Hope

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Today, we leave for the annual week up north; the internet stays behind.

I leave, for reflection, the below photo of an 8×10″ poster recently found in her home closet by Barbara, an active activist I’ve known for years.  (The words, “active activist”,  are intentional.  Barbara always “walks the talk”.)

This memento, by Robert Mulder, was “handed out to dignitaries” at the 90th birthday of the “last living signer of the United Nations Charter” in 1997.  (quotes are from Barbara’s note on the back of the memento.)

Mr. Mulder died in 2013; the “last living signer” died March 4, 2001.

How do each of us, as individuals, keep “hope” alive for everyone and everything on this planet of ours on this 28th day of July in 2018?  And on all days to follow…?

The future is up to each and every single one of us.  Period.

Anything else I might say is superfluous.

COMMENTS:

from a long-time friend: I am currently hopeful that our Democracy will survive.  That hope is anchored in the field of young women that are striving to enter the field of politics.  If the Dems can take over the House, that will put some checks on the horrible Trump administration.  In the international arena, much good has come as a result of the United Nations, but the existence of the security council and its powers has been problematic.  Our veto power has protected us from our Vietnam war crimes and the continuing war crimes by Israel.  We need to revise the UN Charter.

from Ron:  [We]need to find a way to get more people, especially young people, involved in our mission.  There seems to be a reaction building to Trump and his overly nationalistic view of the world.  People seem to be able to think better and stronger about what they don’t like than about what is good in the long run.  Hope is needed, but also clear thinking and acting in accord with that thinking.

 

Nelson Mandela – F. W. de Klerk

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“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with them.  Then he becomes your partner.”  Nelson Mandela

Minnesota Orchestra Program cover, July 21, 2018

Sometimes I stumble on things, such as last night at the Minnesota Orchestra.

We were unable to attend the last program in our subscription series, and had a deadline of August 1 to select an alternative.  There were two Beethoven’s upcoming, and we invited our neighbor, Don, to pick the date, if any.  He said July 21.  And so he and I happened to be at Orchestra Hall for the finale of what must have been a great day of celebrating the Centennial of Nelson Mandela’s birth: July 18, 1918.

This morning, Basilica’s newsletter “cover story” was a column by Janice Andersen about a Basilica group visiting South Africa a few months ago.  You can read it here: Andersen – S. Africa002.

Sometimes I just stumble into history.

Nelson Mandela is such a universally recognized person these days that any link I provide would be superfluous.  Choose your own.  He went from Prisoner to President of South Africa; and the white person who peacefully transferred power was then President  F. W. de Klerk, who with Mandela earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.    You can revisit their respective perspectives in 1993 here.  You can access each of their Nobel Lectures at the time they received their award.

de Klerk is the forgotten man in this duo.  He is the South African white leader whose lot it was to peacefully transfer power to Mandela, beginning the process of change to a new way of looking at the matter of race in this country where Apartheid became a universal symbol of repression.

On a poster at Orchestra Hall was a very brief sentence describing de Klerk’s role.  In another poster, and in the work Harmonia Ubuntu, World Premiered on Saturday, was the Nelson Mandela quotation that leads this post.  (More about the work here: Harmonia Ubuntu001)

In another “stumble” back in 2012, I had an opportunity not only to meet F. W. de Klerk in person at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, but to hear his own statesman’s address as a laureate.  (Mandela was not in attendance; he was in fragile health and died about a year later.)

But I had an additional and unique opportunity to actually see de Klerk express his emotions in a most innocuous way at the Peace Prize Festival.

Strictly by chance, I was seated in the second row in the gymnasium at Augsburg.  At my right, came de Klerk and the group that was ushering him around.

There was some unheard conversation, while waiting for some first graders to sing a song, and de Klerk, obviously insisting, came and sat directly in front of me, raptly paying attention to the always captivating young singers.

I could see a grandfather sitting there in front of me, much more than just a VIP….  It was a memorable moment of peace that I will not forget.

