Less is more

"Less is more," 5 x 7 watercolor, 140 lb Fabriano Artistico extra white cold press paper

Our materialistic culture values things, and the means to acquire more things. 
If there's one lesson that stands out during this pandemic of viruses, racism and political chaos, it is that America values things and money more than health and humanity. 
How can you tell? Listen to all the talk about the "economy," a short word for things and money. It has exposed the greatest weakness of capitalism...what happens when people can't work and earn money and acquire things? That's why there's so much pressure to "re-open" businesses, including schools and universities. 
Money is being lost, and that is more important culturally than lives. We equate lots of things, abundance, with success and quality of life.
People are suffering economically when they can't work to afford  even a house payment because our society, our government, is not prepared  nor equipped to care for those in dire need. Only look at the long lines and unemployment benefits disaster just in Oklahoma.
I'm not a communist, a socialist, nor a minimalist, but the lessons are clear...getting more things, a system built on that principle, is a disaster waiting to happen. It's happening
The last time this happened, in the Depression, it took 10 years to come to grips with, revolutionizing American society. Another depression is setting in, fueled by something more deadly than a Stock Market crash. 
This pandemic is changing American society  as we find we don't need to got to the store...it can be delivered. It's already bankrupted many smaller businesses, and laid off thousands of food service workers. Big retail is next. 
I read the other day that malls, those monuments and temples to materialism (euphemistically called "consumerism") will be the next victims --within a few years--of what this pandemic has wrought...death of retail stores. Think of all the people who will be out of work. 
And as I get older, I'm working on "divesting" myself of things and not getting more of them. I go to a store for something specific, and look at all those "things" I don't need.
Spiritual leaders like Jesus and Buddha,  revolutionaries like Gandhi, mystics throughout the ages, have warned and taught that material abundance won't make you happy. 
All these thoughts ran through my head as I tried to find something to paint in response to #WorldWatercolorMonth's prompt, "Abundance."
I started with the idea from Jesus saying he had come so we could have "life more abundantly," but couldn't figure out what to paint. In Psalms, "My cup runneth over" but that didn't sound fun, and sort of bland. 
Doing a little surfing the web on words and more, photos of people meditating or doing yoga on the beach showed up.
I'm not a practitioner, though I should be, and I know friends and relatives who are. 
Irony: this is an "abundance" of thoughts and words for a simple painting. Abundance? Less is more.

Hatred on the phone, gnashing of teeth

It's been a week since I was called a Nazi and coward on the phone.

Other than that, it was a good evening, but I've been postponing, avoiding writing about it, because it was so, so violent a verbal attack, so filled with rage.

Several ironies of the incident were apparent to me immediately, especially since I'd been meeting with a group of Christians the day before, discussing nonviolence as modeled by Jesus, Gandhi, King. I'm not sure I really want to write about it still, but think I must, not to get even, but as part of a personal solution.

Here's the background.

I was recently voted into membership with the Oklahoma City Gridiron club, which is an honor. They've raised hundreds of thousands of dollars since 1929 for scholarships for journalism students. They raise money by putting on a once-a-year political satire show, filled with songs and scripts poking fun at politicians and more, from the state to the national level. See a post about last year's show here, for an example. Members of the club are journalists of all sorts, and former journalists. I think I'm one of few professors to have been a member.

At any rate, the club holds some meetings at the OETA facilities, and in trade for that, members run the phones for three hours one night during the OETA August  fund drive. That was last Monday night. It's all highly computer-operated, and in spite of training, it takes you a little to figure out all the intricacies of taking a call and filling out information on the computer.

It was the first phone call. I picked up the phone, said "Good evening, thanks for calling OETA. May I take your pledge?"

He started immediately, saying he was a member of the Tea Party and why should he support a tax-supported station that labeled the Tea Party "racist."

At first, I thought he was joking, but the venom in his voice changed that. I knew better than to try to argue or answer him, and just remained silent. He kept going, implying I worked for the station. I told him I was a volunteer, and he kept a barrage of questions coming all along the same line. 

