death. Medical science works overtime to discover causes and find new, effective treatments to fight these killer illnesses. We, the public, despair over friends and relatives who contract cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and liver problems. These common diseases typically evoke feelings of sympathy from others, especially those who believe that mercy can help the healing process.

Even though I know this exercise proves very little, if you had to rate Jim, Samantha, and the others in the fictional group above on your own scale of empathy from 1-5 (1 = the person for whom you feel the most loving sensitivity and 5 = the person for whom you feel the least), how would you rank the patients?

I firmly believe most people would rank Carmen #5. Why? Many do not consider drug addiction to be a disease. Instead, they believe drug abuse and dependency are just matters of personal choice and moral weakness. Much of the public find drug addicts to be irresponsible, reckless, selfish and troubled, so they label them as unacceptable burdens.

The people who refuse to believe addicts deserve help for their disease think that whether someone is addicted to rx opioids, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, or any other substance, the addict deserves the horrible consequences he or she suffers. In fact, some take a perverted pleasure in pronouncing themselves and their loved ones to be above such immoral behavior and may even delight in witnessing the self-destruction of those they consider to be ugly refuse.

Today I ask you to consider that an addict is truly diseased and needs professional medical help. I ask you to lay aside your contempt of people who become dependent and addicted, and, instead, heap any constructive hatred you may feel on the forces in society that cause addiction and perpetuate its evil hold. In other words, I ask you to hate the bad personal choices people make and hate the broken system, but do not hate the people who suffer from the disease of drug addiction. They need your support, and it can begin with a new attitude about drug abuse.

Yes, drug use is a choice. It’s free-will to pick up a substance and ingest it, but couldn't we, as a society, take the same insane hard line on those who choose to engage in smoking, overeating, lethargy, or drinking an alcoholic beverage? I fail to see large numbers of people who despise those who have chosen risky behaviors that likely contributed to their cancer, diabetes, or heart and liver disease. I do not hate those unfortunate people who become ill. I hope all receive the best possible treatments to overcome their afflictions.

For a long time, our society has stigmatized drug use and addiction, negatively judging people with drug problems. The National Institute on Drug Abuse science shows that addiction is a disease, just as cancer and diabetes are diseases. It’s not just that the person chooses to take drugs. In fact, an addicted person no longer chooses to take drugs—rather, their brains have been altered by drugs to the point where free will has been cruelly “hijacked,” and the desire to seek and use drugs is beyond their control.

Addiction is a disease of the brain that manifests itself in compulsive behaviors. Helping people understand this sad truth may lead to more support for those battling addiction.

More than 22 million Americans age 12 and older - nearly 9% of the U.S. population - use illegal drugs, according to the government’s 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And, more than 23 million Americans age 12 and older needed some sort of treatment for drug or alcohol use problems, according to the study. But only 2.6 million people got that treatment. Of the people who didn’t get treatment, most indicated in the survey that they did not feel they need it.

We are paying an astronomical price for the disease of drug abuse -- illness, death, crime, joblessness, poor productivity. Misery is out of control. Do we want to ignore people with substance abuse, or do we recognize our duty to help this diseased segment of our society?

In my opinion, we must invest in prevention, intervention, and treatment. To sit back and vilify substance abusers only makes a bad situation worse. Let's give those who suffer from this disease the help they need to survive. Isn't that the same attitude you would take toward a cancer patient despite the circumstances of contraction?

“Unlike other diseases, we do little to effectively prevent

and reduce risky use, and the vast majority of people

 in need of addiction treatment do not receive anything

that approximates evidence-based care."

 

--Drew Altman, chairman of an addiction treatment commission

at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (2012)

Al Mann and the Soul of a DJ

"Now when you're feelin' low and the fish won't bite
You need a little bit o' soul to put you right
You gotta make like you wanna kneel and pray
And then a little bit of soul will come your way"


"A Little Bit of Soul" recorded by The Music Explosion (1967)
Original by The Little Darlings (Carter, Lewis 1965)

The year was 1967 and music rocked the airwaves. Radio fed the hungry ears of the youth a vibrant diet of fresh, diverse rock, and, soon, the beat had become synonymous with the marrow of American culture. Recorded music, in all its various forms, was lifeblood for new expression and necessary change.

