A couple years ago, I started posting my annual birthday goals on my blog. The idea is if they are public, then it is more certain I will accomplish them. Sort of virtual self-imposed peer pressure. For the past several weeks, I have been reflecting on last year and planning for 2014. A long term problem was resolved last year, and I am still feeling energized and excited about the future as a result of that whole mess being over!
My goals last year were pretty basic, geared to helping me live a healthy, active, engaged life. I am pleased to say that I met the goals throughout the year. For most of them, you will need to take my word for my success. I addressed my physical self by eating more salad and drinking more water. I addressed my emotional self by connecting with friends and laughing at myself. For my spiritual self I took some treks into Nature, took more photos, and expressed gratitude more consistently. Some of these actions also turned into blog posts.
Finally, for my mental self, I wrote more and posted a bit more regularly on my blog. One of the routes to meeting this writing/blogging goal was to challenge myself by completing Topics A-Z throughout the year—and I did. Or at least I thought I did as I planned to implore you to admit it would be a challenge to write topics for such letters as K, Q and X. But then I realized I never wrote about Topic K. Oops. I have about a week until the anniversary of posting Topic A, so I could still complete this task within a year. If I get busy. [Any ideas for Topic K?]
As I noted recently in Topic Y: A Brand New YEAR, for 2014 I am taking a little different approach to my plans for a happy, healthy, authentic new year. This year, the main change is that I am choosing a word to use as my guiding light for all the activities I undertake and the surprise I stumble upon. I thought about using Bold, Adventure, Risk. But in the end, I settled on BALANCE. As I charge into 2104, I want to make sure that all I do stays in balance, so I can maintain a healthy and happy self that addresses my physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs.
Here are six areas in which I hope to practice balance over the next 12 months:
Spontaneity * * * * * * * * *Careful Planning
Risk * * * * * * * * * Security
Solitude * * * * * * * * * Community
Work * * * * * * * * * Leisure
Reading * * * * * * * * * Writing
Contemplation * * * * * * * * * Action
As I work to bring balance to my life, I am committed to writing consistently for my blog. I love the friendship and responsiveness of this great blogging community and plan to stay engaged with these amazing people. My postings will continue to explore similar topics as I have written about before: Nature, Animals, Travel, Gratitude, Book/Media Reviews, and Education. Of course, this list is not exhaustive. But it gives me six areas to explore by the time I am 60.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I HOPE YOUR LIFE STAYS BALANCED TOO.
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“It’s all about the quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends and family.” Philip Green
“A wise woman recognizes when her life is out of balance and summons the courage to act to correct it. She knows the meaning of true generosity. Happiness is the reward for a life lived in harmony, with courage and grace.” Suze Orman
“The challenge of work-life balance is without question one of the most significant struggles faced by modern man.” Stephen Covey
“I always try to balance the light with the heavy—a few tears of human spirit in with the sequins and the fringes.” Bette Midler
“Our lives are a mixture of different roles. Most of us are doing the best we can to find whatever the right balance is. For me, that balance is family, work, and service.” Hillary Clinton
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” Albert Einstein
“Moderation, the Golden Mean. . . is the secret of wisdom and of happiness. But it does not mean embracing an unadventurous mediocrity; rather it is an elaborate balancing act, a feat of intellectual skill demanding constant vigilance. Its aim is a reconciliation of opposites.” Robertson Davies
“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” Lao Tzu
Some Opening Comments:I know that not everyone is enamored of zoos. In fact, the very existence and actual operation of zoos is frequently criticized. In many ways, I agree with the complaints. Ideally, wild animals would stay in the wild. But, unfortunately, many animals are now endangered. Habitats are routinely diminished by encroaching farm lands and road construction, and some animals are being plundered by hunters and smugglers. Some preservation efforts are underway, such as creating nature preserves to protect the animals in their native environments, but there are no guarantees about their success. I would love to be able to visit such places to see animals in the wild, but such travel is not likely for me (and many others)*.
