Wednesday, December 23, 2015
The id Post: This Christmas
The id Post: This Christmas: Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give ...
This Christmas
Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed.
Keep a promise. Find the time. Forego a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Listen. Apologize if you are wrong. Try to understand. Flout envy. Examine your demands on others. Think of others first. Be appreciative. Be kind and gentle. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more.
Be deserving of the confidence of others. Guard your heart against malice. Rise above mediocrity. Express your gratitude. Extend your hand to a stranger and the warmth of your heart to a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.
Speak your love. Speak it again. Speak it still, once again.
Anonymous
Thursday, December 17, 2015
The id Post: Either/Or? Or Both/And?
The id Post: Either/Or? Or Both/And?: by Irene Daniel Bob Dylan's great ballad perennially warns us that "the times, they are a-changin'." And today in the la...
Sunday, December 13, 2015
The id Post: Political Correctness, Anyone? Isn't it Just Good ...
The id Post: Political Correctness, Anyone? Isn't it Just Good ...: by Irene Daniel Political correctness seems to have taken on a negative connotation through the years. I was astounded when a contestant a...
Thursday, December 10, 2015
The id Post: What Did You Expect Would Happen?
The id Post: What Did You Expect Would Happen?: by Irene Daniel There appears to be much shock and awe regarding the latest divisive suggestion from Donald Trump; this time to ban all Mu...
What Did You Expect Would Happen?
by Irene Daniel
There appears to be much shock and awe regarding the latest divisive suggestion from Donald Trump; this time to ban all Muslims from entering the United States for an unspecified period of time. Even other Republicans are denouncing his remarks, and the GOP establishment is in a panic. Well, what did they expect would happen?
This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, I'm sure, we hear of Trump's maliciously vitriolic statements directed at one group of persons or another. This has been going on for weeks and months. And yet, this is the first time that GOP leaders have made any real attempt to call him out and denounce him.
I'm not going to take the time to explain that Trump's proposal is unconstitutional, because it is. That should be obvious. Nor will I engage in comparisons to Hitler. I'll let my readers draw their own conclusions. If you look up the word fascist, and do a little research on how Hitler came to power, you will find similarities, as well as distinctions.
My question is for the Republican party: what did you expect would happen?
What did you expect would happen when Trump's GOP opponents proposed policies that may seem less outlandish, but are equally unconstitutional and divisive? For example, Jeb Bush suggested that only Christian refugees should be allowed into the United States. Isn't that just one small click to the left of the GOP front-runner?
And then there's Ted Cruz, perhaps the most similar to Trump in tone, who refuses to denounce Trump outright. Cruz is a strong 2nd choice to Trump in many GOP polls, and stands to gain the most should Trump leave the race, or simply becomes unpalatable to a majority of Republican primary voters; neither of which seems likely at this point.
There are many other examples of Republican candidates and Republican leadership making statements and adopting policies that blame and shame "the other." The immigrant, the non-white, the working poor and women have had to fight for respect in the party of Lincoln for a very long time. This kind of language and demonizing has been going on since Lee Atwater's Southern Strategy so successfully elected Republicans in the 1970s.
This monster of subtle racism and blaming those with the least power in our society, "the least of these," has been allowed to fester for far too long. So long that it has grown into a cancer in our American soul, and may very well doom the Republican party next year, and perhaps for several election cycles to come.
For now, not only does Trump refuse to leave the presidential race, he is openly suggesting that he will bolt the party and run as a third-party candidate if he is "not treated fairly," whatever that means. I'm sure that only Donald Trump has the answer to that question.
I laud the comments of so many Republican leaders who have openly and unmistakably denounced Donald Trump. Bob Dole -- for whom I have the utmost respect -- among others like Senator and fellow GOP presidential candidate Lindsay Graham, Speaker Paul Ryan and even Dick Cheney can see how very dangerous Trump and his words are; not only to their party, but to our national security. I thank them for speaking up. Finally.
However, for those of who have witnessed decades of messages aimed squarely at the subliminal and subconscious bias of middle-class white Americans, throwing the rest of us under the bus in order to win elections, we could have told you where this divisiveness would lead. Moreover, the emerging demographics for our 21st century America -- predominantly Latinos, women and millennials -- does not favor the GOP, a party that is 90% white and over the age of 50.
So, for the GOP, it might just be too little too late.
Copyright 2015, Irene Daniel, all rights reserved.
There appears to be much shock and awe regarding the latest divisive suggestion from Donald Trump; this time to ban all Muslims from entering the United States for an unspecified period of time. Even other Republicans are denouncing his remarks, and the GOP establishment is in a panic. Well, what did they expect would happen?
This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, I'm sure, we hear of Trump's maliciously vitriolic statements directed at one group of persons or another. This has been going on for weeks and months. And yet, this is the first time that GOP leaders have made any real attempt to call him out and denounce him.
I'm not going to take the time to explain that Trump's proposal is unconstitutional, because it is. That should be obvious. Nor will I engage in comparisons to Hitler. I'll let my readers draw their own conclusions. If you look up the word fascist, and do a little research on how Hitler came to power, you will find similarities, as well as distinctions.
