As much as we may like to ignore or to stop fighting the problem of drug abuse in Scioto County, Ohio, we have too much at stake to throw up our hands, sigh "oh, well," and walk away. When people first affirmed that the area was in deep water, we had already let bad things continue for too long. At first, we refused to believe that our environment was being sprinkled with pills. We should have acted sooner.
But, dealing with our own trouble and expecting meager help from the outside have always been parts of the fate accepted by those living in Appalachia. An independent lot, we assumed locals could keep a little shower of substance abuse under control. We were accustomed to rough times and had risen above them before. After all, Scioto County has been a depressed area since the atomic plant and the steel mill once boomed. Even though high school and college graduates by the hundreds left every year for other locales, we just assumed "times had changed" and a few clouds had set in.
True, we all recognized the signs of the impending storm -- the spread of Rx distribution, the rise of the pill mills, the ever-increasing toll from overdose, the endless destruction of local families, the rise of the numbers in rehab, the continual flow into the area of out-of-state license tags, the loss of jobs, the number of vacant homes, the terrible poverty rate, the defeated attitude of the people, the growing welfare state -- but for years and years, we all chose not to be proactive. Then came the tempest of death.
The rain of suffering we had weathered became a cloudburst of overdose. We soon realized the peril had risen from within our precious flood walls, which now served as a basin full of illegal activities and addiction. Left floundering in the dirty drink, we began to cry for help and to swim toward any sign of safety. This flood, was not one caused by Ohio River water like the great one of '37, but a flood caused by opioids and greed in the real world of a 21st Century Drug Nation.
Maybe you've been lucky enough to have someone save you and yours from the high water. Give grace for the lifesaver(s) that kept the good souls you love from sinking into addiction. Because if you don't believe the ones you love were in peril, you most certainly remain in denial. This time of crisis demands that you pass on favors to other needy individuals still adrift before they eventually drown. A hand may rescue future generations from abuse.
The task of bailing the damaging tides from the county is huge.Nothing can change the past, but everyone can use a vessel to help bail the flood from Scioto County. All of us have containers, some large and some small, that we must put to use in order to reverse the disaster. Without the help of everyone, a few face the unimaginable task. Yet, with the assistance of 80,000 residents, the numbers can steadily drain the brackish poison from our land.
Many of us safe on higher ground assume we have accounted for those closest so we can now rest assured life is safe. Don't be deceived because, gone unchecked, this surge will spread until even the hills are submerged. With the deluge came epidemics of terrible health problems such as hepatitis, social diseases, and brain damage. Many sources of our social stability lost root as the water rose. Even today, deaths continue to mount. We must repair the destruction and deal with it passionately, or the rotten agents will reach pandemic proportions.
In addition, we must effectively educate our youth because other violent storms of new and more powerful drugs are sure to strike. To leave them uninformed or misinformed is to leave them walking the lonely tracks that eventually lead to life-threatening addiction.We have to take measures to help anyone who may fall for the thrill, the high, or the money. We must realize that no matter if they are a valedictorian or a "bad kid in the class," they need education, support, and guidance in matters of substance abuse.
Finally, we must accept full responsibility for our own -- ALL of our own -- all of our fellow men, all of our own freedoms. Compassion is not limited to those with bloodlines or to those with monikers of "friend" or "good people." How can anyone stand put in the event of such a disaster?
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." Emerson's belief in Transcendentalism holds that material objects do not have any real existence or value of their own. He believed that a true sense of beauty depends upon seeing things in relation to a perfect whole. In order to do this, a human has to develop a relationship with nature and God. We could certainly learn from this view.
Love of money and desire for chemical happiness lead to destruction. Compassion and selfless action mark a joyous life well lived. Without true love for our downtrodden, we cannot preserve our own precious land or our own way of life. It is time to fill your sandbag and help stem the flow. The flood stage still ebbs....Many wait to see a rainbow.
From "Each and All" Ralph Waldo Emerson "Then I said, 'I covet Truth;
Beauty is unripe childhood's cheat,—
I leave it behind with the games of youth.'
As I spoke, beneath my feet
The ground-pine curled its pretty wreath,
Running over the club-moss burrs;
I inhaled the violet's breath;
Around me stood the oaks and firs;
Pine cones and acorns lay on the ground;
Above me soared the eternal sky,
Full of light and deity;
Again I saw, again I heard,
The rolling river, the morning bird;—
Beauty through my senses stole,
I yielded myself to the perfect whole."
Amy Chua, Professor of Law at Yale Law School relates, "A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I've done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:
• attend a sleepover
• have a playdate
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play
• watch TV or play computer games
• choose their own extracurricular activities
• get any grade less than an A
• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin
• not play the piano or violin."
(Amy Chua, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2011)
In her article, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," Chua states that Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Irish and Ghanaian parents qualify as "Chinese mothers," too. Yet, she claims some mothers of Chinese heritage, nearly always born in the West, aren't "Chinese mothers" by choice or otherwise. She claims to use the term "Western parents" loosely.
