My Final Will and Testament – Risks – Reflection #6

20 May 2024 2 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Last year at my 40th Demontreville Retreat, one of the exercises that we were given by the Retreat Master included a very challenging set of thoughts.  The worksheet for the activity was labeled as “A Testament.” I took the worksheet and instructions home with me.  It had fourteen tasks or reflections to complete.  I did not desire to complete them during the retreat.  It is now almost a year since my retreat, and I have decided to make the mental and emotional effort necessary to complete this “Testament.”

The worksheet started with these instructions:

Imagine that this is the last day of your life on earth.  In the time that you have left, you want to leave a “Testament” for your family and friends.  Each of the following could serve as chapter headings for your “Testament.”

6.  These are the greatest Risks that I have taken in my life.

I have never really thought of myself as a risktaker.  First-born children are usually more pampered, and some believe that this results in them being less willing to take risks.  I know when it comes to physical things, I am not much of a risktaker.  I do not want to climb any mountains and I have only had one sky diving experience.  I am certainly not and have never been into what are called “Extreme Sports.”

When it came to business, I had always wanted to start my own company.  I have tried at least five times and have not really been very successful.  I attribute my failures to my lack of being willing to take risks when it comes to money.  I am very conservative financially.  I have shunned any  real monetary risks.  I tried starting a newspaper.  That did not go very well.  I also tried starting an on-line bookstore to focus on selling business related books. I invested some of our insurance money into the latter venture and lost every penny.  In both cases, failure did not lead me to getting up and trying again.  I took our losses and bailed rather than investing more money in either venture.

One risk that I have always taken was in terms of fighting.  Some of you might think fighting is wrong but I have always been willing to stand up to bullies and fight them either physically or emotionally.  Long before Trump  was being called a liar, I labeled him as such in my blogs.  In fact, when his first book “The Art of the Deal” came out, I wrote a review and basically described his book as worthless in terms of any useful financial advice.  I have written almost twenty blogs noting many reasons why the world would be better off with Trump in jail than running lose on the streets.

I have always written in my blogs what I think is the truth regardless of the circumstances.  Here in Arizona City, I was one of the few if not the only person in town to have a Hillary and Biden campaign posters in my front yard during the elections.  I was warned by my next-door neighbor that this might not be a good idea.  With Karen’s blessing, we left our posters up.

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Another area that I have been willing to take risks in has been in terms of travel.  Karen and I have been to 44 countries now.  We went to China on our own two weeks before the Tiananmen Square Massacre.  We departed from the Shanghai airport for home the day before they closed it down.  We traveled over a great deal of China with a friend that we met there but also a great deal on our own.

Over the years and many trips, we have never gone on any large cruises.  We weigh the risks in traveling but we much prefer to travel alone.  I can’t imagine a trip where I have to go to any place at a specific time with a large group.  The one major exception to our travels with any pre-plans was our trip to South Africa.  A year or so ago, we went to South Africa on a custom tour.  We planned the trip with the cruise company.  During our trip we traveled with private guides to events and places that we had agreed on beforehand.  We have been warned many times about not going to places like Peru, Israel, Mexico, Russia and other countries.  With the exception of Russia which fell through because of Covid we have had wonderful trips in every country that we have visited.

I guess my final area of risk taking, besides being willing to try almost any food in the world, concerns my leaving home at 18 to join the military.  I decided to leave home without telling my parents that I was joining the miliary.  This was in 1964 during the Vietnam war and I thought that fighting communism in SE Asia was a patriotic thing to do.  Perhaps more important than that desire was my desire to leave home and see some of the world.  I wrote about my adventures in the United States Airforce in a three-part blog about five years ago.  If you really want to hear more about this story, go to https://agingcapriciously.com/2019/11/10/the-day-i-joined-the-airforce-part-one

Well friends, that’s it for this reflection.  I can’t think of any major risks I have taken that seemed either scary or frightening.  I have always been up for adventures but never much of a leader when it comes to breaking new trails.  I am a great follower though.  If you have any adventure planned, I would be more than happy to join you.

Next Reflection:    

  1. These are the sufferings that have seasoned me and made me more compassionate.

 

My Final Will and Testament – Insights – Reflection #5

18 May 2024 4 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

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Last year at my 40th Demontreville Retreat, one of the exercises that we were given by the Retreat Master included a very challenging set of thoughts.  The worksheet for the activity was labeled as “A Testament.” I took the worksheet and instructions home with me.  It had fourteen tasks or reflections to complete.  I did not desire to complete them during the retreat.  It is now almost a year since my retreat, and I have decided to make the mental and emotional effort necessary to complete this “Testament.”

The worksheet started with these instructions:

Imagine that this is the last day of your life on earth.  In the time that you have left, you want to leave a “Testament” for your family and friends.  Each of the following could serve as chapter headings for your “Testament.”

5.  These are ten of the greatest Insights that I have gained in the School of Life.

Friends are like flowers:

I have realized that friends are like flowers.  They grow, they bloom and then some of them wither away over time.  Some friends are like Perennials.  They live for more than two years. They grow back each year as we renew them.  They may bloom for many seasons.  Over and over again.  Other friendships are more like Annuals.  Annuals have a much more limited life cycle.  Sometimes, they are over in less than a year.  They are beautiful when they last but somehow they are never destined for longevity.

Cowards die many times before their deaths:

A line from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” that I have used my entire life to remind me that fear can be death.  Fear can stop us from trying new things, going to new places and enjoying life.  True, fear is a warning.  However, fear can also be paralyzing.  You have heard it said that some people are afraid of their shadows.  As we get older, life closes in on us.  Unless we can keep pushing back the boundaries, we will end up in a coffin long before it is our time.

Live for today.  Take one day at a time: 

So easy to say.  So hard to do.  All the great prophets in history have given paeans to the virtue of living one day at a time.  Jesus said “”Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”— Mathew, 6:34.  Buddha said, “Don’t get caught in the past, because the past is gone.  Do not get upset about the future, because the future is not yet here.  There is only one moment for you to be alive, and that is the present moment.” — Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone.  The Muslim preacher, Hasan al-Basri said, “The world is three days: Yesterday, with all that was in it, has gone.  Tomorrow, you may never see it.  As for today, it is yours, so work on it.”  There are many more admonitions to live in the moment.  Still, easier said than done.

I wake up making my lists each day.  I plan some of them one week, one month, and even years out.  Will those days ever come?  The older I get, the less likely it is that a ten-year plan will ever come to fruition.  It makes sense to live in the moment.  Except, what about the grasshopper and the ants?  They stored up grain for the future, while the grasshopper fiddled and danced.  Who starved?  A good friend of mine complains that it is not fair that state parks and other such venues do not operate on a first come first served basis.  Today, if you do not plan for the future, you may not get a campground.  Not planning for a future can mean even more dire prospects than not getting a campsite.  It might mean not having any retirement money.  It might mean not having any resources for health care and other necessities.  There must be a balance between living for today and planning for tomorrow.  Does anyone know a sure fire way to find that balance?  Here is what ChatGPT said in response to my query:

Balancing living for today and planning for tomorrow can be a delicate act, but it is achievable with mindful practices and habits.  Here are some strategies that can help:

Set Clear Goals: Define your long-term goals and break them down into smaller, manageable steps.  This helps you focus on the present while keeping an eye on the future.

Prioritize Your Time: Make a list of your daily activities and prioritize them based on importance and urgency.  This ensures you are spending time on what matters most, both for today and for your future.

