The WMail Newsletter
Volume IV   [Year 2003]   Part 1

Issue #31: "Bilingualism"
[January 2003]

>+<    G.E. Nordell, editor    >+<

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"Freud asked 'What do women want?' That has been answered: Women want
security; men want adventure. Said another way, men tend to be hunters
and women tend to be gatherers."
— G.E. Nordell

"Every company of the future is going to be in the business of exquisite care."
— Fernando Flores

"Society is like a stew. If you don't keep it stirred up, you get a lot of scum on top."
— Edward Abbey [1927-89]

"Liberty is your right not to lie."
— Albert Camus

"A long time ago this was our future."
— poet Richard Brautigan [1935-84]

"The American Way ... is finding someone to blame."
— Dennis Lehane

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" B I L I N G U A L I S M "
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        The two most important languages on planet Earth these days are English – the language of international commerce and of the media – and Chinese, which is spoken by one of every six humans.
        The second tier of importance includes Spanish and Arabic and French – for their wide use – and Japanese, from Japan's economic influence.
        The third tier of importance covers Portuguese (for Brasil), German, and Russian.
        The remaining languages are essentially regional or minor.

        Success in business in the global economy requires fluency in one or more of the languages in Tier One or Tier Two, no matter where you live. This holds within both the corporate and government structures as well as for every individual. Business operations – reception, customer service, sales, websites, advertising – that entail use of one or more languages provide access to major additional segments of the global economy. Likewise, the executive or office worker or retail clerk with multi-fluency has the edge over co-workers and competitors who do not.
        The isolationism of single-language operations in business and in government amounts to arrogance, and eliminates the single-language entity from effective competition.

EDUCATION
        There are any number of ways for the individual to learn a second or even third language. Immigrants – whether legal or illegal – who refuse to become fluent in the language of their host country prevent their own success. It is mind-boggling that there are Spanish-speaking families in East Los Angeles, for example, who have lived here in the U.S.A. for forty years and still have learned nary a word of English!
        Allegiance to 'Old Country' ways is not a bad thing, as such traditional cultures often have a richness lacking in dominant mass-media cultures. However, the avoidance of the primary means of communication with the host culture brings great harm, especially economically. If a job seeker cannot read the want ads in English, then he/she is restricted to a cultural ghetto. When non-English is spoken exclusively in the home, then the children of the second and third generations suffer a more-difficult time when each begins school. {See WMail Issue #6: How We Learn}

        When author Joseph Wambaugh first became a police officer, the L.A.P.D. assigned him to a Spanish-speaking neighborhood. His choice for learning Spanish was to attend the Spanish-language movie theaters in Downtown L.A. and learn the language by verbal example, by reading the English subtitles. (Perhaps nowadays such subtitled movies can be found on television.)
        Yet a great many Hispanics refuse to participate in ANY English-language input: Their allegiance to the ghetto includes Spanish in the home and possibly work environments, as well as exclusively Spanish-language newspapers and magazines and Spanish-language TV and radio and movies.
        If Hispanics do not absorb the English language as a tool for survival in the marketplace, then they close themselves off from participation in the larger culture – admittedly a dubious influence. But more important, they close themselves off from participation in the larger economy.
        (Since I live in Southern California, I cite the Hispanic population as an example; map the Tier One and Tier Two and other languages of your own locale onto the subject – ghettos come in many forms.)

        So the logical, success-promotive strategy is to learn one or more languages of a higher Tier: native tribes of Brasil should obtain knowledge of Portuguese; Mayans of Mexico should learn Spanish; Israelis should all learn Arabic; Arabic-speakers should learn English; Japanese and Koreans should learn either English or Chinese.
        And such must be the policy in the schools, from the first day of pre-school or kindergarten. Children who do not speak English (for example) are seriously disadvantaged in America. I do not propose any one method or program over another, but rather assert that the policy of bilingualism is necessary for the success of every individual and thus also for the success of local and regional society.
        Children who arrive late – teenage immigrants – as well as non-English-speaking adults must have access – or demand access – to instruction that provides rapid acquisition of English or other Tier One & Tier Two language skills.
        The metaphor of the 'melting pot' is out of date for the U.S. and many other countries what with air travel and massive migrations across continents and across oceans. There are pockets in California and elsewhere of 'the largest population of X-speakers outside the native country' – Iranians, Hmong, Armenians, Mandarin, Bengali, and so on.
        Such ghetto-language cultures need to be brought into the dominant culture, and language is the key.