Chua believes most Western parents who claim they are strict with their children really aren't. She believes proper emphasis on child development is crucial and requires hard work, and most Western parents don't enforce this. For example, she tells of a study that shows Chinese parents spend approximately 10 times as long every day drilling academic activities with their children while Western children are more likely to participate on sports teams. She reports that "tons of studies" show marked differences between Chinese and Westerners in methods of child rearing.
One study Chua cites claims "of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, almost 70% of the Western mothers said either that "stressing academic success is not good for children" or that "parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun." By contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way. Instead, the vast majority of the Chinese mothers said that they believe their children can be "the best" students, that "academic achievement reflects successful parenting," and that if children did not excel at school then there was "a problem" and parents "were not doing their job."
Chua says Chinese parents understand "nothing is fun until you get good at it." She claims Western parents tend to give up when a child begins a difficult learning activity (math, piano, pitching) when they should have fortitude to overcome the child's preference not to work. She believes beginning to learn a difficult assignment is the most crucial time for parents to encourage continuance because the challenge for the child is the hardest then.
Chua believes once a child begins to excel at something through rote, repeated practice and is rewarded with praise and satisfaction, the child builds self-confidence and eventually this confidence makes the activity "fun." Chua calls the process a "virtuous circle."
Chua says Westerners believe some of the things that Chinese parents can do to their children is totally unimaginable, even illegal. For instance, Chua states, "Chinese mothers can say to their daughters, 'Hey fatty—lose some weight.' By contrast, Western parents have to tiptoe around the issue, talking in terms of 'health' and never ever mentioning the f-word, and their kids still end up in therapy for eating disorders and negative self-image." (Amy Chou, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2011)
Chua says Chinese parents can successfully use harsh reinforcement such as to call their children "lazy" or to demand the children get straight A's in school. In contrast Western parents are left struggling with conflicted feelings about their children's poor achievement. So, according to Chua, how do Chinese parents get away with it?
1. Western parents are extremely anxious about their children's self-esteem, their children's psyches, while Chinese parents assume the children's "strength not fragility."
2. Chinese parents believe that their kids owe them everything. The understanding is that Chinese children must spend their lives repaying their parents for the parents' long hours of sacrifice and caretaking by obeying them and making them proud. In the Western parents' mindset, "children don't choose their parents so kids don't owe their parents anything.
3. Chinese parents believe that they know what is best for their children and therefore override all of their children's own desires and preferences (even though they do care tremendously for their children).
Chua says that the distaste people have for child-rearing methods used by either Chinese parents or Western parents is a misunderstanding. Both sides want the child to become the best possible product, but the methods used are vastly different.
Chua concludes:
"Western parents try to respect their children's individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions, supporting their choices, and providing positive reinforcement and a nurturing environment. By contrast, the Chinese believe that the best way to protect their children is by preparing them for the future, letting them see what they're capable of, and arming them with skills, work habits and inner confidence that no one can ever take away." (Amy Chua, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2011)
Personal Conclusions
Having been a high school teacher for decades and a father of four, I see Amy Chua's article as an interesting insight into American parents' desires and actions for their children. Of course, in the Western view, strict Chinese parenting could lead to a child's deep psychological and emotion distress, even suicide. But these days, so many Western parents face criticism for complete lack of control of their children. Many, many times I have held conferences with distressed parents who claim they cannot control their youth at all. Just as many times I have been witness to undisciplined, "wild child" children suffer, even die.
To me, many of Chua's restrictions on her daughters were insensitive. If the children were that smart and that adjusted, it seems cruel to prevent them from participating in such things as social and school events.I wonder how they ever interacted with others.
To be callous or cruel toward children is wrong. Still, the older generation remembers many situations in their past that required their parents' immediate, strong-handed action. Face it, our parents, in most cases, were much more demanding of our good behavior. Add to that, this discipline is often cited as something now sorely missing from many parents' homes. Teachers say it; much research supports it. Schools complain that they simply are not allowed to discipline properly and point accusing fingers at indifferent parents.
Could Chua be convinced that a degree of balance could be reached with Western and Chinese parenting methods? I love to see children excel, and I know the hard work required by those who help them on the road to excellence. To let students lazily drift through their studies nets mediocre results.When I taught, I used lessons that required extension and built independence. I believed that preparation for the future was essential. It was a very difficult job. Still, I am not naive enough to believe the methods and mindset of Chinese education will ever become those of American education.
Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again.
Wisely improve the present. It is thine.
Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
All of us would like to drop our personal baggage and lose its weighty presence. Personal baggage is an accumulation of all the things that aren't right in our lives. Living and dealing with heaps of problems is inevitable. Although suffering is part of the human condition, we hope to eliminate much of the lingering effects of pain. The value of being brutally honest with ourselves is crucial. But even after all our attempts to lighten our attache, we still find a sizable pack to tote. We all have baggage, even the most well-adjusted, healthiest people have it. No one is exempt.