F. W. de Klerk, March 2, 2012, Nobel Peace Prize Festival Augsburg College Minneapolis MN . The students who he was watching at his left also show in the television screen in this photo.  Photo by Dick Bernard.

de Klerk and Mandela are not the only statesmen on opposite sides who have won the Peace Prize.  The prize, I think, recognized the risks both leaders had to take to accomplish even a small amount of change.

The risk was a huge one for the designated leader of South Africa, de Klerk.  Nelson Mandela had already paid his own great price.

As everyone knows, progress comes in increments and not in bunches.  S. Africa is not a perfect society.  It wasn’t.  Neither are we.

But South Africa will never be the same again.

Democracies do not work by themselves.  They depend on citizen involvement and risk taking.  We get what we deserve.

Mandela and deKlerk and many others have made and will continue to make a big difference, everywhere.  But as Gandhi so correctly said, long ago: “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.”

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This years Nobel Peace Prize Forum comes up Sep 13-15.  Give yourself a treat.  All information here.

The Minnesota Orchestra makes a two week, five venue, tour to South Africa in August, the first ever for a United States Orchestra.  Check their website for more information.

Dr. Maureen Reed, former Executive Director of Nobel Peace Prize Forum, begins her second year teaching about Nobel Laureates in September.  Program details about Out of the Lab and Into the Fire: Scientists and the Nobel Peace Prize are available here.

The First Graders, March 2012, Nobel Peace Prize Festival, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, photo Dick Bernard

COMMENTS:

from a friend of classical music: 

Thank you for the perspective.

Many Orchestras in the US have spent the year recognizing the work of Leonard Bernstein on what would be the 100th anniversary of his birth (Both Bernstein and Mandela were born in 1918). I find a touch of irony in the Beethoven played last night during the Mandela recognition and on their tour of South Africa.

There are many spins on the intent of the content in the Beethoven 9. But I do find a touch of coincidence that Bernstein conducted the 9th in Berlin on Christmas Day in 1989, celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall. The cause of freedom and social justice seem to be ever-present. At that time, Nelson Mandela was still in prison and would be freed in about seven weeks on February 11, 1990.

from the net …

Exulting Freedom in Music

by Klaus Geitel

On Christmas Day 1989 Berlin (and soon the world) experienced something like a celestial gift: the “Ode to Freedom,” a composite event, spread out over the centuries so to speak, by Schiller, Beethoven – and Leonard Bernstein. The occasion was to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall in a manner which would impress itself once and for all on people’s minds. The Ode “To Freedom” – as Bernstein had the soloists and chorus sing in the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony – indeed symbolized for many Germans a depth of joy they had hitherto hardly known: freedom, a gift from the gods.

Semper Fi

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Yesterday I was primarily involved in family matters related to the induction of Grandson Spencer into the U.S. Marines.  At the induction at the Henry Whipple Federal Building in Bloomington, the backdrop was this map of the world.  Spencer and about 20 others recited the oath of enlistment.

Ft. Snelling MN July 17, 2018

It was a powerful time, plenty of misty eyes (including my own), a rite of passage.  By evening Spencer was on the ground in San Diego and today he is finding out what boot camp is all about, thirteen weeks to go.  He’s got his head on straight, and I think it will go okay.  And I’m hoping we can be out there when he graduates into full Marine status in October.

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I didn’t catch the sum and substance of the Trump-Putin dalliance until near 8 p.m. last night, and read about it this morning Not Just A Coincidence.

The exact same day my grandson took the oath, which includes to “obey the orders of the President of the United States”, that same President is completing a trip in which he has disgraced the United States of America.  If every other scintilla of evidence was identical, but the Presidents name was Obama, or Clinton, not Trump, I can imagine the howls of outrage today.

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Preparing to take the Oath July 16, 2018; Spencer is off this picture, to the left, third row.