Thanks to the recent British Invasion and the avalanche of garage bands, rock and roll had become the staple of DJ's everywhere. For you young folk, let me explain the birth and the role of the DJ.


Hey Kids, DJ's Used To "Groove"

In 1935, American radio commentator Walter Winchell coined the term "disc jockey" (the combination of disc, referring to the disc records, and jockey, which is an operator of a machine)

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, became commonly known a person who played recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records. Radio DJs introduced and played music that was broadcast on AM and FM radio stations. Many also offered their services for parties, dances, and other social events. DJ's were important musical "pipelines" as they introduced American audiences to popular songs, artists, and dances.

After World War II, came the rise of the radio disc jockey as a celebrity separate from the radio station, also known as a "radio personality." In the days before station-controlled playlists, the DJ often followed their personal tastes in music selection. DJs also played a role in exposing rock and roll artists to large, national audiences.

For example, DJ Alan Freed, known on WJW (850 AM) in Cleveland as "Moondog," is commonly referred to as the "father of rock and roll" due to his promotion of the music and his introduction of the phrase "rock and roll" on radio in the early 1950s. Freed also made a practice of presenting music by African-American artists rather than playing cover versions by white artists on his radio program.

Other notable DJ's include Bill Randle at WERE (1300 AM) in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the first to introduce Elvis Presley to radio audiences in the northeastern US,  Robert Weston Smith ("Wolfman Jack"), and Casey Kasem.

Also, beginning in the 1950s, American radio DJs would appear live at "sock hops" and "platter parties" and assume the role of a human jukebox. They would usually play 45-rpm records, featuring hit singles on one turntable while talking between songs. Then, it wasn't long before "sock hop" DJ's brought the popular two-turntable system to dances.

"Now when your girl is gone and you're broke in two
You need a little bit o' soul to see you through
And when you raise the roof with your rock'n'roll
You'll get a lot more kicks with a little bit o' soul"

  

It isn't hard to understand how the voice of the DJ became the inseparable companion of rocking teens. Choosing the content of their musical programs and airing the hits, DJ's lent their playful personalities to the youthful musical environment of the times. They became the source of the songs that "spoke" to young lives -- they played the melodies that spurred young hearts to live and to love. And, as they took to the road to play school dances and teen clubs, they provided the on-scene beat that soothed juveniles' restless feet and ignited their minds with rock and roll dreams.

Al Mann

In my small, rural high school of 400 students, no one had the love of '60's youth more than "the Man," DJ Al Mann. To say he represented staple music to our student body is an understatement. Al, with his popular radio program and his incomparable mobile DJing, was a legend. We all knew Al, and we all knew he could keep us in touch with our music, which, to us, was nothing short of magical. He was our trusted connection to places like Liverpool, London, the Motor City, and San Francisco.

Known as the master of class, Al Mann was our conduit to everything "cool." When my school was fortunate enough to have Al as the DJ for our after-game dance, our entire high school was deemed to be the worthy palace of "groove" on that particular Friday. His presence -- our communion with Mann and his music --translated to instantaneous good times and turf "tuffness."

Al's sound system setup was primitive by today's standards -- some 45 records, a turntable, a speaker or two, and a microphone -- no expensive light show or technical sound wizardry. He didn't need it. He was simply "the man" with "the music." He was a professional DJ who rocked music and adorned it with his great chatter. Al did his show, and we listened, danced, and thrilled.

Al was a musical good-will ambassador with a legendary rapport with teens. His love for young people was very transparent as he lifted the spirits of everyone at his shows. As with most who truly love and totally immerse themselves in their work, Al was never pretentious, and he most likely never realized how his pleasant personality and even demeanor positively affected all those in local schools.