And how about the continuous nature of baggage accumulation? Psychological author Steve Wickham says, "Go the wrong way and we attract only more baggage, and such intricate little and bulky large bags, packages, cartons and parcels of fear-producing anxiety. Go the right way--the narrow path many do not take, for it involves its own pain--and we alleviate baggage, learning to live, eventually, a free life." (Steve Wickham, "Dealing With Emotional Baggage," ezinearticles.com, 2010) Well, maybe "going the right way" will not produce a "free" life, but maybe it will provide a life less encumbered.
Adding Our Heap to Another Heap
Just as important as lightening our personal charge, how can we hope to combine our baggage with that of someone else in a happy, successful relationship? Many people want to enter contracts of union that include drastic change. These people assume, once together, they can change one another through serious discussions about their pasts and their present personal desires.Yet, soon after romance fades, they return to reality and find that they are not going to effect change upon each other.
Ideally, we all should sort out own situations before entering into a marriage or into a serious relationship. We have no burden of responsibility to "fix" the one we love. And, our partner is not responsible for making us happy. The paradox is that we are responsible for our own happiness, and we should never blame others -- that realization is the absolute heavy burden. (Beth McHugh, "Is Your Personal Baggage Stuffing Up Your Marriage?" mental-health.families.com, 2011)
Our loved one simply cannot be our everything. To invest a totality of being in anyone involves adding loads to our dependence and slashing pieces of our self-esteem. When we realize this and a break up or a divorce is at hand, we feel threats to our spiritual health and develop tons of emotional baggage.
Too many of us want a "band-aid" for our most critical problems. The pain is so intense that we seek love instead of seeking help to end the pain, so when that love ceases to be enough anymore, the emotions flow to the top and the end result is divorce. Life blows that are destined to make us stronger weaken us if we take the wrong road to "healing."
Unpacking Your Own Baggage
Are we left to enduring the scars of history? Les Parrott and Neil Clark Warren, authors of Love the Life You Live, offer this helpful advice: "History is what has happened in our lives. Baggage is how we feel about it. Your psychological perspective on your past determines, to a great extent, your personal health and vitality." (Les Parrott & Neil Clark Warren, "Exploring Your Emotional Baggage," www.growthtrac.com, 2003)
Parrott and Warren suggest that we unpack our own baggage and explore what we feel and why we feel the way we do about our history. This does not mean we should wallow in the past and use it as a scapegoat. We merely need to get beyond our past. To identify, sort, and label emotions in this exploration can be a springboard to personal growth, self-insight, and maturity. This exploration can positively impact our physical well-being.
Conclusions
Personally, I believe no one can control any other human being. Each of us has unique qualities and a distinct past. To live a relatively comfortable life, we have learned personal means of adjusting and dealing with situations. Some of these reactions have developed into habits. Of course, we should seek to break bad habits, yet the successful attempts at doing so involve deep personal commitment and usually are only successful after the habitual individual hits the rock bottom.
As far as making a sinner into a saint or vice versa, I have many doubts about any real success. The release of the mold is in the hands of the individual. Certainly, help and guidance may offer support; however, without a sincere will to change, people, at best, modify self-chosen aspects of their lives. In short, we are what we want to be.
Some Ideas To Consider
These ideas actually came from advice about how to deal with trading stocks. (Forex Psychology, www.babypips.com) I think the points represent great advice for dealing with personal baggage. Similar investment and risk are involved in both areas.
1. We must accept that our plans will not always go as planned.
2. We must not assume that because something worked previously that it will have the same outcome.
3. We must accept that we will face loss one way or another. It's always going to be there.
4. We must accept that the past can't be changed.
5. We must move on and learn from a lesson, and then apply it to a future strategy.
6. We must take responsibility for our actions and understand that we create our own success or failure.
7. We must not blame others around us for our losses or failing strategies.
8. We must determine our weaknesses and make a true effort to turn those into strengths.
"While the rest of the species is descended from apes, redheads are descended from cats." - Mark Twain
Throughout history, much prejudice and suspicion has been attributed to the redhead. Even today most people believe redheads are fiery and hot-tempered individuals.Another old, common belief that has endured is that they are highly-sexed. Cited as an early example, Jonathan Swift satirized redheads in Gulliver's Travels in 1726: "It is observed that the red-haired of both sexes are more libidinous and mischievous than the rest."
Here is another literary example of redhead reference from Annie of Green Gables. Main character Anne Shirley speaks to her guardian Marilla: "You'd find it easier to be bad than good if you had red hair," said Anne reproachfully. "People who haven't red hair don't know what trouble is."
General stereotypes may stem from the fact that Scots, with their high percentage of red-haired people, are descended from the Celts, notoriously violent warriors.
One particularly famous redhead struck fear in the Roman legions. Roman historian Deo Cassius described British warrior Queen Boudicca as "tall and terrifying in appearance with a great mass of red hair." The Romans also paid a premium for red-haired slaves.
Myths and Redheads
Redhead myths in history abound. The ancient Greeks believed that redheads would turn into vampires following their death.