Thus zoos have become a way to showcase wild animals while also learning about them in order to help preserve those at the zoo as well as in the wild. Unfortunately, over the years, not all zoos have been run as humanely as they should be. I remember once years and years ago visiting a zoo where the big cats were confined in small indoor cages, where all they could do was pace—it was a sad disheartening experience. Many complain that the lack of space and natural habitats available via zoos is unfair to the animals, so limiting in fact that reproduction is not even possible. This latter complaint is especially raised regarding elephants. Other complaints look to the mistreatment of the animals behind closed doors when they are not in front of the crowds, whether having to perform or not. These concerns are compounded when “zoos” are small or privately owned, where the animals are often seen as being exploited to simply make a buck.
Fortunately, more and more zoos are providing open spaces and natural habitats as the norm when animal exhibits are being constructed. And more and more organizations and individuals are committed to monitoring and improving the overall living conditions for the animals. These public zoological gardens and aquariums have been in existence since roughly 1870. In 2013, there were 223 North American zoos accredited through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. As Betty White explains in her book Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo (2011), “Increasingly, the good zoos find themselves taking on the role of ‘protectors’—or better yet ‘conservers’—rather than merely ‘collectors’ of wildlife.”
Given this broader context, even though I understand the problems associated with the confinement and treatment of animals, I share Betty White’s appreciation for “the positive changes that have taken place in the whole zoo community over the past few decades, and the critical role they play today in perpetuating endangered species.”
A DAY AT THE ZOO
Even though I understand the problems and controversy surrounding the operation of zoos, I love visiting them. A day at the zoo is always great, even in the rain. Over the years, I have spent many fun days with my dad wandering various zoos to capture pictures of the animals or visiting special exhibits with family and friends.
Some exhibits stand out: I visited the Panda Exhibit at the San Diego Zoo and saw Ruby, the painting elephant, at the Phoenix Zoo. Although it closed in 1987 (bought by Sea World), Marineland of the Pacific on Palos Verdes Peninsula, California, was a great place to get up close and personal with sea life. A visit to Wolf Haven International in Tenino, Washington, provided some glimpses of wolves but also included evening stories around a campfire culminating with some howling from the wolves on site. Terrific!
For years I was a member of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The aviary there lets visitors see shore birds up close. But you can also interact with starfish and sting rays and catch some great views of sea otters, both in an indoor exhibit as well as outside in the bay. One year (1992) there was a great jellyfish exhibit too, and another year Dad and I enjoyed a catered outing to see local wildflowers. I love the Monterey Bay Aquarium!
Exhibit Program Cover
Over the years, I also have fond memories of the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch in Texas. There, animals were viewed from the car as we drove through the park—and even fed some animals—llamas, zebras and ostriches—through the car windows. I especially liked seeing the Rhea and its baby following behind and the start of a Crested Crane’s courtship dance.
For about ten years, I worked at Moorpark College, a mid-sized two-year college within the California Community College System. It is the only community college in the country that offers an onsite teaching zoo**, where students learn to care for and train animals in preparation for jobs at zoos and preserves as well as in the entertainment and conservation industries. The Exotic Animal Training and Management Program (EATM)—affectionately dubbed America’s Teaching Zoo—operates an on-campus zoo that covers more than 9 acres. An elephant would occasionally visit the campus, but one never lived permanently as the zoo. There were plenty of other animals, however, from birds of prey to sea lions and from wolves to tigers.
A documentary was made, showing the hard work and dedication involved with participating in this impressive program. This unique EATM program offered many challenges and surprises for everyone on campus. For example, Moorpark College was undoubtedly the only campus where the President would be called by a community member and asked to keep the students from walking the Water Buffalo in the neighborhood park. Or where the sun rose to the bellowing whoo-whoo-whooping of some very vocal Gibbons. Also, once the aged lion—a long-time mascot for the zoo—died, a new lion cub was donated from a sanctioned breeding program. It was great getting to welcome this new little guy to campus!