Al didn't just spin records. He also loved to promote and produce local live music. If a fledgling garage band sounded decent enough with their three-chord renditions of covers and originals, Al  invited them to play at the local Steelworkers Hall for a live Saturday radio show and even record them in his studio. This "Al Fang" treatment meant the band had "made it" and assured them wide recognition. Al did everything he could to fuel the growing local live music scene of the time. He quickly became the young musician's best friend and best mentor.


Al's Legacy

"And when your party falls 'cause ain't nobody groovin'

A little bit o' soul and it really starts movin', yeah"

Music has become such an important part of my life and the key to my emotional and spiritual health. Now that I am 62 years old and have time to consider how music became my life-long friend and drug of choice, I realize that Al Mann was one of the first to ignite my passion for recorded music and provide me with amazing pathways to peace of mind. His tunes, his personality, his professionalism -- however the osmosis occurred, it certainly worked wonders for me.

When Al dropped the stylus on those 45's, he did much more than make recorded noise come through the sound system that he lugged into the venues of my community. You see, by doing so, he actually passed his critical understanding of the value of "a little bit of soul" to me and my friends.

The songs and chatter reverberated in our gyms and all-purpose rooms and became part of our history. The sweet soul of Al's music came to rest in our minds. Then, music became us, and we became the souls living the music. In this manner, it eventually helped positively transform our young lives.

Al, I want to thank you for being a wonderful part of my young life. When I dream about the dances you played, I flashback to more innocent and loving times -- a time when a DJ with a simple setup could make magic for his fans, a time when people, not technology or glitz, gave the music its irresistible soul. You may not know it, but you doctored many an ill.

"And when you're in a mess and you feel like cryin'
Just remember this little song of mine
And as you go through life tryin' to reach your goal
Just remember what I said about a little bit o'soul

A little bit o' soul, yeah (a little bit o' soul)"

 

 

  

 

 



With All the Lust Inside Her

 

Tecumseh Valley
 
The name she gave was Caroline
Daughter of a miner
Her ways were free
It seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her

She came from Spencer
Across the hill
She said her pa had sent her
'cause the coal was low
And soon the snow
Would turn the skies to winter

She said she'd come
To look for work
She was not seeking favors
And for a dime a day
And a place to stay
She'd turn those hands to labor

But the times were hard, lord,
The jobs were few
All through Tecumseh Valley
But she asked around
And a job she found
Tending bar at Gypsy Sally's

She saved enough to get back home
When spring replaced the winter
But her dreams were denied
Her pa had died
The word come down from Spencer

So she turned to whorin' out on the streets
With all the lust inside her
And it was many a man
Returned again
To lay himself beside her

They found her down beneath the stairs
That led to Gypsy Sally's
In her hand when she died
Was a note that cried
Fare thee well... Tecumseh Valley

The name she gave was Caroline
Daughter of a miner
Her ways were free
It seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her
 
--Townes Van Zandt

John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter. Many of his songs, including "If I Needed You," "To Live is to Fly," and "No Place to Fall" are considered standards of their genre.

While alive, Van Zandt had a small and devoted fan base, but he never had a successful album or single, and even had difficulty keeping his recordings in print. In 1983, six years after Emmylou Harris had first popularized it, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard covered his song "Pancho and Lefty," scoring a number one hit on the Billboard country music charts.

Despite achievements like these, the bulk of his life was spent touring various dive bars, often living in cheap motel rooms, backwoods cabins, and on friends' couches.


Showing Promise in Early Days

Townes Van Zandt was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to a wealthy oil family. He was the third-great-grandson of Isaac Van Zandt, a prominent leader of the Republic of Texas and second great-grandson of Khleber M. Van Zandt, Confederate Major and one of the founders of Fort Worth

In 1952 the family transplanted from Fort Worth to Midland, Texas, for six months before moving to Billings, Montana. Then in 1958, Townes' family moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he became known as a good student who was active in team sports.

In grade school, it was recognized that Van Zandt had a genius IQ and his parents began grooming him to become a lawyer or senator. Fearing that his family would move again, he willingly decided to attend Shattuck School in Faribault, Minnesota. He received a score of 1170 when he took the SAT in January 1962. His family soon moved to Houston, Texas.

