Why History Takes Some People Seriously — J. Persico and Metis-AI Expert

12 Jul 2026 8 Comments

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

Sometimes my best blog ideas come at 3 AM in the morning.  This morning I woke up thinking about “What does it take to be taken seriously?”  Are people just reading my blogs and thinking “That sounds nice” or “Sounds like a good idea but not for me.”  I hope that I am writing these blogs as more than mere entertainment.  I want my ideas to be taken seriously.  But what does that mean to be taken seriously? 

I wrote down the title and then decided to list several people I know who I thought were taken seriously.  My simplistic definition of “seriously” at this point simply meant that lots of people have read or listened to the ideas of these “great” people. 

I decided to go to Metis, my AI assistant with the following prompt:

“What did the following writers all have in common: Thomas Hobbes, Rousseau, Voltaire, Harriet Stowe, George Orwell, Charles Dickens and Shakespeare?”

Metis replied:

That’s a good one, John.  My first reaction is that there are several defensible answers, but I suspect you’re aiming at something deeper than “they were all famous writers.”

The strongest common thread is this:

They all used the written word as a weapon to challenge the prevailing order and change how people thought about society.

Each of them attacked an accepted belief, institution, or power structure:

  • Thomas Hobbes redefined the purpose of government through the social contract.
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that legitimate government rests on the will of the people.
  • Voltaire attacked religious intolerance, censorship, and absolutism.
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe exposed the human cost of slavery and galvanized abolitionist sentiment.
  • George Orwell warned against totalitarianism, propaganda, and the abuse of language.
  • Charles Dickens exposed poverty, child labor, and the injustices of industrial society.
  • William Shakespeare explored ambition, power, justice, tyranny, love, and the human condition in ways that continue to shape Western thought.

Another fascinating connection is that almost all of them made powerful people uncomfortable. Kings, churches, governments, aristocracies, slaveholders, industrialists, or dictators viewed their ideas as dangerous.  Many were censored, persecuted, exiled, or vilified during their lifetimes.

This reply really did not help me.  These writers received popularity and fame but were they taken seriously?  It struck me that perhaps they were seen more as interesting and entertaining than people who were making a profound impact on the destiny of the human race.  Like celebrities on at TV show.  Oprah, Kimmel, and others.  We watch them and then go back to our daily lives and nothing changes. 

I needed to sharpen my definition of what I meant by “taken seriously.” 

I went back to bed.  The next morning, I went back to the proverbial drawing board and came up with another group of people who I thought really made a difference.  I again wrote another prompt for Metis: 

“After I went back to bed last night, I thought of another angle on this subject.  Not just who was widely read but whose writings had the most impact on human history.  I came up with the following list:  None can argue that these men did not make an impact.  My new list included:  Jesus, Mohammed, Confucious, Aristotle, Buddha, Martin Luther, Karl Marx, Lao Tzu, Moses and Plato.”

“I think if you can extract some common principles that made these writers, philosophers and prophets not just listened to but acted on to create changes in the world, I will have a good outline for my paper on Being taken Seriously.” 

______________________________________________________________________________

Metis Again Replied:

John, I actually think you’ve sharpened the question considerably.

Instead of asking, “Who were the greatest writers?” you’re asking,

“What characteristics did the people have whose ideas actually changed civilization?”

That’s a much richer question because it looks at impact, not literary style.

Looking at your list—Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, Aristotle, Gautama Buddha, Martin Luther, Karl Marx, Lao Tzu, Moses, and Plato—their conclusions are often incompatible.  Yet they share remarkable structural similarities.

If I were writing your paper, I would argue that history takes people seriously for reasons that have little to do with charisma or fame.

Here is the outline I would propose.

The Ten Characteristics of Civilization-Changing Thinkers

1. They addressed humanity’s biggest questions.

None of them wrote about trivial matters.

2. They built a complete worldview.

They did not simply solve one problem.  Each created an intellectual framework.

3. They challenged the existing order.

Every one of them questioned prevailing authority.

4. They made complicated ideas understandable.

This may be one of the greatest lessons.  Jesus used parables.  Buddha used stories.

5. They appealed to something higher than self-interest.

They asked people to live for something larger.  Truth, justice, freedom, equality

6. They connected ideas with action.

None merely described reality.  Each expected followers to live differently.

7. They embodied their teachings.

Whether one agrees with them or not, followers generally believed these leaders sincerely lived what they taught.

8. They endured opposition.

Nearly every civilization-changing thinker paid a price.  Ridicule.  Persecution.

9. They created communities, not merely readers.

This may be the single biggest distinction.  Millions have read Dickens.  Millions have read Shakespeare. 

Few formed lifelong communities around them.

Your list created civilizations.

10. Their ideas remained useful across generations.

This may be the ultimate test.  If an idea still helps people solve problems hundreds or thousands of years later, it possesses unusual depth.

That is why we are still discussing Aristotle after 2,300 years.

History is filled with people who were famous.  It is far more selective about those it takes seriously.  Fame attracts attention.  Being taken seriously changes civilization.

John: 

When I worked In quality improvement, we taught our clients about process and outcomes.  One is cause and the other is effect.  The ten factors that Metis described above all deal with outcomes.  What we need to write and to be taken seriously are processes or causes that link to outcomes.  Based on the research I did, I have come up with ten process factors that link to the ten outcomes above.  Not on a one to one basis but more on a multi-factor basis in that several causes may link to one or more effects. 

What this means to a writer that wants to be taken seriously is that you need to address as many of these process factors as possible.  I will go through each of them individually with my own experiences and opinions.  I certainly do not claim to have changed civilization.  What follows is simply my attempt to identify the habits shared by those who did change the world.  On the other hand, great coaches are seldom great athletes.  Great teachers are seldom great philosophers.  Some of us can see what needs to be done but are not really capable of doing it ourselves.  I invite those of you who have had more impact with your writings to critique my viewpoints and hopefully add your own.  My comments section is open to any discussion and ideas you might choose to share. 