LET’S TAKE A WALK & VISIT SOME OF THE ANIMALS AT THE ZOO
Special exhibits and specific memories are great. Technology even makes it possible to view some animal exhibits without ever leaving home. For example, some days I watch the Elephant Cam from the San Diego Zoo and see elephants in real time, including the two youngest–both under 4 years old. But the best days at the zoo are still ordinary typical days, when you can wander leisurely from exhibit to exhibit, seeing a wide range of animals.
Each day will be a bit different from the next depending on what zoo you are visiting, what special exhibits are open, and even the mood of you and the animals. But if you pause to really watch a minute, to try to communicate and understand, to appreciate what you see, any walk through the zoo is bound to be a glorious adventure. Of course, you better make sure you show care and respect to the animals!
If you have not visited a zoo in awhile, take Paul Simon’s advice and see “what’s happening at the zoo”! (Just don’t believe his assessment of elephants.)
What zoos have you visited?
Do you have favorite animals you always visit?
*It would not be the same as seeing animals in the wild, but you can visit a great blog–de Wets Wild–to see photographers of animals in the wilds of South Africa.
**The other college in the States that offers animal management training works with dolphins and such, so it brings the students to the ocean; that campus does not have a zoo on its own campus.
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“The quizzical expression of the monkey at the zoo comes from his wondering whether he is his brother’s keeper or his keeper’s brother.” Evan Esar
“Zoo: An excellent place to study the habits of human beings.” Evan Esar
“I am personally not against keeping animals at zoos, as they serve a huge educational purpose, but treating them well and with respect seems the least we could do, and with ‘we’ I mean not just zoo staff, but most certainly also the public.” Frans de Waal
“Zoo animals are ambassadors for their cousins in the wild.” Jack Hanna
“Zoos are becoming facsimiles—or perhaps caricatures—of how animals once were in their natural habitat. If the right policies toward nature were pursued, we would need no zoos at all.” Michael J. Fox
“It could be said now that all animals live in zoos, whether it is a zoo in Regent’s Park, London or a Nigerian Game Reserve. Perhaps what’s left to argue is only the zoo’s quality.” Peter Greenaway
“All zoos, even the most enlightened, are built upon the idea both beguiling and repellent—the notion that we can seek out the wildness of the world and behold its beauty, but that we must first contain that wildness. Zoos argue that they are fighting for the conservation of the Earth, that they educate the public and provide refuge and support for vanishing species. And they are right. Animal-rights groups argue that zoos traffic in living creatures, exploiting them for financial gain and amusement. And they are right. Caught inside this contradiction are the animals themselves, and the humans charged with their well-being.” Thomas French, Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives
“In zoos, along with the animals, the humanity of man is also prisoned! No cage is humane!” Mehmet Murat ildan “The zoo kills the ‘wild’ in wild animal.” Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Mahatma Gandhi
If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected.” Chief Seattle, Suwamish Tribe
“Only animals were not expelled from Paradise.” Milan Kundera
“If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first art of abstinence is from injury to animals.” Leo Tolstoy
“We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” Immanuel Kant
“Man is the only animal who blushes—or needs to.” Mark Twain
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” Anatole France
Well, it is a little over a week into 2014. For most of us, the past several weeks have been a time of celebration and reflection as well as a time of expectation and planning. Did you make New Year’s Resolutions? Have you broken them yet? Many people have and are already discouraged. Hopefully, they are revising their plans or are starting over with ways to make things better in their lives.
Some of us (like me) have not settled on our plans for the new year yet. I prepare my goals each year for my birthday, which comes up this weekend. As I make my plans this year, I am aware of how challenging this whole new-year-resolutions-business is. Much harder than remembering to write 2014 on my checks—and I have not developed that habit yet either!
As I struggle with finalizing my goals, I know what I should be doing. For one thing, I need a theme of some sort to help me stay focused with my plans throughout the year. One blog I follow is by Holly Gerth. She suggests finding a theme in her post What’s Your One Word for 2014? I like this idea to find the one word that is just right for this year and to keep it with you all year long. This one word can become the filter used to help make day-to-day decisions that invariably impact your overall goals. It is the talisman in your pocket that gives you comfort in moments of doubt or anxiety. It is the guiding light that keeps you on course throughout the year.
