When did suicide become a public matter? Times sure have changed. In the past, suicides were not reported nearly as often as they are now. Not only are suicides reported more, but we feel the need to provide a reasoning for each one. Every time another child takes his/her life, the media shoves the story down our throats. The stories are almost identical. A person was bullied for this or that and they couldn’t take it anymore.

We seem to think by constantly reporting the story, we’re going to fix the problem. Instead of focusing on what the actual problem is, we settle on bullying and make another law. All of the bullying laws in the world will not stop bullying. Parents begin blaming the administrators and teachers for not putting an end to bullying. I hate to break it to you, but we teachers cannot always prevent bullying. We can’t see everything all of the time and what we don’t see, it’s hard to stop. Some of us don’t do enough to try to resolve the problem, but people need to realize there’s more than bullying going on.

Don’t get me wrong, suicide is an extremely sad situation. There are always people left behind wondering how they couldn’t see the signs, what they could have done differently, and why was the person so unhappy. Let’s slow our roll and look at all of the factors that these people had in common. I can guarantee you it was more than being bullied. There is usually something else going on such as depression, anxiety and many other mental disorders. Sometimes the person’s life has just been turned upside down by a catastrophic event like a death or a divorce. Some of those people thought they had no one to turn to in their time of need. They let it all build up until it was too much to handle and they felt it just wouldn’t get better. We have failed to notice any other problems these people could have had. In failing at that, we’re not learning more about preventing suicide. We make these people victims because we can’t believe that our family member or friend wasn’t perfect. We are a society that loves to blame everyone else when most of the time the blame can be spread around. At the end of the day, that person chose to end his/her life.

I am in no way saying that bullying is okay or that it can’t lead to other issues. I’m simply reminding you that with suicide it usually isn’t just one thing. I want you to look at the bigger picture to make sure that we’re trying to solve all of the factors. We want to focus on the programs available and make them better. If you suspect someone has a bout of depression, another mental disorder, or he/she is at the end of his/her rope, speak up.

Everybody has with in them the internal desire to live a life of love, peace, and joy. In addition, all people want what is good and decent. The idea of enjoying a life a person is completely in love with is absent in our society.

We have been told that we must have stuff. The stuff does not matter. We just have to have stuff, like every new version an IPAD for example.

However, people just yearn for a love, intimacy, romance, pleasure, and enjoyment. These are hard goals to achieve when we are isolating ourselves.

Yet, these ideas are our life’s quest whether we agree with them or not. That unsettling feeling that our life is not what we want is that our life is not one with the elements mentioned above.

The challenge is to live a life of pleasure and satisfaction in a world where we have to devote a lot of time just to earn enough to survive. Moreover, we cannot know what we were never taught.

Purity, righteousness, being good, being decent, politeness, and other great virtues are the thing of the past. Toady, we are suppose to be as vulgar as possible and as hateful as possible.

The yearning however, will not go away. Here we are frustrated that we are not at peace with the life we have built.

People ask why there needs to be small government, personal responsibility, and self reliance. The answer is that people cannot achieve their personal desires when they are spending most of there time working to get by in life. People need time to think and relax. People need the opportunities a free market enterprise system provides.

With in us there is a moral compass that identifies what is wrong and what is right. Most of us know that people who can work should work.

Then there is the brainwashing of people. If it is in all people to build a life they will enjoy and part of personal enjoyment in life is knowing that our neighbors follow basic moral principles, how can there be peace when government encourages dependency.

To achieve our heart’s content we have to be free to think and free to act. The resources we accumulate help us reach a life of personal comfort.

Knowing that our neighbors are not a threat to us also contribute to our personal enjoyment. It is hard to enjoy life when we are afraid to go out of the house. It is hard to accumulate resources, when they are constantly being taken from us.

This is why government needs to get out of the business of social engineering. If the people struggling with life get all the money of successful people and cooperate with education and work training programs they will become successful. Then people like Obama can take these new successful people’s resources to help the people who were made poor by Obama’s redistribution of wealth policies.

I do not believe it is wrong to ask how a person got to be in life were they are in life. Now, I know that the economic crisis of 2008 changed many lives. I am also aware that the current work and economic environments are stressful and challenging environments.