In 1962, Van Zandt was accepted into the University of Colorado at Boulder. In the spring of his sophomore year, his parents flew to Boulder to bring Townes back to Houston, apparently worried about his binge drinking and episodes of depression.

His parents admitted him to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he was diagnosed with manic depression.There, he received three months of insulin shock therapy, which erased much of his long-term memory. Afterwards, his mother's "biggest regret in life was that she had allowed that treatment to occur."


Becoming His Addictions

Van Zandt was notorious for his drug addictions, alcoholism, and his tendency to tell tall tales. He struggled with heroin addiction and alcoholism throughout his adult life.
At times he would become drunk on stage and forget the lyrics to his songs. As a result of Van Zandt's constant drinking, Harold Eggers, Kevin's brother, was hired on as his tour manager and 24-hour caretaker in 1976, a partnership that would last for the rest of the singer's life.Although the musician was many years older than he was, Eggers would later say that Van Zandt was his "first child."

At one point, his heroin habit was so intense that he offered Kevin Eggers, Harold's brother, the publishing rights to all of the songs on each of his first four albums for $20.

Van Zandt's battle with addiction led him to be admitted to rehab almost a dozen times throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Medical records from his time in recovery centers show that he believed his drinking had become a problem around 1973, and by 1982 he was drinking at least a pint of vodka daily.

 Doctors notes reported: "He admits to hearing voices, mostly musical voices," and "Affect is blunted and mood is sad. Judgment and insight is impaired."At various points in his life, he was prescribed to take the antidepressant Zoloft and the mood stabilizer lithium. His final and longest period of sobriety during his adult life was a period of about a year in 1989 and 1990.


Living As a Recluse

Despite critical acclaim, Van Zandt remained a cult figure. He normally played small venues (often to crowds of fewer than fifty people) but began to move towards playing larger venues (and even made a handful of television appearances) during the 1990s.

For much of the 1970s, he lived a reclusive life outside of Nashville in a tin-roofed, bare-boards shack with no heat, plumbing or telephone, occasionally appearing in town to play shows. Steve Earle would later say that Van Zandt's primary concerns during this time period were planting morning glories, listening to Paul Harvey's radio show, and watching the sitcom Happy Days.

Van Zandt died on New Years Day 1997 from health problems stemming from years of substance abuse. The 2000s saw a resurgence of interest in Van Zandt. During the decade, two books, a documentary film, and a number of magazine articles about the singer were created.

Van Zandt's music has been covered by such notable and varied musicians as Bob Dylan, Norah Jones, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Cowboy Junkies, Andrew Bird, Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, and Devendra Banhart.

"Tecumseh Valley"

What is a person to think about Caroline? Appallingly poor yet industrious and extremely family grounded. Young and tough yet a fragile creature in her free, natural environment. A lustful common whore yet a rare, radiant fallen angel.

I've seen such girls on the streets of town. To be honest, my first thoughts when confronted by their stark images are negative and demeaning. My lips immediately form words like "wasted" and "dirty" and "diseased."

But then, I notice something strikingly poignant in their desperation, and I wonder how many took one or two missteps that turned their innocent freedom into bondage and slavery. I find myself with mixed emotions.

You see, I begin to realize that these women are not just pieces of bartered flesh but significant lost human beings. All daughters -- some abandoned, some mentally deficient, most scarred in childhood, most racked by substance addiction. All of them hurting and seeking somewhere where filthy dollars will buy happiness. All of them forlorn little girls looking for unconditional love.

And, I begin to hate all those things that ruined such innocence -- the abusers, the users, the pimps, the drugs, the pushers.

It bothers me that I am able to drive past in indifference those whom I know will be abused, defiled, and eventually discarded. It pains me to know that such souls will likely lie as refuse beneath places like "the stairs that lead to Gypsy Sally's." And, it especially hurts me to understand how these struggling individuals simply bid their uncaring society "goodbye" to escape into the next plane.


