Lessons from the Mueller Report

Like many Americans, I'll read the report. I've read sections so far, and listened to pundits discuss the report.

Long ago, I said that I would accept the outcome of the report as I believe that Mueller is a steadfast lawyer and patriot, one who puts truth and country above his own ego and the gossip of the moment.

The report left us with no concise conclusion about collusion--the report demonstrates suspect behavior, behavior that happened, and behavior that the President and others have no recall of. The report also demonstrates that many statements made to the public were untrue so we know that many, many Americans heard the President and his staff make untrue statements, and many Americans believed those statements to be true at the time since they were spoken by our country's leadership team.

When I read the whole report in the days ahead, I'll think deeply about the reported events that occurred and the responses to those events by our country's leadership team. I'll draw conclusions as I read--conclusions about their actions, statements, and what should occur next.

I'll also listen to politicians, lawyers, and other leaders in the days ahead to learn how they see this report from their perspective, expertise, and the law.

So far as I read the report, I am reminded that it never pays to lie or cheat. Also if you're not going to support your team, you should be transparent about that. For example when the President did not support Comey, he should have simply been transparent about that to the American people rather than also using it as a way to make fun of Comey with Russian leaders.

And when people strike out against you, you need to uphold the mission of your work and your character. For example when Trump learned of Russia's interference in our elections, he should have done the right thing which is to stand up against that influence by forwarding new policies and laws to stop such influence.

Also you need to surround yourself with good people and you have to support those people with truth. You don't want to surround yourself with untruthful people, and you don't want to be untruthful yourself. It's better to accept the truth, even when humbling or troubling, and work for betterment.

It's clear that we don't have a President with good character. Instead we have a President who is comfortable with lying, and one who surrounds himself with a staff who are similarly comfortable with spreading untruths. We also have a President whose worries about his own reputation have halted his ability to work against foreign influence on our elections and our freedom and justice as a country. What else has this President done or not done as a weak leader?

• Our debt is great while he has given a tax break to the wealthiest people and corporations. 
• He and his staff have turned their backs on the science that clearly demonstrates a need for greater environmental protections.
• They have shamed, blamed, and disrespected multiple hard working, good Americans via Twitter comments, press reports, and lack of support. 
• This president  has fostered hate and prejudice against multiple groups of people including many oppressed and desperate refugees and immigrants rather than work with others to create and forward solutions to this grave situation. 
• Rather than choose the best and brightest, he continues to choose friends and family members for important jobs which also weakens our government and our future as a strong nation.
• He has shown no support for our public schools and hired a Secretary of Education who appears to be a reward for substantial donations to his campaign rather than an individual who truly understands education and how public schools can be well supported and strengthened at the national level.

The President and his staff's poor example of leadership, credibility, and time/money well spent is a lesson to all of us about how not to lead and be--we can all work better for greater transparency, truth, and good work in our jobs and lives. We must support leaders who work for betterment with good character, effort, and expertise, and we must also be those people in our own spheres of influence. 

Positive change; what can you do today?

As I think of positive change, I am thinking of the small changes I can make to move towards betterment, changes I can write about now and institute readily.

No more plastic water bottles
Starting today I can make a commitment to not buying plastic water bottles, but instead carrying my water bottle with me. Regulations make local water as clean as most bottled water where I live so there's no need to buy extra plastic or spend my money that way.

Mostly vegetarian meals
Eating vegetarian is good for the planet. Lately I've noticed at dinner parties, it's the vegetables that go first. So eating mostly vegetarian is good for the planet, good for my health, and attractive to people who visit.

Growing my own food
Food miles takes a toll on the planet, we can be more Earth-friendly by growing our own food. I can begin that this week with some deck plants that will result in foods for summer salads.

Earth-Friendly Travel plans
Traveling by plane is not great for the planet. Traveling by train or car is better, and traveling by walking or biking is best. I can begin to think more seriously about how and when I travel. I can travel less, and make that travel longer and more meaningful to save air miles and be a better planetary citizen. I've always wanted to take a vacation that was mostly biking so that might be one way to save on travel miles and energy this summer.