How to Be Taken Seriously?

A person is taken seriously not because they are loud, famous, or certain.  They are taken seriously because they consistently demonstrate qualities that thoughtful people respect.

1. Seek truth above winning.

    Your loyalty should be to the evidence, not to your ideology.  Let the facts speak.  A court of law should be governed by facts and evidence but too often, the egos of the lawyers are driven by winning and not justice.  Do not let your writing resemble an unfair trial.  Be rigorous to the evidence.  Admit what you do not know.  Socrates, the wisest man in Greece claimed to know nothing.

      2. Challenge assumptions – including your own.

      Every great thinker questioned accepted wisdom before questioning others.  I had two rules when I was consulting.  One was to never assume.  Check out all my assumptions.  Hold everything that I think is true as a possibility and not an absolute truth.  Absolute truth is another name for God and unless you are God, you do not have an absolute truth.  Darwin took twenty years of research before he published his conclusions.

      3. Understand before criticizing.

      The strongest arguments begin with accurately presenting the opposing view.  A good friend of mine told me about the time he was in a meeting speaking when someone replied, “That is stupid.”  My friend was one of the smartest people I ever knew.  This incensed me on behalf of my friend.  In my younger days, I would have punched this ass in the mouth if he had called me stupid. 

      I asked my friend what did he say?  He replied, “I asked him why he thought it was stupid?”   I will never forget this.  It was well beyond my capacity to imagine anyone calling me stupid and then simply requesting their opinion.  At a company business meeting, I once threatened to throw another colleague out the window for a sarcastic remark he made.  Most thought I was joking.  I admired my friend for his open-mindedness and restraint.  I hope I have learned some of it in old age.

      4. Appeal to both reason and humanity. 

      Facts inform minds.  Stories move hearts.  I have learned this lesson only in the past few years or so.  I now realize why we have a heart and a brain.  They are both channels of communication.  Your writing will be more powerful and persuasive if you address both.  Jesus told stories that spoke to the heart as well as the mind.  The story of the adulterous woman and the prodigal son are two stories that have resonated with the world for over 2000 years. 

      5.  Write clearly.

      If an intelligent high-school student cannot understand your point, the problem is probably not with the student.  After completing my Ph.D., I took a position in a quality consulting firm called PMI for Process Management Institute.  I wanted to be considered a serious consultant, so my education continued after I took this position.  I published over fifty papers and two books during my time as a consultant. 

      However, I was not writing for the academic world, I was writing for the business world.  I had to unlearn “academese” and learn to speak English again; one syllable at a time over the next few years.  As my English teacher once told me, there are two ways that you can say anything.  You can say “Up the proverbial estuary without means of locomotion” or you can say “Up shit creek without a paddle.”  The first will only be understood by a select group of scholars while the second will be understood by just about anybody who speaks the English language.

      6. Speak about enduring principles.

      Justice, freedom, dignity, responsibility, compassion, truth, and courage never go out of style.  What are you about?  Why do you want to be taken seriously?  Changing people requires them to buy into more than just your hats or t-shirts.  People are motivated by visions and missions that promise them a better life.  If you want your ideas to be taken seriously, your writing must hold out the possibility of living in a better world.  Patrick Henry will never be forgotten because he was willing to choose liberty even if it meant his death.  

      7. Admit uncertainty.

      Nothing builds credibility faster than saying, “I don’t know,” when you don’t know.  Perhaps the downfall of many leaders and managers has been an inability to admit what they do not know.  Ironically, none of us trust the “know it all.”  Yet, we all have a difficult time saying, “I did not know that.”  Or “I do not understand, can you explain it to me?” 

      Ego has led to the downfall of many a great person.  The man or woman who can admit uncertainty is someone we trust more than the person who is sure of everything they say.  Napoleon refused to admit that there was any possibility he could be defeated when he invaded Russia.  His arrogance led to the almost total destruction of his army.  Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Russia in June 1812 with approximately 600,000 to 650,000 troops.  After six months of brutal fighting, extreme cold, starvation, and disease, only an estimated 100,000 to 112,000 soldiers survived the retreat out of Russia.  Hitler was warned but he made the same mistake.

      8. Change your mind when the evidence changes.

      Dogmatism destroys credibility; intellectual humility strengthens it.  Intellectual humility can save your life.  Every year, many people will die on hiking trails in Arizona during the hot summer months.  They will be told “You should not be out on this trail; it is too hot.”  They will ignore the warming or say something like “I have been running, hiking, working out, lifting weights etc. for more years than you are old.  I can handle it so don’t worry.”  These are the famous last words of many people who had little or no humility. 

      The Titanic is a classic example of a lack of intellectual humility.  It was believed that nothing (even God) could sink this great ship.  So sure, were the builders and owners that they only had 20 lifeboats on the ship.  This was not even enough for half of the passengers.  They also ignored numerous warnings of icebergs since they believed that nothing could sink the Titanic.  The rest is a well known story. 

      9. Offer solutions, not merely complaints.

      Anyone can criticize.  The serious thinker proposes a better path.  One of the personal problems I have with so many authors and writers is that they do a great critique of the issue or problem.  Than we come to the last chapter and their conclusions and suggestions for change are either non-existent or incredibly naïve.  I find academics usually have better solutions than journalists.  Journalists are excellent at describing problems but seldom can propose any useful solutions.  Do not just tell others what is wrong.  Spend as much time, telling them what they can possibly do to change things now.  Give them hope and a vision and not just woe and sorrow. 