During the Middle Ages, red hair was disparagingly called judas-colored, in reference to Judas Iscariot. Thus, red was seen as the color of the Devil, so a child born with red hair was conceived during "that time of the month."
And, the Spanish Inquisition supported the idea that flame-colored hair was evidence its owner had stolen the fire from hell and had to be burned as a witch. ("Redheads: Myths, Legends, and Famous Red Hair," hubpages.com)
The Truth About Redheads
Red hair is the rarest type of natural hair color in humans. Why? Well, that is still somewhat up for debate. Many scientists believe the pale skin associated with red hair may be of advantage in far-northern climates where sunlight is scarce. Studies by Bodmer and Cavalli-Sforza hypothesized that lighter skin pigmentation prevents rickets in colder latitudes by encouraging higher levels of Vitamin D production and also allows the individual to retain heat better than someone with darker skin.(WR Bodmer WF & LL Cavalli-Sforza, Genetics, Evolution and Man, 1976)
Studies show, the highest proportion of redheads is found in Scotland and Ireland, where as many as 10%-13% have ginger or strawberry blond hair, while it is thought that up to 35% carry a recessive "ginger gene." However, dark red or reddish-tinged hair is also found in other Caucasian populations particularly in Scandinavia.
Red hair often means light eyes, pale skin, and freckles, so sunburns and a high incidence of skin cancer occur in redheads.Chemistry professor John Simon and his colleagues at Duke University believe that melanin, the pigment responsible for darkening skin in the baking sun, is more likely to kick-start DNA damage—and therefore cancer—in redheads than it is in black-haired people. (Megan Mansell Williams, "Secrets of Redheads," Discover Magazine, November 2005)
Williams reported that researchers compared the reaction of melanin in red hair and black hair to various wavelengths of ultraviolet light and found that pigment isolated from red hair requires less energy to undergo the chemical reaction that produces the unstable, DNA-damaging free radicals linked to cancer. The melanin in black hair needs more energy to produce free radicals, reducing their damaging effects under normal atmospheric conditions.
Research from 2002 foundthat people with red hair are more sensitive to pain; as a consequence, they need more anesthetic during operations than other patients."Red hair is the first visible human trait, or phenotype, that is linked to anaesthetic requirement," reported anaesthesiologist Edwin Liem, who conducted the research at the Outcomes Research Institute of the University of Louisville. The researchers found that redheads required 20 per cent more aesthetic to dull the pain. (Will Knight, "Red Heads Suffer More Pain," New Scientist, October 15 2002)
In people with red hair, the cells that produce skin and hair pigment have a dysfunctional melanocortin 1 receptor. Liem said this dysfunction triggers the release of more of the hormone that stimulates these cells, but this hormone also stimulates a brain receptor related to pain sensitivity.
And now, Hamburg sex researcher, Professor Dr. Werner Habermehl, in a new study documented the sex lives of hundreds of German women and compared them by hair color. Habermehl said that the sex lives of redheaded women were not only more active than women with other colors of hair, but that red heads have more partners and sex more frequently than the average person. (Tom Miller, "Redheads Have More Sex, Survey Says," www.ktvu.com, 2011)
"The research shows that the fiery redhead certainly lives up to her reputation," reported Habermehl. He believes that women who dyed their hair red from another color were signaling they were looking for a partner.
Psychologist Christine Baumanns doesn't blame the redheaded women for having better sex lives. She thinks it just may be the way they are perceived. "Red stands for passion and when a man sees a redhead, he will think he is dealing with a woman who won't mess around, and gets straight to the point when it comes to sex," she said.
Baumanns said: "Red stands for passion and when a man sees a redhead he will think he is dealing with a woman who won't mess around, and gets straight to the point when it comes to sex."
Maybe it makes evolutionary logic that men will hotly pursue those women who, by virtue of a few mutated chromosomes, stand out from the crowd.
"Out of the ash I rise with my red hair and eat men like air." --Sylvia Plath
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the federal holiday set aside to honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the country's most prominent civil rights leaders. Dr. King was assassinated in April 1968, and the holiday was first observed in 1986. In 1994, Congress also designated it as a national day of service . A video posted on mlkday.gov, the U.S. government website dedicated to the day, quotes King: "He who is greatest among you shall be a servant. That's the new definition of greatness. ... By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve."
So, on this 25th observance, what are some national headlines that make people question the reality of complete racial harmony?
The NAACP has accused Maine Governor Paul LePage of inflaming "racial tension" Friday after the governor turned down a request to attend the group's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations and subsequently told his critics to "kiss my butt."
The Republican governor had declined an invitation to attend the NAACP's MLK dinner in Portland on Sunday night and the MLK breakfast in Orono on Monday because of prior commitments. Asked about the decision, LePage told a reporter that the NAACP is a "special interest ... and I'm not going to be held hostage by any special interests." ("NAACP, Maine Governor Spar Over Decision to Skip MLK Day Festivities," FoxNews.com, January 14 2011)
In another story creating controversy, a local school board member and radio station owner under fire for airing an inflammatory editorial denouncing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day has had his concealed carry permit revoked after he threatened a rival radio station owner to a "shootout."