Practice Mindfulness: Mindfulness techniques, such as meditation and deep breathing, can help you stay present and enjoy the moment without constantly worrying about the future.

Create a Balanced Schedule: Allocate specific times for work, relaxation, hobbies, and social activities.  This ensures that you are enjoying life now while also dedicating time to your future goals.

Financial Planning: Save and invest wisely to secure your future, but also set aside some money for leisure and experiences that bring you joy today.

Stay Flexible: Life is unpredictable, and plans may change.  Being adaptable allows you to enjoy the present while being prepared for future changes.

Reflect Regularly: Take time to reflect on your progress and adjust your plans as needed.  Regular reflection helps you stay aligned with your goals and make necessary changes.

Seek Balance in Health: Take care of your physical and mental health through regular exercise, a balanced diet, and sufficient rest.  Good health enables you to enjoy the present and ensures longevity.

Enjoy Small Moments: Find joy in everyday moments and appreciate the present.  Whether it’s a walk in the park, a good meal, or time with loved ones, these moments are valuable.

Continuous Learning: Invest in your personal and professional growth by learning new skills and acquiring knowledge.  This not only prepares you for the future but also enriches your present life.

By integrating these practices, you can create a harmonious balance between living in the moment and planning for the future.

It took ChatGPT all of about one minute to come up with the above list.  Pretty amazing isn’t it.  I only wish I were as smart as she/he is.

Kindness is more important than knowledge:

This is a lesson that has taken me many years to learn.  “Chicken Soup for the Soul” was a pivotal event in my life.  The stories started me thinking more about kindness and less about acquiring a great deal of knowledge.  I once thought that knowledge was everything.  Knowledge was the path to virtue according to the Bible.  Knowledge was power according to Sir Thomas Hobbes.  Knowledge comes from a different place than kindness.  Knowledge is necessary to make a living, but kindness is necessary to make a life.  A human being must be more than just a collection of ideas and theories.  We must be able to show compassion and empathy for other human beings and other creatures.  Kindness will make more of a difference to the world than the Encyclopedia Britannica ever did.

We do not age like a fine wine, we age like bananas:

Whoever came up with the trope about aging and fine wine must never have grown old.  The older I get, the more wizened I get.  My wine is getting moldy.  My face is getting wrinkled.  Like an aging banana, I now am getting more and more black spots on my skin.  Nobody throws a fine old wine away, but in a few years, just like a rotten old banana, my carcass will be disposed of.  I am softer and mushy now.  I once was firm and hard.  Who likes a mushy old banana?

Don’t rely on Hope:

Hope may spring eternal in the human breast but hope never accomplished anything.  It takes effort to make a life.  It takes effort to go to work every day.  It takes effort to do anything worth being done.  You can hope your life away.  Hope is a seasoning for life.  You can season the meat, but you must then cook it.  Hope can help you to have faith that you can change the world, but hope is not enough to get the job done.  Patrick Henry spoke about “hugging the delusive phantom of hope.”

You can hope to win the lottery but unless you buy a lottery ticket, you have no chance of winning the jackpot.  Hope can be a motivator, but running the 100-meter dash of life takes moving your legs to get to the finish line.  Keep hope in perspective but don’t let hope become your whole life.

Life is about trying to make a difference:

We wake up each morning and what do we do?  We say a prayer maybe.  Maybe we have breakfast.  We take a shower.  We write a few lines.  We go to work.  What is the purpose of our life?  If it is not to make a difference in the world, I don’t know what it is for.  Is it simply to live another day?  Is it just to have fun? “God Forbid” to quote Patrick Henry again.  If the meaning of our lives is not to make a difference in the world, I don’t know what we exist for.

Sadly, we may never know if we make a difference.  We are not born with a difference gauge that tells us which of our efforts is the most effective.  Faith can make a difference here.  Mother Teresa was once challenged by a reporter who asked her, “How do you know you are making any difference with all your poverty and charity work?”  Mother Teresa replied, “I am not called upon to make a difference, I am called upon to have faith.”  Faith guides us down the path of hope but we must be propelled by a desire to see a better world if not for ourselves than for our children.

Progress is made by people, ideas, and technology:

There are many theories of human progress.  Karl Marx believed that materialism was the prime motivator and engine for change.  “The essential condition for the existence, and for the sway of the bourgeois class, is the formation and augmentation of capital; the condition for capital is wage-labor.” — The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx.  Despite the fact that Marx has been refuted more times than I can count, his problem came not from his perspective, it came from his limitations of perspective.  He was not able to see the difference that ideas, people, and technology could and do make on the world.

The argument as to which drives progress is really a chicken and egg dilemma.  Or maybe it is more like a giant Mobius strip.  Great men come up with great ideas which create great technology which creates new material goods which lead to new leaders who have new ideas for more progress.  Around and around we go, but we always remain in one plane.  A Möbius strip is a one-sided surface with no boundaries that looks like an infinite loop.  Progress comes from going around and around and around.  All the elements of the universe help motivate us around this single plane.

Whatever can be done, can also be undone:

The pundits are telling us that if Trump gets reelected he will abandon and even destroy all the foundations for democracy that still exist in the USA.  His first attempt at doing so fell short but together with his minions, he will take another shot at it.  Americans are deluded into thinking that democracy is indestructible.

Democracy is a set of ideas which when put into action creates a system of government.  Sometimes this system works very well but often it is dysfunctional.  Democracy has no guarantee of success if people no longer believe in the set of ideas that defined their democracy.  There are only twenty or so true democracies in the world today out of over 180 different governments.  “The Economist Democracy Index rates countries on the state of their governing system each year.  In the latest published edition, corresponding to the year 2022, only 24 countries in the world have been rated as ‘full democracies’, representing 8% of the world’s population.” — The State of Democracy, April 2023

It is by no means inevitable that democracies will be created in the world or that they will be sustained.  History has shown us over and over again that great empires fall, and democracies may not survive.  Human beings seem to have an equal propensity to favor authoritarian governments as they do democratic governments.  Recent events in the USA cannot be denied.  America is full of people who do not believe in democracy and who would favor a tyrant and bully like Trump being elected for life.

Love surpasses everything:

If making a difference is the ultimate purpose of life than love is the ultimate meaning of life.  We often love not too well and not too wisely, but love is the soul of our existence.  Deprive humans of love and you deprive humans of the only thing that really matters in this world.  A lonely life is one that saddens all of us.  How many people live such lives?  What can we do to help others who are not loved or who cannot share love with others?  If we can stop manufacturing bombs and bullets to murder others, we might be able to work towards creating a world based on love.  We may have faith and we may have hope, but unless we mix the ingredients for love and share them with others, love will remain only a dream.

Next Reflection:    

6.  These are the Risks I took.

 

My Final Will and Testament – Things – Reflection #4

14 May 2024 8 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

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Last year at my 40th Demontreville Retreat, one of the exercises that we were given by the Retreat Master included a very challenging set of thoughts.  The worksheet for the activity was labeled as “A Testament.” I took the worksheet and instructions home with me.  It had fourteen tasks or reflections to complete.  I did not desire to complete them during the retreat.  It is now almost a year since my retreat, and I have decided to make the mental and emotional effort necessary to complete this “Testament.”

The worksheet started with these instructions:

Imagine that this is the last day of your life on earth.  In the time that you have left, you want to leave a “Testament” for your family and friends.  Each of the following could serve as chapter headings for your “Testament.”

