Stop for a second and think about today’s Thursday Thought. Then, hold onto your belly, let loose with a good laugh, and enjoy the health it stimulates.
Archive for January 17, 2019
Does the U.S. Support Forcing Kids into Marriage?
A teenage girl in America forced to marry an older man in another country, then bring him in on a spousal visa. A 49-year-old man applying for admission to the U.S. for his 15-year-old bride, likely married off by her family to the older man. These are NOT unusual examples. Yet we let it happen. Look at the facts:
- The US approved thousands of requests by men to bring in child and adolescent brides to live in the United States over the past decade, data the Associated Press obtained show.
- More than 8,600 minors came to the US as fiancees or spouses in the last 11 years following government approval.
- The Immigration and Nationality Act does not set minimum age requirements.
- Additionally, the US goes by whether the marriage is legal in the home country and then whether the marriage would be legal in the state where the petitioner lives, making the approvals legal.
Read the rest of the AP article The US government approved thousands of requests for men to bring child brides to the US and decide for yourself whether our country is condoning, if not encouraging, this practice which enslaves so many young girls. Then contact your Congress members and insist that they include corrective measures in the next immigration package.
Boring Rain? Go Classics
It’s drizzly weather, but the kids need something to do. Show them a thought-provoking classic movie. Afterwards, talk about what they saw–what went on and why–and relate it to real people in real situations today. Encourage questions and reactions. “Could some kid I know face going to prison for killing his dad?” (Twelve Angry Men). “But poor people today can get jobs and not have people disrespect them” (Grapes of Wrath). “How dumb! People can’t be accused of stuff just because of their color!” (To Kill a Mockingbird). Find these films at the public library. Scan the television guides, Netflix, Hulu, On Demand, etc. for others: Ox Bow Incident and Diary of Anne Frank show up often. Check video rental stores for The Hiding Place or Schindler’s List. Your friends who are movie buffs probably have a film they’d recommend and even lend you. Gather the kids and start the movie.
Now, where did I put that bowl of popcorn?
Must Watch Video on Appearances
This simple experiment with a young child makes a powerful statement.
Drink Beer & Help the Environment
Even if you aren’t a Corona or other beer drinker, this is good news. Six-pack rings have always been a hazard to wildlife, killing and choking them, and drink industries–beer and soft drink–have been slow to adopt the technology that’s been around for years that can solve the problem. That is, biodegradable, non-plastic 6-pack rings.
Kudos to Corona for finally doing that. It’s only a pilot program, but it’s an important start. Read about it at Corona Beer to Ditch Plastic Packaging by Using Biodegradable 6-Pack Rings. Then, contact Corona and congratulate them on their enlightened action. (If you want, lift a beer in a toast to them.) And ask your favorite beer and soft-drink manufacturers why they aren’t doing the same thing.
Death Okay for Mentally Ill?
What’s the big deal about executing people? If they killed someone, isn’t it their own fault that they’ll die for it?
The answer depends on whether you think childhood trauma, brain injury, intellectual disabilities,, and serious mental illness–or a combination of these factors– is the offender’s fault or choice. Did 18 people in the U.S. die at the hands of the state in 2018 because the crimes they committed were influenced by something not in their control? It’s something to consider when we mark our ballots on the issue of the death penalty. Take a look at this chart:
Secret to Living Well
Today’s Thursday Thought quote comes from Tibet and gives a simple plan for a good life.
A Pun for the Day
Warning: I Feel Punny
Sometimes I just want to take a day off from the seriousness of the world. Because I’m a word-person, on those days you’ll have to put up with a pun or two. Remember that you were warned!
#1–When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.
#2–To write with a broken pencil is pointless.
#3–(One more, because it’s one of those days.) Police were called to a daycare, where a 3-year-old was resisting a rest.
Good. It’s out of my system. I’ll be all better tomorrow.
Avoiding Weird People
I did some people-watching on my shopping trip yesterday. What struck me was how often someone avoids eye contact or moves away from another person who doesn’t seem quite “normal.” I put myself in the avoider’s head, and this is what I came up with..
Who is that strange person? The smiley one who moves and talks slowly while cleaning the tables at the hot dog place. That scruffy-looking guy in the army fatigues asking for donations for veterans outside the grocery store. That strange old man sitting in Starbuck’s who keeps trying to talk to me when I’m in a hurry to get my morning coffee. The pregnant girl with all that black makeup—can she even be 15? Who are all those weirdos around me?
The answer is that they are people. Each is a human person with a story, a life, and, as such, each deserves dignity. Try having an actual conversation with them. You may be surprised at how interesting they are. Out in public like that, you’re certainly in no danger. The only risk you’re taking is learning that these people who seem weird can also be wonderful. In the process, you will have given them the dignity of being recognized as actual people.
Lead and Manage Better: Read Poetry
I write poetry,* so when I saw the article Reading fiction helps your career, but reading poetry helps more I was delighted. I know, I know…most people don’t like poetry, because it takes a little work and imagination to understand, internalize, and apply. On the other hand, if you are a leader or manager, you can actually advance your career by reading poetry.
[*Get a FREE download of my book of poetry, God Sneezed, at your favorite e-book seller or by clicking here. Check out my other e-books at Smashwords by searching Jackie O’Donnell.]Here’s part of the article:
It turns out that poetry is especially beneficial to people who want to lead and manage. John Coleman wrote in the Harvard Business Review that “poetry teaches us to wrestle with and simplify complexity…Business leaders live in multifaceted, dynamic environments. Their challenge is to take that chaos and make it meaningful and understandable. Reading and writing poetry can exercise that capacity, improving one’s ability to better conceptualize the world and communicate it — through presentations or writing — to others.”
Fictional narrative expects the reader to keep turning pages to connect with a character and feel what they feel. Poetry demands that the reader decipher each line for understanding — the world, or the self, or others. Both poetry and fiction develop empathy, but fiction is better for that. Poetry, however, is the practice of simplifying complex topics. (Extra credit alert: To illustrate this, read Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson.)
Most people can make a good business decision if they have all the relevant data in front of them. But the most successful executives are excellent at making decisions with incomplete information. The less information you need to make a decision, the higher you can rise. Think Elon Musk deciding he can go to the moon. Or Mark Zuckerberg assuming he will be able to get millions of people to use his Harvard dating website.
Dana Gioia explains that this decision-making skill is about sorting complexity to come up with a guess at the truth. And in Knowledge@Wharton he says reading (and writing) poetry, rather than conventional fiction or nonfiction, is the most effective way to develop these skills.
Clare Morgan, author of What Poetry Brings to Business, cites studies that show readers of stories and poetry generate nearly twice as many alternative endings for the poems, and poetry readers develop great self-monitoring strategies that enhance the efficacy of their thinking process. Morgan says these creative capabilities help executives keep their organizations entrepreneurial, find imaginative solutions, and navigate moments when they cannot rely on data to make good decisions.
The world is full of examples of executives who read poetry. Steve Jobs collected the works of William Blake. Sidney Harman, founder of Harman Industries, always tried to hire poets into management, arguing, “Poets are our original systems thinkers. They look at our most complex environments and they reduce the complexity to something they begin to understand.
Does this post make you want to read poetry? The more you are repelled by poetry the more you will benefit from it. So give it a try.