FURTHER ADVANTAGE
        My first assignment at a security job several companies ago was at a factory near Downtown L.A. (off Vermont). After 7 p.m. the building was locked up except for the shipping department, so that door became my post position. The workers in shipping were mostly young and all Hispanic, tough their origin included countries from Mexico to Peru. So to make things interesting, I taught them some English and they taught me little bits of Spanish.
        One incident there provided me with a clear distinction about language. The alarm went off in the back parking lot and I went to check the back gates. In the ensuing discussion, we discovered that the Spanish word for gate is 'la puerta', which I already knew to be the word for door. I suggested other English synonyms like entrance and opening, and their small vocabulary could find no answer but 'la puerta'.
        I mentioned this to someone in conversation recently, and their response was that this is perhaps the reason that Spanish-speakers seemed to talk so fast: instead of 'gate', they have to add on adverb and-or adjectival qualifiers to modify the basic word for 'door'.

        So the perceived distinction back then was the richness of the complicated English language, which also pertains to Chinese and some others no doubt. The problem inherent (per this distinction) in being raised to speak – and to think in – a lower-tier language is that the lack of vocabulary is itself a major restriction. Much better to teach a child English or upper-tier language at home, so that they will be able to use that richness in their thinking. Compare the Oxford English Dictionary with one for any other language and you will see the difference made real; the giant English-language vocabulary came from multiple sources over time: Germanic Old English roots, Anglo-Saxon, Latin-French-Spanish, Greek, Arabic and virtually every other language. And each word means something a little bit different than any synonym.

        Being taught from the beginning of life to speak and to think from the vocabulary-rich languages of English or Chinese provides the individual with a distinct advantage in all subsequent communication. And adding a second language – from birth – multiplies that advantage.

BILINGUAL MOVIES
        I first discovered the principle of Simultaneous Bilingual Film Production from Claude Lelouch's superb "And Now My Love". It was produced and released in both English-language and French-language versions – and was neither dubbed nor subtitled! (Alas, neither version is available on video.) I later discovered that there is some history of Simultaneous Bilingual Film Production in Hollywood and elsewhere. {See http://www.genordell.com/stores/lantern/bilingual.htm }
        In 1984, I created a screenplay, now entitled "El Tigron", about a Hispanic-American young man whose first language is English, and who is a reluctant hero when the pervasive clichι-stereotype gang culture of East Los Angeles endangers his family. I sent out copies of the script with a version of the bilingual webpage document cited above, and even managed to engage the interest of Edward James Olmos at one point.
        The economics of Simultaneous Bilingual Film Production is quite simple: the budget of such a film in English alone is X dollars. The producing company can then sell rights to a second-language negative for one-third of X, which rights include distribution to second-language TV and feature and ancillary markets around the world.
        The rights-buyer receives non-dubbed, non-subtitled product and the original producer makes a neat profit on the deal, because the cost of a second-language print/negative is minimal. Most time on a movie set is spent moving camera or lights – hours – interspersed with dialogue and action scenes – minutes – so having the actors repeat the dialogue in the second language costs only a few feet more film. (Well, yeah, it probably requires a second continuity person, but what else?)

        The creation of non-dubbed, non-subtitled feature and TV product thus sends the message that the second-language market is NOT an afterthought, that the two languages can co-exist and yet be distinct. Movies made in Mexico, for example, can then be marketed in fully-English versions in the U.S. and elsewhere, with all other two-language combinations also removing the product from the ghetto of single-language (dubbed/subtitled) distribution.
        The motion picture industry of each and every non-U.S. or non-English market has an enormous potential opened up to him or her by the principles of Simultaneous Bilingual Film Production. After almost twenty years, Hispanic media are just beginning to merge and grow into international corporations that may be able to see the benefits of this type of business arrangements. And if you make widgets at your company, the same may also apply.