  1. These are the Things that I have lived for.

In my first reflection, I declared that “Things” were never very important to me.  However, this reflection forced me to look at some “Things” that have mattered to me in my life.  It is hard to admit that any things were ever really important since “Things” are so trivial in many respects.  Nevertheless, it is hard to exist without a few “Things.”  Thus, what are those “Things” which have really mattered to me, and a bigger question is why?  Here are a few of my favorite things and why they matter to me.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things — By Julie Andrews, “My Favorite Things”

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I love rain and stormy days:  I figured the “why out years ago.  On a nice day, my father would say “Get your ass outside and go play.  It’s too nice to be inside.”  Thus, I could only engage in my favorite activity (which was curled up with a good book) when it was raining, and I did not have to go outside.  To this day, I get a thrill when a rainstorm approaches.  I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see the rain and feel the raindrops on my head.

I love books:  I buy more books than I will ever finish in my lifetime.  I have already at  every move given hundreds of books away.  Just holding a book gives me a sense of excitement that nothing else in life does for me.  The book pulses in my hand like a living thing saying, “Read me and learn.”  “Let me tell you about a million things that you do not know.”

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I love a nap:  2 PM in the afternoon and I have nothing to do and no place to be.  I will take a nap.  I close my eyes wondering if I can really get to sleep and forty minute or so later, I wake up feeling energized and ready to continue taking on the woes of the world.  I am not sure where I get my joy of napping from.  Karen is not a napper, and I seldom can get her to take a nap with me.  It is a solo activity, but I guess it gives me a temporary respite from the trials and tribulations of everyday living.  Maybe it is just fun.

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I love food:  I have never met a food that I did not like.  One of the great joys of life is going someplace different and trying foods out that I have never eaten before.  I have eaten the local foods in all 44 countries that Karen and I have traveled to.  I will try anything though I draw the line if it is still moving.  I have eaten several unknown species of Arthropoda (Bugs) in China and Korea.  I have had rattlesnake in Texas, fresh eel in Japan and one of my favorite Italian foods, Scungilli salad whenever I get back to visit my sister in Rhode Island.

I love music:  Is music a thing?  Generative AI has the following to say about this query:

“Music is a cultural universal that is a human-created meaning, not a fact or thing in the world.  It is the arrangement of sounds to create a combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or other expressive content.  However, definitions of music vary by culture and throughout history, and there is no consensus on the precise definitions of the elements that define music.”

Nice to know what AI thinks.  Not sure it settled anything though.

Moving on with my thoughts, I find music sometimes soothing as with a Strauss waltz.  Sometime exciting as with the “Toreador Song” from Carmen.  Sometimes, a song reflects how I feel about life as with Ricky Shelton’s “I am a simple man.”  Sometimes, music reflects my sense of devotion for certain things.  I am always moved by national anthems like the “Star-Spangled Banner” and the “Marseillaise.”

I love what some call “World Music.”  I can spend hours surfing the various music offerings on YouTube.  I am always amazed at how much great music never seems to find its way into the US music stations.  As with food, I have never met a music genre that I did not like.  From Baroque to Grigorian Chants, to Asian, Latin, Hip Hop, Reggae and a hundred other music genres, I can always find an artist or musical piece that I fall in love with.  In Japan, it was Enka music.  In Portugal, I was Fado music.  In Spain it was the Tango music.  I could go on and on but every place in the world contributes to the store of great music that is out there.

Well, there you have it.  A few of my favorite things.  Perhaps I should add a few.

“Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings

These are a few of my favorite things.”  By Julie Andrews

Next Reflection:    

  1. These are the insights that I have gained in the school of life.

 

My Final Will and Testament – Convictions – Reflection #3

12 May 2024 4 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Last year at my 40th Demontreville Retreat, one of the exercises that we were given by the Retreat Master included a very challenging set of thoughts.  The worksheet for the activity was labeled as “A Testament.” I took the worksheet and instructions home with me.  It had fourteen tasks or reflections to complete.  I did not desire to complete them during the retreat.  It is now almost a year since my retreat, and I have decided to make the mental and emotional effort necessary to complete this “Testament.”

I am going to complete one or two reflections every other day for the next few weeks.  I would love it if you would do these tasks along with me.  If you would like to share your thoughts, that would be great, but I am not expecting anyone to do so.  I would like to know if you find any benefit in completing these activities.

The worksheet started with these instructions:

Imagine that this is the last day of your life on earth.  In the time that you have left, you want to leave a “Testament” for your family and friends.  Each of the following could serve as chapter headings for your “Testament.”

  1. These are the Convictions that I have lived by.

I do not like the sound of the word Convictions.  I think I have lived by too many Convictions in my life.  There are of course two somewhat very different meanings that can be attached to this word.  Dictionary.com provides the following two definitions.  Let us look at these for a second.

  1. A formal declaration that someone is guilty of a criminal offense, made by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law:  “She had a previous conviction for a similar offense”
  2. A firmly held belief or opinion:  “She takes pride in stating her political convictions”

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Regarding the definitions, one can see where a person might have some anxieties about the first association of Conviction with jail and prison.  I assure you that this is not where my anxiety comes from.  I am pretty sure it stems from the second definition.  “A firmly held belief.”  When I look back upon my life, I have had too many firmly held beliefs.  Behind my back, I know that I have been called “A know it all” many times.  I am still a very opinionated person as any of my readers can probably attest.  However, I would like to think that seldom if ever do I get into robust arguments any more with other people.  I even gave up trying to convince Trump supporters who include veterans, evangelicals, businesspeople, college graduates, relatives, and friends that Trump is a total scumbag with no morality or ethics.

I am trying hard to find any Convictions now that I am so dedicated to that I let them rule my life.  All of the great quotes, aphorisms, metaphors, analogies, theories, and ideas that I know of would fill an old encyclopedia Britannica.  But not one that I can think of would I waste five minutes defending.  I think that there are pro’s and con’s to everything in life.  For every up there is a down.  For every night, there is a day.  For every light, there is a dark.  For every right, there is a wrong.  Perhaps, Ecclesiastes comes as close to a Conviction as I want to live with today.

“For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come.  Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!  So, I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me.  For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.” — Ecclesiastes 2

Is the above a Conviction or is it simply a belief?  Not sure it even matters.  Everything we do is blowing in the wind.

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One story I like very much was told by OSHO about a mighty king who died.  This King believed that he was the greatest King on earth and also that he was the greatest King who ever lived.  The King died and found himself in the realm of the Golden Mountains.  These mountains were higher than the Himalayans and more vast than the entire Asian continent.  Here the King met the Caretaker of the mountains.  The Caretaker gave the King a magic pen and told him that he could write his name in the mountains.  This was permitted because he was a mighty King.  A few days later the King came back to the Caretaker and complained, “I have walked for many miles through the Golden Mountains and everywhere I went to sign my name, some other person had already signed their name.  Who are all these people?”  The Caretaker replied, “These are all the other mighty Kings before you who died.”

  • “Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.”
  • “Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.”
  • “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”

I would rather live by a set of virtues and values than a set of convictions. 

Next Reflection:    

  1. These are the things that I have lived for.

 

My Final Will and Testament – Experiences – Reflection #2

10 May 2024 3 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized

Experience

Last year at my 40th Demontreville Retreat, one of the exercises that we were given by the Retreat Master included a very challenging set of thoughts.  The worksheet for the activity was labeled as “A Testament.” I took the worksheet and instructions home with me.  It had fourteen tasks or reflections to complete.  I did not desire to complete them during the retreat.  It is now almost a year since my retreat, and I have decided to make the mental and emotional effort necessary to complete this “Testament.”