Brett Reese, who has been airing an editorial four times daily on his station KELS-FM (Greeley, Colorado) denouncing slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. as a degenerate embezzler, a "plastic god" and "an America-hating communist," is also facing retribution from the school board on which he serves.
The Mountain States Anti-Defamation League has asked Reese to stop broadcasting the editorial, which contains statements that appear verbatim on a website with links to a white supremacist group.
The broadcaster remains unrepentant and defiant in the wake of community outcry."Facts are facts, truth is truth," he said, adding that he might pre-empt other programing to air the editorial round the clock. The 40-year-old former carpenter claims he helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity in the Mississippi Delta and once dated an African American woman. He insists he's not racist.
Reese also said he's not trying to become a lightning rod for debate over the holiday. "That's not what my push is. I think it's important for people to discuss any issue openly, freely and without being assassinated or bankrupted." (P. Solomon Banda, "Brett Reese, Greeley School Board Member, Blasts MLK Day," The Huffington Post, January 17 2011)
I wonder what Dr. King would think about the state of racial equality today. In 2011, it seems everyone has feelings about the national day of reverence, and their strong attitudes surface on or near the holiday. Many news stories and much rhetoric do not serve to honor the wonderful accomplishments of King; instead, the headlines feature controversy about the continued judgments concerning the observance. I find this unsettling but accurate about the present state of racial equality in America. America still has a long, hard road ahead before Dr. King's "dream" is realized. Old and new civil rights issues are at hand.
What Would Martin Say?
Resistance in the face of love is futile. The federal holiday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a day set aside to
promote equal rights for all Americans, regardless of their background. Granted, the day honors the man, but more importantly it commemorates the universal, unconditional love, forgiveness and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary spirit.
Coretta Scott King (www.thekingcenter.org) stated the following concerning the meaning of the observance:
"On this day we commemorate Dr. King’s great dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for children of every race and room at the inn for every needy child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great dream for America."
Americans must see fit to pause today to consider the God-given gift of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As a man of incredible conviction dedicated to nonviolence, King became a martyr for the civil rights movement. Let each Martin Luther King, Jr. Day be faithful to the spirit and love of the man, not an opportunity for discord. Dr. King used the following words to describe his feelings. The power and distinct sincerity of his address serve as beacons of hope for understanding topics that remain relevant today..
Ugly History In America
"Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten....America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes and the country that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of greatness--justice."--Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?1967.
"All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on."--Martin Luther King, Jr., I've Been to the Mountaintop, 1968.
Unearned Suffering and Redemption
"My personal trials have also taught me the value of unmerited suffering. As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways that I could respond to my situation: either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course. Recognizing the necessity for suffering I have tried to make of it virtue. If only to save myself from bitterness, I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an opportunity to transform myself and heal the people involved in the tragic situation, which now obtains. I have lived these last few years with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive." --Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.
Effects of Hatred
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. --Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.
"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."--Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.
Love and Power In Co-existence
"Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love."--Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 1967.
Separation of Blacks and Whites
"In the final analysis the weakness of Black Power is its failure to see that the black man needs the white man and the white man needs the black man. However much we may try to romanticize the slogan, there is no separate black path to power and fulfillment that does not intersect white paths, and there is no separate white path to power and fulfillment, short of social disaster, that does not share that power with black aspirations for freedom and human dignity We are bound together in a single garment of destiny." --Martin Luther King, Jr., Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?
Over, finished, worn out, done, dusted, terminated, kaput -- all of these words are synonyms indicating something is unable to function. How does someone know that it is time to stop? To stop the quarrel, to stop the relationship, to stop the fight, to stop the habit, to stop any eventuality? Typically, society does not favorably treat the stoppage of any sustained behavior. Often, someone who abandons an action is branded "a quitter" and suffers damage in terms of respect.
On the other hand, people usually laud those with noble intentions who stand against overwhelming odds, even if their stance puts them in the face of certain defeat. Their struggles produce both martyrs and fools. Cervantes created such a foolish character in Don Quixote, who begins his silly quests while honestly believing in a fictitious code of chivalry. Most readers don't recall the same Quixote, sane and broken, who dies in the end of the story. They prefer to remember the mad man jousting with monstrous windmills.
When does a person decide to quit? Is there any thought process which leads to sane and acceptable resolutions for one who chooses cessation of anything? Imagine what entered the mind of Robert E. Lee before the surrender of the Confederacy.
Lee said, "We have fought this fight as long, and as well, as we know how. We have been defeated. There is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the situation." Then, Lee resisted calls by some officers to reject surrender and allow small units to melt away into the mountains, setting up a lengthy guerrilla war. He insisted the war was over and energetically campaigned for inter-sectional reconciliation. He knew the conviction of complete closure.
