Illegal immigration poses serious problems for America, on many levels and for many different reasons. It absolutely must be dealt with if we wish to preserve our heritage and culture and “establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, [and] provide for the common defence…”
It is, in fact, such a monumental and profound issue that to arrive at and enact long-term solutions will require us to raise the level, temper the tone, and deepen the wisdom of the current discussion.
We’ve all witnessed or taken part in furious debates about illegal immigration, and undoubtedly received intense mass emails about it. The issue is definitely a turbulent fire raging across America.
My immediate concerns have less to do with illegal immigration as a fact, and more with the virulence surrounding the issue. It’s imperative that we extinguish the flames of fear and enmity and find solutions initiated by love and kindness, infused with human dignity and respect, and based in justice and principle.
Specifically, there are three destructive tendencies that must be eliminated from the anti-illegal immigration stance in order to raise the level of the debate and find real and lasting solutions. These are… Continue reading »
We waste so much time and energy lamenting our flaws and weaknesses. If only I was taller, we think. If only I could sing better. If only I was a faster reader. If only I was a more persuasive public speaker. If only I didn’t have to wear glasses. If only I could run faster and jump higher. If only…
If only we could realize that our weaknesses are hidden pearls, possible goldmines of opportunity and success. Then we could fully submit to God, accept–rather than resist–our current state, embrace our weaknesses, and unleash our potential. Our weaknesses, far from being annoying obstacles, can be precious keys that open the doors to our success, wealth, and happiness.
It was precisely the weakness of the American army during the Revolutionary War that led Washington to be creative, to innovate and beat the British the only way that they could have been beaten. Thomas Jefferson was shy and considered himself a poor public speaker. Is it any wonder, then, that he found his voice through writing, and produced one of the most powerful political documents in all of history? Louis L’Amour began as a second-rate writer, and his numerous rejection slips propelled him to travel the world and work various jobs to gain the experience and insight that led his treasured tales of adventure.
Jacques Lusseyran, a leader in the French Resistance to the Nazis, also found his greatest strength because of a weakness.
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Overcoming Self-Deception Through the Study of History
I am Rome, and Rome is me. I am Greece, and Greece is me. I have in me the best of humanity, and the worst of humanity, as we all do. I am Aurelius and Caligula. I am Socrates; I am also and the mob that murdered Socrates without legitimate cause. I am a Stoic and an Epicurean. I am the Enlightenment, and I am the Dark Ages.
I, like every individual human being, embody every aspect of human nature–for good or for evil–that has been displayed throughout history.
History is the study of human nature, the museum of human action that tells us less about the past than it tells us about ourselves as volitional beings. Santayana once said that, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” This is so, not because we make mistakes because of forgetfulness, but because humans have a predictable, homogenous nature; our actions may be different from one another but we all act for the same reasons.
In other words, it’s not entirely precise to say that the purpose of studying history is to teach us about the past, in order that we might better navigate the future. More precisely, the purpose of studying history is to learn about ourselves as individual human beings. As historian David McCullough stated, “History is who we are and why we are the way we are.”
The more conscious we are of ourselves and of our nature the more capable we are of guiding and controlling that nature. History–our own and that of others–shows plainly that humans have a dual nature, and the struggle between Continue reading »
One prevailing counterfeit of humility is self-deprecation, or thinking you have little or no value. But as Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale wrote, “People with humility don’t think less of themselves; they just think of themselves less.”
Pride leads you to compare yourself to others and to derive your self-worth from things outside of yourself. When you’re humble, you’re only concerned with your own progress relative to yourself–not to other people. True humility flows from having the proper allegiance to a Higher Power; no matter how far you’ve come, your Higher Power can show you how far you have yet to go.
Humility–used properly–can help you to always stay producing no matter how much value you’ve produced in the past. It opens your mind to see how much more you can do. Be humble without devaluing yourself, and value yourself without being prideful.
Suggested reading: The Power of Ethical Management by Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale
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Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who survived the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. Under the worst circumstances imaginable, he found that he still had a fundamental freedom.
He wrote, “The experiences of camp life show that man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms–to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Do we who live in the freest nation in the history of the world have any excuse for not being heroes?
Suggested reading: Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
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Do you see the world as it is, or as you are?
The universe abounds with lessons to teach us, but too often we prefer to be the teacher, instead of the student. We spend our lives trying to teach the universe to conform to our perceptions and our whims, instead of being open, teachable, and willing to be molded by the eternal truths that surround us.
To the extent that we are unable to conform our thoughts, speech, emotions, and actions to universal principles, we will be unhappy and frustrated with our circumstances. Any time you experience hardships, stop your instinctive resistance, ask yourself what the Universe is trying to teach you, and quietly accept.
Stop getting mad at what the mirror is reflecting and realize that you cannot change things until you accept them as they are.
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