Not Many Words

It does not require many words to speak the truth.

-- Chief Joseph

Muscle of Condemnation

Ever noticed...how well developed our muscle of condemnation is?

It Is Christ Himself

The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges. She knows that her proclamation of the Gospel is credible only when it is translated into gestures of closeness and welcome. And she knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community. 

-- Pope Leo

3 Observations & A Question

When you maintain superiority over others, you end up with distance from others. 

Giving without demand or expectation of return opens the possibility for the joy of true receiving. 

 

You really do have to get used to not knowing…especially about the future (to what any new day will bring).

 

When do we become aware of the perception that other people have of us (is prior to that point what we call the age of innocence)?

 

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

ICE Spent $700M & ...

New York Times

AXIOS

The problem isn’t elections. We won the damn elections!

-- Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)

Healing Also Means

Healing also means taking an honest look at the role you play in your own suffering.

-- Unknown

Legislating Morality

Legislation is not very effective when it comes to morality; it is much better suited as a supplement.

I was thinking about this after noticing a sign on a recent morning walk. The sign was for a conference by the Association of Christian Librarians.

For a minute or two, I thought that was a rather novel concept. Until I considered that something about books has been used for a long time to organize thought around areas like morality (among other things, of course). And, the very idea of having a conference for Christian librarians reflects this reality. My mind went, of course, to the current efforts, by our government, to control what books are available in the public sphere (often under a banner of something called Christian). Like many things, it feels like such identities emerge, when something feels threatened, whether we’re talking about something governmental or Christian.

Published material plays an important part in culture (or at least often it does). And, therefore, in morality. Often, organized efforts around something like morality beg the question of what it actually is in the first place. And, while I’ve discussed this before, it seems that when it comes to morality, there are many common themes throughout time and spaces where people exist. I think it must be noticed, however, that there are also some significant divergences (which again should beg the question about the existential nature of it). And, because morality seems to be a construct of larger notions about what it means to live together as human beings, it would appear that those are hard to completely capture in something that can be legislated. In other words, the idea would seem to be that morality is larger than something than only words can describe (although I think we should be grateful, in most cases, for the attempts those words make).

Back to the question of legislation. It appears that legislation is often an attempt to codify something at the very least and, in particular, in relation to morality. Because it not only tries to describe what it is or what it should be, but it also reaches towards trying to dictate what it is or should be. And, invariably it seems (especially in this context), it is difficult to avoid being dumped off on the doorstep of censorship. Somebody or something (or a group of either) is often attempting to determine what needs to be included in the space the words take up as a means of controlling for the things that should be included, as well as the things that should be excluded.

This dynamic is not particularly confined to something like morality, as it is involved in many scopes of reality. The Bible, for example, was largely constructed from this dynamic as men (and some women) debated what was the most appropriate to include and what to exclude. Perhaps, this is just a human thing we do and it, in and of itself, is not inherently bad. But it can be. Ostensibly, legislation is often an attempt to distinguish when it is and when it isn’t.

The legislative enterprise is as constructive and fraught with dynamics that exist in nearly any enterprise. But, the making of law is something that should be carefully understood, especially given the range of dynamics involved.

So, am I talking about libraries or books? Or, morality or censorship? Or, legislation and the range of what is true that cannot be codified (but is commonly understood in some innate way by the scope of human experience throughout time and space)?

Yes.

Unexpected

If you do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected happens.

-- Fay Weldon

Who You Are

One day, if you have a little bit of talent and a lot of hard work, you're going to find out who you are.

-- Massimo Bottura

Gives Us Our Gift

I'm wondering...if what comes most close to killing us gives us our gift to the world.

They Will Know We Are Christians By...

On this Fathers Day, we have an opportunity to reconsider the role fathers have on setting the pace for this:

 

What if we as Christians were known more for our feet washing than our sin bashing?

-- Carlos A. Rodriguez

…because like it or not, we have been (setting the pace) for much of patriarchal human history (in both good and bad ways).

3 Observations & A Question

Every time you say ‘no’ to something (especially if it is unhealthy), you are in a better position to say ‘yes’ to something else.