Maybe some exploration of termination can stimulate answers to perplexing questions. This blog often stirs the waters of trivial pursuit and popular culture, so any actual research in this entry is purely coincidental. You may have a perfect batting average when dealing with stoppage, yet most of us make these daring decisions with the heart and gut. Maybe a tip or two lies in the post.
It's Not Over Until the "Fat Lady" Sings.
This popular colloquialism, essentially meaning that one should not assume the outcome of some activity probably stems from imagery in Richard Wagner's opera suite Der Ring des Nibelungen and the last of Wagner's four operas, Gotterdammerung, is typically the one used in depictions accompanying reference to the phrase.
The "fat lady" is the Valkyrie Brunhilde, who is traditionally presented as a very buxom lady with a horned helmet, a spear, and a round shield (although Brünhilde actually wears a winged helmet). Her aria lasts almost twenty minutes and marks the end of the opera. As Götterdämmerung is about the end of the world (or at least the world of the Norse gods), in a very significant way "it is over when the fat lady sings."
The lesson to be derived from this old saying (besides getting a seat close to the exist at an opera) would have one beware of assumption of premature ending. If closure is final, then everything up to that point is still in doubt. Many times the human spirit can endure more than the mind estimates, so caution upon closure is advisable. The more discomfort and distress that accompanies the endeavor, the more most feel the urge to avoid the pain.
The End And the Fig Tree
A Biblical reference may shed light upon finality. Matthew 24:32-33, "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that the end is near, right at the door." This definition is loaded with terms and connotations that lack specificity.
Profits of Armageddon warn of the end of time, of humanity, and of civilization. Since the Bible foretells that a judgment of fire will come down from Heaven, and then the Great White Throne judgment, in which all people will stand in judgment before Jesus after the investigation and a verdict of their salvation will be made, follows Armageddon, nothing a believer can do will alter the eventual outcome.
The lesson about the final demise teaches faith and trust. I don't believe anyone who studies the Book of Revelation can possibly interpret their earthly significance. Maybe humans are expected to be content with their lives and times while the Big Man has the driver's seat.
"The End" -- The Doors
"This is the end Beautiful friend This is the end My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end Of everything that stands, the end No safety or surprise, the end I'll never look into your eyes...again" -Jim Morrison, the Doors
Jim Morrison tackled the subject in the long song "The End," which many people believe draws allusion to the controversial Oedipus complex. According to Sigmund Freud, the Oedipus complex is a common phenomenon, built in by evolution and responsible for much of a person's unconscious guilt. This desire includes jealousy toward the parent of the same sex and the unconscious wish for that parent's death. Its female analogue is the Electra complex.
This complex is named after Greek mythical character Oedipus, who (albeit unknowingly) kills his father, Laius and marries his mother, Jocasta. Classical theory considers the successful resolution of the Oedipus complex to be developmentally desirable, the key to the development of sexual roles and identity. In theory, people who are fixated at the Oedipal level are "mother-fixated" or "father-fixated", and reveal this by choosing sexual partners who are discernible surrogates for their parent(s).
Freud believed that the process of overcoming the Oedipus complex gave rise to the superego, the division of the unconscious that is formed through the internalization of moral standards of parents and society, and that censors and restrains the ego.
Morrison, himself, claimed "The End" was a song about breaking up with girlfriend Mary Werbelow. (Robert Farley, "Doors: Mary and Jim to the End," St. Petersburg Times, September 25 2005. Doors producer Paul Rothchild said in an interview that he believed the song to be an inside trip, and that the "kill the father" lyric means destroying everything hierarchical, controlling, and restrictive in one's psyche, while "f... the mother" means embracing everything that is expansive, flowing, and alive in the psyche.
Ending many things certainly frees people from stress and control. This is often necessary and essential for good physical and mental health. While the images in Oedipus are shockingly graphic, the tale illustrates the need for establishing healthy distances and eventual independence. Freud has never gained complete acceptance of the theory as a source of neurosis. Still, people understand implications of the psychological imperative for breaking from many forms of childlike thinking and for ending guilt.
The End of Your Rope
What does it mean to be "at the end of your rope"? This expression (late 1600's) alludes to a tied-up animal that can graze only as far as the rope (or tether) permits. In addition a rope is thrown to someone who is in a difficult place such as in deep water or on the edge of a cliff. The "end of the rope" means no one else is available for help or the effort is a final attempt. Of course, the idiom is used to indicate a person is at the limit of his patience or endurance.
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld wisecracks with wit, “Well, birthdays are merely symbolic of how another year has gone by and how little we've grown. No matter how desperate we are that someday a better self will emerge, with each flicker of the candles on the cake, we know it's not to be, that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we are to the bitter end. Inevitably, irrevocably; happy birthday? No such thing."
Maybe humans need to become much more proficient at accessing needed change and at initiating behavioral modification. Even nearing "the end of the rope," they may make successful modification. Still, since people are not perfect, they are inevitably going to press their luck, so naturally they must deal with many crises while dangling dangerously over an abyss. At these times in life, many beg for any form of salvation. For some, preparation for redemption has proven vital.