*          *          *          *
        Each individual who learns and thinks in a Tier One or Tier Two language as well as their 'native' tongue has a social advantage; each company that thinks and produces and markets in a Tier One or Tier Two language as well as their local tongue has an economic advantage – in both cases, markets open up that were previously untapped.

        N'est-ce pas?

ADDED May 2004: Directory of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Programs in the U.S.

[copyright 2003 by Gary Edward Nordell, all rights reserved]

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==>  Very nice site about E.F. Schumacher, who wrote "Small Is Beautiful" and
        "A Guide For The Perplexed" at http://www.schumachersociety.org

==>  Where do dead PCs & MACs go? Better than landfills is recycling the materials,
        which is called 'electronic waste recovery'.
        Next Cycle, Inc. is at http://www.NxtCycle.com

==>  Academic corroboration for my prediction that Mankind will become extinct in two
        generations – unless major societal changes occur, such as the widespread use of Reason.
        "Extinction: Evolution & the End of Man" by Michael Boulter
        http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0231128363/nordellbookst-20

==>  Interesting book on A.I. {artificial intelligence}:
        "The Society of Mind" by Marvin L. Minsky
        http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671657135/nordellbookst-20
        ..and you may also find the Thinking & Intelligence page at
        Maison d'Κtre Philosophy Bookstore of interest
        http://www.genordell.com/stores/maison/thinking.htm
 

N E X T   M O N T H: "Standing On Ayn Rand"

I N   M A R C H: "Kids"

Issue #32: "Standing On Ayn Rand"
[February 2003]

>+<    G.E. Nordell, editor    >+<

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"Treat the Earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."
— Native American proverb

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."
— Henry David Thoreau [1817-62]

"Politics, like rust, never sleeps."
— Richard North Patterson

"In your hand ... is the future of your world
and the fulfillment of the best qualities of your own spirit."
— Robert Kennedy [1925-68]

"A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what is going on."
— William S. Burroughs [1914-97]

"Quality rather than quantity distinguishes the master."
— Dr. Fu Manchu {written by Sax Rohmer}

"Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty. The pig likes it."
— old saying

"Don't quit before the miracle."
— Varda Murrell

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" S T A N D I N G    o n    A Y N    R A N D "
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PART 1

        Ayn Rand's philosophy is called Objectivism because she abhors the subjectiveness of what usually is called philosophy. Descartes>a> made a mess of things, followed by Immanuel Kant, and few recent philosophers have produced a system that you can sink your teeth into, to use in any attempt to solve the problems of Mankind. The Working Minds Philosophy of Empowerment stands on Objectivism, but also on existentialism, primarily the ideas of Albert Camus.

        Ayn Rand was born in Russia and was just twelve years old and living in Petrograd during the twin revolutions of 1917. She left Russia in 1926, and retained her hatred of the Commu-nists' oppressive rule in the name of the masses.

        Ayn Rand's enemy is the Collective, the do-nothing masses who are taught to expect to survive without effort. She also calls them Looters. In both her fiction and non-fiction, she describes contemporary leaders – they have not changed in the half-century since – as pandering to the masses in order to attain power.
        She describes the Priests of Religion, who threaten a horrible eternity unless the Individual bows and obeys and surrenders power to the priests. In return, these priests promise salvation from this predicted future (which is an illusion, a bogeyman, a chimera).
        She describes the Priests of War, who threaten a horrible subjugation to foreign rule unless the Individual bows and obeys and surrenders power to the warrior-priests. In return, these strutting pseudo-warriors promise salvation from their predicted future (which is an illusion, a bogeyman, a chimera).
        (WMail Issue #16 of October 2001 – http://www.working-minds.com/WM2001d.htm#16 – described the Priests & Prophets of Commerce, who threaten a horrible economic fate unless the Individual bows and obeys and surrenders power to the business-executive-priests. In return, these execs promise salvation from their predicted economic future – which is likewise an illusion, a bogeyman, a chimera.)

        If I had to recommend only one book by Ayn Rand as a must-read, it would, of course, be "Atlas Shrugged". Second is the book and movie "The Fountainhead", and third would have to be "The Romantic Manifesto", wherein she describes the necessity of the romantic ideal in art and other pursuits. She defines romanticism as the generation of art – characters, visuals, movies, anything – as descriptions of mankind as we should be, not as the often-terrible animals that our Puritan-American heritage blames us for being.