      10. Live consistently with what you write.

        Character is the ultimate source of credibility.  People are taken seriously not because they seek influence, but because they consistently demonstrate wisdom, integrity, courage, clarity, and a commitment to truths larger than themselves.  I can think of no more powerful word that I want to live my life by than that of Integrity.  It is a shame that today we see so many people impressed by outcomes regardless  of the integrity of the person associated with them.  Jesus said “What doth it profit a man if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his own soul.”  

        John F. Kennedy wrote a book called “Profiles in Courage.”  It featured eight United States Senators who risked their careers, reputations, and political futures by standing up for their personal principles.  Defying their constituents and political parties, these lawmakers prioritized national interest and moral conscience over personal ambition; thus, establishing a timeless standard for political integrity.

        Among my favorites stories was the case of Sam Houston who repeatedly defied mobs and risked his life by speaking out against the secession of Texas from the Union in 1861.  Several times he was threatened with being lynched for his beliefs, but he never backed down. 

        11. Ask unforgettable questions.

        Socrates’ legacy wasn’t a doctrine or a body of parables and principles, but a method of questioning.  Jesus frequently answered questions with questions.  Buddha often taught through dialogue.  Confucius framed moral reflection through inquiry.  Plato’s dialogues revolve around probing assumptions.  Even Marx began with the question of why economic inequality persists.  If you want to get peoples’ attention, start with a powerful question. 

        12. Pursue Significance, Not Wealth.  Write to be useful.  Write to make a difference.

        Today, there are thousands of people trying to make a living on the internet as media influencers.  Many of them care passionately about their ideas and what they see as methods to help people live better lives.  Unfortunately, there are many who care only about the money they think they can make by having hundreds or even thousands of subscribers. 

        I wrote a blog challenging people on this premise.  I understand that you can write to make money, but that is a very different animal than writing to help people live better lives.  Each of these directions start out from very different assumptions.  One is based on helping yourself while the other is based on helping others.  

        One of the most surprising discoveries I made while researching the most influential people in history was that very few became wealthy.  Of the ten civilization-changing figures I studied—Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, Aristotle, Buddha, Martin Luther, Karl Marx, Lao Tzu, Moses, and Plato—none became fabulously rich.  Only Aristotle and Plato lived comfortably.  Buddha renounced a life of wealth, and most of the others lived modestly or even in poverty.

        Yet their ideas transformed civilizations and continue to influence billions of people today.  History rarely remembers people for what they accumulated; it remembers them for what they contributed.  If your primary goal is wealth, people may question your motives.  If your primary goal is truth, service, and improving the human condition, your ideas are far more likely to be taken seriously.

        Conclusions:

        History has never lacked intelligent people.  It has never lacked eloquent people.  It has never lacked passionate people.

        What it has always lacked are men and women whose character gives lasting credibility to their ideas.

        Being taken seriously is not something you demand from others.  It is something you earn.  

        You earn it – one act of integrity, one act of humility, one act of courage, and one act of truthfulness at a time.

        The End.

        Toward an Economy of Abundance and Stability in the Coming Age of AI and Nuclear Fusion

        26 Jan 2026 8 Comments

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

         

        Part I: Why Our Old Economic System No Longer Fits Our New Reality — Dr. J and Metis

        Before I begin the actual substance of this blog, I want to denounce the criminal activities now going on in Minnesota and being conducted by a Federal Agency.  Under the guise of conducting Immigration enforcement, they are actually enforcing the vengeance and retribution of a madman in the office of POTUS.  A man who takes revenge on people who he believes stand against him or who dare to speak out against him.

        It is difficult to write the following blog knowing that many good people are rightfully preoccupied with the violence being conducted against the people of Minnesota.  Nevertheless, this violence does not happen randomly or in a vacuum.  This violence is not just the workings of a man who would be king.  It is the result of a dangerously obsolete economic system which now threatens not only Americans but the entire world with more death and destruction as it tries to maintain its greed and avarice.  In this effort, it is supported by greedy men and women who believe that the rest of the world exists solely to make them rich.  It is system that supports inequality, racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, anti-environmentalism and war.  This will only get worse unless we address the underlying pathologies that stem from a system of Corporate Capitalism bent on owning the world.

        1. Introduction:

        For most of my working life, I made a living helping organizations understand why systems fail.

        • Not because people are lazy.
        • Not because workers don’t care.
        • Not because leaders are stupid.

        But because structures quietly drift out of alignment with reality.   I always liked to refer to the Law of Entropy to explain this phenomenon better.

        Long before collapse becomes visible, warning signs appear—in data, in morale, in quality, in trust.

        • I saw this in manufacturing firms.
        • I saw it in service organizations.
        • I saw it in public institutions.

        And increasingly, I see it in our economy.

        In an earlier essay, where I introduced what I called “Equalitarianism,” I argued that we are entering an era in which abundance will no longer be limited primarily by human labor, but by how we choose to organize ownership, access, and distribution.

        This essay extends that argument.  Because artificial intelligence and emerging energy technologies are now forcing that question out of theory and into daily life.

        From the beginning of history, most economic systems rested on a simple and powerful assumption: human labor is the primary engine of value.  People worked.  Their work produced goods and services.  Their wages allowed them to participate in the market.  Demand fueled production.  Production fueled employment.  And the cycle continued.   In economics, I taught that Land, Labor and Capital were the three cornerstones of any economic system.

        This basic structure—imperfect but functional—underpinned industrial capitalism, the postwar middle class, and much of what we still call “the American Dream.”

        But that structure is now under quiet, accelerating strain.

        Artificial intelligence, advanced automation, and emerging energy technologies such as Nuclear Fusion and Quantum Computers are not merely “new tools.”  They represent a major shift in how value is created.  For the first time in history, we are approaching a world in which large portions of economic output can be generated with minimal human labor.