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It perhaps seems odd that this writer, an anti-war Democrat who is a Vietnam-era Army veteran from a family full of military history, some of it tragic, should be, proudly, at an induction ceremony into the military for my own grandson.

Not so at all.  I was there for Spencer’s pre-induction a year ago, at the same facility.  He had decided on his own that he wanted to be a Marine, and has spent the last year of high school in preparation for the very hard work beginning today.

There are very few who now enter military service.  Possibly one percent of the American population is active military.  Spencer’s Dad, who graduated from high school in the late 1980s, when asked, remembered only about five of the 300 who graduated with him who actually went into the service.

All three of we Bernard brothers were military – two career officers in the Air Force (I volunteered for the Draft, in Jan. 1962, to get the obligation over with).  But being an enlisted man in an Army Infantry company preparing for Vietnam was a great plenty of relevant background for me.

My Dad’s only brother died on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor; four of the five men from the North Dakota section of land on which my mother grew up, two brothers and two cousins, were military in WWII or Korea.  The fifth boy was needed on the farm.

So, this day, as true for many years, I am both in the Veterans for Peace and also the American Legion.

And I can go to a military induction and be very, very proud of a Grandson who’s made a big commitment, and wish him success, and most especially a career that does not involve war.

Grandson and Daughter after the induction ceremony July 16, 2017

I’ll long remember two events after the induction.  The first was the handover of the iPhone…no such distractions at boot camp.  The second was the little book which Mom gave to son.  “What’s that?”, I asked.  “A Bible”, and gave it to me to sign, my signatures joining others.

Congratulations, Spencer.  Safe return.  All my very, very best.

Next event for me, the Veterans for Peace National Conference, Twin Cities, August 22-26, 2018.  Then the Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg College September 13-15.

COMMENTS:

from Carole: Thank you for this, Dick.  I am part of a transitional generation — from a family with a proud military history — to a mother of two non-military sons, both of whom understand the dangers inherent in our current circumstances.

I abhor war, but I understand defense. I hope that those who follow the path into military service will be wise and generous.
Congratulations to your grandson — may he defend the good, and always be  safe.
from Georgine: In this picture, one can see Great Uncle Frank in him.  Best to him, and may he thrive.
from Carl: Congratulations! Marines are a tuff bunch of guys.
from Jeff:  It will be a long 13 weeks, it hasn’t gotten any easier.

from Barry:  Sounds like he knows what he wants to do and am sure he is honorable in his desire to serve his country. Too bad it is under the likes of Trump and company. Hope he will find something of benefit from his service and not come out of it too badly damaged. 

See you at the [Vets For Peace] convention Aug 22nd to 26th. Be sure and spread the word.  NOTE: Barry is a Vietnam Vet and a great person for whom I have the utmost respect.

from Greg:  Yet another great post, my friend.

Your first task is to run, not walk, to your nearest public library to check out a copy of, Eat The Apple, a book written by Matt Young in which he chronicles his three-year enlistment in the USMC.  Of course he devotes much of the book to his first thirteen weeks, in basic.  Quite graphic in parts so it is up to you to decide whether to share with your daughter.
Matt survived several deployments in “sand land” and upon discharge attended college earning a M.A. in literature and is now a college professor in creative writing.   .
Second, if you and the Marine’s parents concur I would appreciate knowing Spencer’s full name and mail address so that I might drop him a message from time to time.  Promise I will be on my best behavior.
Of course I will keep the lad in my daily prayers.
from Mel: You should be proud, the young man will meet many new thins and a wide cross section of people and see many new places.  I joined the Air Force as a Cadet but not get past third class and washed out so instead of accepting a Commission I was discharged.  My friends and neighbors picked me out for the draft and so back into uniform for me.  I was offered a commission again but opted to get out after 18 months which turned into 24 months at the benevolence of Harry [Truman?] at which time I became a staunch Republican.
Response from Dick: Of course, I’m proud.

 

Cupcakes.