My problem is I have not settled on my word yet. I have been considering several recently, but they change a bit each day. I first thought of “Retirement,” but that is a decision I may be making this year, not a theme or guiding principle. Right now, I am considering these words: Risk, Bold, Adventure, you get the idea. I also am looking to Happiness, Love, Honesty since they are my usual guides. I will make my decision by Sunday, when I finalize my plans for the new year.
Even once I settle on a word, I want to make some goals, so I have something specific to devote my energies to. In this regard, I have to remember the advice I often give faculty when they are setting goals for their upcoming year of evaluation. Goals need to be specific, but not limiting. In essay writing terms, goals need to be more like thesis statements (opinions) rather than details or facts. For example, attending a specific technology conference to learn some new classroom strategies is not a great goal. What happens if you for some reason cannot attend or you do not learn anything that interests you? You are left with not meeting your goal. Instead, the goal should be exploring new technologies to enhance classroom teaching. Then, yes, if you get to that conference, you can accomplish the goal. But you leave yourself open to other pathways as well.
Another tidbit I share with others but need to remember to follow for myself is to limit the total number of goals. If you have too many goals, you will undoubtedly fail—or at least get off schedule—when life’s interruptions surface. And they will surface. Life is messy. There are accidents and unexpected visitors, new friends and relationships, sicknesses, new jobs, winning the lottery—the list can go on and on. The point is to remember that these as yet unknown challenges and surprises will surface, so keep your goals to a manageable few, so you won’t drop them while you juggle everything else.
The final bit of advice I give others but often forget to follow myself is the need to be as forgiving of myself as we are of others. If someone else slips up—does not get to the gym one day, overeats on a weekend, forgoes a walk—we often tell them, “It’s okay, you will get back to that new routine.” Often, to ourselves, we are much harder, focusing on the misstep or lapse of activity rather than on the chance to get started again. If you have not yet completed your goal or activity, that does not mean, you will not. Focus on getting started again, on applauding when things go right, and remembering that persistence is a success. This need to stay encouraged and focused is another reason to carefully craft goals. It is easier to build momentum with small steps that can be applauded.
If I can remember these tips, when I finally settle on my word and follow-up goals, I am confident I will find success throughout 2014. It will be a great year. If any one week or month seems to be holding me back from succeeding, I need to remind myself that even though I have not accomplished my goal YET, I will. That YET is a great little word to remember. It holds all the hope and expectation of the new year, every day! [Hey, YET is another word that meets Topic Y. Imagine that.]
Happy New Year!
What advice helps you stay focused on your plans for making 2014 the best year ever?
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“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” Ernest Hemingway
“Aim higher in case you fall short.” Suzanne Collins
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Not put the foundations under them.” Henry David Thoreau
“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” Louisa May Alcott
“If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.” Coco Chanel
“Happiness is not a goal—it’s a by-product of a life well lived.” Eleanor Roosevelt
“If you want a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” Albert Einstein
“You never know what’s around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.” Tom Hiddleston
“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success.” Henry David Thoreau
“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” Tom Landry
“The most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and launch, get started, take action, move.” Brian Tracy
“The most important thing about motivation is goal setting. You should always have a goal.” Francie Larrieu Smith
“The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.” Cecil B. De Mille
“The important thing is to strive towards a goal which is not immediately visible. That goal is not the concern of the mind, but of the spirit.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.” Sidney Howard
“If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” Lawrence J. Peter
“It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done compared to what he might have done.” Samuel Johnson
“Goals are dreams with deadlines.” Diana Scharf Hunt
“Only those who will risk going too far can possible find out how far one can go.” T. S. Eliot
“The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it.” Charles DeLint
“Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” Arnold H. Glasow
“A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it’s better than no inspiration at all.” Rita Mae Brown
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” Douglas Adams
We all know about phobias. As a psychological term, phobia means an irrational fear of something specific, but that something is usually innocuous as well as something that others maybe do not welcome but accept as part of life. I bet you recognize at least some of these fears, even if you did not know what to call them:
Acrophobia (Fear of Heights)
Agoraphobia (Fear of Open Spaces or Crowds)
Arachnophobia (Fear of Spiders)—and a fun movie!