        In her writings, Ayn Rand points out the existence of those who would rob the Individual of his/her inherent and natural Power, because the Ruler/Priest has no other source of Power. The subjective Ruler/Priest knows that Power comes from being an Individual, which is a terrifying Responsibility, and so they must rob the Individual or live a life in terror of an Objective, existential world that refuses to bend to the will of the non-Responsible, non-Objective coward.
        The Ruler/Priest generates subjective pseudo-logic that defines his listeners as victims, and him/herself as a rescuer. But an ignorant populace has no way to defend against the subjective onslaught, especially in these times of the mass media, and so the masses agree to become victims of the Ruler/Priest, and their victimhood – surrendering their Power as an Individual – keeps them in the state of victimhood.
        Look at the content of modern media from an Objective viewpoint, and the victimhood of the masses is evident: buy this or you won't be cool, you won't be loved, you won't appear to be successful – do what the media instruct or things won't turn out as promised. The Culture-Structure has destroyed the educational system, so that the masses are mired in ignorance – and, guess what?: they are then permanent victims of the System. The average person is on a treadmill trying to get the System to give them back what they surrendered when they agreed (thru unconscious inaction) to coast along by obeying the System.
        Thus the vicious circle, the tedium, the fear and stress of modern life.

        In "Atlas Shrugged", Ayn Rand wrote her prediction of the result of massive victimhood, of institutional irresponsibility. The leaders of the Looters take from the Producers in order to satisfy the demands of the teeming unproductive masses, until John Galt finally enrolls enough of the Producers to mutiny, and the result is the collapse of civilization: If there is no one to rob, the Looters cannot feed and clothe the Collective, those volunteer slaves who gave up their Self-hood for empty promises. The masses insist that they have a subjective right to the unearned benefits of those who actually produce. John Galt and his fellows close shop and refuse to be further victims of the Looters, and set up an Objectivist economy in Galt's Gulch, and then Galt commandeers the radio networks and tells the voluntary victims what he has done – without mercy.

        Ayn Rand held that the intellect, Reason, effort are the only means to the survival of Mankind, that abdication of the responsibility to Think, to Reason, to Produce is the moral equivalent of suicide. Only the Individual can produce – whether flying an aircraft or cooking a hamburger or designing a building or writing a song, even running a country or a corporation. The present economic crises, and those to come, are the result of attempting to remove the Individual from the equation, to replace the producers with voluntary slaves.
        But a society of victims cannot sustain itself. All cultures that based their economy on slavery prospered for a while – at least for the rulers – but each suddenly died off because they lost the ability – and the will – to Reason.
        If you raise a lion in captivity, it loses (or never gains) the skills required for the hunt. A generation or two of illiterates, of watchers and followers and hopers, of subjective, passive victims leaves nothing to pass on to the next generation. This is the situation at the beginning of "Atlas Shrugged" and also at the beginning of the XXIst Century: millions of Americans who can't add a column of numbers, can't tell the difference between television and reality, think that multi-level marketing and chain letters will make them a fortune, and after successive failures, are incensed that the Good Life has not been handed to them, that they and everyone around them will never experience the goodies promised by the Culture-Structure. They are angry, and most important, have no clue what to do about anything.
        Our so-called leaders tell us that we will be taken care of, but they can't even provide jobs that are above slavery or have any moral (productive) value. We buy what we are told to, what we are told will make us happy, but we are all deeply in debt [victim!] and fear each tax season that we are worse off than before.

        We know that things are NOT working, but the only input that we get is to maintain our victimhood, then we'll get happy, reach the Promised Land, live on Easy Street.

        Ayn Rand, with her biting personality and other supposed faults, was nonetheless a shining beacon of Reason, spoken into a culture of anti-Reason. The few that can hear what she has to say may yet survive in the long run, because they obey not subjective promises, but Objective Reality. If the lion should somehow attain Reason, it will learn to hunt; if Mankind uses its ability to Reason, then it will manage to survive. Otherwise, "Atlas Shrugged" will turn out to be a very accurate prophecy.