Roads and Bitter Ends
Some idiomatic ends are fairly evident. When one reaches the "end of the road" or a "dead end," he is in a situation in which no more progress can be made. The only recourse in these situations is to make a change. But, a person who "stays until the bitter end" continues a task until it is completely finished, although it is extremely difficult and takes a long time.
Offering a lesson in etymology, none other than Captain Smith in Seaman's Grammar, 1627, said:
"A Bitter is but the turne of a Cable about the Bits, and veare it out by little and little. And the Bitters end is that part of the Cable doth stay within boord."
Thus, a bitt is a post fastened in the deck of a ship, for fastening cables and ropes. When a rope is played out to the bitter end, it means there is no more rope to be used.
Synonymous with dregs, from Old Norse of the 1300's meaning the muddy muck at the bottom of a drink, the "bitter end" requires that one who drinks each drop must display discipline and extreme perseverance. In life, this end often lies beyond the "dead end" of any road. People must decide what journeys into the unknown require their association of utmost devotion, and they must choose their traveling companions with extreme care. Too often, the first taste of bitterness makes those not devoted jump ship prematurely. Humans should expect danger and risk as they close on any sour finale.
Finality
William Ernest Hocking (1873-1966), the idealist philosopher said, "Man is the only animal that contemplates death, and also the only animal that shows any sign of doubt of its finality." Hawking believed humans have only one natural right: "an individual should develop the powers that are in him." To Hawking, the most important freedom is "the freedom to perfect one's freedom."
Hocking based his philosophy upon an understanding and acceptance of God. Hocking believed that God is the underlying unity of Being which is the permanent possibility of bridgemaking for the Modern World as for all others, and without any sacrifice of its triumphs. He is quoted in the following:
"The Modern World has only to learn that, since there are no closed sciences, there are no economic solutions on economic grounds alone, no military solutions on military grounds alone, and what is harder, no legal solutions on legal grounds alone. Nor are conflict and competition to be abolished; but to be held within an all-human solidarity, in which the ‘million masks of God’ find dignity, respect, reverence. "
To most, solutions require endings and new beginnings. Those familiar with solving problems see that new solutions are often begun and administered without success. Is it possible to live with those unsolvable things in a harmonious solidarity which encompasses all fellow men? The understanding of finality presented here is circular but painfully realistic: with many things, no finality exists at all.
Hawking might say the grace to accept a "pseudo-end" to anything negative lies within the power of all individuals involved. Most people reject acceptance of any foreign, vastly different strength of another as a threat to their survival. Ending this mindset requires internal respect and tolerance. It requires building mental agility. And, it requires a belief that, in harmony, much dissatisfaction will continue to endure.
Conclusions
In life, how does someone truly know "when it's over"? The end of anything is largely determined by the perspective of the person experiencing the closure. In most cases, the individual decides his limits, his acceptance, and eventually his endings. To what degree he should endure hardships before determining to complete the task is variable. According to modern conceptions, most individuals lack persistence and responsibility. It is evident many endings are accomplished with very little thought. In many respects, people today view endings as brief respites.
Just contemplate one arena of legal finality and wonder. According to the Center for Disease Control's National Vital Statistics Report of 2002, 50% of first marriages ended in divorce and 60% of remarriages end in divorce. But, the Center for Disease Control also found that 96% of Americans express a personal desire for marriage, and almost three-quarters of Americans believe marriage is a life long commitment.
Commitment? To use a personally detested Internet slang acronym -- WTF?
Drug addiction is most certainly a worldwide epidemic. In fact, the use of drugs has reached all-time highs. In the United States alone, figures stagger the imagination. The National Institute of Drug Abuse reports that estimates of the total overall costs of substance abuse in the United States—including health- and crime-related costs as well as losses in productivity—exceeds half a trillion dollars annually. This includes approximately $181 billion for illicit drugs, $168 billion for tobacco, and $185 billion for alcohol.
Unintentional fatal drug overdoses in America nearly doubled from 1999 to 2004 and were the second leading cause of accidental death in 2004, behind only automobile crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Researchers believe the increasing misuse of prescription drugs by those ages 15 to 24 accounts for the majority of the statistic.The CDC attributes the 62.5 percent rise in drug overdose deaths between 1999 and 2004 to a higher use of prescription painkillers and increasing numbers of overdoses of cocaine and prescription sedatives.
Very often, the treatment of addiction simply works to alleviate the symptoms of addiction, dealing with overcoming the physiological dependence and working through withdrawal symptoms as the body readjusts to a non-dependent state of homeostasis. Treatment and prevention programs should also consider that it is not just the physiology of addiction that begs attention. Enter Mr. Darwin.
