Archive for October, 2012

Posted by Karen Hadalski at 18 October 2012

Category: Uncategorized

For most Americans it’s hard to think about anything but politics these days!  During every commercial break on television we are bombarded with ads extolling the virtues of– or, more commonly– demonizing one candidate over another. But,  I don’t think these tactics are working. In our case, we began to “mute” the chatter of candidates we will not be voting for this November quite a while ago and even turn our phone off to get a break from all the robo calls. We’ve heard more than enough, already.

Tensions and tempers are running high this year.  To a greater extent than during any other election cycle I can remember, our citizenry is split right down the middle, with each side as adamant and passionate about its choices as the other is about theirs.

I’ve been in Western Europe during election cycles and things are about the same there.  A relative just returned from a trip to Eastern Europe and they, too, are passionate about politics–even our upcoming election!

Wouldn’t it be refreshing (and healthy) to decide upon the direction we want to take, and the policies and leadership we need to take us there, through rational discussion, mutual respect, bi-partisan cooperation and unimpassioned discernment?

The only culture I’m familiar with that chose its leaders in this way was the Native American tribal system. This is how their “election process” went:

#1:  As a group, they took as long as was necessary to come up with and clearly articulate their felt needs and goals. These were decided and agreed upon by a majority through “pow-wows:” thoughtful, quiet, mutually respectful periods of rational discussion and discernment.

#2: Once goals were agreed upon, they simply surveyed/studied their population to discover who among them had already demonstrated the competency and successes necessary to assume a leadership position.  One or more people were then “invited” to take leadership responsibility in the area of their particular mastery. The “chosen” were afforded as much time as they needed to go off by themselves, reflect, pray, and decide whether or not they  perceived themselves as possessing the inner- strength and resolve necessary to successfully carry-out community expectations. There was no stigma associated with declining a leadership role.

#3:  Once the leadership position was assumed, the chief (or chiefs) had no contract, term of office, or additional criteria attached to his role.  So long as he exhibited competency, made progress in meeting the goals agreed upon, and retained strength and good health, he remained in his position.

If the one ( or several) chosen failed to move the community forward toward attaining agreed upon goals, he either self-relinquished his leadership role or acquiesced to his people’s request to step aside.  If his pride took over and he refused to step down, he was ostracised by the community and went off to form his own, new band of followers and establish another “tribe” in another “nation.”

To my mind, this “primitive” model is a far more sane and sensible model for choosing leaders than the one we currently suffer through every four years.

 

 

 

 

Posted by Karen Hadalski at 4 October 2012

Category: Writing

My new book, Ten Difficult Women: Their Impact and Legacy, is now available for pre-release sale and will be officially released on November 19.

While the new release of every book is exciting, I find myself wondering how many people actually read books these days?  My favorite chain bookseller, Borders, recently closed its last door and I’ve read that Barnes & Noble is struggling.  Though independent–especially specialty –bookstores seem to be holding on, I wonder how?  Those I frequent are almost always empty.

To me, there is no contest between the feeling one gets holding and reading a printed book vs. a metal reading device. Yet, a young family member tells me she is certain electronic books will be the only form around in the not too distant future. She went from printing to keyboard in elementary school, views cursive writing as an “archaic folk art” with no practical purpose,  and was totally unimpressed by ancient hieroglyphics and the Book of Kells when taken to see these. “Who cares how ideas are written out,” she questions? ” Only the stories and ideas are important.”

Those in the 20-something generation must view people in my generation as crazy.  Many of us (including Bill & Hillary Clinton) still write long-hand versions of our works on legal pads before entering them into the Word program.  I write everything out with a favorite (refillable) pen.  The ideas and words flow like a tangible current from my brain, through my arm, to my hand, and “exit” through my pen onto a soft, woody piece of paper.  This process feels organic to me and somehow works to make my ideas feel alive and personal. Once relegated to a documents file in my computer, those warm, pulsating words become nothing but cold, hard “copies” to me.

One of my fondest graduate school memories is of spending an afternoon in Harvard University’s Rare Book Room.  I was only allowed access because I was working as a Research Assistant to a professor writing a biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson, my favorite essayist. I was escorted to a small ” book closet” with a cage-like door and given a pair of white cotton gloves to wear. My assignment was to cross-check the accuracy of several handwritten journal entries and  notes he wrote in the margins of his own essays and the works of his favorite classical authors.

I had read every word this genius wrote and visited his home, personal library, and grave site in Concord, Massachusetts.  But nothing conveyed a more intimate, living-breathing “feel” for the man than holding and reading his handwritten journals, marginalia, and doodling. After allthese flowed directly from his mind, through his pen, to the pages I now turned.  Wow!

That experience could never have occurred had he typed his words with a keyboard, printed them out, and converted them to an electronic reading device.

Maybe the kids are right and books will cease to be printed before long.  Regardless, I will always be a bibliophile.  One of my favorite Emersonian quotes is:  “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” I agree–cracked leather, yellowing pages, musty smell and all.

 

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    TEN DIFFICULT WOMEN: THEIR IMPACT AND LEGACY is selling well on Amazon, Kindle, and through various book sellers.
    If you would like your local bookstore to order you a copy (especially Barnes & Noble stores which have a very quick turn-around) simply provide the title and ISBN #: 978-1-4626-9549-2

    KARMA: HOW TO VIEW IT, USE IT, AND LOSE IT,
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    The title of my April/May column, "Perspectives," in Pet Tails Magazine is: "The Cat Lady." It tells the story of a woman in Pittsburgh who devoted her retirement years to rescuing the most hopeless, hapless cats from a local shelter and the interesting, elegant lifestyle she and seven of these lucky kitties lived before her recent death.

    NOTE TO ANIMAL LOVERS: All Pet Tails' articles can be read on-line at www.pettailsmagazine.com as soon as removed from news stands and replaced with current month's issue. In this case, after June 1st.

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