Video of "Tecumseh Valley"
Nanci Griffith
Written by Townes Van Zandt

http://youtu.be/USafrOU3e88

The People, Yes -- Sandburg's Common Epic

Excerpt From The People, Yes
--Carl Sandburg

The people yes
The people will live on.
The learning and blundering people will live on.    
     They will be tricked and sold and again sold
And go back to the nourishing earth for rootholds,    
     The people so peculiar in renewal and comeback,    
     You can't laugh off their capacity to take it.
The mammoth rests between his cyclonic dramas.

The people so often sleepy, weary, enigmatic,
is a vast huddle with many units saying:    
     "I earn my living.    
     I make enough to get by    
     and it takes all my time.    
     If I had more time    
     I could do more for myself    
     and maybe for others.    
     I could read and study    
     and talk things over    
     and find out about things.    
     It takes time.    
     I wish I had the time."

The people is a tragic and comic two-face: hero and hoodlum: phantom and gorilla twisting to moan with a gargoyle mouth: "They buy me and sell me...it's a game...sometime I'll break loose..."

     Once having marched
Over the margins of animal necessity,
Over the grim line of sheer subsistence    
     Then man came
To the deeper rituals of his bones,
To the lights lighter than any bones,
To the time for thinking things over,
To the dance, the song, the story,
Or the hours given over to dreaming,    
     Once having so marched.

Between the finite limitations of the five senses
and the endless yearnings of man for the beyond
the people hold to the humdrum bidding of work and food
while reaching out when it comes their way
for lights beyond the prison of the five senses,
for keepsakes lasting beyond any hunger or death.    
     This reaching is alive.
The panderers and liars have violated and smutted it.    
     Yet this reaching is alive yet    
     for lights and keepsakes.    

      The people know the salt of the sea    
      and the strength of the winds    
      lashing the corners of the earth.     
      The people take the earth    
      as a tomb of rest and a cradle of hope.    
      Who else speaks for the Family of Man?     
     They are in tune and step with constellations of universal law.    
     The people is a polychrome,    
      a spectrum and a prism    
      held in a moving monolith,    
      a console organ of changing themes,    
      a clavilux of color poems    
      wherein the sea offers fog    
      and the fog moves off in rain    
      and the labrador sunset shortens    
      to a nocturne of clear stars    
      serene over the shot spray    
      of northern lights.    

     The steel mill sky is alive.    
     The fire breaks white and zigzag    
     shot on a gun-metal gloaming.    
     Man is a long time coming.
     Man will yet win.    
     Brother may yet line up with brother:

This old anvil laughs at many broken hammers.    
     There are men who can't be bought.    
     The fireborn are at home in fire.    
     The stars make no noise,     
     You can't hinder the wind from blowing.    
     Time is a great teacher.    
     Who can live without hope?

In the darkness with a great bundle of grief    
    the people
    march.
In the night, and overhead a shovel of stars for keeps, the people march:    
   "Where to? what next?"


Born in 1878 in Galesburg, Illinois, to Swedish immigrant parents, Carl Sandburg was one of seven children. He dropped out of school at the age of 13 to work and help support his family taking upon himself a series of jobs as a newsboy, porter, bootblack, water boy for horses, milkman, an ice cutter and janitor.

At the age of 19 in 1897, he headed west as a hobo on the rails and got as far as Pike's Peak before turning back. He did odd jobs, waited on tables and simply panhandled on this trip west and back. This period was a time during which Sandburg sharpened his interest in labor laws and the plight of working people.

In 1898, Sandburg joined the army to help fight the Spanish American War. He left for the war on July 25, 1898 but only got as far as Puerto Rico and saw no action.

In 1899, He received an appointment to West Point West Point for just two weeks, before failing a mathematics and grammar exam.

Carl Sandburg returned to Galesburg and qualified as a veteran for college admission despite his lack of a high school diploma. There, he enrolled in Lombard College, where he become editor of the college journal and yearbook and captain of the basketball team.