 

I know that whatever you're doing right now isn't the only thing that is true about you.

  

Our choices affect other people — we can’t just make them and then pray they don’t…we have to make them in the first place because they do.

 

What if you don’t walk at the same pace as someone else?

 

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

MOU, U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and Working Parents

 
New York Times

 
AXIOS

AXIOS

Juneteenth, 2026

Nobody’s free until everybody’s free. 

-- Fannie Lou Hame

Dr. Karida Brown, a sociology professor at Emory University whose research focuses on race, said there's no reason to feel awkward about wanting to recognize Juneteenth because you have no personal ties or you're not Black. In fact, embrace it. 

"I would reframe that and challenge my non-Black folks who want to lean into Juneteenth and celebrate," Brown said. "It absolutely is your history. It absolutely is a part of your experience. ... Isn't this all of our history? The good, the bad, the ugly, the story of emancipation and freedom for for your Black brothers and sisters under the Constitution of the law."  Continue...here.

Also:

Juneteenth stands as DEI retreats

Able To Do

The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do.

-- Amelia Earhart

No one is autonomous.

No one is autonomous.

Who said Elon Musk is the one who gets to decide anyway? 

"Well, no one specifically, but he is…".

He is what?

"Well, you know — smart, innovative, a status quo breaker, brought us more things that have changed the world than any other human being, etc.".

So, how do we respond?

The systems driving our economies reward him with unprecedented wealth. And, therefore, power. 

But, why Musk?

Question: is what he has done, good? Answer: well....

Question: is he a good person? Answer: well…based on what we tend to know, probably not.

So, why have we bestowed so much power on him?

Because the right kind of person (Trump), at the right moment and time, can give an Elon Musk unprecedented access (DOGE) to nearly unlimited resources, if that would benefit that person.

One person.

Is that what we really want? One person, with the majority of the power (because he has the majority of the money) getting to decide how that power (money) will be used to organize societies around the world? (What, by the way, does it tell us when that person appears to be developing an exit strategy from the Earth itself? What does he think he knows?)

Is this a good thing? Is that what the rest of us really want?

"Oh, c'mon, he’s just a smart guy. It's just capitalism; he's made lots of money – give him a break."

Really? Our response to the upshot of these realities is…give him a break?

No one is autonomous.

What he is doing is impacting all of us, whether we know it or not.

We need each other. He may not believe that he does; but, we do. The concentration of power / money in one person‘s hands who doesn’t recognize that he needs us should be a frightful thing.

But, it isn’t…for too many of us.

It must be that we think that it's OK somehow, as long as we benefit from an Elon‘s smartness (and money). Perhaps there are some ways that we do. But, after you listen to him talk for a while, and after you look into the ideologies that have shaped what he believes, you start to wonder whether the endgame for him is what we’ve imagined it to be…just more money (doesn't feel like it)?

It has been said that (the love of) money is the root of all evil. That can be understood to mean a lot of things. But, in the frame of what I’m presenting here, we could wonder if the evil involved is the kind of power hidden behind the money.

$1 trillion is more than just a little bit more money. $1 trillion is more than the whole economies of 170 countries. $1 trillion worth is a notable fraction of the whole US economy. (What is a trillion of anything, anyway?)

The likes of $1 trillion got Elon access to our government ostensibly for the purpose of reducing spending (ironically, in a way that would enhance the possibility of Elon‘s particular $1 trillion...which was probably the plan all the way along). Not to mention, among other things, how that money was being used to aid other societies around the world, to aid research that allows the US to aid other societies around the world (not to mention our own society).

No one is autonomous...because nothing is autonomous.

A Long Way Away

MORNING BREW

They Don't Scare You

Most success comes from 50 small things moving in the same direction, not one big thing.

... 

One way to beat fear is with steps so small they don't scare you.

As you get closer to fear, you realize there was never anything there to be afraid of.

-- Shane Parrish

Required Of

I’ve noticed…that I often feel required of.

And, perhaps more importantly, why I can tend to frame it that way. 