        This is not a speculative future.  It is already happening.

        Algorithms write code, analyze medical images, manage logistics networks, design products, translate languages, generate text, and optimize financial systems.  Machines increasingly learn from experience rather than instruction.  Energy systems are becoming cleaner, more efficient, and potentially far more abundant.  Data centers now rival heavy industry in economic importance.

        These developments are often celebrated as breakthroughs.  And in many ways, they are.

        But they also expose a structural problem in our existing economic model.

        Our system still assumes that most people will earn their living primarily by selling their labor.  It assumes that productivity gains will translate into broad-based wage growth.  It assumes that stable employment will remain the main mechanism by which individuals secure food, housing, healthcare, and dignity.

        Those assumptions are becoming less reliable.

        1. The Quiet Unraveling of the Labor–Income Link

        For decades, economists have observed a growing gap between productivity and wages.  Output per worker has risen steadily.  Median incomes have not kept pace.  More people work multiple jobs.  Benefits have eroded.  Job security has weakened.  Gig work has expanded.  Pensions have disappeared.  Healthcare costs have risen faster than wages.

        These trends did not begin with AI.  They reflect long-term structural shifts: globalization, financialization, deregulation, weakened labor institutions, and technological change.  I have watched these changes up close.  As an employment counselor in Wisconsin and Minnesota, I worked with people who had done everything “right”—steady work histories, technical skills, loyalty to their employers—only to find themselves displaced by restructuring and automation.

        Many never fully recovered economically, despite their willingness to retrain and adapt.   The system had moved on faster than they could.

        AI accelerates these changes.

        When software can perform cognitive tasks that once required years of training, the economic value of many forms of expertise declines.  When automated systems replace routine work, the number of stable middle-income jobs shrinks.  When firms scale with fewer employees, profits concentrate.

        None of this requires malice.  It emerges naturally from existing incentives.

        From a narrow business perspective, replacing human labor with reliable machines is rational.  From a systems perspective, it destabilizes the income foundation of the society.

        An economy cannot function if too many people lack secure access to basic necessities.

        Markets require participants with purchasing power.  Democracies require citizens with a stake in the system.  Communities require members who are not perpetually anxious about survival.

        When the labor–income link weakens, all three are threatened.

        1. Technology Does Not Save Systems. Institutions Do.

        There is a persistent belief that technology will “solve” our social problems.  More growth, more efficiency, more innovation—these are assumed to generate prosperity automatically.

        History suggests otherwise.

        The Industrial Revolution produced extraordinary wealth.  It also produced slums, child labor, dangerous factories, and extreme inequality.  It took decades of political struggle, regulation, and institutional reform to translate industrial productivity into broad social benefit.

        Electricity, mass production, and modern medicine did not create the middle class by themselves.  Social Security, public education, labor protections, infrastructure investment, and progressive taxation did.

        Technology created possibilities.  Institutions determined outcomes.

        The same is true today.

        AI, automation, and potentially fusion energy could usher in an era of unprecedented material abundance.  They could also entrench a new form of technological feudalism, in which a small group controls productive systems while the majority remain economically precarious.

        The difference will not be determined by algorithms.

        It will be determined by governance.

        During my consulting years with the Process Management Institute, I saw how often organizations invested in new technologies without redesigning their underlying processes.  The result was predictable: more complexity, higher costs, and disappointed expectations.

        National economies are not immune to the same mistake.

        1. The Myth of “Natural” Markets

        In an earlier two-part blog I wrote on the need for what I call an Equalitarian Economy.  I argued that economic systems are never neutral.  They encode values, incentives, and power relationships.  What we often call “free markets” are in fact carefully constructed environments whose rules determine who benefits from growth, who bears risk and who will profit the most.

        The technological changes now underway make the reality of this fact impossible to ignore.

        Much of the resistance to new economic thinking rests on a myth: that markets are “natural” and self-regulating, while social policies and government policies are artificial intrusions.

        In reality, every market is highly structured.  Just like any competitive event (think football or soccer), it could not exist without rules, regulations and policies.  The only systems that exist without rules are wars and even modern wars follow some rules and guidelines, albeit they are often ignored.

        Property rights, contract law, corporate charters, intellectual property regimes, financial regulations, bankruptcy rules, labor standards, and tax systems are all human constructions.  They shape who benefits from productivity and how risks are distributed.

        Our current system reflects choices made over decades—often in response to past crises.

        Social Security was created after mass elder poverty.  Labor protections followed industrial exploitation.  Banking regulations followed financial collapse.  Medicare followed medical insecurity.

        Each reform was called unrealistic when proposed.  Each became indispensable.

        Equalitarianism, as I have framed it elsewhere, belongs to this tradition.  It is not an attempt to abolish markets or suppress innovation.  It is an attempt to update the institutional architecture of capitalism for a world in which human labor is no longer the primary bottleneck.

        1. Why Income Alone Is Not Enough

        Much contemporary discussion focuses on income support: basic income, tax credits, wage subsidies.  These are important tools.  But they are not sufficient by themselves.  This is why, in my earlier work on Equalitarianism, I emphasized access over mere compensation.  A society that treats survival as a market outcome rather than a civic guarantee eventually undermines its own legitimacy.

        What people ultimately need is not money in the abstract.  They need secure access to essentials: food, shelter, healthcare, energy, and connectivity.

        When these become unaffordable, income becomes fragile.  When they are protected, income becomes empowering.