I am going to complete one or two reflections every other day for the next few weeks.  I would love it if you would do these tasks along with me.  If you would like to share your thoughts, that would be great, but I am not expecting anyone to do so.  I would like to know if you find any benefit in completing these activities.

The worksheet started with these instructions:

Imagine that this is the last day of your life on earth.  In the time that you have left, you want to leave a “Testament” for your family and friends.  Each of the following could serve as chapter headings for your “Testament.”

  1. These are the experiences that I have cherished.

Confucius said that there are three ways that we gain wisdom.  We may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.  I think Confucius, as wise as he was, perhaps missed the mark somewhat when it comes to experience.  Many of the experiences that I can reflect on in my life have been positive.  Forgive me if I sound Pollyannish, but a good friend of mine once told me “There are no mistakes, only lessons to be learned.”  I believe the full quote is as follows.

 “There are no mistakes in life, only lessons.  There is no such thing as a negative experience, only opportunities to grow, learn and advance along the road of self-mastery.  From struggle comes strength.  Even pain can be a wonderful teacher”—  Robin Sharma

Looking back on my life, I can put my memorable experiences into three buckets.  The first is Travels and reflects the places that I have visited and lived in.  The second is Education.  This bucket contains not only the road to my degrees but more importantly the paths I have taken to gain knowledge and wisdom of the world.  My third bucket is the People that I have had experiences with.  Many a day, I think about the famous line from French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1944 play “No Exit” that “Hell is other people.”  If there are any of my buckets with negative experiences, they are primarily in this bucket.  Conversely, my greatest experiences in life are also in this bucket.

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Travels:

Does the man make the travels or does the travels make the man?  Another one of those chicken and the egg questions.  Karen and I have been to 44 countries now.  We have also been to 49 US states, and I have been to every Canadian province.  My biggest takeaway from these travels is twofold.  First, is that every place we have gone has been unique, interesting, and beautiful.  Every place has been beautiful in its own way.

My second takeaway is that every country has taught me something about the diversity of life.  There are poor people in every country and there are rich people.  There are people who discriminate against others and there are people who are discriminated against.  No country that I have visited is free from some form of discrimination.  However, the common or average person in every country is a good person.  A person who wants to live and let live.  A person who wants to be happy and successful and is willing to work hard for it.  In many countries life is hard, but the people persevere.  Americans talk about our exceptionalism.  I have never been to a country where I did not think the people were exceptional.  My greatest learning from my travels was the realization that I need to be humble.  I learned never to think that I am special or deserving of more than my share of the universe because I am an American from the USA.

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Education:

Once upon a time, I wanted to learn everything about everything.  I thought that going to school was where my dreams would be fulfilled.  By the time, I reached the 9th grade.  I hated school.  I just wanted to be able to go to a library and read all day long.  My teachers received much of my inability to adjust to the so-called “Education System.”  To me, it was a “Dis-education system.”  A system where creative and innovative ideas were beaten out of students in favor of standardized answers on standardized tests.

By the time I got out of high school, I wanted nothing to do with education ever again.  I soon realized that I was not against education, but I was against schools and traditional classrooms.  Years later, when I was 25, exigencies of business life persuaded me to go back to get my sheepskin.

My favorite book was “The Sheepskin Psychosis” about the addiction that America was having in respect to getting a college diploma.  But I was ready to take another try on the merry go round and see if I could grab the brass ring.  I applied my military training and GI Bill and went from a BA to a B.S. to an M.S. to a Ph.D.  I used two key principles to do this.  1st. Keep my mouth shut and never disagree with any teachers.  2nd.  Hold onto my seat through rain and sleet and snow.

Today, I am the proud owner of four diplomas and the first person in my family to ever go to college. I learned most of what I know through books that were not on the approved college reading list.  I decided to read a book that was not assigned for every book that was assigned in any of my classes. The books I selected to augment my college textbooks would be ones related to the subject but where a more contrarian view on the subject was taken.  This allowed me to get a broader perspective on most subjects that I had studied.

My education has taught me the following:

  • A college degree does not make one smart.  Many idiots have a college degree
  • A college degree does not provide a moral and ethical foundation for life
  • College is just one possible steppingstone on the path to a successful life
  • Knowledge is secondary to wisdom
  • Kindness is more valuable than knowledge or any diploma
  • The wise person knows that one learns throughout life and not just when in school

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People

When I was in the retail field, I met many people who thought that their jobs would be great if there were just no customers to deal with.  We have all experienced a version of the “I think I am the customer, sorry to bother you for service” that seems endemic today.  It is true that many customers can be real pains in the butt.  I mention this because people, including friends, relatives, spouses, and strangers can all make our life more difficult at times.  However, like the customers in a retail store, we need to remember that our lives depend on these other people.

I have found that in terms of personalities people can be divided into three groups.  There are the “Things” people who will love to talk about and learn about cars, animals, technology, rockets, AI and other “Things.”  When you engage with a “Thing” person, he/she will be more interested in talking about their tractor than your recent vacation.  I generally find things very boring to talk about.  My concern with things is whether or not they work like they are supposed to.  I am not interested in the aesthetic or history of things.

Then there are the “Idea” people.  I put myself in that category.  I would rather discuss theories, hypotheses, algorithms, concepts, and knowledge than any other subject that I can think of.  Books, lectures, podcasts, TED talks, and documentaries are the source of ideas and I spend much of my life devoted to sorting through these media for new ideas that interest me.  Ideas that I think will make my life more interesting.  However, what is interesting to me is boring to the “Things” people.

Finally, there are the “Relationship” people.  You might call these the “People” people.  They can spend hours discussing friends, family, acquaintances, funerals, birthdays, weddings, and other relationship related issues.  My wife Karen and my sister Jeanine fall into this category.  You put them together and they can talk for hours (my wife says days) about grandsons, nieces, nephews, cousins and whomever they know or have a relationship with.  My conversations in this area are usually very brief.  I find little interest in knowing who or what anyone else may be doing.

About now, you may be wondering which category you belong in.  You might also be rebelling against a gross category scheme like the one that I have described.  If so, you could be thinking, “Life is more complex than this.  Sometimes I am into People, sometimes into Things and sometimes into Ideas.”  I won’t disagree with you, but I will say that in general I think we all have one preferred modality.

Well, since I am not a “Relationship” person, what do I cherish about people?  Certainly, not their inconsistencies, hypocrisies, phobias, biases, prejudices, and lack of rationale thinking.  In fact, it is the very opposite of these things that I think make people interesting.  It is the ability of people to live irrationally.  People have faith, love, and hope when any rational assessment would say they are fools.  If we were all rational beings, we would probably never fall in love and we might all yearn for a short life rather than a long life of protracted diseases and an unknown appointment with death.

Karen is a “Relationship person.”  We share very similar values, but we approach life very differently.  She is the perpetual optimist.  She will forgive and forget where I might forgive but not forget.  She loves the arts, crafts, and music elements of life.  She is a practitioner and participant of the arts while I remain an observer.  She is a kind person who trusts everyone without experience with them while I trust no one until I have known them for quite some time.

Nevertheless, my greatest joy in life is spending time with Karen and living somewhat vicariously through her experiences with People and Things that I cannot fathom.  For instance, she has just spent six days at a quilting retreat.  You could not pay me to spend six hours at such an endeavor.  She can spend days practicing for a music performance when I would not have the slightest desire to spend one hour rehearsing anything.  I have seen Karen take an hour undoing a piece of knitting that she has just been working on for three or more hours.  I shake my head wondering how she can do such a thing.  “Who would notice I think.”  Karen would have no problem identifying with Michelangelo’s comment about the Sistine Chapel:  “If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.”