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Last weekend I sang the praises of the film about Fred Rogers, “Will You Be My Neighbor”, which we had seen last Sunday.  Kathy wrote: “RBG also uplifting and worth seeing.”

“RBG“?  It is the documentary about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  We saw it yesterday at the Edina Theatre and highly recommend it.  If you are mired in depression about the state in which we find ourselves, RBG is a very good movie to lift you up, and get on the move again.  RBG seems to be at the end of its theatre run, but it will continue to be accessible in the many ways you can now access film on-line and in video.

July 12, 2018

“If it is to be, it is up to me.”

A U.S. Senator relayed this old saying on national television, a few days ago.

He was talking not only about himself, and his colleagues, but most especially to anyone of us who are concerned about where we’re at as a country.

For all of us deeply concerned about the status quo, “If it is to be, it is up to [us]”.

Giving up is not an option.

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Best I can count, today is the 50th since life changed in the most drastic possible way for grandson Bennie and his family.  Three days ago he was transferred to Gillette Hospital in St. Paul for rehab.  Two days ago he became a teenager: 13.  Ten of us celebrated his birthday in a conference room at the hospital.  His Aunt Ann made some wonderful cupcakes.

I marvel at the near 37,000 visits to Bennie’s Caring Bridge site.  I will let the family fill in the blanks at Caring Bridge from time to time.  It is not easy to compose these posts, so there are delays.  The family knows many are out there, caring.  Thank you all.

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This weekend officially ends civilian life for grandson Spencer, heading for U.S. Marine Basic Training in California on Monday morning.  Another life change in a family.  We saw him Wednesday, along with most all of the rest of the family, including his cousin and Aunt, Lindsay and Jennifer from Colorado.  We’re proud of Spencer, though I hope the only outcomes of military for him will be positive, rather than war in any of its aspects.

My friend, Lyle, now in mid-80s, still flies the Marine flag at his home.  He’s the most gentle yet committed guy I’ve known.  He started post high school life as a Marine, as has Spencer.

January, 1962, I was in Spencers position, heading off to Army Basic Training at Ft. Carson CO, not knowing, then, that the unit to which I’d be assigned was preparing for the Vietnam War.  Luckily, for me, I was in and out very early.  My Company saw deadly duty some years later in Vietnam, so I was told.  37 casualties.  War is not a video game.

These days I’m a Vet for Peace, whose national conference is in St. Paul in a few weeks.  I think I’ll attend.

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I can remember when “life after high school” began for me – at least in terms of orienting to the future.

It came when granddaughter Lindsay was born in 1986.  Life is far more than thinking about today.

It is the grandkids generation who will wonder, what were we thinking…?  We’re creating their future, today.

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POSTNOTE: Today’s Just Above Sunset “A Clear and Present Danger“.  Each of these posts is valuable, and free.  This is our country, under attack, and it is up to us to do more than we think we can to change course.

It’s the Law

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As I write, POTUS is about to announce the new Justice for SCOTUS.  It’s not worth my time.  NYTimes just broke in on my screen with breaking news.  I know the name.  That’s sufficient.

In the interim, to those who may be de-spirited, I recommend looking up the new documentary about Fred Rogers, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor”.  We took the film in on Sunday afternoon, and it was moving and quietly inspirational.  Mr. Rogers (1928-2003) was in the public eye on PBS from 1967, illness ending his career not long after 2001.  My children were born 1964-1975, in the Mr. Rogers era.

Mr. Rogers and Mr. Trump: what an odd pair….

See “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” about the lifetime Republican, Fred Rogers, and get to work replicating his example, one small step at a time, where you live.

Meanwhile, back to the Law and tonights announcement.

It is a temptation to lament tonights action, the effective final step in (hopefully, for some) making people like myself irrelevant in the American political process.

For years, at least since 1980 if not before, there has been a radical right wing ideological objective of taking over the levers of U.S. government (the law-makers and judiciary) at state and national and even local and school board level, and this has been very successful.   We have seen the results of single party domination in the past 17 months, and we will probably see it even more, now, with the not at all hidden intention of packing of the judicial system.  The people be damned.