Grocery Bags
Simply put, I can get into the habit that so many embrace now which is to bring my own grocery bags to the store.

Water/Energy Conservation
Lowering the thermostat, wearing an extra sweater, not using as much air conditioning, using water sparingly are all more ways to conserve Earth's awesome resources.

Outdoor Planting
Planting in ways that create greater shade, conserve water, work against erosion, and provide food are also Earth friendly ways to live and act.

Equity at School
Looking for ways to create greater equity at school which, in turn, will great greater peace and success for students and their families. One way I want to start to do this next year is by offering an after school homework club for students who may not have at-home academic help in order to succeed with their studies.

Reading and Studying
Learning more about the world around me and what I can do to support policies, laws, candidates, and action for betterment is important. I need to learn more about these actions so I can better speak about and act for this betterment.

There's so much that each of us can do to forward betterment in our own lives, the lives of our loved ones, and the lives of the communities we belong to. Here's an initial list of actions to get me started.

Choose your teams

None of us can be all or do all, but we can lift our impact by joining teams that matter.

We can join positive family teams with regard to our personal efforts and alliances. We can befriend positive people and positive families to elevate our experience of life. To join with good people is to uplift our own experience of living.

We can join churches or community organizations that do good work, and get involved in that good work.

We can choose jobs and professions that move towards betterment.

We can support candidates for public office who want to alleviate suffering and better lives for all people.

We can join committees at work, our local unions, and professional organizations that uplift our impact in ways that matter.

The teams we join tell a lot about who we are. We typically can't meet our vision for betterment on our own, but instead we have to unite with others to move in that direction.

What can you do to make a better world?

How can each of us contribute to a better world? What can we do and what can we avoid doing to lead to betterment? How do we define betterment?

I believe that betterment lies in lessening suffering amongst people. I believe that we can work as a people to lessen suffering by making quality education, a clean environment, quality health care, nutritious food, positive recreation, arts, and safe, peaceful communities available to all. When people are healthy, well fed, educated, and able to recreate with happiness, there is less suffering.

Suffering rages when people are unhealthy, oppressed, and living with the fear of violence or abuse. Suffering exists when people do not have access to clean water, healthy food, clean air, or beautiful natural spaces.

Each of us has limitless opportunity to work towards less suffering and greater opportunity in our homes, communities, nation, and world. What can we do?

Live an Earth-Friendly Life
We can all change our habits so that our daily living is Earth-friendly. Using a water bottle instead of buying water in plastic containers, bringing bags to the grocery store, growing our own food, not flushing the toilet as often or investing in toilets that use less or no water, composting, eating a diet that includes more local, fresh vegetables and fruits, and more. There is much that I can do right now to do better in this area. I can do the actions names and learn more about how to live in Earth-friendly ways.

Elevate Opportunity for Others
Look for ways in the work place, the community, and home to elevate opportunity for others. Working for a fair wage for all is one way to elevate opportunity. If an individual works for forty hours a week, that person should be able to live a good life on that wage. In schools, we have to identify the children distanced from equitable opportunities to learn well, and mitigate that distance in order to provide greater opportunity to all. There are so many ways that we can create greater opportunity for students in schools including working for fair funding for all schools, and then assessing what we do at schools to see who is left out when it comes to optimal opportunity and access to good learning and development. Reading the news and understanding a community's challenges, also helps you to know what to do to work for greater opportunity. In Massachusetts right now there is a crisis when it comes to foster care--we can work to lessen or eliminate that challenge. In our homes, there are probably ways we can change our actions to give our loved ones greater, positive opportunity too.

Match Your Actions to Your Words
We all need to assess our actions to make sure that those actions match our words and beliefs. The better we can match hour living to our beliefs, the better we will be for ourselves and our world.

Live Small
Think carefully about how you spend your money and time--find ways to minimize your needs and expenses so you have more to give to others in order to better their lives and opportunities.

Aline With Positive People, Events, and Opportunities
Be aware of events, people, and actions that are negative, but aline yourself to the positive people, actions, and opportunities in your midst. Think about what you read, what you watch, who you spend time with, and the events you support--make sure that what you're investing in is positive for you and for your world. What we do is what we become, so we have to be mindful of what we do.