        Has anyone seen John Galt lately?

*          *          *          *
PART 2: WHERE DOES GEORGE DUBYA STAND?

        Well, Dubya doesn't stand. The current President of the U.S. of A. is snuggled comfortably in the hip pocket of the Oligarchy, from whom he gets his orders.
        Only two years of his term as President has produced the following results:

==   Increased the U.S. National Debt from $5,727,776,738,304.64 {or 5.73 trillion dollars) on 20 January 2001 to 6,387,841,175,651.97 {or 6.387 trillion dollars} on 21 January 2003 – per the U.S. Treasury Dept – a net increase of 11.5 percent in the annual extortion money paid to the Oligarchy.

==   U.S. residents received copies of their W-2 tax forms a few days ago, according to law. Add up your gross wages for 2002 and compare to your gross wages for 2000. Did YOU get any 11.5% increase? Did the number even stay steady? Did your stock value or investment portfolio value go up? Or are you moving backward financially with startling momentum?

==   Well, even if your wages stayed the same, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the dollar lost 4.5% in buying power from 2000 to 2002 – according to http://data.BLS.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl.

==   A net loss of 2 million jobs in the two years, per the Los Angeles Times Front Page 11 January 2003, and that article says that the bottom has not been reached.

        So Dubya's 'best move' to deal with the above is the Republican panacea of more tax cuts for the wealthy. With two more years in office still to go, Dubya may well complete the destruction of the U.S. economy – and the world economy with it – as was attempted by the Reagan-Bush administration and yet was forestalled by Democrat Bill Clinton.
        No sex scandals in two years with Dubya at the helm, just record-setting loss of jobs, a failing economy with farther still to fall, and those pesky war drums getting louder – the term "anticipatory self-defense" is an oxymoron, and very scary.

        Can America survive two more years of Dubya's misfeasance?

[copyright 2003 by Gary Edward Nordell, all rights reserved]

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==>  For those who still disbelieve the existence of Global Warming, a recent L.A. Times
        series has lots of facts and photos; click on http://www.LATimes.com/vanishingice/
        and surf around among the various articles since March & November 2002

==>  WMail Issue #21 was on the subject 'Tax Revolt'. Never more advisable than now:
        You can protest what Dubya is doing by forgetting to file on April 15th; you might
        incur a $100 late fee, but nothing else. Wouldn't it be grand if enough folks joined
        such a protest that a statistical red light flashed, that citizens were choosing not to file
        (temporarily), that the Oligarchy had been refused its extortive tribute money?
        See http://www.working-minds.com/WM2002a.htm#21.

==>  For Californians: the state is taking a poll on the design of the upcoming
        California Quarter; the website shows 20 finalists (thanks, Malcolm)
        Update 28 April 2003: Governor Davis announces 5 finalists:
        http://134.186.46.107/?BV_EngineID=iadcgdghhfgebemgcfkmchcog.0
 

N E X T   M O N T H: "Kids"

Issue #33: "Kids"
[June 2003]

>+<    G.E. Nordell, editor    >+<

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"Ignorance must be battled."
— Isaac Asimov [1920-92]

"All that really counts is a man's ability to live, to get the most out of it
as he goes thru it, and he gets the most kick out of it by playing a no-limit game."
— Erle Stanley Gardner [1889-1970]

"Throughout history, truth has withered and died of loneliness."
— Steve Martini

"The most depraved type of human being ... (is) the man without a purpose."
— Ayn Rand [1905-82] (in "Atlas Shrugged")

"There's nothing of any importance except how well you do your work."
— Ayn Rand [1905-82] (in "Atlas Shrugged")

"Judgment Day ... could easily be next Wednesday."
— Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. [1922-2007]

"Everyone can find the time to write; not everyone can find the courage."
— Keri Clark

"There isn't so much love in the world that you can turn it away when it's offered."
— Robert Crais

"Reagan and Bush ... made the world safe for hypocrisy."
— Julia Phillips [1944-2002]

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THE DELAY:

        My laptop shorted out in February, and three local repair shops were unable to fix it over three months of empty promises. So I bought another used laptop [Toshiba this time]. It took 2 weeks to get POP mail working, then I had to deal with 2140 emails, which downloaded twice! It so far is impossible to merge Outlook Express data: I have the old Saved emails, but cannot read them. Also, while the Address Book for this ezine is intact, the category Folders disappeared and I am uncertain if I got all the requests to be Removed from this mailing list.