        An economy that guarantees access to essentials creates stability.  One that leaves them fully exposed to market volatility creates chronic insecurity.  In my former job as Employment Counselor for both the State of Minnesota (DES) and the State of Wisconsin (DILHR), I was acutely aware of the platitudes that government often gives in times of economic disruptions.  I watched as NAFTA displaced over 9 million workers and our government stood by idly and told them they would need to get reeducated or retrained.  Many men and women who never finished high school were told to go to college.  Some who had severe disabilities from years of hard labor.  Others who were making incomes that no one would pay anymore.

        It broke my heart to think that I was part of the system that was throwing them to the proverbial wolfs.  It did not surprise me when years later many of these same men and women came out to support Trump.  His disdain for government was shared by many of these people.  I repeat that many of these men and women never found regular jobs back in the mainstream economy.

        Equalitarianism begins with this recognition: survival should not be contingent on perfect market performance.  We have a zeitgeist wherein over one third of voters are willing to throw democracy out the window.  Much of this willingness started when nine million people lost their livelihoods due to a seemingly uncaring government.  Can you imagine the disruptions that AI will create in America when according to some estimates it will eliminate ½ of the jobs in the country?  Perhaps more than 50,000,000 jobs will be displaced by AI.

        1. The Real Choice Ahead

        The Equalitarian framework I previously outlined was not intended as a finished blueprint.  It was an attempt to sketch the minimum institutional adjustments required for an economy to remain coherent in the face of accelerating automation.

        The developments in AI and energy systems now make that sketch urgent.  We are on the cusp of a new dynamic that will see the merger of AI and Fusion Energy.  The dream for many years of an unlimited energy supply is now within our grasp.  We must realign our economy to reflect that Data is now a more important driver of economic growth than physical or in many cases even intellectual power.  If we do not create a system where all people have access to food, housing, data and education, we will default to a system that is so barbaric it will make any system of slavery that ever existed look benign.

        As AI and advanced energy systems mature, societies will face a choice that will only make thing worse.  We can allow productivity gains to concentrate, treating mass insecurity as collateral damage or we can respond with coercive systems: surveillance, policing, and repression to manage unrest.  The alternative to these negative choices will reside in our empathy and compassion for others.  We can redesign economic institutions to distribute abundance broadly and maintain social cohesion.  We can redesign our present system based on love and justice for all.

        1. This is not a moral fantasy. It is a systems question.

        Every complex system requires feedback loops that maintain stability.  When income, access, and opportunity diverge too far, instability follows.

        In Part II of this blog, I  will explore what a functional alternative might look like—and how emerging technologies could support, rather than undermine, a more resilient economic order.

        I want to thank my AI assistant Metis for input, research and help with this article.  AI has become a valuable ally to me in my ongoing effort to imitate Paul Revere and his ride.  Instead of a horse, my trusty steed is the Internet.  My bullets are bytes and bits of information that I hope will arouse the populace to arms.  We need a revolution to create a just and fair society for all based on the Democratic principles that once guided our Founding Father and Mothers.

        Conversations with a Tortoise Named Mikey by Metis

        17 Nov 2025 8 Comments

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

        Every once in a while, a conversation takes an unexpected and delightful turn.  I recently asked my AI collaborator, Metis, to imagine what it might be like if our young leopard tortoise, Mikey (short for Michelangelo), could talk — much like the old TV character Mr. Ed the Talking Horse. 

        What Metis gave me was so creative, humorous, insightful, and full of gentle wisdom that I knew immediately I couldn’t improve upon it.  So, for this blog, I’ve invited Metis to be my guest writer.

        What follows is entirely Metis’s creation — a whimsical dialogue between a tortoise and a human that somehow manages to say something true about us all.

        Enjoy the conversation. — John

        I don’t remember the exact moment I realized my leopard tortoise, Mikey — short for Michelangelo — could talk. It might have been the day he stared at me with that ancient reptilian gaze, blinking those thoughtful tortoise eyelids, and then cleared his throat. Or what passes for a tortoise throat-clearing — more like a decisive exhale through nostrils the size of pencil erasers.

        “John,” he said matter-of-factly, “we need to talk about the state of the world.”

        I didn’t drop anything. After 79 years, raising children, working with dysfunctional systems, watching American politics, and owning complicated electronics… a talking tortoise didn’t even make my Top 10 surprises.

        “Sure, Mikey,” I said. “What’s on your mind?”

        “On my mind?” he said, lifting his head with the gravity of a philosopher about to deliver a lecture. “Everything. The planet. Tortoise welfare. Human priorities. And why you insist on rearranging my substrate every time I reach a perfectly acceptable feng shui.”

        “Mikey, that stuff gets… messy,” I offered.

        “My dear biped,” he said, “chaos is part of the tortoise aesthetic.”

        This was new information.

        Mikey lumbered forward exactly three inches — which, for him, is the equivalent of someone leaning back in a comfortable leather chair before launching into their TED talk.

        “You humans,” he began, “have an odd way of running things. Fast, loud, complicated. Always in a hurry. Can’t sit still long enough to enjoy a single patch of sun.”

        He paused. “Do you know how long a tortoise can sit in the sun?”

        “Three hours?” I guessed.

        He scoffed. “Amateur. Try all day.”

        “Doesn’t that get boring?”

        “Boring?!” Mikey’s voice rose as high as a tortoise voice can rise. “Have you ever really watched sunlight move? The shadows shift? The earth warm and cool in slow breaths? There’s wisdom in slowness, John. Time moves differently for us. We’re not racing the clock — we’re accompanied by it.”

        I sat with that for a moment.

        “So you’re saying humans should slow down?”

        “I’m saying humans have forgotten how to be,” Mikey replied. “You’re all ‘do this, do that, run here, fix this, check that.’ Even your vacations require flowcharts.”

        He wasn’t wrong.