I know OETA has never referred to the Tea Party as racist, but it wouldn't have mattered to him. I tried to tell him he was welcome to his opinion as an American, but that infuriated him more. He then said that being a volunteer for OETA was like being a volunteer for Hitler, and when I refused to answer any more questions, getting ready to hang up, he called me a coward for not answering his questions and slammed the phone down.

Yes, I caught the ironies of someone in the right-wing Tea Party calling someone a Nazi, and hiding behind a phone, calling someone a coward.

He called a couple of others during the evening and I guess, being satisfied, shut up.

The volunteers sitting next to me joked about it and that helped. And from then on, the phone calls were from friendly people all over Oklahoma, saying how much they appreciated the programming on OETA and pledging money to qualify for 1950s and '60s music CDs andDVDs.

Afterward, I wished I'd asked him if he were a Christian, since many Tea Partiers are, and if so, how he could be so full of hate and condemnation when Jesus preached love and forgiveness. But I wasn't that quick. It was a shock.

What disturbs me most  was the black-and-white, ignoring the facts attitude of this person, and wondering how representative he is of the Tea Party membership? Where does that hatred come from? It it typical of propaganda techniques--using labels, being unable to think, unreasoning action fueled by a mob mentality, an lack of being able to consider other peoples'  views--totally anti-government, anti-education, anti-science, mixed with complete lack of concern for others. 

For me, I came face to face with crackpot extremism and hatred that endangers our freedoms and our government which is based on working together. And with my personal restraint. I thought about Scripture saying  a soft answer turns away wrath, but it didn't work here. 

Then I thought about scripture telling how the Pharisees "gnashed their teeth," at some of Jesus' teaching. This guy went to bed that night, and probably every night since, very unhappy, grinding his teeth.  Really sad.

But he made me much more thankful for the other callers like the  lady (probably about my age), from Salina, Oklahoma, who called to pledge. We proceeded to have an intelligent conversation about the history of her town, and how thankful she was for OETA, supported by tax dollars, providing good in her life. 

I won't forget the angry crackpot. He actually enriched my life, because I value even more  the good people who called.

The second caller of the night said he'd already pledged, but he just wanted to call back and say how much OETA meant to him. I wrote down his name and passed the message on to the people in charge.

Friends and flags

 Among the readers of today's blog are residents of Bulgaria and India, places where I've made friends. I've not been to Bulgaria, though I've had several students from there, all smart, talented, fluent in English and hard-working. They've invited me to come. I'm fortunate to have visited SRM University in Chennai, and have friends there among faculty and students. You can see previous posts of mine, including video, by searching India on this blog. That was two years ago this March. Here's one link from my "India Journal" posts:
http://clarkcoffee.blogspot.com/2011/03/india-coming-and-oging-video-journal.html

The Indian flag, by law, is to be made of khadi, a special type of hand-spun cloth of cotton or silk made popular by Mahatma Gandhi. Saffron, white and green are the three bands, representing courage and sacrifice, peace and truth, and faith and chivalry respectively. In the center is the Ashok Chakra, a 24-spoke wheel representing righteousness, order and the eternal wheel of law.

The Bulgarian flag has changed over the years, especially with the influence of the USSR, but it's now back to its basic three colors. It was first established at the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 when Bulgaria gained its independence. White is for peace and honesty.Red represents hardiness, bravery, strength and valor, and green,  hope, joy and love and in many cultures have a sacred significance.
A note on the map. It is no longer Yugoslavia on Bulgaria's western border,  That area next to Bulgaria is now Serbia.

Gandhi and me--India journal

First views from SRM University, Chennai, India...

A student asked to take this photo, in front of a statue of Gandhi at the gate to SRM University. He said proudly of Gandhi, "the father of our country."

Though largely a resident campus (students live in "hostels," not "dorms"), big yellow buses also transport students from the city, 30 km away, to campus. Every college--engineering, etc--has individual buses.Those are bricks in the foreground. There is construction everywhere in India.

This is the college of bio-engineering. Lots of new buildings in the 25 year old private university.

I took this photo to show all the varied dress on the campus.

Street signs on campus...you're not in Kansas anymore.

Motorcycles are a main mode of transportation in India and on campus. We could learn from this...park in a no parking area and they deflate your tires!

One more view of Gandhi...

We have much to learn from this country and civilizations. More photos and comments and videos to come.