We can all work to make a better world, and a better world elevates the experience of life for all. There is great satisfaction in living well and doing for others. This is a direction I'm invested in, and one that I'll work for in the days ahead.

No room for hate speak

Speak by those who lash out at innocents or oppressed people offends me and angers me. Today's seemingly lack of respect for our diversity as a people similarly makes me upset. Further when people speak as if some have greater rights than others, I become angry. I know that this kind of speak blocks our opportunity to come together as a people. This kind of speak creates a wall with regard to a better, more inclusive, and positive world.

In many ways it feels as if we have taken a giant step backwards with regard to our humanity. The acceptance of cruel, hateful speak and acts does not forward who we are as a creative, solutions-oriented, good people, but instead takes us backwards to times when we let prejudice, ignorance, and hate divide us.

Yet, when speaking to those who support this speak and this divide, there's little winning--they're convinced that this kind of rhetoric is okay and the way it has to be. They are convinced that some have a right to privilege and others do not. I ache when I see or hear this conviction as it's contrary to my beliefs which hold that every person has a right to good living, justice, and basic supports related to safe neighborhoods, clean water, nutrient-full soil, clean air, good health care, quality education, and equitable rights and opportunities. I don't think that some of us are better than others, and I do recognize that because of history and happenstance some have greater privilege than others.

While I don't believe that people's experience of life will ever be equal, I do believe that we can level the living world in ways that afford all an opportunity to live a good life by making health care, education, safe neighborhoods, environmental protections, and fair laws accessible everywhere in our country.

So what can I do about the impasse between those who disdain hate speak and those who accept it? At this juncture, I believe that the best I can do is live a life that represents my beliefs--a life that recognizes privilege and works to support policies, laws, and actions that support a better, stronger, more equitable country. I notice how people are quick to support efforts and people of privilege, and reticent to stand up for those who face poverty, injustice, and lack of privilege. I know that there are some, however, that devote their entire lives to caring for those who struggle--they give up everything to do this good work. I honor their sacrifice.

It's natural to embrace those who represent a seemingly better or easier road in life, yet we have to consult our rational side when we're enamored by what money and privilege brings. We have to look deeper and think more about what that privilege and money represents. Money made in unethical ways is problematic, and privilege earned via a history of oppression, corruption, or injustice is also problematic. Yet who among us can say that there is nothing in our past that doesn't represent some injustice or oppression? Most of us, if we reach back far enough, will notice privilege that is not rightly ours--privilege based on injustice of some kind or another.

As a people we can move forward by staying faithful to our laws or working to change laws we feel are unfair or unjust. We can move forward by working with greater creativity, imagination, and intelligence to remake societal norms, structures, and actions to be more inclusive, uplifting, and positive--we don't have to stay satisfied with actions and attitudes that privilege some while oppressing others--we can work together for greater equity and opportunity for all.

As an individual, I'll support that movement in the following ways:

• Thinking about my own actions and speak with the focus on the question: Are my actions and words representative of my beliefs and convictions? 
• Increasingly working for change in ways that I can at home, in my work place, and in the community. How can I create greater opportunity for people in my midst? How can I promote more peaceful and positive communities where everyone is privileged in ways that elevate opportunity and equity?
• Living a more Earth-friendly life.
• Educating myself to understand the potential that exists for better living for all.

I don't want the hate speak and oppressive actions I witness in our country today to grow. I don't want our hateful leaders to support a movement that makes enemies out of good people just because they have less money, less opportunity, or differences in religion, race, geography, lifestyle, and more. I am well aware of what prejudice and hate like that have done to good people and good countries in the past--I know that hateful acts such as genocide and violence against innocents are devastating, wrong, and possible when we allow people to speak and act with hate and contempt against one another. I know that the hate speak and actions of leaders today are dangerous, and I cannot stay silent or passive with that knowledge. We must all stand up against hateful, oppressive, prejudiced leaders in our workplaces, government, and communities--there is no room for that kind of oppression and hate when it comes to promoting the best of whom we can be.