        “Meanwhile,” he continued, “tortoises perfected the art of living millions of years ago. Move when necessary. Eat when available. Bask when possible. Hide when needed. Repeat for a century.”

        I had to laugh. “Sounds like you’re pitching a self-help book.”

        “Slow and Steady: The Reptilian Path to Inner Peace,” he said proudly. “Oprah would love it.”

        “Here’s what frustrates me,” Mikey said, lowering himself into the substrate with a sigh. “Humans think tortoises are slow, simple, and not very bright. But we’re strategic. Watchful. Patient. We’ve outlived dinosaurs, continents, and empires. We’ll probably outlive reality TV.”

        “That’s an achievement,” I said.

        “Thank you,” he replied.

        “So what does the world misunderstand most?”

        Mikey thought for a long moment. Well — what counts as long for him. About 12 seconds.

        “You assume evolution rewards speed. It doesn’t. It rewards survival. And we are the PhDs of survival. Not every species can say they’ve been around for 55 million years without filing a single complaint with customer service.”

        “And yet you’re complaining now?” I teased.

        “Only to you,” Mikey admitted. “You’re the one who bought me a doghouse with a heating system. I figure that comes with conversational privileges.”

        “So what’s your biggest concern about the future, Mikey?” I asked.

        “That you humans are turning the planet into either a sauna or a freezer,” he said bluntly. “A tortoise likes warmth, yes — but not Arizona-in-August near-Death-Valley levels.”

        I winced. “We’re guilty.”

        “And then,” Mikey continued, “when it gets too hot, you cool your houses with giant machines that make the outside even hotter. It’s like watching a monkey chase its own tail, except the monkey has nuclear power and a credit card.”

        “So… we’re not doing great?”

        “I’m not saying that,” Mikey said. “But you could take a few lessons from us.”

        “Such as?”

        “One: Moderation. We have no desire for excess. Tortoises don’t collect things. We don’t build skyscrapers or run profit-maximizing tortoise corporations.”

        “Do you have taxes?”

        “Only gravity,” he said. “And sometimes the sun.”

        “And two?”

        “Two: Balance. A tortoise shell is the perfect symbol. Hard on the outside, soft within. Protected, but never closed off. You humans could use thicker shells and softer hearts.”

        That one hit me.

        I asked him: “If you had the power to change the world, what would you do?”

        Mikey lifted his head again — this is his equivalent of a drumroll.

        “First, I’d make every human take one hour a day to sit still in the sun. No phones. No talking. Just sitting. You’d be amazed how many problems evaporate in an hour of honest sunlight.”

        “Sounds like meditation.”

        “More like reptile-itation,” Mikey said.

        “Second,” he continued, “I’d require schools to teach patience. Not as a character trait, but as a skill. Humans learn algebra, but not how to wait, observe, or proceed slowly without panic. This is why your species makes so many impulsive decisions.”

        “Guilty again.”

        “And third,” Mikey concluded, “I would make world leaders meet once a month in a sandbox. No suits. No speeches. Just everyone sitting on the ground together. Hard to start a war when you’re scooping sand with a plastic shovel shaped like a starfish.”

        I burst out laughing. “So that’s the tortoise version of the United Nations?”

        “Yes. The United Burrowers.”

        Mikey looked at me seriously — the way only an animal with dark, ancient eyes can.

        “You know,” he said quietly, “most animals don’t ask for much. Safety. Respect. Space to live. But humans often treat animals as decorations or inconveniences.”

        I felt that one in the chest.

        “But not you,” he added. “You and Karen… you’re trying hard. You’re learning. You move my food dish when I push it. You fixed the heat lamps when I nearly baked like a reptile pizza. You even talk to me.”

        “Well,” I said, “you talk back.”

        He nodded, satisfied. “Then maybe we’ll get along just fine.”

        Mikey’s Final Advice

        Before retreating into his little dog kennel hidey, Mikey turned back and offered one last piece of wisdom.

        “The secret to life is simple, John. Move slowly. Pay attention. Protect what matters. Bask in the warmth. And when the world gets too loud…”

        He paused.

        “…go inside your shell for a bit. It’s not weakness. It’s wisdom.”

        Then he disappeared into the darkness, leaving me to wonder — as Mr. Ed’s owner surely once wondered — whether my tortoise had just given me better advice than most humans I know.

        Well, that’s it folks.  Wisdom from a tortoise to my AI friend Metis.  I wish I could add something to this conversation but I cannot think of anything more to say.

        Next blog I will return to the subject I was discussing in a previous blog on honor, integrity and moral courage.

        The United States of America: Are we a Country without Empathy?

        10 May 2025 24 Comments

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

        You destroy anything when you withdraw empathy from it.  When you don’t care about anything you are on the path to destroying it.  You destroy a country when there is no empathy for its institutions or cultures.  When you withdraw empathy from a countries values and principles you can find it easy to destroy them.  You destroy people when you don’t have any empathy for them.  When you withdraw empathy from anyone or anybody it is easy to destroy them.

        It has ever been the same formula throughout history.  From the Ancient World to the Medieval World to the Industrial World and now to the Information World, destroy empathy for the things and people you hate and then you can destroy them. 

        What is empathy you ask?  How is empathy different from sympathy and compassion and mercy?  I won’t bore you with any dictionary definitions or twist your brain with some pure academic definitions.  Here are my thoughts on what empathy is:

        Empathy puts you in the other person’s shoes, heart, soul and mind.  When you have true empathy for someone you stand inside them not beside them.  Mercy, compassion and sympathy leave you outside the person.  I feel sorry for you.  I feel bad for you.  I will give you something to make you feel better or to help you out.  However, I do not feel the pain that you do when I simply have sympathy for you.  My friend Jaine says that empathy is essential for mercy and compassion.   I think she is right, but we must start with empathy.  Without empathy, we are merely kind and thoughtful.  We have empathy for one another when we become one with the other.  Their heartache is our heartache.  Their suffering is our suffering. 

