September 3, 2026

Wikipedia calls Milo Yiannopoulos “a British far right conspiratorial political commentator known for his opposition to Islam, feminism, and social justice.” Rightly so – since he is a former editor of Breitbart News. And that would be just for starters. If you know, you know.

We could easily slide down a rabbit hole of a hefty list of his questionable behaviors and rhetorical choices, but I invoke him here as a proverbial “poster child” for the power of epiphany.  In particular, I mean the kind of awakening that can only come to those who keep themselves insulated from the experiences of others which do not mirror their own.

Long story blessedly short, Milo the Brit found himself ensnared in the very American deportation quagmire he is on record as declaring it would be very appropriate for “millions and millions” of other people to experience.  Bottom line, his experience in the ICE dragnet finds him now admitting he had been very cavalier about other people’s trauma until the machinery terrified and humiliated him, and left him (in his words) “physically degraded” Oh, how different is the song he sings now!

But enough of his freshly current story.  I only invoke it because it is perfectly indicative of the point I want to make about how easily most of us recommend for others that which we would never recommend for ourselves.

I often do an exercise with people of all ages where I ask, “How many of you have ever heard this before: ‘Treat others the way you want to be treated.’” When I ask, generally hands shoot right up. Then I ask, “How many of you think that's a really good way to live your life?”  When I ask this question, hands shoot up, again. But then I ask, “So how many of you live your life that way every day? … and it's crickets.

What's interesting to note, here, is that there is no culture on the planet that's ever been studied that does not have some version of this message as part of their understanding. In many places, we call it the Golden Rule. And yet, despite the fact that almost all of us have heard the message, and think it's a good idea, somehow this does not motivate us to practice what we preach.

I cannot help but conclude that we will not make much progress in creating a world that works for all of us until and unless every one of us practices what we think and say is a good idea … treating others exactly the way we would want to be treated if the shoe were on the other foot.

But be aware, as we come to this conclusion, that there is a higher value. There is what many call the Platinum Rule, which invites us not only to treat people at least as well as we would treat ourselves, but invites us, instead, to treat them the way THEY want to be treated (though I would add the caveat “unless it causes problems for them or someone else.”)

However, we can't even CONSIDER the Platinum Rule because we're still so far removed from embracing the Golden Rule.

Those… like Yiannopoulos …who are quick to condemn others to punishments they would never choose to endure are part of the problem that we deal with in this country and the world. Somehow, we must find ourselves on a path that allows us to be more inclusive of people different from ourselves. We must understand, somehow and soon, that we are all in this together …neighbors and fellow humans… who are part of an unbroken fabric of life that cannot possibly prevail and continue unless the whole weaving can do so. What goes around, comes around

Don’t wait until what many call karmic debt must be paid by the boomerangs you have thrown out coming back to do damage to you, instead.

Milo did.  But then he was treated like a common recalcitrant or combative criminal, and shackles were unceremoniously snapped onto HIS body …and that changed some things.

NOW … (Dare I say it?) … he’s “woke.”

June 29, 2026

            It has been said that if you dig deep enough beneath any negative emotion, you will find fear.  Start with anger, hatred, jealousy, embarrassment, envy, bigotry, and more… and then ask the person who feels this emotion what he or she is really afraid of and there will probably be an answer… IF the person is honest.  Fear is OFTEN at the root of other deep feelings that lead to violent and other counter-productive behaviors

            If you check current news reports, you can find examples galore of how this rootedness plays out.  And history produces arguably an infinite number of others.

Once upon a time  in Cincinnati, for example, a black man lost his life at the hands of white police officers.  There was talk of racism and police brutality… and rightly so as the facts of the case were considered.  But I wonder whether or not anyone talked about how both cocaine and PCP – drugs that the dead man had in his system – are capable of turning anyone into a raging, superhuman maniac. 

While not excusing or minimizing their behavior and the resulting consequences, I have no doubt that the six cops who subdued this 300 pound man could have been afraid under the circumstances.  I also have no doubt that fear was at the root of the victim’s behavior relative to his drug use and much more.  The fact that we may never know what he was afraid of doesn’t preclude the fact that fear was most likely there.

            Of course, the current morass in the Middle East is a premier example of the primacy of fear. Go to any place in this hotbed of conflict where war is currently a daily experience, and fear will be there – whether it is among initiating forces or victims of the same.  Palestinians are afraid of Israelis and Israelis are afraid of Palestinians.  People outside of the Middle East are afraid of what’s happening inside, and those inside are afraid of what’s happening outside.