My question is for the Republican party: what did you expect would happen?
What did you expect would happen when Trump's GOP opponents proposed policies that may seem less outlandish, but are equally unconstitutional and divisive? For example, Jeb Bush suggested that only Christian refugees should be allowed into the United States. Isn't that just one small click to the left of the GOP front-runner?
And then there's Ted Cruz, perhaps the most similar to Trump in tone, who refuses to denounce Trump outright. Cruz is a strong 2nd choice to Trump in many GOP polls, and stands to gain the most should Trump leave the race, or simply becomes unpalatable to a majority of Republican primary voters; neither of which seems likely at this point.
There are many other examples of Republican candidates and Republican leadership making statements and adopting policies that blame and shame "the other." The immigrant, the non-white, the working poor and women have had to fight for respect in the party of Lincoln for a very long time. This kind of language and demonizing has been going on since Lee Atwater's Southern Strategy so successfully elected Republicans in the 1970s.
This monster of subtle racism and blaming those with the least power in our society, "the least of these," has been allowed to fester for far too long. So long that it has grown into a cancer in our American soul, and may very well doom the Republican party next year, and perhaps for several election cycles to come.
For now, not only does Trump refuse to leave the presidential race, he is openly suggesting that he will bolt the party and run as a third-party candidate if he is "not treated fairly," whatever that means. I'm sure that only Donald Trump has the answer to that question.
I laud the comments of so many Republican leaders who have openly and unmistakably denounced Donald Trump. Bob Dole -- for whom I have the utmost respect -- among others like Senator and fellow GOP presidential candidate Lindsay Graham, Speaker Paul Ryan and even Dick Cheney can see how very dangerous Trump and his words are; not only to their party, but to our national security. I thank them for speaking up. Finally.
However, for those of who have witnessed decades of messages aimed squarely at the subliminal and subconscious bias of middle-class white Americans, throwing the rest of us under the bus in order to win elections, we could have told you where this divisiveness would lead. Moreover, the emerging demographics for our 21st century America -- predominantly Latinos, women and millennials -- does not favor the GOP, a party that is 90% white and over the age of 50.
So, for the GOP, it might just be too little too late.
Copyright 2015, Irene Daniel, all rights reserved.
Sunday, December 6, 2015
The id Post: It's A Lot of Little Things
The id Post: It's A Lot of Little Things: by Irene Daniel We hear a lot of talk these days about our nation's many woes. We hear a number of solutions offered. Some are a littl...
Thursday, December 3, 2015
The id Post: On PTSD
The id Post: On PTSD: by Irene Daniel Surrounded by so much violence lately -- Paris, Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, and now San Bernadino -- I've ...
The id Post: On PTSD
The id Post: On PTSD: by Irene Daniel Surrounded by so much violence lately -- Paris, Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, and now San Bernadino -- I've ...
On PTSD
by Irene Daniel
Surrounded by so much violence lately -- Paris, Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, and now San Bernadino -- I've been doing a lot of thinking about PTSD. There sure is an overabundance of it lately. And I wonder if we are becoming so used to watching mass slaughters on television that we don't have the time or emotional energy to ponder what it really means.
PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is as old as the hills; even though it's been called different things at different times. Shell shock. Battle fatigue. These terms were used during the World Wars to describe its effects on those traumatized in combat. However, such veterans were still often seen as weak or too frail. This changed somewhat in the post-Vietnam era; and now we seem to have a better handle on this condition than ever before. That's a good thing because we seem to be experiencing it more and more. And it proliferates now, not just in theaters of war, but in "soft targets" that have left us more shocked than ever.
I am privileged to have a neighbor who is not merely a WWII vet, but one of the few survivors left of the USS Indianapolis, the greatest naval disaster in American history. He's an old man now, although he is in great physical shape. He takes much better care of himself than I do and is quite agile. He knows all about PTSD, with all the depression and anxiety that it brings. It's one of the many things we have in common. We have survived trauma. And it has never completely gone away.
Even after decades have passed, children and grandchildren have been born and we have moved to different locations, it's still there. Not all the time, but lurking in our memories and occasionally in our dreams. It's still there.
And I thought about Gabby Giffords, who was nearly murdered outside of a shopping mall a few years ago as she was serving her congressional constituency. She survived too; and lives with the knowledge that a lot of people didn't. I wonder what goes through her head every time another one of these mass shootings takes place. It can't be easy. And yet, she lets her voice -- her survivor's voice -- be heard every single time. And there have been a lot of those times since then, all too many.
But PTSD doesn't just affect those of us who directly experience the trauma. It affects our families and friends, our unborn children and our co-workers. It is invisible and sneaks up on us when we least expect it, as well as when we revisit it by watching other traumatic events; not to mention anniversary dates that loom large every year. We know how it feels.