Set the ideological tilt of the courts, the ultimate goal the lifetime appointments of Supreme Court Justices, and its game over, or so it is presumed.

I don’t happen to agree.  But equilibrium won’t easily return.  It won’t return at all if people like myself, and there are tens of millions of us, collectively decide to concede our responsibility as individuals to be cause in the matter of our children and grandchildren’s future, including the future of others world over.  Quitting is not a winning strategy.

But to be agents of change, we need to be the one who are the change agents, as stated above, “one small step at a time, where you live.”

There’s an old saying (apologies to cat lovers) that “there’s more than one way to skin a cat”.

For those who think dominance through the Law is the ultimate win, stay tuned.  You’ll pay a heavy price, too.

POSTNOTE: Overnight, and excellent: “No One Expected Thugs” 

Here is a longer Wikipedia entry about Fred Rogers.

Ronald McDonald House

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Most every time my spouse goes to an evening meeting or get-together I tell her I’ll be dining out at a four-star restaurant.   Usually, my trip is to left-overs, or on occasion the neighborhood McDonalds, for a hamburger and small fries….  My “threat” is always an idle one.

This has taken on a far more serious tone in recent weeks.  Since grandson Bennie had the accident,  his parents, and on occasion some other family members, have been guests of the Ronald McDonald House which is part of the hospital in which Bennie is a patient.  It has been a godsend for them in the past six weeks, as it has doubtless been for thousands of others since the idea took root in 1974.

Of course, on every trip to McDonald’s you’ll see a discreet invitation to leave some change for the Ronald McDonald House.

But it was an abstract idea for me until I saw it in action.

About a week ago I dropped into the local McD’s for the usual, and saw the above sign on the door.  I came back later with a case of water and a check – not a huge one, but more than a little….

In the endless bombardment of awful we are subjected to every day, the Ronald McDonald House is a reminder of the great reservoir of goodness that surrounds all of us, ready to help when we least expect it.

Below is a discreet photo of Bennie and his parents less than two weeks before all of their lives changed in an instant.  I’m glad I took the photo.

Have a great, gentle, day today.

Thank you, McDonald’s, for a great idea.

May 13, 2018. Mother’s Day. Bennie and family in foreground.

COMMENTS

from Kathy: Good morning, Dick. I am proud to say my Dad was a founding board member of the RMH and my sister Jane a more recent active Board member. They both were McDonald restaurant  owners in St Paul area.  The home has provided TLC to so many children’s families.

from Bonnie: I’ve been following Bennie’s journey on Caringbridge and pray for him everyday and as he comes to mind.  What a arduous journey for him and for his parents and for all of you—well, for all of you who love him.  I’m glad there is one ray of light in this journey.

from Joni: RMH was a godsend when we found ourselves out of state with Parker in IU-Purdue several years ago.  A very worthy organization indeed.

“Who’s Governor?”

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Friday I was on the observation deck of the always impressive North Dakota State Capitol.

Bismarck ND from the ND State Capitol, June 29, 2018.  (The Pioneer Statue can be seen near the end of the mall – a nearer image is later in this post.)

A father was with two of his elementary school age sons: “who is Governor of North Dakota?” he asked, as they stood by photos of North Dakota’s past Governors and Lieutenant Governors.

ND Governors, at the observation deck of the North Dakota State Capitol, June 29, 2018

I am a very active student of history, especially family history, and indeed was on the Capitol grounds because I was at the ND History Center on a history project I’ve been working on for years: the history of my own family in North Dakota.

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There has always been a healthy – and largely deserved – degree of respect for those we elect to represent us.  Even if we dislike the person elected, there is a tacit acknowledgment that someone needs to lead.