SO I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE:

1) If you were once Removed, or made a request for Removal, please Reply again with 'Remove' in the Subject: every request will be honored.
2) If you sent any communication to genordell [at] genordell.com or to genordell [at] working-minds.com between February 15 and mid-May, I've replied to all that I have seen.
3) If you are newly signed up, but long ago, expect future WMail issues to be monthly from here on.

"It's a hell of a life, if you don't weaken."
— Zane Grey [1872-1939]

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" K I D S "
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        Your kids are lost and afraid. They feel angry and from time to time they hate you. Your kids are trying to get it together, and they don't have a clue what they need to do.
        Just like when you were that age. And if you are a kid (reading this) the same is, or was, true for your parents, which is why they have no useful answers for you.
        The world makes no sense, everyone is behind and scrambling to catch up, to 'get ahead' – to 'make it' – hoping that nobody else will notice that each of us is clueless.
        Don't have any kids? Then map this onto your Significant Other Relationship or your spouse, or even your aging or deceased parents.

SANTA CLAUS
        To illustrate how this came to be, I will cite the Santa Claus Myth. (Folks from other cultures & religions & mythologies have precisely the same background, just a different myth.)
        Each diapered child in Western civilization is brought to the gloriously-lit and decorated Xmas tree and handed presents and told the insupportable story that red-suited Santa Claus brought all those toys from the North Pole in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, delivering to billions of households in one long cold Winter night, and if the kid is 'bad' then such gifts will be withheld.

        But then they learn in the schoolyard or the street – where they learn most about Life – that the Santa Myth is false. And they ask their loving parents whether what Billy said about Santa is really true, and then their parents lie to them and say that "yes, Virginia, there is a Santy Claus". But the myth falls apart anyway as the kids see pseudo-Santas at the mall, or notice that the gift-tags from the North Pole are in Mommy's handwriting, or they remember when Mommy bought the necktie at Wal-Mart that Santa gave to Grandpa.
        So the schoolyard grapevine prevails, and the kids ask again for reassurance from Mom or Dad, and the lie is admitted. But now their loving parent asks the kid to lie to little Cindy (i.e. the younger siblings), to cover up the falsity of the Santa Myth – pressure from one's parent to conform, to participate in this grand conspiracy of lies.

        And then these kids get older and notice the other lies, the system of falsehoods, and the conspiracies and cover-ups all around them, and even before the kids reach teenhood they are very certain that anything that their parents and family and teachers and clergy tell them cannot be trusted.
        That hurts. To the bone.
        By the time any child is 10 or 12 years old, they are absolutely clear that everything that they are told is suspect, including that their parents love them. Especially that.

        Looking from there, in any culture, is it any wonder that your kids – all kids – are lost and afraid and angry and they hate you? (And this is true even without any additional trauma or tragedy, such as abuse or divorce or sudden death of a parent or loved one.)

*          *          *          *
ONE DICTUM
        The Working Minds philosophy has few rules, but is instead generally a place to look from, an access to what is really underneath the cultural b.s., what is behind the bald-faced political cynicism, hidden inside the jaded commercial 'entertainment' that displaces Objective Reality.
        But one such rule, one that is applicable to everyone on the planet, is that the job of the parent [or caregiver] is to make certain that your children know absolutely that you love them. (And for those without children, this also applies to your spouse or Significant Other, to everyone that you consider family.)

*          *          *          *
        But you had a rotten childhood, you say? Nobody loved you? Or there was actual damage by intent or by accident, from abuse or other tragedy? So what. The dictum remains true – for everyone and at all times.
        For if you have not taken the action necessary to ensure that your children know for certain that you love them, then no amount of counseling or therapy or bribery or punishment or apologies or 'straight talk' will have any impact on your relationship with them.

        Unless your kids know in their hearts that their parents or step-parents or caregivers love them absolutely, then the result will be the tense and hateful and frustrating and hollow pretense that you see in families all around you.
        A child who is loved and honored – and knows that for certain – has nothing to prove, nothing to rebel against, no need for approval, no reason to leave home in a huff or snit, no reason for payback. A child who is certain of parents' love has self-worth, and is not in danger of negative influence. He or she knows what path to follow and does not stray.

        Love is something that you give. The story of your terrible childhood is no matter – what is required to have love is to give it. Start with a puppy or a fish tank or co-workers or strangers. When you give love, then you have it. And then work upward and look for Relationship, not as a source to fill up your emptiness, but as somewhere that you can spend your love. Then when kids join the family unit, they will experience love from the day of their birth.

        In the middle of a horrible family dynamic right now? Can't seem to stop the negativity? Doesn't matter a whit: Your job as a parent or caregiver is to make certain that your children know absolutely that you love them.
        Once that is accomplished, the rest will fall into place. While that is being accomplished, all the other crap does not matter.

        You can fight or punish or withdraw or be victim, but that will only get you what you already have. The only way out of the existing paradigm of [non-working] relationships is to make certain that your children know absolutely that you love them. And this also applies to Significant Others and spouses and any other family: if YOU don't make this happen, take it on committedly, then the results will be the standardized mess handed down to you by the Culture Structure – Love as a commodity. A scarce commodity, for sale to the highest bidder.

        Your job as a parent is to make certain that your children know absolutely that you love them.

[copyright 2003 by Gary Edward Nordell, all rights reserved]

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==>  'What's Wrong With America' Dept.? How about the fact that Howard Stern &
        Rush Limbaugh make more money than the entire U.S. Senate.

==>  'MoveOn.org: Democracy In Action', alarmed at the growing perils to the
        foundations of democracy, is working as a catalyst for a new kind of grassroots
        involvement, to bring ordinary people back into politics, by supporting busy but
        concerned citizens in finding their political voice.
        Check out their website at http://www.MoveOn.org

==>  "About 9 million of Mexico's 97 million people live north of the [U.S.] border.
        Half of them are here illegally." — Dan Baum, L.A. Times Magazine

==>  Gadfly filmmaker Michael Moore's essay on George Dubya is at http://www.rense.com/general19/georgeW.htm
        (Thanks, Roy)

==>  Even though The Delay postponed this suggestion, it is not too late to join
        the GAS BOYCOTT. The principle is that folks will not stop buying gasoline
        [petrol] altogether, but an impact can be made by refusing to fill the tank at
        the two largest petroleum combines, Exxon-Mobil and Shell-Texaco. The
        result should be actual competition, as they lose market share, which will
        cause them to lower prices, and then force the remaining oil companies also
        to lower their prices, thus removing windfall profits from the Oligarchy's coffers.
        [Companies not being boycotted include all independents, plus Conoco-Phillips,
        Union 76, Standard Oil, Gulf, Sunoco, Husky, those guys.]
        (Thanks, Jean)

==>  Deja Vu All Over Again Department: There are bills now before Congress
        to reinstitute the draft, i.e. mandating military service for all 18- to 26-year-old
        Americans. (Be especially afraid if this is the first that you heard about it.)

==>  The Cordair Art Gallery – http://www.cordair.com/ – has much Objectivist art,
        including some by Nick Gaetano, who did the boldly-colored Ayn Rand 33-cent
        U.S. stamp of 1999, and the book covers. Currently, they are auctioning the
        original of 'Portrait of Ayn Rand', which closes July 10.
 

N E X T   M O N T H: "Meaning"

I N   A U G U S T: "Debt & the Working Mind"

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GENordell [at] Working-Minds.com — just put "FreePrvwEdition" in the Subject field, and specify your choice of Adobe Acrobat PDF file or Microsoft Reader LIT file or M/S Word DOC file.

==>  Visit and-or bookmark the Working Minds website:
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==>  Forward this e-mail to anyone who is into philosophy or economics.

==>  Participate in these philosophical webrings:
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==>  Take a look at previous issues at
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---

CONTACT: G.E. Nordell (editor) at GENordell [at] Working-Minds.com

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