Tonight in Southern California, there are 14 families grieving; 14 families whose Holiday Season will never, ever be the same. They may recover and have future Happy Thanksgivings and Merry Christmases, or Kwanzas or whatever Holiday they celebrate in December, but they will never be the same. Ever.
And for those who survived the trauma, their new reality is just beginning. Some may have permanent physical injuries and scars that will eventually heal to the extent possible. Some may be permanently disfigured -- a constant, and usually physically painful, reminder of what happened. For some, the survivor's guilt may be so great that they may wish they hadn't survived. Undoubtedly, they will need extensive medical and mental health care for a long time, if not for the rest of their lives.
My neighbor has sparked my curiosity about the Indianapolis, and I've been doing a lot of reading about this historic event. I have learned that other survivors (there are only 29 left now) have also suffered greatly. Some of them, especially the officers, were so overwhelmed with grief and guilt that they committed suicide; often years later.
The trauma we experience in our lives never leaves us completely. It messes with us and often prevents us from being at our best, mostly in subliminal ways that we don't even notice until later, if ever. And we lament the lost part of our souls as we find ourselves unable to give our all to our families and to our work. Many of us escape into drugs, alcohol or some other distraction that disables us from being the parents, husbands, wives and friends that we wish we could be.
Trauma is a demon that never dies. It lives on in the PTSD of its victims, as well as in all the lives we survivors touch.
So why are we so anxious to create more of it?
Copyright 2015, Irene Daniel, all rights reserved.
Surrounded by so much violence lately -- Paris, Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, and now San Bernadino -- I've been doing a lot of thinking about PTSD. There sure is an overabundance of it lately. And I wonder if we are becoming so used to watching mass slaughters on television that we don't have the time or emotional energy to ponder what it really means.
PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is as old as the hills; even though it's been called different things at different times. Shell shock. Battle fatigue. These terms were used during the World Wars to describe its effects on those traumatized in combat. However, such veterans were still often seen as weak or too frail. This changed somewhat in the post-Vietnam era; and now we seem to have a better handle on this condition than ever before. That's a good thing because we seem to be experiencing it more and more. And it proliferates now, not just in theaters of war, but in "soft targets" that have left us more shocked than ever.
I am privileged to have a neighbor who is not merely a WWII vet, but one of the few survivors left of the USS Indianapolis, the greatest naval disaster in American history. He's an old man now, although he is in great physical shape. He takes much better care of himself than I do and is quite agile. He knows all about PTSD, with all the depression and anxiety that it brings. It's one of the many things we have in common. We have survived trauma. And it has never completely gone away.
Even after decades have passed, children and grandchildren have been born and we have moved to different locations, it's still there. Not all the time, but lurking in our memories and occasionally in our dreams. It's still there.
And I thought about Gabby Giffords, who was nearly murdered outside of a shopping mall a few years ago as she was serving her congressional constituency. She survived too; and lives with the knowledge that a lot of people didn't. I wonder what goes through her head every time another one of these mass shootings takes place. It can't be easy. And yet, she lets her voice -- her survivor's voice -- be heard every single time. And there have been a lot of those times since then, all too many.
But PTSD doesn't just affect those of us who directly experience the trauma. It affects our families and friends, our unborn children and our co-workers. It is invisible and sneaks up on us when we least expect it, as well as when we revisit it by watching other traumatic events; not to mention anniversary dates that loom large every year. We know how it feels.
Tonight in Southern California, there are 14 families grieving; 14 families whose Holiday Season will never, ever be the same. They may recover and have future Happy Thanksgivings and Merry Christmases, or Kwanzas or whatever Holiday they celebrate in December, but they will never be the same. Ever.
And for those who survived the trauma, their new reality is just beginning. Some may have permanent physical injuries and scars that will eventually heal to the extent possible. Some may be permanently disfigured -- a constant, and usually physically painful, reminder of what happened. For some, the survivor's guilt may be so great that they may wish they hadn't survived. Undoubtedly, they will need extensive medical and mental health care for a long time, if not for the rest of their lives.
My neighbor has sparked my curiosity about the Indianapolis, and I've been doing a lot of reading about this historic event. I have learned that other survivors (there are only 29 left now) have also suffered greatly. Some of them, especially the officers, were so overwhelmed with grief and guilt that they committed suicide; often years later.
The trauma we experience in our lives never leaves us completely. It messes with us and often prevents us from being at our best, mostly in subliminal ways that we don't even notice until later, if ever. And we lament the lost part of our souls as we find ourselves unable to give our all to our families and to our work. Many of us escape into drugs, alcohol or some other distraction that disables us from being the parents, husbands, wives and friends that we wish we could be.
Trauma is a demon that never dies. It lives on in the PTSD of its victims, as well as in all the lives we survivors touch.
So why are we so anxious to create more of it?
Copyright 2015, Irene Daniel, all rights reserved.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
The id Post: How We Decide: A Personal Story of Choice
The id Post: How We Decide: A Personal Story of Choice: by Irene Daniel About 34 years ago, I made the most profound and challenging decision of my entire life. I was pregnant, unmarried, emo...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)