And that my friends is what makes life great.  The fact that there are so many different people out there and they are not just like us.  Imagine a world where everyone was your clone?  That would surely be hell.

Next Reflection:  

  1. These are the convictions I have lived by.

My Final Will and Testament —Things That I Loved in Life —Reflection #1

08 May 2024 3 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , ,

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Last year at my 40th Demontreville Retreat, one of the exercises that we were given by the Retreat Master included a very challenging set of thoughts.  The worksheet for the activity was labeled as “A Testament.” I took the worksheet and instructions home with me.  It had fourteen tasks or reflections to complete.  I did not desire to complete them during the retreat.  It is now almost a year since my retreat, and I have decided to make the mental and emotional effort necessary to complete this “Testament.”

I am going to complete one or two reflections every other day for the next few weeks.  I would love it if you would do these tasks along with me.  If you would like to share your thoughts, that would be great, but I am not expecting anyone to do so.  I would like to know if you find any benefit in completing these activities.

The worksheet started with these instructions:

Imagine that this is the last day of your life on earth.  In the time that you have left, you want to leave a “Testament” for your family and friends.  Each of the following could serve as chapter headings for your “Testament.”

 1.These are the Things that I have loved in life.

Wow, where to start?  The effort brings tears to my eyes.  I fear that I have loved and lost too much.  In Alfred Lord Tennyson’s famous poem “In Memoriam A.H.H.” he writes:

I hold it true, whate’er befall;

I feel it when I sorrow most;

‘Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.  —- Canto XXVII

If only I could agree with Tennyson.  My soul does cry out for remorse and forgiveness but giving it to myself seems hard to come by.  The people that loved me and cared about me that I scorned in my life are mostly shadows now of another era.  An epoch that I want to forget about.  Can we really change?  Have I really changed.  I am ashamed to list what I have loved because I was so careless and thoughtless with so much of it.  If only I believed in a God of Forgiveness, it would make this effort so much easier.

I won’t say I have ever loved a thing.  I have never loved money, cars, or possessions.  I have loved the thought of fame and fortune.  I have never completely let go of the idea that around the next corner awaits my vindication.  Fame and fortune will anoint me as the true Knight that I dreamed of being.  When I was ten years old, I wanted to be an astronaut.  I wanted to fly into space on a rocket ship years before Captain Kirk was even born (at least on TV.) I loved the idea of adventure and discovering new places, things and ideas.  But my dreams were dashed by reality.  I was too short to be an astronaut and my eyes were not good enough to be a pilot.  Biological requirements that were set by who knows and for what reasons that dashed all hope of my dreams of going to the stars.

I have loved a few people.  Similar to my relationship with God, I am an Atheist when it comes to love.  Can you really love a car?  Can you love your new house?  Love seems to me something that must be reciprocal.  Only humans can really reciprocate love.  Even pets are only capable of licking your face.   However, with humans, most of the love in the world is a misnomer for lust.  Love at first sight is the most egregious example of lust to ever exist.  I see a woman with nice legs or nice breasts, and I fall “IN LOVE.”  Another idiotic phrase that should be stricken from humanity.  Six weeks later, we are married and promise to “Love and Cherish” each other for life.  This bliss or LOVE may last for a few months or years until the lust has all but disappeared and reality has set in.

I have never ever fallen in love with anybody much less anything.  I love Karen.  I love my sister Jeanine.  I love several old friends.  Love for me has to be earned.  It has to develop over time as with the “Velveteen Rabbit”,  “It’s a thing that happens to you.  When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.” — Margery Williams

Can I child really love a stuffed toy?  The logician in me says NO.  The cynic in me says NO.  The realist in me says NO.  My heart says YES, thereby negating much of what I have probably already said about love.  Love is in one sense logical and rational.  In another sense, it is emotional, illogical, and irrational.  I still question loving your car or loving your house, but I do not question the love that some people may have for their pets or even an inanimate object.  Reason tells me that a pet stuffed rabbit can somehow personify “love” much better than my desire for a Ferrari ever could.  I still can’t imagine in what warped dimension I might live where I could fall in love with a Ferrari or even cry when it was gone.

I shall add to my list of “Loves” the following:

  • Books
  • Ideas
  • Writing
  • Music
  • Food
  • Travel
  • Adventure
  • Adversity
  • Challenges

Number 2 of 14 Reflections in this Testament exercise is as follows: 

  1. These are the experiences that I have cherished.

I am posting this as a sort of “heads up” to give you some time to think about your own experiences.  I will reflect on mine in my next blog:

Here are some of my favorite quotes on love:

  • Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” — John 15:13
  •  “I hope it’s okay if I love you forever.” — Ally Maine, “A Star Is Born”
  •  “Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.” — Zora Neale Hurston
  •  “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
  •  “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” ― Robert A. Heinlein
  •  Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. — Aristotle

 

 

 

How One Determined Woman Made Lemonade When Life Handed Her a Bunch of Lemons

04 May 2024 7 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

While surfing the Internet a few days ago, I came across the following story by Ms. Jackie Fishman.  I was very moved by her story.  It was certainly a story that deserved retelling.  Her story has so many uplifting themes it is hard to describe them all.  Themes of determination, themes of courage, themes of personal responsibility, themes of renewal, themes of hope and themes of resilience.  Her story also reflects some negative themes that I saw during my three years as an employment counselor.  Themes of age discrimination, themes of one-way loyalty and an overall callous labor market that uses and discards people as nothing more than commodities.

I wrote to Ms. Fishman and asked for permission to reprint her story.  The following is in Jackie’s words and has not been edited.  Again, I think it is a story of courage and bravery in the face of what for many would have been a devasting experience.  It is a great example of the old saying that “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”  I think this story fits in well with the title of my blog site which is “Aging Capriciously.”  Aging is a challenge that we may all face.  We may never win but we do not need to go gently into the night either.

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I was put on a performance-improvement plan, so I chose to retire at 58.  Sometimes I wish I wasn’t a young retiree.  —- Essay by Jackie Fishman, Apr 19, 2024

After working for nine years as a communications specialist for a healthcare association, I was put on a performance-improvement plan during my 10th annual job review.

“Has my performance changed so much from my last exemplary review?” I asked, knowing that my previous review had been conducted by a former boss who was no longer at the company.

As a result of the PIP, I was sent to human resources to fill out paperwork outlining how my boss would closely supervise my work.  I had three months to improve.

As a 58-year-old, I worried about what this would mean for my career, but it became an opportunity for me to retire early.

I walked away from the job I had held for nearly a decade

I signed all the paperwork with HR and went back to my boss. I wanted to ensure she understood what was happening and get additional guidance on avoiding termination.  I started to get nervous.

After an uncomfortable meeting with human resources the following day, I left the company voluntarily.  I didn’t want to stick around to see how this situation worked out because I already had enough information to know my days there were numbered.

Leaving my job with no plan was unsettling.  My normal approach would not be so rash; I prefer to have a plan and know my next steps.  I was especially worried about my financial situation.

I had several interviews, but I felt forced to retire

Shortly after I left my old job, I worked part-time for a vendor I had previously done business with.  I eventually started applying for full-time positions and going to interviews.  Many of these interviews went well but somehow never resulted in an offer.  I wondered if it was because I was close to retirement age.

I could’ve continued working for the vendor, but the money was not worth the effort or the long commute.  Meanwhile, my personal life was getting complicated.  My daughter wanted help planning her upcoming wedding, my mother needed more oversight as she approached 90, and I craved more freedom to travel.