Since the earliest territorial days, certain types of people have aspired to political power.  They have had different philosophies, and strengths and weaknesses, but overall, in our entire history, they generally respected the notion that they represent all of us, especially those with less ability, less power, even those with differing ideas.  So, for instance, it has always been recognized that some citizens cannot live independently; that not everyone has the ability to succeed as defined by the successful; that government has a responsibility to help everyone succeed, and in the process enables the entire society to be a caring and successful entity.

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Our grandson Bennie, and his parents, are just three of innumerable examples of a need for greater and larger sense of “community”.  Forty days ago their lives changed, at the bare minimum, for a long, long time.  They could be any one of us.  Where is society for them?  Where will it be for us, when we need it?  Individualism is fine, but finite.  We all need more than ourselves.

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A young German, commenting on my previous post, says it very well about today’s political world in the United States: “From early on [Trump] proved that he is NOT a politician—he is a businessman, and leading a country and politics is not business— it doesn’t work that way.”

Here’s another view on politics, from a 1929 publication for young students found at the old North Dakota farm (the actual text in context is page three, here: Warps 1929002 ).  All was not ideal in 1929, of course.  Note Q. 156 about the Ku Klux Klan, and the answer….  History is a process.

(see pdf referenced above)

A synchronous (in my opinion, functional) society must truly care about everyone regardless of capability or belief.  Ours is an irreversably diverse society.  And our leaders, regardless of party, must work together, to accomplish the things that will enable us to survive in a world without borders.  There is no “good old days” to revert to.

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Today we are in very serious times.  If you have the time, read “Unending Chronic Discontent” for a longer summary…with a challenge, to you.

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At this moment, we seem to be working against our own best interests as a nation.

As July 4th comes around, we are a country dangerously out of balance (think of a washing machine with an unbalanced load), led by too many for whom temporary ability to dominate and control is the domnant  ethic.

The currently dominant faction is a very odd coalition which, through assorted means, has decided to attempt to tilt all of American society permanently into its own definition of normal, even though its ideas are not at all in synch with the mood of much more than an ever smaller minority of the country.

The fantasy to “Make America Great Again” will come at the expense of everyone, including the supposed beneficiaries.

The lust to control is easily visible.  Most recent is the effort to assert long term impact on, and in effect control over, the U.S. judicial system; as well as manipulating election systems to favor a certain demographic.  Or to permanently disempower potential rivals who might make other laws.

All of this has happened before, one time or another, but not to the carefully planned (and technologically assisted) degree that we have seen, particularly in the last generation, and most particularly in the age of Trump, in alliance with the “Tea Party”.

The “odd coalition” of which I speak?  It is greed, in alliance with religious ideologic purists: sort of a modern day parallel alliance of the “robber barons” and the Prohibition advocates of over 100 years ago: different groups working to concentrate wealth and impose social values….  Neither movement ended well “back in the day”, but before their excesses died, they did an immense amount of damage.

Their days were not the “good old days”.

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We Americans will survive this, but only with an extraordinarily active citizenry which not only speaks out, but votes, and votes intelligently, paying attention to every candidate who is running for every office in every community in this country.

Working together, we’ll begin to restore balance.  If not, I fear for the future of our nation.

ND State Capitol June 29, 2018

The Pioneers, North Dakota Capitol Grounds, June 29, 2018

COMMENTS:

from Mary: Thanks for you thoughts about leadership and democracy. I agree that we are in very serious trouble.Voting is crucial. There are days when I read or watch TV news that I feel assaulted. One of the best things at had I did  for nurturing my spirit was to see the movie “Mr. Rogers Will You Be MY Neighbor” It was fantastic, as was HAMILTON,

The above old reference book, found in the “junk” at the ancestral farm, helps give context to the political structure of the state of North Dakota about 1911.  The 547 pages, including biographical information about politicians of the time, give excellent context for the below panel, one of thirteen seen at the ND Historical Society on June 29, 2018.  Who we select to lead us matters a great deal.

ND Historical Society display on WWI and North Dakota, seen June 29, 2018