Chionophobia (Fear of Snow)—even without calling it a Polar Vortex
Claustrophobia (Fear of Confined Spaces)
Nyctophobia (Fear of the Dark)
Dentophobia (Fear of Dentists)
Ophidiophobia (Fear of Snakes)—not just those on a plane
Cynophobia (Fear of Dogs)—not just pitbulls
Zoophobia (Fear of Animals)—for animals, might this be a fear of zoos?
Phobophobia (Fear of Phobias)
If afflicted with one of these or the dozens of other phobias that are out there, most people seek help. At least they do if the fear is taking over their lives. A mild case of acrophobia may mean that you will never walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, but you can probably live with that. The same with never taking elevators, if you have claustrophobia. But if you are an agoraphobic and you never leave your apartment, you may seek some help. Certainly, I would think, if you are afflicted to some degree with any of these phobias, you would not typically showcase it in society if you can help it, and you do not encourage your children and loved ones to practice your fearful behavior as well.
But then we have to consider the worst fear of all: XENOPHOBIA. At first, this word typically makes me think of science fiction, makes me imagine worlds where there are literal aliens of which to be fearful. Ripley’s hatred for the alien that destroyed her ship and was trying to take over her body did not seem irrational. Nor does the fear or hatred of the Borg in Star Trek in both the Alpha and Delta Quadrants. In fact, this fear of literal aliens is at the heart of many of the early science fiction movies, such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers. (I’ve written about that fear of invasion before.) But how apt is this view of xenophobia to our everyday life, to the other phobias that are part of modern society?
The literal definition of xenophobia makes this irrational fear sound like all the other phobias. The basic definition says xenophobia is a fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of anything foreign, strange, or alien. At first this does not sound so bad, until you notice the word hatred. That’s a charged word that links xenophobia to its synonyms: racism and prejudice. Thus xenophobia must be the most generic version of the phobias listed under the sub-heading “Prejudice and Discrimination,” like homophobia and Islamophobia.
Unlike experiencing other phobias, people afflicted with xenophobia do not often seek help to rid themselves of this irrational fear. No, they convince themselves that their fear is the norm, and—worse yet—their words and deeds teach by example, thus perpetuating this fear to their children and loved ones. From my view, it is xenophobia that is at the root of such society problems as hatred, discrimination, prejudice, racial profiling and hate crimes. It seems that some level of xenophobia is what makes people cross the street to avoid the homeless, complain when people of different colors or cultures move into their neighborhoods, or bully others for their appearance or gender or some other silly superficial thing. Instead of the love of money being the root of all evil, my bet is on xenophobia taking on that role.
As we enter 2014, my hope for the world is that xenophobia would be abolished. That those afflicted with hate and fear of anything that is strange or different from themselves would realize that those feelings are irrational and counter-productive, that they would overcome that fear and live a life dictated by the antonyms of xenophobia: tolerance, acceptance, patience, forbearance, and open-mindedness. The words and deeds associated with these qualities would be worthy of teaching to our children, of perpetuating throughout the world. It is not a new idea that we should be teaching tolerance and acceptance. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. shared this goal in his “Afterword” to the original edition of Free to Be. . . You and Me (1974):
“I’ve often thought there ought to be a manual to hand to little kids, telling them what kind of planet they’re on, why they don’t fall off, how much time they’ve probably got here, how to avoid poison ivy, and so on. I tried to write one once. It was called Welcome to Earth. But I got stuck on explaining why we don’t fall off the planet. Gravity is just a word. It does not explain anything. If I could get past gravity, I would tell them how we reproduce, how long we’ve been here, apparently, and a little bit about evolution. And one thing I would really like to tell them about is cultural relativity. I didn’t learn until I was in college about all the other cultures, and I should have learned that in the first grade. A first grader should understand that his or her culture isn’t a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are lots of alternatives to our society. Cultural relativity is defensible and attractive. It’s also a source of hope. It means we don’t have to continue this way if we don’t like it.”