So, I decided to retire — in my 50s.

Being a young retiree has its pros and cons

I’m younger than most retirees by almost a decade — which is a blessing and a curse.

I decided to keep freelance writing.  I also started writing a longer project about my father’s teenage experiences as a Holocaust survivor, so having more time was welcome.  In addition, I began volunteering as a docent at the Newseum, which brought me a lot of satisfaction.

Plus, being young enough to go on some adventurous journeys is a nice perk: I enjoyed going on safari and on bike trips to California’s wine country.  It was also nice to have extra time to help plan my daughter’s and son’s weddings and be involved in all the pre-wedding activities.  Having time to do what you want is a definite benefit of retiring young.

Sometimes, though, I wish I wasn’t.

I can’t help but feel I still have a few more years left of full-time work in me, so I sometimes regret retiring so young.  I was cut off early from building up Social Security for a few more years, so from a financial perspective, I feel like retiring early has been detrimental.

I’m also worried I will quickly lose my grip on technological advancements.  I kept up with those advances through work, but as a retiree, I’m worried I’ll fall behind.

Either way, I wonder if my age played a role in all of this

In the end, it all worked out, but I do wonder if my age is what caused all of this.

I won’t ever know for sure if I was put on a PIP because of my age, nor will I know if I struggled to find a new job for the same reason.  But I now stand by my decision to retire and start a new phase.  After all, I was given the opportunity to reinvent myself and try new things.

Retirement is a time of rediscovery and transformation, and exploiting that opportunity is the best way to win the game of life.

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Ms. Fishman is a writer, story teller, & Emee, Jewish & child of Holocaust survivors: She can be reached on Twitter at @jackiefishman or for more of her great stories at https://jackiefishman.substack.com

Here is a link to Ms. Fishman’s Web Page Portfolio. Some very interesting things to see and learn about there.

https://mediabistro.com/freelance-connect/profiles/jackiefishman/

Shocking Headlines That are Almost Not Printable !!!!!

01 May 2024 8 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

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Pro-Christian Group Swarms Bible Bookstore to Destroy New King James Bibles: 

When asked why, the group’s leader answered, “Because we don’t believe in all this ‘new’ business.  We only want old bibles to be sold.  We never met King James anyway.”

Man Kills and Eats Pet Parrot:

“I killed him because he called me a ‘stupid’ Trump supporter.  Trump is not stupid.  I am going to buy another parrot that will vote for Trump.”

Students Run Wild on Campus as Protests Soar Across the USA

Students at McKinsey University were seen running to catch a bus after their graduation ceremony.  “What’s the fuss” one student said.  “Can’t we even run on campus anymore?  I swear I am not Anti-Semitic.”

Possible Alien Spacecraft Spotted Landing Near Homes in Scottsdale, AZ:

Closer investigation showed the spacecraft to be a remote-controlled toy spaceship from Mattel being operated by a five-year-old girl.  The young girl was arrested and taken away in hand cuffs despite proclaiming her innocence of any intended space invasion.

Woman Observed Performing Potentially Obscene Sex Acts in a Downtown Phoenix Park.

Witnesses say that she was doing something strange to a Barbie doll.  When approached, the woman threw the Barbie doll in a garbage pail and fled.  Officers are on the lookout for an eighty-year-old woman with a Barbie doll purse.

Biden Loses First Debate to Trump:

Four out of five Trump supporters say Trump will trash Biden in a debate.  When asked why, many replied “Because Sleepy Joe will fall asleep in the first five minutes after listening to Trump say how great he is.”  “We really do think he is great.”

Americans Leaving for Greener Pastures as Inflation Rises Again:

Many Americans are buying a new shade of weather resistant green grass for their lawns.  Rumors have it that it can be used in salads instead of lettuce.   Chefs say it makes a great Caesar salad.

Kim Kardashian Does It Again!

Kim Kardashian and several other famous celebrities were seen eating at the well-known Per Se restaurant in Manhattan.  Kim was wearing one of her naked see-through look dresses.   She reportedly was miffed that most patrons focused on checking out the menu.

Dr. John Persico Wins the Nobel Prize for Literature:

John dreamed that he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2025 until his wife woke him up in the middle of his acceptance speech.  “Let me sleep,” he said, “It’s not every day that I win the Nobel Prize.”

The National Enquirer was Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism and Truth Telling this Week:

The headlines of the National Enquirer contained news of its pending Pulitzer Prize.  The story was written by five of its leading writers who were subsequently fired for telling lies.  They were then rehired and given raises.

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Shocking headlines have become the norm or new normal.  The media specialize in well-rehearsed talking points that come from on-high in corporate headquarters.  “Protestors are funded by Hamas” is echoed repeatedly by high paid shills for the media who call themselves journalists.  “Antisemitism is rampant among college university professors” shriek other headline news liars.  “If we don’t stop Russia in the Ukraine they will soon be over here to invade Disney Land” is a frequent threat published by all the major news outlets.  “We need more money for defense” is a never-ending plea that benefits the military and the manufacturers of bombs and bullets.

As we attempt to ignore these absurd, threatening, and shocking headlines, the efforts of marketers to come up with new bait to hook us continues nonstop.  Each day brings more and more bizarre and misleading headlines.  We may want to opt out of the media blitz that bombards us via the TV, the radio, the internet, cellphones, emails, social media, and text messages, but it is an almost impossible task.

Someone said, “You can run but you can’t hide.”  You can run from the news, but you can’t hide from it.  From the shores of Montezuma to the hallowed hallways of the Supreme Court, the news will get you.  They want you to be depressed, unhappy, miserable, and hopeless.  But don’t worry too long.  They have the fix for your unhappiness.  The answer is in the next commercial.  Buy it now, pay later and find true joy.  Happiness is buying.  Happiness is owning.  Happiness is selling the junk that no longer makes you happy and buying new junk which will succeed where the last junk failed.

Be sure to buy a big gun.  You will need it for protection to make sure that the Democrats, communists, liberals, gays, immigrants, feminists, student protestors, Arabs, Russians, and others don’t sneak in at night and take your junk away.  Actually, just to be on the safe side, buy two big guns.

Special Ed, Special Needs, Special Kids

27 Apr 2024 13 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

downloadWe have all heard the words, Special Ed, Special Needs.  We know that these words refer to kids who are “different.”  But do we really know what it means to be different, to be special?  Perhaps some of you have had special needs children.  If so, you do know what it means to be special or to have a special needs child.  For many, like me, it is a somewhat abstract idea.  Once in a while, I see a “different” child in a Walmart or someplace out and about.  My general feeling is sympathy for the child but also gratitude that I have been blessed to date with good health.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to engage on a deeper level with about 10-15 special needs children.  As some of you know, I still do substitute teaching work at two high schools in Arizona.  Because of the shortage of both teachers and substitutes, I can usually pick which classes I want to sub for.  Years ago, you needed a license in a specific area to substitute in that area.  For instance, if you were substituting as a math teacher, you needed an education license in Math Teaching.  That is not the case here.  I substitute for most subjects from math to history, to band, to choir, to dance, to art, to construction, to automotive and even 4H.

imagesThis past week, I accepted a substitute teacher position in an ESS class or Special Ed class.  I was somewhat reluctant to take this class because I knew that there was no teachers aide in the class.  In many Special Ed classes, the regular teacher has one or two “Paras” who assist with class management.  A few weeks earlier, I had been asked to substitute for only one period in this same class.  I was rather surprised to find out that I was alone with ten special needs students.  Because they are all very different, having someone aboard who understands their various needs is important.  I had no experience with any of these children and have never been trained as a Special Ed teacher.  The forty-five minutes went quickly, and I had no problems.  Thus, when I saw the opportunity to sub for an entire day (which includes five periods of 45 minutes each) in this Special Ed class, I took it.

download (1)As the day drew closer, I had more and more trepidations.  Could I handle these children for five periods by myself?  Would I end up doing some emotional damage to these kids?  Would there be situations I could not handle.  The day of the class, I went in to see the administrative assistant who gives out class keys and class assignments.  I think she noticed my reluctance and she asked if I would want to switch with another class that was missing a teacher.  It would be a PE or Physical Education class.  She knew I have done a great deal of subbing with PE/Health, and I am very comfortable with such an assignment.  My undergraduate degree is a B.S. in Health Education with a K-12 certification.  Meaning I am certified to teach any grade from kindergarten through 12 grade.  In point of fact, I have now taught every grade from pre-school to Ph.D. classes at the University of Minnesota.