However, who controls our thoughts? Who helps us define the issues of life?

The answer is the politicians with the help of the media. Media is all information. This includes movies, TV programs, magazines, and all the rest.

Now, Obama defined the current economic crisis as the result of the greedy Wall Street types. This is partly true. In addition, the Wall Street types funded Mr. Barack Hussein Obama’s first presidential campaign and are funding his current campaign.

The mix was a complicated one. People were buying more than they could afford. People were betting that people would not pay off there credit. People were real estate speculators, creating a bubble. Democrats were spending and creating loans for people with no proof of income.

Free people investing is a good thing, regardless of their wild ideas. Regular people are suppose to be smart enough to manage their investments and not participate in wild ideas that can harm others.

Government cannot and should not force people to manage all elements of their lives. If people had paid attention, they would of seen the problem and moderated their investments.

However, people do not take personal responsibility for their lives and when economic crisis happen some politicians blame business types in order to garner support. Who had a gun put to their head and forced to be a real estate speculator. Why didn’t people who had a lot of money to loose not pay attention to the real estate market and making better decisions.

Well politicians have convinced people if they mess up, government will bail them out. Some politicians also fight the ideas of personal responsibility and self reliance. People do not manage their lives better because through life they learn that avoidance is a better practice. Therefore, people’s own immaturity and political brainwashing keeps people from having the life they want.

I started the conversation by trying to give the reader an idea of what they are missing. Life’s loving embrace is what is absent.

Some where down the line many people lost sight of what is really good in life. Okay, the liberals have been questioning and chiseling down piety, prosperity, righteousness, and other virtues with their media works. If you pay attention, you will notice that most movies and TV programs are about characters who take pleasure in being against good virtues.

Failing to use your own mental ability to evaluate, assess, and plan according to the real resources in your environment is being against good virtues. No amount of hate for business types is going to improve your life.

When government controls wealth it controls thought and activity. The Power-ball lottery is at 200 million dollars. If Obama could have his way, winning this lottery would not give you more resources to improve your life because Obama and his kind want to control all wealth.

Industries will disappear under government control of wealth. Part of having a life that meets our desires, needs, and wants is working at career that we enjoy. Which nurse wants to earn $7.25 an hour. Which teacher wants the same?

Now, let me see if I can line up my ducks. Through our growing up years we are playing, doing shores, and dreaming. When we get close to adult hood we form a life dream. This dream brings us love, intimacy, and romance.

We need employment and business opportunities. Limited government does not take people’s financial resources, lets people think for themselves, and allows for free market system that will provide opportunities people need to live their life’s dream.

Is everything in the universe determined by the laws of physics? If this is in fact the case, then there can be no scope for the autonomous exercise of choice, purpose, or responsibility in the universe; nor would meaning be possible. Instead, there would only be the automatic, tautological behavior of automatons (therefore, the lament by the theoretical physicist, Steven Weinberg, about the universe becoming ever seemingly more pointless as it becomes ever more comprehensible, at least to the physicist). Fortunately, the biochemist and complexity theorist, Stuart Kauffman, in his short essay, “The Open Universe”, gives us a good reason for believing that not everything in the universe is determined by physical law. He points, in particular, to evolutionary processes in “the biosphere, the economy, our human culture and perhaps aspects of the abiotic world …”

Why? What is it that distinguishes evolutionary processes from other natural processes?

Kauffmann instructs us that evolutionary processes explore a contingent space of possibilities, which he terms the Adjacent Possible, that cannot be specified in advance of its creation. That creation transpires when a prior feature of an evolutionary process of neutral effect in its environment of origination suddenly acquires adaptive or selective advantage in a novel environment and therefore becomes, in hindsight, a preadaptation or exaptation. Because we are incapable either of specifying all preadaptations or all possible selective environments for them, neither can we specify the Adjacent Possible.