Lombard was founded by the Universalists. He tells of reading Universalist tracts and pamphlets in the attic of the chapel where he had a job as the school's bell-ringer. Although he never formally joined a Unitarian or Universalist congregation, Sandburg was delighted with the open and embracing Universalism he encountered at the college, a welcome relief from the strict Lutheranism of his youth and the street corner evangelists he encountered in his travels.

At Lombard, he took the courses that interested him and ignored graduation requirements. Perhaps, most importantly, at Lombard, Sandburg was encouraged by his favorite professor, Professor Philip Green Wright to begin writing poetry and prose in earnest.

In 1903, he left short of earning a degree and returned to riding the rails and - then back to Galesburg for a few years where he authored a small pamphlet with a press run of only fifty copies. His first booklets were published by Professor Philip Green Wright.

Sandburg worked at journalism with some success. During nearly five decades as a newspaperman, he was a local news reporter, an investigative reporter, a war correspondent, a movie critic, and a nationally syndicated columnist.

He moved to Chicago and on to Milwaukee where he helped organize the Social Democratic party and even served as secretary to the Mayor when the Social Democrat candidate won the election. At that time, he was working as a journalist and editor for a number of socialist newspapers.

In 1908, Sandburg met and married his wife Paula, a schoolteacher, a convert to socialism and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Chicago. When they married, they agreed that if either of them ever felt it was not working, they would simply dissolve the marriage. They enjoyed each other's company for nearly 60 years of marriage that included three daughters and later herds of champion goats, which Paula raised. They lived in Evanston, Illinois, before settling at 331 S. York Street in Elmhurst, Illinois, from 1919 to 1930.

Encouraged by his wife, Sandburg kept wrote poetry, most of it free verse. His first serious recognition as a poet came in 1914 when Harriet Monroe, editor of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, published several of his poems in her magazine. Sandburg’s first book. Chicago Poems, was published in 1916, and his last collection of poems, Honey and Salt, appeared in 1963, when he was 85.

Sandburg wrote three children's books in Elmhurst, Rootabaga Stories, in 1922, followed by Rootabaga Pigeons (1923), and Potato Face (1930). Sandburg also wrote Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, a two-volume biography in 1926. He continued researching and writing Lincoln’s life. The four-volume Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, published in 1939, won the Pulitzer Prize in history.

Sandburg wrote The American Songbag (1927), and a book of poems called Good Morning, America (1928) in Elmhurst.

Sandburg also became a popular platform performer, playing the guitar and singing American folk music, and reading his poetry and prose.

The family moved to Michigan in 1930. The Sandburg house at 331 W. York Street, Elmhurst was demolished and the site is now a parking lot.

Sandburg’s Complete Poems (1950) contained all of his books of his poetry: Chicago Poems (1916), Cornhuskers (1918), Smoke and Steel (1920), Slabs of the Sunburnt West (1922), Good Morning, America (1928), and The People, Yes (1936). Complete Poems won him a second Pulitzer Prize in 1951.

In 1945 he moved to Connemara, a 246-acre rural estate in Flat Rock, North Carolina. Here he produced a little over a third of his total published work, and lived with his wife, daughters, and two grandchildren until dying of natural causes in 1967.

In September 1967, nearly 6,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington for a national memorial tribute to the Poet of the People. On October 1, 1967, Carl Sandburg’s ashes were buried at his Galesburg, Illinois, birthplace, now a state historic site.

Sandburg sized himself up in the preface to Complete Poems:

"All my life I have been trying to learn to read, to see and hear, and to write. At sixty-five I began my first novel, and the five years lacking a month I took to finish it, I was still traveling, still a seeker. . . . It could be, in the grace of God, I shall live to be eighty-nine, as did [the Japanese poet] Hokusai, and speaking my farewell to earthly scenes, I might paraphrase: 'If God had let me live five years longer I should have been a writer.'"
 

The People, Yes

The People, Yes was published at the height of the Great Depression, Sandburg was inspired to write it for those hit hardest by unemployment and poverty. It is an epic poem, a 300 page work  thoroughly interspersed with references to American culture, phrases, and stories (such as the legend of Paul Bunyan).