            Then there are countless examples from history.  The people of Illinois were afraid of the Mormons when they ran them out of Nauvoo.  The Nazis were afraid of Jews, gypsies, and other people they persecuted and destroyed.  Early American settlers were afraid of Native Americans.  Early African settlers were afraid of native Africans.  Natives on practically every continent were … and still are… afraid of each other.  There was fear in Kosovo, and Afghanistan, ancient Rome, pre-World War II Japan, and pre-revolution Russia, and on and on.

            There must have been fear in Geuda Springs, too.  There was once a movement afoot in this small Kansas town of about 200 souls to require every homeowner to own a gun.  Both the folks behind the movement and the folks against it were afraid of possible consequences.  But along the way, there was a newspaper reader who was celebrating the effort.  I know because an opinion line quote was brought to my attention reflecting a person who claimed (and I believe I’m quoting here) that “every Christian, Caucasian man should be required by law to own a gun unless he’s gay.”  I wonder what this person was afraid of.  And I wonder why.

            Well … I feel like I’m doing nothing if I’m not regularly inviting us to think.  And at the moment, I’m asking us to think about what it is we are afraid of and whether or not our fears are grounded… or unfounded.  Sometimes fear is a sign of prudence; but as often as not, it lies at the root of a growing malaise that takes us down roads of violence and destruction; and as Albert Einstein is quoted as having said, “Violence may clear away obstructions quickly, but it has never proven itself creative.”

 I’ll tell you what would be creative:  feeling our fears and having the courage to do what’s right anyway.  Doing that would cause a revolution like the world has never seen.

Are you feeling revolutionary? I hope so... because as Franklin Roosevelt asserted, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”  We will never be able to build the best of relationships and community if we insist on being fearful of one another.

June 8, 2026

If someone judgmentally accuses you of being “woke “...as if that is a negative thing, borrow an expression  from classic Southern Belles and say, “Bless your heart! THANK you!”  And then go on about your business. You don't have to take possession of their disparagement.

You will want to do this because, first of all, you can be sure that the judgment has political roots and is meant to be mocking. Secondly, you have to understand where the term originally comes from. Then you also have to understand that by dictionary definition, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being woke ...also known as awakened, aroused, fully alive and/or aware. In fact, it’s those of us who are essentially asleep that are the problem. Life’s deck is stacked in favor of the privileged few, so of course, many of them don’t want the general populace to recognize this.  The reason is because our wakefulness focuses more light in the shadows where they operate, and calls for change by folks with their eyes open will be too loud for them to ignore.

For the record, the term "woke" originates in African American  culture in the early 20th century and has long been a slang term for being attentive to racial prejudice and systemic discrimination. In particular, the concept of staying awake to social realities has been ascribed to activist Marcus Garvey and can also be found in the music of blues artist Huddie Ledbetter (a.k.a. "Lead Belly"), who advised listeners to "stay woke" in terms of racial injustice in a 1938 song he recorded about the Scottsboro Boys.  But let me not digress.

If your accuser knows this history, that immediately tells you a lot about their motives in terms of the racial component. If they DON’T know this (which is very likely), then they've just borrowed a bastardization of the term from some opinion leader, which is currently taken by certain segments of society to mean the same thing as “liberal,” or “progressive” or any number of other terms that reflect a view that everybody matters and everybody should be included. 

In America, that means living up to our ideals... which you will recall from your civics class (assuming you had one) are something along the lines of the self-evident truths that all are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights including unencumbered access to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” That's putting it simply.

Of course, these ideals are not just for Americans. But in some of our country’s original documentation, we have done a very good job of expressing the ideals that we should be living up to. I also took the liberty of paraphrasing, here, because the original language (though it was never explicitly said) was really for ONLY men ...and only certain (quite privileged) men at that. Everybody else was second class or lower. This includes every woman that may be reading this right now. And believe me, these same men want to take us back there post haste.

The powers-that-be are desperately working on constructing or reconstructing society to expand on the disparity between “haves” and “have nots” and they are succeeding mightily ... because not enough of us are AWAKENED and making collective choices (like voting) to take back the progress we were making for a while in shaping a world that works for everyone.

I always say, “Life is choices.”  And I promise you one of MY primary choices is to not let those determined to pull the wool over our eyes succeed without opposition.

I hope you will join me in being woke enough to do what you can in the same direction.  Oh ... and if you are a member of the formal or informal, conscious or subconscious “Woke ID” Police force, “Bless your heart! THANK you!”