Drives For Fitness and Viability
Tammy Saah reports, "It (addiction) is not just a pharmacological reaction to a chemical but a mode of compensation for a decrease in Darwinian fitness. (JL Falk, "Drug Abuse as an Adjunctive Behavior," Drug Alcohol Depend, 1998) There are three main components involved in substance addiction: developmental attachment, pharmacological mechanism, and social phylogeny including social inequality, dominance, and social dependence. (DH Lende, EO Smith, "Evolution Meets Biopsychosociality: An Analysis of Addictive Behavior," Addiction, 2002) The chemical changes associated with fitness and viability are perceived by mammals as emotions, driving human behavior."
Drug addiction causes a falsified sense of increased fitness and viability (continuing effectiveness). Evolution would support that mammals perceive gains in fitness and viability as emotions that drive human behavior.(DM Buss, "The Evolution of Happiness, Am Psychol,. 2000) For example, mammals would feel euphoric only during times where fitness levels were high, the euphoria being indicative of survival and not a modern conception of the elation of "happiness." Remember the old sage of nature? Survival of the fittest.
Dopaminergic and serotonergic systems, both of ancient origins, mediate human behavior. Positive emotions, such as euphoria and excitation, motivate humans towards increased gain and a fitness state. Some see a drug as a means to elicit these positive emotions. Also, negative emotions (pain, fear, stress, anxiety, etc.) have evolved in mammals to allude to even the slightest, most harmless potential indicator of a more serious problem. Often a person seeks help for escape from these negative emotions through drugs.
Today, people seek drugs to boost positive emotions and to eliminate negative emotions on a regular basis.
The New York Daily News (2003) published an article titled "We Need a War Vs. Legal Drugs."It suggests America is too drug dependent and begins by noting that from 1998 to 2002, sales of anti-depressant medications increased 73% to more than $12 billion, while analeptics, drugs like Ritalin and Adderall that stimulate the central nervous system, increased 167%. These figures were according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information and consulting company.
No doubt, modern drug prescriptions save millions of lives. The question is: At what price of dependency? For instance, the United States has even been dubbed the Prozac Nation. It is unlikely the $25 billion pharmaceutical industry supplying those antidepressants wants people to question the effects (for example, a rise in suicide rates) of taking a magic bullet pill to make anxiety and depression go away.
Yet, if a person administers a drug continuously and he becomes addicted to its false promises of fitness and viability, the brain becomes dependent on the drug. Without the drug, the person experiences withdrawal symptoms as the brain attempts to deal with the chemical changes.
Evolution and Changes
In ancestral environments, there was often a limited amount of drug resources for distribution, meaning there was little overactivity of salient (wanting) behavior (And, of course, less addiction). But, in a modern environment, similar limitations do not exist, and people are exposed to excessive amounts of drugs. Since human bodies are not wired to adapt to these changes, people now are much more vulnerable to developing addictions. (RM Nesse, "Psychoactive Drug Use in Evolutionary Perspective," Science, 1997)
According to Saah, "Modern environments include medical and social technologies that bring comfort and longer living than was experienced in ancient environment, so much of modern human emotion does not serve the same function as was evolutionarily performed." (Tammy Saah, "The Evolutionary Origins and Significance of Drug Addiction," Harm Reduction, June 29 2005)
While modern drug addiction indicates a false sense of fitness (improved survival), the motivation to consume the drug takes precedence even if the abuser realizes that gains in fitness are false.
The appetite for a drug may also override the drive to consummate, causing a drastic decrease in viability. The addict's emotional systems are now concentrated on drug-seeking rather than on survival. (J Panksepp, B Knutson, J Burgdorf, "The Role of Brain Emotional Systems in Addictions: A Neuro-evolutionary Perspective and New 'Self-report' Animal Model," Addiction, 2002)
Opioids
Opioid addiction is rampant. Opioids are believed to mediate the consumption of reward, with opioid addiction following a well-defined route:
1) First ensues as a pleasure-seeking behavior,
2) Tolerance to the opioid builds and pleasure resulting from drug use reduces, yet use is increased in an attempt to regain the hedonic pleasure, and
3) Withdrawal may occur with a cessation of the opioid substance differing from withdrawal from psychostimulants, but also leading to negative emotions.
Conclusions
Drug addiction not only causes various health problems but also abolishes negative emotions, such as pain. This could even shut off defense mechanisms. Even while considering genetic causes for addiction, one must admit it is usually caused by a combination of both external and internal stimuli. Can a person be pre-disposed to addiction? Yes. But, environmental and emotional stimuli may act as a catalyst towards the state of actual substance addiction.
The human brain is most likely motivated by a reward system; thus, an initial "like" for a substance leads to the insatiable "want" that correlates with abuse. Saah reports, "Although there has been a distinction made between a possibility of a reward-based abuse and a salience-based abuse (craving in which stimuli reinforces itself)*, it may be possible to see a combined effort of the two proposed systems working towards eventual drug addiction." (Tammy Saah, "The Evolutionary Origins and Significance of Drug Addiction," Harm Reduction, June 29 2005)
* For example, anti-drug agencies previously used posters with images of drug paraphernalia as an attempt to show the dangers of drug use. However, such posters are no longer used because of the effects of incentive salience in causing relapse upon sight of the stimuli illustrated in the posters.