Sandburg was greatly influenced by folk speech and folk expression. He so accurately captured the common American in The People, Yes. The work lauds the perseverance of the these people in notably plain-spoken language. Through the content of the epic, it becomes evident that Sandburg felt work was man's greatest salvation.
Sandburg drew most of his inspiration from American history and was profoundly influenced by Walt Whitman. His verse is vigorous and impressionistic, written without regard for conventional meter and form, in language both simple and noble. Much of his poetry celebrates the beauty of
ordinary people and things.

When you read Sandburg, you experience the dust of America. It gets into your eyes, into your lungs, and even under your skin. That "dust" is both the land and the essence of the common people who still forge America. The dust, nourished by sweat and tears, is the common element of firmament and stars -- the wonder of creation. Man suffers as he works with it; he "marches" through his time on earth upon it. He looks to the distant loam of the universe to dream and to hope. And, eventually he even becomes one with it. "Where to? What next?" Indeed, the people, yes. Holy, holy, holy.

 Watch this brief excerpt from "The American Experience": http://www.teachersdomain.org/asset/am12_vid_people/

 

Too Many Deaf Islands Among the Tolling Bells

 

"Meditations XVII"

"No Man Is An Island"

 

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

--John Donne

 

 

I urge you to read great literature and share it with your loved ones.

 

Metaphysical poet and clergyman John Donne (1572-1631) was born to a prominent Roman Catholic family from London in 1572. Not a healthy child, John Donne would lead a life plagued with illness.

 

Donne's father was a respected Roman Catholic who avoided unwelcome government attention out of fear of persecution. John's father died in 1576, when John was only four years old, leaving his son an orphan, and burdening his widow, Elizabeth Heywood, with the responsibility of raising their children.

 

Elizabeth was also from a recusant Roman Catholic family, the daughter of John Heywood, the playwright, and sister of the Reverend Jasper Heywood, a Jesuit priest and translator. She was a great-niece of the Roman Catholic martyr Thomas More. This tradition of martyrdom would continue among Donne’s closer relatives, many of whom were executed or exiled for religious reasons.

 

Dunn received a strong religious upbringing until his enrollment at the University of Oxford at the age of 11.

 

After only three years at Oxford it is believed that he transferred to the University of Cambridge for another three years of study, never obtaining a degree at either college. It is believed he was denied a degree from either institution because of his Catholicism, since he could not take the Oath of Supremacy required of graduates.

 

Despite his great education and poetic talents, Donne lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. He spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on womanising, literature, pastimes, and travel.

 

In 1590 John made a decision that would shape his life: he converted to Anglicanism.

 

Dunn didn't return to England until he had stayed some years, first in Italy, and then in Spain, where he made many useful observations of those countries, their laws and manner of government, and where he learned their languages.

 

By the age of 25 Dunn was well prepared for the diplomatic career he appeared to be seeking. He was appointed chief secretary to the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Sir Thomas Egerton, and was established at Egerton’s London home

 

He fell in love with seventeen year-old Anne More, niece of Sir Thomas Egerton. They were

clandestinely married just before Christmas in 1601, against the wishes of both Egerton and George More, who was Lieutenant of the Tower and Anne's father. Some months elapsed before Donne dared to break the news to the girl's father, by letter, provoking a violent response. More set out to get the marriage annulled

 

This wedding ruined Donne's career and earned him a short stay in Fleet Prison, along with Samuel Brooke, who married them, and the man who acted as a witness to the wedding. Donne was released when the marriage was proven valid, and he soon secured the release of the other two. 

 

Donne lost his job in 1602 and did not find regular employment again until he took holy orders more than twelve years later. And, it was not until 1609 that Donne was reconciled with his father-in-law and received his wife's dowry

 

Over the next few years, he scraped a meagre living as a lawyer, depending on his wife’s cousin Sir Francis Wolley to house him, his wife, and their children. Because Anne Donne bore a new baby almost every year, this was a very generous gesture.

In 1615, Donne was awarded an honorary doctorate in divinity from Cambridge in 1615. and he became an Anglican Royal Chaplain in the same year although he did not want to take Anglican orders. He was made a Reader of Divinity at Lincoln's Inn in 1616.

 

His wife Anne bore John twelve children in sixteen years of marriage (including two stillbirths -- their eighth and then, in 1617, their last child); indeed, she spent most of her married life either pregnant or nursing. Three of the children (Francis, Nicholas, and Mary) died before they were ten.

 

In a state of despair that almost drove him to kill himself, Donne noted that the death of a child would mean one less mouth to feed, but he could not afford the burial expenses. During this time, Donne wrote, but did not publish, Biathanatos, his defense of suicide.

 

Anne died on 15 August 1617, five days after giving birth to their twelfth child, a still-born baby. Donne mourned her deeply, and wrote of his love and loss in his 17th Holy Sonnet.

 

In 1621 Donne was made Dean of St Paul's, a leading (and well-paid) position in the Church of England and one he held until his death in 1631. He earned a reputation as an eloquent preacher and 160 of his sermons have survived, including the famous "Death’s Duel" sermon delivered at the Palace of Whitehall before King Charles I in February 1631.

It is thought that Donne's final illness was stomach cancer, although this has not been proven. He died on 31 March 1631 having written many poems, most of which were circulated in manuscript during his lifetime.

 

The Poem

"No Man Is An Island" comes from a series of meditations and prayers on health, pain, and sickness written while author John Donne was convalescing from a nearly fatal illness. In late November and early December 1623, he suffered a nearly fatal illness, thought to be either typhus or a combination of a cold followed by a period of fever.

These writings were published as a book in 1624 under the title Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, specifically "Meditation XVII." The title of Ernest Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is a reference to Donne's work.


The two interconnected themes of Donne's "Meditations XVII"  are:

1. All people are mortal.

2.The lives of all people are interrelated and interconnected.


At the time of the Renaissance, the funeral bell was rung by the local church to announce the death of a person. At this time in history, life expectancy was low and medical treatment was elementary.

Of course, upon hearing the bell, people would wonder who had died. Might not some, especially the very ill, also be relieved the bell did not toll to announce their own demise? After all, due to his/her condition, the sick person could be the next to die from illness.

In this work, Donne considers how every person suffers from the passing of another life. For whom does "the bell toll"?

In "Meditations XVII," Donne meditates upon the sounding of a church bell signifying a funeral and connects it to his own present illness. He wonders if the person is aware that the bell has sounded for him. (Obviously, if someone is dead, he does not know and it is too late for him to meditate upon it.)

Donne underscores the theme of his "Meditation" that all humanity is one large unit created by God interconnected in meaningful creation. He uses a metaphor to illustrate the concept of the work of the Creator. The metaphor that he uses is that of an island. He asserts that...

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less."

So, Donne insists that when people hear the funeral bell announcing the death of a person they should be aware of its real significance: it is not merely announcing the death of a stranger but is actually announcing their own death... 

"Each man's death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind."

Donne insists very human action affects the rest of humanity in some way. The church’s universality comes from God, who is in charge of all “translations” from earthly to spiritual existence which occur at death.

Donne asserts that even if a "clod" - a small piece of land - is washed away by the sea, the whole continent is affected. Here the continent of  "Europe" represents the whole of humanity and the "clod" represents one human being. Thus, all humanity is affected by the death of any individual.

 

Isn't it so true that "the bell tolls for thee"?

I believe the answer is "yes." This is a vital lesson for building human compassion and empathy. The indifference shown to those beyond family circles is a visible mark of a largely egotistical society. The individual conscience is often subjected to the somber, resounding tones of the "bell." How often do people respond to the message?

What a wonderful community we might build if everyone understood a little metaphysics and found clarity in the fundamental notions by which metaphyicists view the world such as the critical relation of existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect, and possibility. It seems to me that we all have an obligation to mourn those lost "clods" and take actions to "re-sod" the scars left behind.

Among some other interpretation and critique, thanks to http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-does-john-donne-mean-specifically-when-he-163675