Hoarding

If there’s one thing Jesus is opposed to, it’s hoarding—and it’s not just about physical possessions. The ego is the ultimate hoarder. It hangs on to everything. We hoard our entitlements: I am rich, I am educated, I am a person of authority. We hoard our principles and ideologies; we hoard our self-justifications and our resentments. We use all these things to line the nest of our fragile sense of selfhood.  

But Jesus sets himself against any kind of hoarding. He teaches a path of radical non-clinging. He says in effect, “Don’t clench your fist. Open your hands.” The world is abundant and provident beyond belief, and what flows through it is a coherence, a beauty, a life force that is a direct expression of the heart of God.  Continue…here.

-- Richard Rohr

3 Observations & A Question

At the end of the day, you can’t require anyone to take care of you.

 

At some point, we have to acknowledge how our compulsions set us back.

 

Much of the time, just keeping yourself in a position for something to happen is the most important thing you can do.

 

We tend to think if we had more money, we would be able to be more free — but, seriously, how often have you observed that to be the case?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Social Security & Solar vs Coal

 

Robert Reich

 
AXIOS

I Do Not Live By Being Right

I will live by the best I can discern today. Tomorrow I may find out I was wrong. Since I do not live by being right, I am not destroyed by being wrong.

-- Verna Dozier

Another, Seriously — This Is Our President?

Another, Seriously — This is our President?:

If You Thought Tulsi Gabbard Was A Problem:

 

The law that creates the DNI position specifies that the nominee “shall have extensive national security expertise.” Pulte lacks any expertise, let alone extensive experience, which one might think a president would want at a time of international tension and outright war. But he is loyal to Trump, which, apparently, is the only criterion that matters here. Continue...here.

-- Joyce Vance

The Senate Should NOT Confirm This Person

How much more is needed for the obvious, Trump continues to fleece America for his own greatness (as he perceives it anyway)...not America's:

Trump’s interest in profiting off the presidency remains clear. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post reported today that 14 of the 27 known donors to Trump’s $400 million ballroom project have won new or expanded federal contracts totaling over $50 billion since they made their donations. Continue...here. 

-- Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American

There is no democracy without journalism.

-- Scott  Pelley

I Rose To It

I didn't fall in love, I rose in it.

-- Toni Morrison

Prescription: Against My Position

I have what I call an iron prescription that helps me keep sane when I naturally drift toward preferring one ideology over another. And that is I say ‘I’m not entitled to have an opinion on this subject unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people do who are supporting it.’ I think only when I reach that stage am I qualified to speak. 

-- Charlie Munger

If only there were more of us who were willing to take this medicine....

Ineffective

Ever noticed...how ineffective trying to out-yell someone is?

Inflation & Data Centers

 
GALLUP - Front Page

 
GALLUP

Wholehearted Spirituality

Wholehearted spirituality in the freedom of the Spirit gives us courage, courage to bear witness to God’s grace against all odds, courage to speak despite efforts to silence us, courage to act authentically and in ways that encourage and empower the weak and the vulnerable. 

-- Rebecca Button Pritchard

4 Observations (from Others)

We have this habit of thinking that our “current” self is the permanent one.

--  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

 

I want to become acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted. 

-- Sylvia Plath

When we open up space for the Spirit and let the Spirit fill that space within us, we begin to change, and we become agents of change.

-- Brian McLaren

 

And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good. 

-- John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

On The Lighter Side: But Do Not

 On the Lighter Side:

What Would Emerge?

In an area that I routinely walk, someone recently cleared a bunch of the heavy foliage that had built up next to the path. Just a few days later there were three or four different kinds of flowers that I had never seen before growing in the cleared area.

Which got me thinking — what kinds of things would emerge in my life, if I were willing to clear out of the way some of the things that have grown up in front of them?

Don't Walk Away From

You have to pick the places you don't walk away from. 

-- Joan Didion

LT: Ideas From Others

A good leader is curious to hear ideas from others. A bad leader cares more that others hear their ideas.

 -- Simon Sinek

As A Society

I'm wondering...about what causes us as a society to fall asleep to what is going on around us (or, for that matter, to wake up).

HISTORY: Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear

MORNING BREW

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

June 1 is always an important day; per the above, now as much as ever.

An important historical reading...here.