Creating a world of love, caring, understanding, kindness, tolerance, a world devoid of xenophobia, is up to us. We need to imagine and then create such a world, starting with our homes and neighborhoods. Let’s help everyone have a happy new year.
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“Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.” Bertrand Russell
“I do not believe, from what I have been told about this people, that there is anything barbarous orsavage about them, except that we all call barbarous anything that is contrary to our own habits.” Michel de Montaigne
“Our love of lockstep is our greatest curse, the source of all that devils us. It is the source of homophobia, xenophobia, racism, sexism, terrorism, bigotry of every variety and hue, because it tells us there is one right way to do things, to look, to behave, to feel, when the only right way is to feel your heart hammering inside you and to listen ti what its timpani is saying.” Anna Quindlen
“I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that’s how I operate my life.” Oprah Winfrey
“The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.” Ralph W. Sockman
“I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers.” Kahlil Gibran
“The highest result of education is tolerance.” Helen Keller
“Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.” Robert Green Ingersoll
“Tolerance is the oil which takes the friction out of life.” Wilbert E. Scheer
“We need to promote greater tolerance and understanding among the peoples of the world. Nothing can be more dangerous to our efforts to build peace and development than a world divided along religious, ethnic or cultural lines. In each nation, and among all nations, we must work to promote unity based on our shared humanity.” Kofi Annan
“Tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another’s beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them.” Joshua Liebman
“Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.” Helen Keller
BTW: It was a challenge to decide upon a subject to discuss for the letter X. What would you have written about? I know very little about X-rays and xylophones.
Elvis Aaron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His life was nothing special until he began his singing career in 1954. Within two years he was an international singing sensation that captured the hearts of the world. He was indeed the “King of Rock & Roll.” He died at his home Graceland in Tennessee on August 16, 1977. He was only 42.
Elvis Comeback Special 1968 from Wikipedia
Since then, many sightings of Elvis have been reported. Many believe that Elvis is really still alive. I do not, usually, buy into that. But wouldn’t it be great if we could really say, “Elvis is in the building!”? I truly want to believe. If he were still alive, he would be 79 today.
Aloha from HI Image from Wikipedia
At the very least his talent and his music live on in videos and in our hearts. As a birthday gift to my readers, I am sharing videos of some of Elvis’ songs—they are my favorites as well as some of his first performances!
“Jailhouse Rock”
“Blue Suede Shoes”
“Love Me Tender” from the movie Love Me Tender (1956), Elvis’ first theatrical release and the only one of his 33 films (31 movies and 2 performance documentaries) where he did not receive top billing.
“Suspicious Minds”
“How Great Thou Art” This video is a recording of his last live performance in 1977. It begins with some fans making a few comments about Elvis and ends with some words from his father. His singing starts up at about 55 seconds.
What is your favorite Elvis Song?
Did you ever get to see him live?
I never saw Elvis live. Heck, when he was on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time (September 9, 1956), I was not quite two years old. For that performance, there were 60 million viewers, representing 82% of the viewing audience. His appearance the next year on Ed Sullivan was the one where he was only recorded from the waist up. But his first televised performances were actually on June 5, 1956 on The Milton Berle Show. Enjoy!
Milton Berle Show, “Hound Dog,” June 1956
Milton Berle Show, “I Want You I Need You I Love You,” June 1956
I am not typically a fan of War Films. Oh, there are some good ones, including From Here to Eternity (1953), Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Red Badge of Courage (1951 & 1974 on TV), Victory (1981), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Saving Private Ryan (1998), and Taking Chance (2009). The War Films I enjoy typically do not focus on the killing and brutality of war; they more typically look at war’s effect on those involved and/or raise questions about the nature of war itself.
Given its subject matter and moral stance, the movie WarGames (1983) could be called a War Film. In reality, however, it is more a coming of age film that happens to be about the possibility of war. I was 28 when this film first aired, teaching writing classes in Texas. My college students liked the film, so I watched it as well, and we had several good discussions on its themes. Overall, the move was good, fun in fact—and it had a good message about the futility of war. I had not thought of this movie in years, but I stumbled onto it over the holidays when I was scouring late night channels for something non-Christmasy to watch.
