The Pope Speaks Out on Economics! "Purchasing is always a moral act"

I just saw this on Alternet--an article by David Morris:

On December 10th the Vatican released the text of still another vigorous message by Pope Francis in support of oppressed workers. “(M)illions of people today – children, women and men of all ages – are deprived of freedom and are forced to live in conditions akin to slavery,” he asserts. “I think of the many men and women laborers, including minors , subjugated in different sectors, whether formally or informally, in domestic or agricultural workplaces, or in the manufacturing or mining industry; whether in countries where labor regulations fail to comply with international norms and minimum standards, or, equally illegally, in countries which lack legal protection for workers’ rights.”

The Pope’s statement is not a call to reflection but to action, “Every person ought to have the awareness that ‘purchasing is always a moral – and not simply an economic – act’.” Francis wants us to buy as if someone else’s life depended on it. And he wants us to act not only as individuals but collectively. “We ought to recognize that we are facing a global phenomenon which exceeds the competence of any one community or country. In order to eliminate it, we need a mobilization comparable in size to that of the phenomenon itself.”

Today is Pope Francis' 78th birthday. If he doesn't live another day, he has already had a huge impact on the Catholic Church and on the World. He will go down in history as one of the greatest popes. In my lifetime only Pope John XXIII is his equal.

Pope Francis really cares about economics. Economics has moral and religious implications!

New Poem--about Suffering

Stigmata

You have emerged from the dark tunnel

into the marvelous light--

a bit scarred, yes, marks of the crown of thorns there 

on your scalp, under your hair,

and on your feet, hands, and chest,

the marks of the stigmata--

very subtle, hardly noticeable really, O friend.

You have suffered a lot,

have seen too much of death.

You once told me, "Everyone I ever loved . . .

has died."

And, of course, you know that you and I

will follow that path one day ourselves.

You have emerged, with a wicked sense of humor

and deepened humanity. Forgive others,

and yourself, more easily now.

Those who've walked in the darkness

have seen a great Light.

This Light, of spirit, liveliness, strange grace,

shines in the darkness.

And the darkness cannot overcome it.

[Bob Coughlin / December 15, 2014]

One of My Old Poems--on Torture

Nothing Human Is Alien                  

Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto

I am a human being; I consider nothing human alien to me   --Terence

Nothing human is alien

To me, or to you, my friend.

The Roman playwright Terence said this, 2000 years ago.

It was true then; it is true now.

You and I are fully capable of torture,

Murder, rape               as well as

Kindness, compassion,

Healing.

So I am not terribly surprised to see

Abu Ghraib and naked hooded prisoners

Humiliated, smeared with their own feces,

Beaten, deprived of sleep. But terribly disappointed.

Terribly disappointed.

This is not Dachau, this is not the Inquisition,

But it’s in the horrific tradition,

And a brutality at the hands of our own.

Torture always redounds unto the torturers.

Karma is a law of nature, not a religious fantasy.

And as we torture and humiliate our enemy,

We torture and humiliate ourselves.

Nothing human is alien to me, or you,

But let us call forth our better selves,

Let us bring forth kindness, compassion, forgiveness,

Healing.

Robert M. Coughlin / May 26, 2004

Dermot Somerville and Shanua Musical Presentation in Hiram, Ohio

Sunday afternoon there was an amazing musical presentation in Koritansky Hall, on the campus of Hiram College. The performance was called "Sea Dreams," and it was put on by the group called "Shanua," which I think is composed primarily of Dermot Somerville, who is a native of Ireland, and his wife Ulle Laido, a native of Estonia. The name "Shanua" might come from the Irish word, sean, which means "old," and the Irish word nua, which means "new."

Dermot and Ulle were joined by several singers and musicians from Holy Rosary Church in Little Italy, where Ulle is music director (Can you imagine the wonderful music in that church!).  Becca Rhoades joined in on fiddle, and some singing; Tina Dreisbach, Music Professor at Hiram, played concertina, Irish flute, and also sang; Paul Dreisbach, also a Hiram prof, played oboe and uilleann pipes. Krista Parran was a featured singer; Tim Regan and John Clark were singers; and Rebecca Knab was the narrator (they used wonderful poems by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William Shakespeare, and others). The performance had a story line that talked about the menfolk going to sea to hunt for whales, then returning home. The poems and songs (which were traditional sea shanties and other songs of the sea) told about the painful partings of men and women, the fear those at home and those on the sea lived with, and the joyful reunions when the men returned.

