Rain has been around a lot longer than humans. Sun, too. As long as our species has existed there has been weather, and people have found lots of different ways to handle it.
It’s rough out there. Wars, atrocities, mass shootings, global warming, toxic polarization, free-floating anger and anxiety. As I talk to people around me, I find many are distracted and off-center.
The misunderstandings, assumptions and judgments between generations cause some real conflicts. It is natural for people to believe the way they were raised, the time they grew up and the standards they considered as the norm are superior to other generations’ ways of being. Just like my grandmother and her hand-cranked dryer, it is hard to adopt to new ways.
When my grandmother handed me the wet clothes and told me to “put them through the wringer,” I had no idea what to do. “Go ahead, don’t dawdle. Get those clothes done.”
Celebrating light is the theme for November and December holidays across the world. The Hindu festival of Divali was celebrated last week with the lighting of candles to wish one another good luck, riches, and generosity. As the waning light of the sun in the Northeast US is heading us toward the shortest day of the year, many light candles and install lighting displays to brighten our lives and the lives of those around us.
I recently attended a national meeting devoted to Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR). In attendance were practitioners from all over the US and some other countries. We were eager to hear the research from those at the University of Nebraska in a presentation entitled "What the Public's Lack of Understanding of ADR Means."
We acknowledge that we are standing on the land of the Wôpanâak (Wampanoag) people and nation, who settled this land at least 12,000 years ago and still celebrate it as home today. Although commonly referred to as Martha's Vineyard, this island has a much older name, a Wôpanâak name: Noëpe.