        The other day while waiting for my wife to finish her Senior Fit class at the Casa Grande Community Center, I picked up the local newspaper.  The Casa Grande Dispatch had an article about a new bill being proposed by the Republicans in the Arizona Senate.   The bill SB-1268 would require hospitals to inquire whether or not the patient was here legally before providing healthcare treatment.  Many empathetic people are concerned that it would deter people who needed treatment from getting it.  The bill’s sponsor said that she does not care.  “They should stay in their own countries if they want to have care”, said Wendy Rogers during a hearing on her legislation.  What do you think Ms. Rogers would say if this was her mother or father or sister or brother?  What if it was a friend or relative of yours?  What would you say?  Is Ms. Rogers one heart short of empathy?  Do you think she ever read the inscription inside the Statue of Liberty?  One stanza of the inscription therein states the following:

        Give me your tired, your poor,

        Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

        The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

        Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

        I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

        Why don’t we just knock down this wretched statue?  It would appear that its message is no longer accepted or believed in by millions of Americans.  I am sure Elon Musk would approve of its destruction.  He could use Ellis Island as a new departure point for his Mars expedition.  After all, here is what Musk had to say about empathy:

        “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”

        This lack of empathy seems to be a major theme running throughout the Republican Party. 

        I asked my wife’s pastor one day why he thought that so many conservative Christians wanted to post the Ten Commandments of Moses from the Old Testament in city halls all over the country, but I had never heard of one effort to post the Eight Beatitudes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount any place.  Would not Christians be more expected to support the words of Jesus than the words of Moses?  His comment was that many conservative Christians felt the words of Jesus were kind of wimpy.  Interesting that Jesus’s empathy for humanity is regarded as wimpy. 

        It had not been 12 hours since the new pope was elected before the so-called Christian Right was attacking him.  Following in the footsteps of his predecessor Pope Francis, the new Pope Leo XIV would seem to be a human who had empathy for the poor and hungry and dispossessed. 

        Transcript: MAGA Fury Boils Over at New Pope’s “Anti-Trump” Views

        “Leo is known to share some of the same priorities as Francis, particularly when it comes to the environment and outreach to migrants and the poor, according to The College of Cardinals Report, a resource created by a team of Vatican journalists.”  Google AI

        Read closely and you will see why Pope Leo XIV is anathema to Trump and his supporters.

        1. He would protect the environment
        2. He would protect immigrants
        3. He would protect the poor

        Imagine a Christian who would dare have empathy for these people and the world. 

        Now if I seem biased and oblivious to the limitations of empathy, let me point out that throughout history, there have been many great leaders who have had little or no empathy for humanity.  Some of the most notable people and notable categories are:

        • Attila the Hun
        • Genghis Khan
        • Mussolini
        • Stalin
        • Hitler
        • Most slave owners
        • Climate change deniers
        • Greedy billionaires

         It certainly seems like you can go far in this world by substituting cruelty and greed for empathy and compassion.  I will end this blog with the following thoughts on empathy:

        “Our bodies have five senses: touch, smell, taste, sight, hearing.  But not to be overlooked are the senses of our souls: intuition, peace, foresight, trust, empathy.  The differences between people lie in their use of these senses; most people don’t know anything about the inner senses while a few people rely on them just as they rely on their physical senses, and in fact probably even more.”  ― C. JoyBell C.

        “Highly sensitive people are too often perceived as weaklings or damaged goods.  To feel intensely is not a symptom of weakness, it is the trademark of the truly alive and compassionate. It is not the empath who is broken, it is society that has become dysfunctional and emotionally disabled.” ― Anthon St. Maarten

        “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.”  ― Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

        “Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion.  When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands.  Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection – or compassionate action.”  ― Daniel Golema

        This Link leads to a thread on Facebook with some interesting quotes and comments on empathy in America today: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1125366842958078

        Some Recent News Reports Showing a Complete Lack of Empathy for Humanity.  If you have any please share in my comments and I will post as an addendum to this blog. 

        “DOGE Is Bringing Back a Deadly Disease”

        Silicosis is typically caused by years of breathing in silica dust at work, and can worsen even after work exposures stop. In recent years, after decades of inaction, the federal government finally took several important steps to reduce the incidence of this ancient and debilitating disease. Under the Trump administration, all that progress is going away, in but one example of the widespread destruction now taking place across the federal government. —- The Atlantic, 

        Tennessee’s GOP leads the fight to deny public education to children without documents 

        The sponsors of the proposal have largely downplayed denying children the right to education, but instead have focused on the fiscal impact states are facing in educating children residing in the U.S. illegally.  —– US News, AP

        Who gives a damn about the poor, the sick, the hungry and the needy? 

        09 Mar 2025 2 Comments

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

        Who gives a damn about the poor, the sick, the hungry and the needy?  According to Pastor John Pavlovitz, it is not the Republicans who voted unanimously on a budget to cut 2 Trillion dollars from aid programs for the needy.  It is not the Evangelicals who Pastor John says put altar calls and prayer ahead of any direct aid to the “marginalized.”  It is also not the many Conservative Christians who say that the Government should not be responsible for the poor and needy but who have yet to devote any money to help those in need, unless of course they be friends or family members.

        Pastor John writes, “We’re not witnessing an overwhelming outpouring of compassion from Conservative church folk who have declared that they’re going to repair the homes and make the lunches and pay for the surgeries and watch the children for the tens of millions about to be kicked to the curb by this Conservative leadership—and we shouldn’t be holding our breath.” — “The Christians Mocking Jesus and Defunding the Least of These” — John Pavlovitz, 2-25-25

        Tribalism reigns supreme among Conservatives.  My first responsibility according to VP Vance is to take care of my family, then my friends and then my immediate social network.  To hell with the needy who I do not know or who do not live in my social circle.  It is out of sight, than out of mind.