Even though WarGames is 30 years old, it still holds up as a good movie worth watching. When first released, it earned general acclaim as well as commercial success. Roger Ebert labeled it “an amazingly entertaining thriller.” Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 92% rating and described it as “part delightfully tense techno-thriller, part refreshingly un-patronizing teen drama, WarGames is one of the more inventive—and genuinely suspenseful—Cold War movies of the 1980s.” During its first five weeks of being shown in American theaters, it earned over 85 million dollars. It won the Academy Scientific and Technical Award, and was nominated for three other Academy Awards: Cinematography, Sound, and Writing Directly for the Screen.
John Badham—already known for directing Saturday Night Fever (1977), Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981) and Blue Thunder (1983)—directed WarGames and brought his social commentary about war to the big screen. The main stars in the film are Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, and Dabney Coleman. The stars play their scenes with a quiet nonchalance, making each new action and the ongoing dialog seem possible, acceptable. As typical in coming of age films, parents and teachers are a bit generic and aloof, but those characterizations do not detract from the basic story line. Although minor military personnel are occasionally seen as predictable and robotic, the main military characters are as well-rounded and thoughtful as the two teenagers and the disgruntled scientist.
The basic ideas within the story—computer games seeming real, exploration of computers and artificial intelligence, computer or theoretical problems and mistakes generating real-world problems—all still seem plausible. The items that date the movie are noticed but can be easily overlooked: drinking Tab, pull tops from soda cans being used to make a phone call from a phone booth, computer links being generated over land lines, and data being saved on floppy disks. A world without cell phones is an oddity, but the story moves on! There is action, suspense, humor, and a little teenage romance to keep everyone happy. As an English teacher, I especially love that the teen resorts to library research to aid his critical thinking and problem solving skills.
The general story line is surprisingly compelling, especially since the audience had to guess that the world would not really be blown up in this movie. The basic narrative builds on a teen’s ability to hack into a computer searching for as-yet-unpublished-but-hyped-in-the-media computer games. From that premise, the action builds slowly, moving quicker and quicker as the pending catastrophe becomes apparent. The kid accidentally engages a military computer to play “Global Thermonuclear War.” Since the computer also runs the military assessment tool WORP (War Operation Planned Response), the computer’s game moves generate real world actions and progress NORAD’s war status successively from DEFCON 5 (peace) to DEFCON 1 (war). By the end of the movie, the audience is sitting on the edge of its seat waiting to see how all this will be resolved as the clock ticks down and the launch codes are decrypted.
The lingering power of the film comes from the questions it raises and themes it explores. These questions and themes stay relevant even today. Three basic thematic threads are interwoven throughout the film. One is the possibility of nuclear war altogether and whether nuclear warheads are a deterrent to an actual war or an accident waiting to happen. Another is the role of computer technology and artificial intelligence in monitoring and analyzing data regarding world powers and possible attacks. The final thread is about the people involved: a scientist who is grieving over the loss of his family and who regrets his role in developing technology used for war, the military personnel who argue over the extent computers should be involved in making decisions, and the teens who are trying to grow up and get pulled into the game of war.
The final message is clear: War is futile. The computer eventually learns this lesson, and real war—along with the game—is aborted. Too bad I am not convinced that all the military and political leaders today understand what the computer eventually learned. In stopping his playing of “Global Thermonuclear War,” Joshua (the computer) says: “Strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?”
Do you have a favorite “War Film” or two that you can recommend?