Because we are incapable of specifying the Adjacent Possible prior to its genesis, we cannot even make a probability statement about the future. As Kauffman instructs us (Kauffman 2009): “We do not know the space of possibilities, the sample space, so can construct no probability measure.” This incapacity to construct a probability measure seems to be on firm statistical ground with the distinction, in statistical theory, between risk and uncertainty (Georgescu-Roegen 1971: 122-123): risk for those instances when the exact outcome is not known but does not constitute a novelty and uncertainty for those instances when the outcome constitutes a novelty or previously unobserved, even unimagined or inconceivable outcome.

If not even a probability statement about the future is possible because of inability to construct the Adjacent Possible prior to its emergence, then it must be concluded that even physics is powerless in predicting the course of evolutionary processes. Accordingly, evolutionary processes, by escaping the exhaustive determination of physical law, afford us the possibility of purposeful  lives.

Further, by raising lives above the level of physical or dynamical tautology, evolutionary processes afford the possibility of Meaning to Life in the sense of reading a book that only reveals its message after the entire book has been read and not after only some or most of the pages have been read. As Georgescu-Roegen has pointed out, the “needs generated by evolution” are often so subtle that we are seldom aware of their “influence upon our complex activity,” if we are even aware of their existence at all. In consequence, only after the fact “do we realize why we labored and what we searched for” and subsequently affirm “with Ostwald Spengler that ‘a task that historic necessity has set will be accomplished with the individual or against him’ ” (Georgescu-Roegen 1971: 27).

Accordingly, Georgescu-Roegen was entirely correct when he evocatively praised the transcendence of physical tautology by evolutionary processes as follows (Georgescu-Roegen 1971: 207): “With a life span amounting to no more than a blink of a galaxy and restricted within a speck of space, mankind is in the same situation as a pupa destined never to witness a caterpillar crawling or a butterfly flying. The difference, however, is that the human mind wonders what is beyond mankind’s chrysalis, what happened in the past and, especially what will happen in the future. The greatness of the human mind is that it wonders: he ‘who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe’—as Einstein beautifully put it—‘is as good as dead’. The weakness of the human mind is the worshipping of the divine mind, with the inner hope that it may become almost as clairvoyant and, hence, extend its knowledge beyond what its own condition allows it to observe repeatedly.”

(References: Georgescu-Roegen, Nicholas. 1971. The Entropy Law and the Economic Process. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; Kauffman, Stuart A. 2009. “The Open Universe.”  http://edge.org/response-detail/850/what-will-change-everything )

Voting should not be considered as simply a right, it is a responsibility bestowed upon us as American citizens.  This being such, merely voting does not fulfill this responsibility.  Rather, a citizen has the responsibility to pick the candidates and decide the issues that will represent them and help to create the voter’s image of America.    

The critical responsibility of a voter is to be well versed in politics and informed about pertinent issues and the individual candidate’s platforms.  Every American has the opportunity to vote in regular elections when they are 18 years old. However, the key responsibility involved in voting is not an exclusive to American citizens who are eighteen and older.  As a teenager, one must develop their political views and make choices.  What issues most affect me?  Which issues am I passionate about?  Being well informed should be consistent and not reserved just for election times.  In fact, being an informed citizen is a lifelong commitment.  

CIRCLE, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University reports a startling disparity in voter statistics for the state of New Jersey revealing that young voters do not participate in all important elections.  53% of young voters between the age of 18 and 30 cast their ballots during the 2008 presidential election.  Yet, in 2006, only 22% of the same youth voting block participated in the mid-term elections. It should be realized that every opportunity to cast a vote and make choices about the issues that affect your daily life and your government is significant.

Not only does a person running for an office represent a political party and a set of principles, but their individual voting record is very important.  It is not enough for a person to affiliate themselves with a political party, because even the views of members within the party can differ substantially.  A candidate who speaks about an issue should be accountable for their stance.  A voter must decide if they agree with the views of the candidate. But in order to do this, a voter must be well informed about politics. 

As a teenager, I am only beginning to see the impact of state and national legislation on my daily life.  By maintaining a full understanding of current events, young people can prepare to enter the political sphere as a voter who upholds their personal responsibility to their fellow citizens.

It’s a fact. Self-centered individuals roam our world with the same right to do so as anyone else. They go about their business focusing on nothing else but themselves, their own pleasures, their own interests, and never stop for a second to become aware of others’ mere existence; for them, others are only instruments designed to fulfill their needs.

And there are the rest of us, people who care about others’ feelings, who wouldn’t intentionally cause harm to other people. And the subcategory here includes those who believe everybody cares about others’ feelings. Such naivete becomes a target for smugs who seek self pleasure and would do anything to get it.

This group of naive, good-hearted people are easily lied to and taken advantage of, and the law of attraction claims that everything, and everyone in our life we attracted with previous thoughts. It’s hard to believe a right-minded person would request the Universe to be deceived and played with. Are the channels through which our thoughts travel into the Universe broken? Or are we unconsciously sending the wrong message?

Whether or not one believes in the law of attraction, it’s easy to see how some people develop behavioral patterns that result in being taken advantage of over and over. But it seems unjust to assume they are attracting harm upon themselves, especially when they lack the awareness that something is causing the damage.

When it comes to designing our fate the responsibility may be our own, but it seems to me the main contributing factor is awareness or the lack thereof.

When the story made the news the next day, people were shocked that nobody did anything to help, including just picking up the phone and dialing 911. They didn’t want to become involved. They didn’t want the attention and didn’t want to give their names. When questioned by the police early in the investigation, they claimed that they didn’t hear a thing. Even those tenants who lived on the first floor closest to where the crime took place. Right outside their windows.

But when people in the street were interviewed by reporters the next day, they said they would have done something to help this woman. But would they? What makes them different than those citizens who refused to help? Chances are that maybe only a handful of people might have helped, but most probably would not.

I would like to think that I would grab a baseball bat and run to her defense because just calling 911 would take too long, and she would still be killed.

What would you do?

Let’s take another tough decision.

It is illegal to hide or harbor a criminal on the run from the police. Also to provide them a place to sleep for the night without notifying the police, or to give them money, or a change of clothing, in order to help them in their getaway. Most of us wouldn’t willingly do such a foolish thing because the penalty is stiff, and besides, why stick your neck out for them?

But what if the criminal on the run is your brother, your son or daughter, or your wife or husband? Surely the police would understand the strong bond between relatives, wouldn’t they?

No. They would prosecute you and you would be an accessory to the crime after the fact.

What if you strongly suspect that your son has just murdered someone, like, just yesterday for instance. Maybe a child or a young girl in the neighborhood? And your son doesn’t realize that you suspect anything. If you keep quiet, you’re guilty of being an accessory after the fact. You must call the police.

But this is your son we’re talking about. Your flesh and blood. The fruit of your loins.

Would you turn him in?

Here is a third scenario on doing what you know is right.

You’re walking home one night, and notice a paper bag that seems to have something inside. You stoop down to have a look inside the bag and you see a lot of money in large bills, tied up in rubber bands. You estimate that there is $5,000 or 10,000 in the bag. And it just so happens that you’re in a lot of debt and this is your chance to pay a lot of that debt down significantly. A gift so to speak. You look around and see nobody. And since there are no witnesses, you have no chance of getting caught.

Would you keep it?

- Communication
These days everything is all easy. Although many different continents communication alternatives that can be taken. In addition to the phone, with the sophistication of Internet chat by chat can be done. Want to send photos, videos until everything was possible. Moreover, the cost is also much cheaper. No more excuses for not communicating. There are doubts, suspicions, or other feelings, express directly on her lover. Do not bury and second-guessing themselves.
About the frequency, adjust their respective activities. Do not disturb and make him upset.
But on the sidelines of an electronic communication, there is no harm in occasionally punctuated by regular mail in the mail. In addition to more personalized, the regular mail you can put a fragrance that you use frequently, giving rise to feelings of nostalgia in her. If he misses home food could not hurt once in a while to send her favorite dishes. But before that first check with the shipping company or post office food delivery procedures.

-Create a surprise
Often a refreshing surprise of a relationship. For a long distance can take advantage of shipping services. Occasionally sending flowers can be a romantic longing bidder. If there is enough time for a holiday surprise her by coming to his city. But remember, too busy, not too much demanding his time. If possible, find out first schedule him on that day. Your visit is also no need for long, the important sense of longing has been remedied.

-Set rules
To avoid misunderstandings and things that are not desirable you should set some ground rules. For example, how long must meet, whether every day should call, is there a special day where you have to meet, as well as various other rules.

-Anticipate the possibilities
His name is long distance relationship, many factors must confront obstacles. Although already made your plans should always be prepared for the worst. For example when an appointment has been met, your lover there is a sudden meeting. Or could you just can not go to see him as a friend to confide in friends after breaking up with boyfriend.

-Trust and Tolerance
When it is committed to long-distance relationship, trust is very important to the couple. If you can not trust the partner you should think twice before embarking on long-distance relationship. You can own tortured tired of suspicion and jealousy because he can not always keep an eye on her lover. If there is a feeling of suspicion or anxiety, directly revealed to him. Do not keep to themselves and develop into a problem.
Emotional state is difficult to control. Sometimes a little upset could be a problem. Especially for long-distance couples, patience is an important aspect. As reported by lovearticle, Wednesday (09/21/2005), emotional distance relationship couple at more explosive. Though the couple should really appreciate the times when they are on the phone or meet.
Therefore, if a problem arises you should try to be patient and do not immediately explode. Remember, meetings and communication is quite difficult should be filled with fun things to more intimate relationships. Always end the conversation with the sweet words.

-Weigh the pros and cons
Not everyone can live a long distance relationship with both. Need a lot of patience and effort to get through it all. Consider the positive and negative relationships was undertaken. Are you and your partner happy? Are you more likely to fight than making out? What is the relationship changed for the worse after a loved one moved to another city? And various other things.
If after it weighed the bad things is superior, it could not hurt you to think twice about continuing the relationship long distance. Do not hurry to end the relationship, had a good talk with a lover. Give the right reasons and arguments. In the end, it would be good if you and your partner can find a way out. Who knows the change will actually make it more intimate. But if not, the harsh reality must be taken. Anyway who would want to keep grief and suffering for love.

Predicted future
Relationship has a purpose, make sure you and your partner is more the spirit of living it. If it is time to strengthen the commitment it could not hurt. At least do not be avoided when talking about it. An especially long-distance relationships need to ‘lure’ that makes you and your partner remain strong. At least there is something expected and intended.

JFK’s address is a melting pot of rhetorical terms. The purpose of this speech is to bestow the power and responsibility of taking collective action to uplift the nation. Antitheses are used to unify the general population. For example the comparison of “those old allies” to “those new states” signifies the importance of collaborative effort. Another strong example of antithesis is the idea of the interdependence of the poor and rich populations in society; “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich”. And of course the famed quote that states one should not rely on his or her country (but support it) brings attention to Kennedy’s argument of the need of national responsibility. Furthermore, the use of oxymoron further strengthens JFK’s purpose. Phrases like “a hard and bitter peace” and “peaceful revolution” direct attention towards their implications.

Kennedy came into presidency at the height of Cold War. The riveting fear of the spread of Communism was felt by all Americans, and Kennedy wanted to come across to the public as a leader with a strong foreign policy. Therefore, he denounced Communism in every which way possible in his speech primarily through the use of metaphorical language. The quote, “Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended inside” states clearly that all dictatorships are lost causes. Kennedy also seeks to “begin anew the quest for peace” and save humanity from the brink of nuclear war.

Though rhetorical strategies help to bring out Kennedy’s argument, creative syntax further strengthens his purpose. Anaphoras along with hortative structure portray a sense of collaborative effort and a feeling of patriotic progression. The best use of anaphora in this speech is the use of the phrase “Let us” to bestow these responsibilities, conveying a sense of unity. Furthermore the repetition of the word “pledge” is used in every promising section of JFK’s speech. This word has a very positive connotation and seems more faithful than perhaps using the word “promise”. Additionally, Kennedy refers to his audience as “us”, “we”, and “fellow”. This conveys a sense of caring and further attempts to unify the people and inspire patriotism. Another interesting technique employed is the use of short, bullet-like, paragraphs among the larger ones. Kennedy broke up the traditional body paragraph into shorter ones, allowing people to mull over each position presented.

            As stated before, Kennedy did not necessarily win over the general population upon election. He seemed too young and inexperienced. But after his virtuoso inaugural address to the American people, he showed what his future goals were and established himself as a strong leader with a vision to defend the United States of America. The use of rhetorical strategies such as antitheses, oxymorons, and metaphors along with artful scheme and the use of anaphoras and repetition greatly augment his speech, making it one of most highly celebrated speeches of all time.

Image by epSos.de via Flickr

I figure if we can have Cracker Azz Crackers in the world, then we very well can have Nigga Azz Niggaz.

Nigga Azz Niggaz defined…the ultimate manifestation of a self hating, self loathing, unidentified and lost human being, characteristically of African descent; immature, weak and childish in thoughts and behaviors; lacking control, power and authority of their individual and collective legacy; unable or unwilling to reclaim what is rightfully and inherently theirs.

I cannot believe how a black man cannot value the most precious treasure vital to his existence and the birth of his legacy…the black woman.
How a black man can stand around and reject a black woman unless she has embraced and mastered the world’s standard of beauty, standards that have been determined by the very system that is set up to destroy him. That is ludicrous! Yet it happens daily in the face of the black woman and how dare she speak up in her own defense, out of her own inner passion to thrive in the environment of the black man because his eyes are blinded to his true Motherland.
The black men I have observed are so disconnected from the black woman, that he has determined that whatever happens to her it is of her own doing because this black man is not willing to be responsible for the state, status or stasis of the black woman. He is unwilling to stir up within himself the obligation that the black man should have towards her in a manner that will allow the world to look into the black culture and attribute any portion of our contemporary interactive contributions as of any significance to the anthropological impact our species creates in this universe.
When this black man observes the natural response of the black women to this black man’s apathy, which typically is black women allowing their minds, hearts and bodies to be explored by men of Asian and European descent, there is a heaviness lifted in the black man’s minds. Thinking only of himself, this black man considers the black woman as his burden and relinquishes her at the hint of relief, once again provided by the hands of Europeans who first assisted black men to relinquish the value of the black woman, reducing her to only her abundant physical attributes. There is nothing in these black men that mimics ownership of the black woman nor do they take a revolutionary stance in response to a secondary breech of black women, all of whom were created just for them.

“Mother Nature plants in Autumn, harvests in Spring”

These words came to me as I contemplated about writing this blog: a reminder that we humans are not necessarily in sync with the way of the Universe. After several false starts (and misplacing the disk with my original blog), I was pondering whether to just skip writing this blog altogether. After all, I am in a mode of transition myself and there are so many things to do and as busy and hectic a schedule as ever that it is damn hard to focus on anything for a proper length of time. Throw the changing climate and tracking what’s going on with the >Occupy Everywhere< movement into the mix, and it’s a wonder I can accomplish anything …

What is going on in our country has me captivated. I’m obsessed – I want to know what’s going on practically every waking moment. After being given a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday, one of my closest friends went back to work on Monday only to be told she would probably be layed off at the end of the week. No doubt we can expect to hear of more layoffs during the coming month because it has become a tradition in this country companies to shed employees in the midst of the self-acclaimed Christian season of the giving.

My heart goes out to all the people in this country who are unemployed because the ultra-wealthy “job creators” can make greater profits with the cheaper labor in emerging countries such as India and China; my heart goes out to those who have lost or are losing their homes because of the greedy banksters need to charge outrageous fees and interests when they themselves are getting money than ever in our history; my heart goes out to those who have lost the substance of not only their dreams but their lives. My thoughts and prayers are with them. I feel their pain and despair. And while my family has become part of these statistics this year, I am thankful that we have not (at least, not yet) experienced an ultimate level of loss and devastation – we are not homeless, and we still have some resources to tap into -but I also feel shame for the selfish times I have cried and wailed in despair over the “loss” of our life as we had known it. Wow … The loss of our life as we’ve known it … Double WOW …

The loss of our life as we’ve known it is the completion of a cycle and initiates the transition to a new level in our lives that we may not understand and which is difficult to process. Many of us go through transitions “shellshocked”, feeling out of sync, and/or struggling for a semblance of control. Occasionally, we make a choice willingly to create the end of a cycle; more oftentimes, the Universe gives us a gentle shove that pushes us through the threshold of the door upon which we have been camping for some length of time. And then there are the times when it seems the Universe just steps in, takes over and life as we’ve known it no longer exists …

We feel helpless – and sometimes are helpless – and cast aside as no longer important in the greater scheme of those in control. But most of us are not completely helpless and we are important to ourselves and to many others. Even while the odds against us seem insurmountable, we can draw on our inner strength and tap into a higher consciousness to help us take responsibility for the balance in our lives. I told my friend that perhaps being layed off maybe wasn’t as bad a thing as it first appears; after all, a stagnation had set in on the job and a restlessness would crop up on occasion that was quickly put down instead of addressed. Perhaps a blessing in disguise and now will be a time to explore options and opportunities and ideas that had been shelved because responsibilities could not be balanced in the previous life’s circumstances?

In numerology, 11 is the number of balance and responsibility. Every action we take is an action of balance and responsibility that either is beneficial or is detrimental to the best interests of not only ourselves but others – yes, to others because each and every one of us is an integral part of the whole and yet we always have the option to be separate.

It is not an easy task to meet the responsibilities we take on and still maintain a balance. The spiritual meaning of 11 deals directly with our involvement of how life progresses and references both our ability to be objective and subjected to life. Our life as we’d known it has been badly shaken over the last 11 years. We — as individuals, as a community, as a nation – have experienced the loss of life as we had known it because individuals took actions that were beneficial for themselves individually but were detrimental for us the whole. We have received a glimpse of the reality of how fragile the stability — the balance — of our lives is: things we selfishly take for granted, such as clean and drinkable water and the security associated with where we live, can disappear in a heartbeat. Yes! The unthinkable can happen — is happening! — to US.

The past three years has given us a glimpse of the good and the bad, and the very ugly. We’ve witnessed firsthand those who don’t give a damn about people who don’t have a job and people who have lost their homes; if you are not in the top 1% of wealth, you have been villianized, demonized, and demoralized. Companies making hundreds of millions of dollars refuse to recognize the value of their employees and refuse to give them even a small wage increase; instead insisting that the employees have their wages frozen or even taking a pay cut. Oh, yeah, we are witnessing firsthand the greediness and callousness of those who refuse to take responsibility for their role in the loss of life as we have known it.

Unlike what’s happening with Kim Kardashian or Dr. Conrad Murray, the devastation and tragedy that so many Americans have suffered is generally not considered “front page” or headline news — and the survivors, the heroes, the dead are only a footnote in our collective (media) consciousness. But the loss of life as we’ve known it is an underlying current pulsating steadily through each day, stated eloquently by Scott, Iraq veteran injured at Occupy Oakland. How will we — as individuals, as a community, as a nation — restore balance responsibly? Will we proceed responsibly in the aftermath of the devastation that is besieging our country and manifesting in record homelessness and poverty, in a crumbling national infrastructure and a rapid move towards being a third-world country? Or will we recklessly and zealously make blind choices based on someone striking an emotional chord – so determined to grab onto something that promises to resurrect our life lost without regard to balance and the ultimate cost to ourself or others? How will YOU personally handle this emotional period of transition the nation as a whole is experiencing, with so much lost and so much still at stake?

Transition follows a physical change — the loss of life as we’ve known it — in which a seed of awareness is sown. But like any seed, this seed of awareness needs to be nurtured in order to grow into something that will sustain us. I give thanks for the seed of awareness that has been sown by the Occupy movement. While we cannot control irresponsible actions by others, we can control our preparedness for and our response to whatever may be bestowed upon us during this time in our lives. Will we — as individuals, as a community, as a nation — proactively nurture this seed of awareness to grow, to change what has become the status quo? Will we prepare to respond responsibly to restore balance in our lives? Will we prepare to not only rebuild but to take the time to stabilize – balance – our foundation and rebuild responsibly with careful thought and defined purpose?