I mulled over the offer to switch and decided against it.  I told her I thought I might actually have the opportunity to do some real teaching with the special needs students.  In the regular classes, my offers to help with work or assignments are routinely shot down.  Usually, with polite “No, thank you but we are okay.”  I want to say, “You mean you are not anxious and eager to take advantage of my fifty plus years of education, experience, and knowledge?”  I suspect I would get the same responses.

download (2)So off I went to five periods of Special kids on a Friday which is the worst day to substitute teach.  Friday is the end of the school week and kids are sick of the school regimen and anxious to be free from bells and schedules.  Added to this eagerness to leave the school environment is the fact that there are only about three weeks to go until the end of the school year.  Students are primed for anything but education.

I arrived in the classroom about 30 minutes early which is my usual strategy.  This gives me time to find the regular teachers assignment and to peruse it to be sure that I understand it.  I decided to write the instructions out on the whiteboard as well.  The teacher had five class periods.  Two dealt with reading.  Two dealt with science and one dealt with math.  The assignments seemed straight forward.  Three of the five assignments had physical worksheets.  The assignment for the two science periods was to be done on their computers.  All assignments were to be completed by the end of the class.  Students were allowed to work together.

images (1)The entire day turned out to be very delightful and fulfilling.  Not only did I really enjoy interacting with these kids, but I really learned the meaning of “Special.”  Each child was very unique.  As a group, some had special emotional needs.  Some have special physical needs.  Some had special cognitive needs.  For some the dividing line was difficult to discern.

All of the students interacted very differently with me and their fellow classmates.  Some students were gregarious.  One young girl went around the class to make sure that students were working on their assignments.  She frequently offered me advice on running the class.  She came in for several periods and I enjoyed her extroversion.  The other students seemed to regard her as a De Facto teacher.

images (2)Some students were very solemn and said little.  They did not really interact with others and pretty much kept to themselves.  Some students were more loquacious and liked to laugh and joke with other students.  Another young lady in the class started talking about her pet rabbits.  I put a short video from “YouTube” up on the screen that showed pictures of various rabbits and some of their habits.  The kids all enjoyed the pictures and kept focused on their assignment while they watched the photos of rabbits doing some funny things like sleeping with a cat and sitting on someone’s head.  There is hardly anything cuter than a young fluffy rabbit.

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Over the course of the day, I actually managed to help several students with their assignments. To my amazement and surprise, these Special Needs students stayed focused on their assignments.  In a regular class, many of the students will do all they can to avoid working on their assignment.  From texting on their cell phones, to playing video games, to social media on their laptops, it is a constant challenge to get students to “focus” on their education and not on some video game.

All of the fifteen or so special needs students that I saw during the day were polite and respectful.  Two of the young men in the class looked like big jumbo teddy bears and acted like one.  They were always smiling and happy and learned my name right away.  I use Dr. John rather than my last name as I try to be somewhat informal with students.  In addition, out here in the Southwest, Persico is not easily pronounced.  I use the Dr. prefix to let them know that I have credentials beyond simply a teaching degree.  I think many regular students as well as regular teachers see substitute teachers as some sort of losers that can’t really teach or do anything else.  For instance, substitute teachers are never included in teacher prep meetings or teacher education activities at either campus.  I have been subbing out here for five years now. During the “Red for Ed” movement, I was told that I could not join because I was only a substitute teacher.  My net pay is $130 per day.  Sure, Karen and I can always use the money, but if you think that I am substitute teaching for the money, you do not know me very well.

If I only wanted money in my life, I would stick to writing this blog.  Since starting it fifteen years ago, I have made millions on endorsements for Trump products.  I have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for doing keynote speeches at Republican conventions.  Famous Hollywood directors are always importuning me with opportunities to have my life story made into a movie or video game.  Marvel even contacted me about using my persona as a superhero for one of their comic book series.  I turn them all down because truth be told, Karen and I have more money than we know what to do with.  Besides that, I value my anonymity over Fame and Fortune.  Now you know that I am almost as big a liar as Trump.  However, look how far he has got by lying.

In Conclusion:

I ended up the day feeling very good about myself and my students.  I learned why we should think of these children as special.  I do not think that I will see a Special Child again and feel sorry for them.  I will be grateful that the universe has room for all kinds of people including those who are different from the norm.  There is a big difference between difference and deficit.  I hope I made a difference in their lives in some way or at least made the day fun for them.  I see no reason why school and education should not be fun.  Instead, for too many students today, we have turned our schools into prisons.  Did you have security guards in school when you went to high school or teachers carrying concealed weapons?

The Days of Remembrance

23 Apr 2024 7 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

“The Days of Remembrance”, according to https://nationaltoday.com/days-of-remembrance, is observed every year in April and May and is a week-long commemoration of the Holocaust.  In 2024, it is observed from May 5-12, with “Remembrance” Day being May 6.”

”The Days of Remembrance” was established as the country’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust by the United States Congress.  The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is responsible for leading the country in commemorating “Days of Remembrance” and also for encouraging these commemorations.  The Holocaust was the state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi rulers, allies, and collaborators.”  — National Days of Remembrance

Several years ago, while in Munich, Karen and I went to visit the first of the concentration camps setup by the Nazis.  The camp was just outside of a small town called Dachau.  Neither of us will ever forget that day.  The camp is now a museum devoted to remembering and explaining the unexplainable.  The pictures, the exhibits, the ovens, the hatred depicted in this former death camp are beyond words.  In a strange distortion of reality, Karen and I could not remember any color for that day.  It was all black and white and gray.  The grass, the trees, the other people we saw all appeared in shades of black.  It was like being in the Stephen Spielberg film “Schindler’s List”.   How could any culture, any nation, any so-called civilized people systematically murder over six million people because of their religion?  Numerous writers have tried to explain the Holocaust, but none have ever managed to.  It is an impossible effort.  It is impossible because it is not possible for any normal human being to imagine the hatred and prejudice that stands behind Anti-Semitism and other forms of racism. 

On the way to the camp, we were told by the bus driver (in rather a surprise announcement)  “don’t blame us for the Holocaust, only a third of the people in the Village of Dachau voted for Hitler.”  I thought “bullshit”.  Later after reading Goldhagen’s “Hitlers Willing Executioners” I realized my judgement of bullshit was far too kind.  When people do nothing in the face of crime and immorality, they are just as guilty as the people more actively involved.  A large number of German people either did nothing to prevent or actively facilitated the atrocities perpetrated against the Jewish citizens in Germany. 