Can you imagine--this concert was presented to the public free of charge, with the underwriting of the wonderful Hiram Community Trust. What a generous gift, both by these fine artists and the Hiram Community Trust. Art is often an act of love, as this performance was. Thank you!

The entire cast of artists, singers, musicians

Dermot on low whistle, Krista Parran, singer, and Paul Dreisbach, who played Irish uilleann pipes and oboe

Dermot Somerville, left, with John Clark and Tim Regan

Tina Dreisbach, Becca Rhoades, and Ulle Laido

James A. Garfield (his head back on his body after an act of vandalism)

The beautiful old hall where the performance took place

Faculty Art Show at Lakeland Community College

There is a nice art show at Lakeland right now, featuring the work of the arts faculty. The works are in all sorts of media, from jewelry to painting to photography to ceramics to bronze sculpture. There is no unifying style, but it strikes me that the fragmented world of modernism is still very much present--and about 100 years after the modernist writings of James Joyce and T. S. Eliot, and the paintings of Picasso and Braque. That vision of an exploded world is clearest in the pottery of Derak O'Brien. Here are cell-phone photos of some of the art:

An Example of Eddie Mitchell's popular pointillism

Bruce Cline photograph

Theresa Hess's work makes you think about life and death

David Samiec's photo makes you think about the soul of all living things, even the smallest

Chris Berry's spectacular study of color

My favorite--Paula Blackman's evocative bas relief (in bronze)

Derak O'Brien's exploded ceramic pot--Modernism is alive and well!

Manifesto--on Guns; Judy Collins' Song

I don't own a gun. Though I don't hunt myself, I'm not against hunting or target shooting. Many close friends and family members hunt and target shoot. But I, personally, promise never to own a gun. I will not ever defend myself with a gun. I would rather take a bullet myself than to kill a child.

My old friend, Reverend Maurice McCrackin, tested his actions against the question, "What Would Jesus Do?" Jesus would not be shooting people with guns; He would not be shooting children; He would not protect his few worldy possessions with lethal force.

I am probably not a total pacifist, but I believe in peaceful, nonviolent resistance. I think it is a good and effective strategy. Violence so often begets more violence. As Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth will leave the world blind and toothless."

Peace begins with me--and you. 

Don't abet violence; don't seek revenge; put a stop to violence with non-lethal means whenever that is possible (and it is possible most of the time). Keep guns locked away if you own them.

Here is a Judy Collins's song about how one person can begin creating a world of peace:

Fortune of Soldiers

Words and Music by Judy Collins, David Buskin, Dwight Batteau, Jr.

Was the fortune of soldiers to be always at war

Sighting down the barrel at whatever comes

Till the fighters forgot what they're doing it for

And reason was lost in the sound of the drums

Twas the fortune of soldiers to be always alone

Forgetting the faces of all their loved ones

Far from their daydreams, far from their homes

Love songs were drowned in the sound of the drums

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they say peace can never be

It's a fantasy

They didn't know about you

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they said peace can never be

They just couldn't see

What one dreamer can do

Tis the fortune of bankers and builders of arms

To worship the profit however it comes

Up in their towers, sheltered from harm

Far from the smoke and the sound of the drums

Tis the fortune of dreamers to see what they see

To live with the scorn till the miracle comes

To teach us the music and show us the key

And the chorus to silence the sound of the drums

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they say peace can never be

It's a fantasy

They didn't know about you

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they say that peace can never be

They just couldn't see what one dreamer can do

Tis the fortune of children to have such a choice

To grow up to be dreamers or builders of guns

Born to be angels, born to rejoice

Not to grow up to the sound of the drums

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they say peace can never be

It's just a fantasy

They didn't know about you

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they said that peace can never be

It's a fantasy

Great Song for the First of December: "Sweet Baby James"

James Taylor - "Sweet Baby James."

I always think of this sweet song on the First of December ("The First of December was covered with snow, and so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston . . .").

Here is a nice YouTube version: