Where to Now?tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-161867722005-09-05T17:23:08ZBlogger
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trueBill2005-09-04T23:51:00-07:002005-09-05T07:00:00Z2005-09-05T06:52:03Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16186772.post-112590312325554688If you think you have an opinion on the tragedy in New Orleans, THIS blog is for you!<ol style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" > <li><span style="font-size:130%;">How do you feel about Americans being referred to as refugees?</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><font></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:130%;"><font></span>How do you feel about the emphasis on "looting" as compared to the repair of the levee? Is the levee repair the "real" problem?</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><font></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:130%;"><font></span>How do you feel about the response to the relief efforts for a country as technologically advanced as the U.S.?</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><font></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:130%;"><font></span>What do you think the media coverage actually achieved in their coverage of the New Orleans tragedy?</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><font></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:130%;"><font></span>What lessons should we learn from the tragedy, from a personal standpoint? Not from the standpoint of those who suffered loss.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><font></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:130%;"><font></span>Where to now? Not only with respect to Louisiana and Mississippi, but as a NATION?</span></li> </ol> <div face="arial" style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"> </div> <div face="arial" style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"> </div> <div face="arial" style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"> </div> <div style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"> </div> <div style="font-weight: bold; font-family: arial;"> </div>falseBill2005-09-03T18:13:00-07:002005-09-05T17:23:07Z2005-09-04T01:44:20Ztag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16186772.post-112579826090864924How one little book can help rebuild New Orleans<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:14;"></span></span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Six months ago, I was inspired to put in print a story that had been begging me to write it for a long time.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">The product of that internal nagging is a little book entitled </span><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Animal Kingdom: a Diversity Fable.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">In the simplest terms possible, this book is set on the plains of Africa, where various groups of animals learn that natural disasters are Nature's way of teaching us the most valuable lessons -- which we are then free to either accept or reject.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">In the case of my book, the lesson is taught through a deluge and subsequent flood.<br /></span></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Frankly, the similarities between the disasters in <i>Animal Kingdom</i> and the New Orleans Tragedy are striking. What's not known is how similar the responses will be. It is my hope to use this space and the book itself to encourage the people affected by this disaster -- meaning all Americans -- to find the courage to not only rebuild the areas devastated by this flood, but rebuild our relationships and in ways that will give true meaning to these events. <?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>In addition</i> to the mental, physical, and spiritual devastation of the event, what messages might we draw from this event?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Like “<i>Animal Kingdom</i>”, an existing state of polarization, anger, and conflict creates a corresponding state of expression in the natural environment. A Category Five hurricane is a violent expression of nature, which mirrors much of the state of events of this planet driven by fear. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Fear yields defensive as well as offensive acts of violence. This description does not deal with who is right or wrong, good or bad, or winners and losers. It simply states that what we observe in human consciousness is mirrored in the consciousness of Nature’s expressions!<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">What does this all mean?<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Until we collectively acquire the humility to live compatibly, conflict and misery will be a way of life. History makes this clear.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">I know that our posterity will look back on this event as a turning point for our nation. What's less clear is which of the two roads we will take: either the one leading to mutual empowerment and prosperity, or the one leading to hopelessness and decline.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Because I have hope that starting with the destitute of New Orleans themselves we can turn this tragedy into new life, I am making my book available in audio format and as a podcast on this website. Please take a couple of hours to listen and hopefully enjoy and learn from this story, and then add your comments and reaction below. </span><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></div>false