Sadly, this persecution of Jews has gone on not only in Germany for centuries but also in parts of Europe, the Mideast, and the USA.  However, it was not until 1860 that an Austrian Jewish scholar, Moritz Steinschneider, introduced the term “Anti-Semite” to denote specific prejudice against Jews.  Today, the USA is embroiled in a bitter controversy.  Another divide among the American people has occurred.  We have those who support Israel in its war against Hamas and those who support the Palestinian people.  The confrontations are taking place in the streets of several major cities as well as on college campuses across the nation.  Many Jewish people in America feel like they are being attacked whether or not they stand with Israel in what some are calling a war of Genocide.  Pro-Palestinian Americans are also being attacked as they protest the Gazan war. 

The Anti-Defamation League recently published a study showing a rise in Anti-Semitism ideology and incidents in the USA over the past year or so.  U.S. Antisemitic Incidents soared 140% percent in 2023.

“ADL tracked 8,873 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2023, the highest level recorded since ADL started tracking this data in 1979.” —  U.S. Antisemitic Incidents Soared 140% percent in 2023

While a large proportion of Americans are against Israel’s war with Hamas near fifty percent support the right of Israel to exist. 

“Support for an independent Jewish state remains high. Indeed, 47.6% of Americans support the notion of a two-state solution to the conflict and an additional 8.5% of Americans support Israeli annexation of the West Bank and Gaza.” — Antisemitic Attitudes in America 2024  

It is sad that we cannot both protest and also respect the position of those we protest against.  Whether or not one is Pro-Israel or Pro-Palestine, both have a right to be heard in a democratic society that professes the First Amendment for Free Speech.  Yet, we also see a systematic effort to silence those protestors who are taking sides with the Palestinians.  

In 1816 Commander Stephen Decatur said, “Our country!  In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong” — Naval commander Stephen Decatur.  Others have criticized this perspective as reflective of an unthinking extreme patriotism, or “jingoism”  Fifty-five years later, in 1871, a US Senator Carl Schurz gave a very appropriate reinterpretation of this perspective in a speech that included the statement, “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”  Both the USA and Israel may have some reckoning to be done but it will only happen if parties in both countries can sit down peacefully with their opposition and discuss their differences.  

I wrote the following blog in a series of stories written several years ago.  I was inspired by Edgar Lee Master’s “Spoon River Anthology.”  I called each of my stories “Autobiographies from the Dead.”  Each of my eight or so protagonists tells the story of their death.  In this story, Ephraim is a Jewish boy who dies in the Holocaust in a Nazi Concentration Camp.  The story will not be easy to read but it is my effort to share some of the real horrors of the Nazi holocaust with those of us who were not there.  We cannot whitewash, we cannot trivialize, and we should never forget the evil and hatred that Anti-Semitism has evoked and still evokes in the world today. 

Ephraim the Jew

jewish shadowMy name is Ephraim. I was born to a Jewish mother and a Jewish father in Germany.  My parents and great grandparents were all born in Germany.  We were not rich but we made a living over the years in various trades.  My family was all hard workers and I was taught the value of hard work and an education at an early age.  We were proud to be Germans.  My father had served with distinction in WW I and my great grandfather had served in the earlier Franco Prussian war.  We had many musicians and writers in our family and were proud that we could contribute to the rich German cultural heritage of our homeland.

HumiliationOne day, some young men started throwing stones at my father and me as we came home from work.  We arrived home with bruises and cuts but no broken bones.  My mother said that things were getting worse for Jews in Germany and that she had heard of many such incidents from other friends.  My father said she was being an old woman and should not worry so much.  This was just the result of a bunch of hoodlums and the government would soon arrest such bullies so that the streets would be safe again.

Weeks and months went by.  More assaults!  More bullying!  Everywhere we turned it seemed that people hated us.  The government passed Pro-German Laws to protect “Pure” Germans.  Somehow this seemed to mean that we Jews were now the enemies.  We were no longer Germans.  Our businesses were taken away from us.  Our jobs were taken away from us.  Then they took our freedom away from us.

trainsThey took us in trains to these large detention centers.  Smoke and flames were visible from numerous chimneys when we arrived.  Some people whispered that these were Jews who had been cremated.  It was too horrible to conceive.  It could not be true.  We were whipped, kicked and herded off the rail cars.  An angry looking German soldier in a black uniform with skulls and lightning bolts directed each person either to the right or to the left when we fled the cars.  Women and young children went one direction.  Men and young boys went the other direction.  My mother and sister went to the right.  They waved and said good bye.  “We will see you soon.”  “We must go to the showers first.”  We never saw them again.

The-last-Jew-in-Vinnitsa-1941My dad and I were assigned to work details.  Food was meager and work was hard.  We labored with very little rations from before sunrise to well after sunset.  My father died a year later.  He was nothing but skin and bones.  He said: “I am sorry.”  Another year later and I could not get up and go to work.  The guards came for me one day and said, “You are garbage and you are no longer useful.”  Two other Jews were forced to pick me up.  They carried me to a large pit.  I noticed many other bodies in the pit.  They threw me in the pit with the other bodies.  A holocaust-bodies-mass-graveguard shot me three times.  “Like shooting fish in a barrel he said.”  I was shot once in the head and twice in the chest.  He laughed as I twitched and as the blood oozed out of my veins.  I was surprised that it did not hurt as much as I thought it would.  I could feel my soul leaving my body.

Finally, I was looking down at my distorted figure and it was no longer twitching.  Even the blood had stopped oozing out.  The guard who shot me had lit a cigarette and was enjoying a quick smoke before returning to another work detail.  I watched for a while as other men and boys were carried to the pit and murdered.  I could no longer bear to look.  I decided to go find God and talk to him.  I was confused and angry but I thought that perhaps a talk with God might straighten things out.  My spirit left this hell on earth.

I am dead looking for godmany years now and I am still searching for God.  I want to know what we did to deserve such a fate.  We worked hard.  We paid our taxes.  We treated our fellow Germans with respect.  We worshipped on the Sabbath.  We upheld all of the commandments.  We were good people.  We were good Germans.  Why did they hate us so?  What did we do to cause this suffering?  Was this some kind of a test?

I think God is hiding from me.  He is nowhere to be found.  I have wandered now for years and still I find no God.  I know he exists.  I believe in God but I think he is avoiding me.  I think he may be ashamed for letting this happen.  I swear my soul will never rest until I find God and ask him this question:  “Why?”  But what if he doesn’t know the answer?

Time for Questions:

What is an Anti-Semite? Why do people still hate Jews? What did any Jews ever do to deserve such a fate?  Are you an Anti-Semite?  What can you do to help fight Anti-Semitism?  Do you try? Why not?

Life is just beginning.

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”  ― Elie Wiesel

 

Please join us in community with local survivors and their families as we memorialize the tragedy and loss of the Holocaust and pay tribute to those who survived and the generations that have followed them. This special observance will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 5th, 2024, at The Tucson J in the Ballroom.

Each year, it is imperative that we set aside this day to remember the more than six million Jews murdered during the Nazi Holocaust and continue to raise our collective voice to reaffirm the promise of ‘Never Again.’ This year’s theme, “Generations After: A Community Promise,”  reflects our Southern Arizona community’s solemn vow to our local living survivors and those who came before: in the face of our past trials and our present challenges, we will remember, and we will respond.

This annual community commemoration is a collaboration of Jewish Family & Children’s Services, The Tucson J, and Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center with funding provided by Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona.

This event is free and all are welcome.

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