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“The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.” Albert Einstein
“Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” John F. Kennedy
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
“The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.” John F. Kennedy
“War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell
“Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” Ernest Hemingway
“There was never a good war, or a bad peace.” Benjamin Franklin
“If we don’t end war, war will end us.” H. G. Wells
“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.” Omar N. Bradley
“Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come.” Carl Sandburg
“War is a defeat for humanity.” Pope John Paul II
“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.” Jeannette Rankin
“War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” Jimmy Carter
“It’ll be a great day when education gets all the money it wants and the Air Force has to hold a bake sale to buy bombers.” Author Unknown, quoted in You Said a Mouthful edited by Ronald D. Fuchs
“I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, ‘Mother, what was war?’” Eve Merriam
“The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking. . . . The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.” Albert Einstein
“’There are no atheists in foxholes’ isn’t an argument against atheism, it’s an argument against foxholes.” James Morrow
“Sometimes I think it should be a rule of war that you have to see somebody up close and get to know him before you can shoot him.” M*A*S*H, Colonel Potter
My sister Barbara moved to Las Vegas last year, giving me a new travel destination. On my visit there in November 2013, we took a trek to Valley of Fire State Park. It is a gorgeous place, lots of red rock canyons and impressive rock formations. While area rocks include shale, limestone and conglomerates, the park’s name comes from the massive red sandstone formations that dominate the area. The “fire” aspect comes from the glow said to bounce off the formations when the sun is just right during sunrise and sunset. I need to plan another trip and make sure I visit at those times. But no matter what time of day, the place is remarkable.
Details about Valley of Fire State Park further demonstrate how impressive the area is—and has been for years and years:
Part of the Mojave Desert
Covers an area of nearly 42,000 acres
Rock formations indicate the area is 150 million years old
Believed to have been occupied from 300 BC to 1150 AD
Home to petroglyphs from about 3,000 years ago
Some petrified logs have lodged in the area from a long ago storm or flash flood
The area is relatively temperate with mild winters, about 4 inches of annual rainfall and a (deceptive) average temperature of 75 degrees
There is even a formation named Elephant Rock. How great is that? Can you see the quiet giant in the rocks?
Dedicated in 1935, Valley of Fire is the oldest state park in Nevada. It was named a National Landmark in 1968. There is an informative visitor’s center and a range of hiking trails. I especially love any chance to see petroglyphs up close; they are such a reminder of those who lived and loved and hunted in this area long ago. Their stamina and courage are always a good reminder that our lives—by comparison—are never that bad. These petroglyphs are in a natural basin named Mouse’s Tank after a renegade in the 1890’s who used the basin as a hideout.
If you ever get to Las Vegas, forgo the casinos and visit this magnificent state park. It is easy to reach, being only 55 miles from the city and 6 miles from Lake Mead. You will not be disappointed. In fact, you may have seen parts of Valley of Fire without realizing it. Many car companies have used the locale as a setting for their car commercials. The television show Airwolf (1984-1987) used Valley of Fire as the secret hiding place for the show’s super helicopter; the show just called the area Valley of God. Some of the movies that were shot at this state park include The Professionals (1966) with Burt Lancaster, an odd sci-fi film Cherry 2000 (1987) with Melanie Griffith, the Mars scenes from Total Recall (1990) with Arnold Schwarzenegger, a scene from Tranformers (2007) with Shia LeBeouf., and the scene of an RV crash in Domino (2005) with Keira Knightley. Of course, my favorite is its use in Star Trek Generations (1994) when Picard and Kirk head to Veridian III to stop Soran. In Kirk’s death scene, there are some fleeting vistas of Valley of Fire.
What places in Nature do you like to visit?
What thoughts about life come to mind when you are experiencing Nature, enjoying its beauty and silence?
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“When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.” White Elk
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” Chief Seattle, 1854
“What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.” Crowfoot, Blackfoot Warrior & Orator
“And while I stood there, I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of things in the spirit and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.” Black Elk
“O Great Spirit, help me always to speak the truth quietly, to listen with an open mind when others speak, and to remember the peace that may be found in silence.” Cherokee Prayer
“I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its building of concrete are, but rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man.” Sun Bear, Chippewa
“There is a road in the hearts of all of us, hidden and seldom traveled, which leads to an unknown secret place. The old people come literally to love the soil, and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power. Their teepees were built upon the earth and their altars were made of earth. The soul was soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing. That is why the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of propping himself up and away from its life giving forces. For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly. He can see more clearly the mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him.” Chief Luther Standing Bear
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