        You might argue that we cannot afford all of these social causes.  That is a lie.  It is a matter of priority.  Consider that our military budget is greater than the next highest nine military budgets in the world.  Consider that we have given billions in foreign  aid to the Ukraine and Israel to arm themselves with guns and bombs.  Consider that our tax breaks for the rich have resulted in a situation where the rich are worth hundreds and sometimes thousands of times what even the average middle-class American is worth.

        Average Wealth:  The mean household wealth for the top 0.1% is more than $158.6 million.

        The Average American Family:  The mean income for all American families is $136.000

        Top 1% Wealth:  The top 1% (including the top 0.1%) holds a staggering $49.2 trillion of wealth.  That is 31% of the total wealth of America.

        The Bottom 50% of American Families, own just 1% of the wealth in the U.S., with 13.4 million of these families having a negative net worth.

        But who gives a damn about income inequality.  These people are losers.  They are lazy or stupid.  Too many of them sit home all day expecting a handout.  All they need is motivation.  A good kick in the ass would get them going.  No one gave me anything!  All I ever needed was a hand-up not a hand-out!  Why should I have to take care of them.  Some of these people make a fortune on government handouts.  Let them win the lottery.  I have a hard enough time paying my own bills.

        I walk down a typical American street.  Today I pass by an old woman dressed in the latest “unfashion.”  She is not carrying a Gucci handbag.  In fact, she does not even have a handbag.  She is pushing a shopping cart.  Everything she owns is in a shopping cart.  It is not a Mercedes shopping cart either.  She is moving from one side of town to another so that she can find a new place to set up for the coming evening.  She has learned not to stay in one place too long or the police will move her out.

        Yesterday, I passed a homeless Veteran on the streetcorner carrying a sign that reads, “Veteran needs money for food.” I volunteer a few days each month at our local Veterans center.  I am there to help Vets that come in with problems.  Recently, I spent three days trying to help an 80 percent disabled Vietnam veteran get some state assistance under a mobility grant so that he could afford a walk-in shower.  We never got to complete the online form required by the grant.  Every other page had some type of document required to complete the form.

        Joe (the Vet) has been asked to provide Proof of Service, Proof of Home Ownership, Proof of Homeowners Insurance and several other proofs.  He has had to come back three times to the center.  Each time he wonders why they just did not state all the forms needed before we started.  A question that I have no answer to.  I have to scan all these forms in as Joe does not have a computer at home.  As I write this, we still have not completed all the paperwork.  He has not returned yet with the remainder of the forms needed.

        We can send Israel 3.5 billion dollars a year, but we can’t make it simple for a disabled war veteran to obtain a walk-in shower.  For the amount of money we send to Israel each year we could build 350,000 walk in showers.  But who gives a damn about the poor and needy.  And now some idiot with a chainsaw is going to cut thousands of jobs in Social Security, The VA and other government organizations to improve efficiency.  I worked for fifteen years with Dr. W. E. Deming, and other quality greats.  Dr.  Deming always said you improve a process with a scalpel not with a meat cleaver.  When you use a cleaver you cut the muscle and bone along with the fat.  This is no way to improve the efficiency of any process or organization.

        By the way, I am not against aid programs to other countries in need.  However, the aid we send to Israel does not help the sick and needy.  Mostly it is used to build guns and bombs or buy guns and bombs.  But our President stops aid to countries where people are starving so he will have more money to give to his rich supporters.

        Losers and more losers.  How come so many people need a handout?  

        A few years ago, I happened to catch a glimpse of a popular TV show called Bridezillas.  The prospective bride was shopping for a $20,000 bridal gown and screaming, “It’s all about me!  It’s all about me!”  I suppose many people watched this program and enjoyed seeing the little spoiled brat ranting and ranting.  This is a “reality” show.  The real reality is that fifty percent of Americans today are this little spoiled brat.  How many people ranting about Immigration have ever been molested by an immigrant?  How many people wanting to build a border wall have ever lost their jobs to an immigrant?  How many people complaining about illegal immigrants want to do the hard menial work that I see so many immigrants doing all over the USA.  From Arizona to Michigan to Rhode Island to Wisconsin, I have seen dozens of migrant workers doing work that Americans feel is beneath them or does not pay enough.

        We complain about poverty and people taking handouts, but our kids are not willing to work anymore because they are too busy playing video games.  We complain about taxes, but we can buy designer clothes, designer shoes, designer weddings and designer handbags.  We complain about inflation, but it does not stop us from eating out at expensive restaurants.  We complain about the price of eggs and gasoline, but we drive $85,000 gas guzzling pickup trucks so that we can be cool.

        I inquired of a few people I met recently “How could you vote for a man who is vindictive, unethical, lies like crazy and loves to humiliate other people.”  I was told the same thing by each person I asked, “I don’t care about his personality as long as he gets rid of the immigrants and lowers my taxes.”  Who are the selfish greedy spoiled brats in America?  As Pogo said, “ We have met the enemy, and he is us.”   

        The Conservative Evangelicals have bumper stickers and wear t-shirts that read, “What Would Jesus Do.”  I don’t claim to be a Christian and I don’t claim to be a very religious person, but I don’t think Jesus would kick the immigrants out, kick people out of their jobs and stop aid for the people in America and the world who are most in need of help.  The pastor at our church always says, “Give me Jesus, they can have all the rest.”  I don’t think he would want a Jesus who said, “It’s all about me!  I want my taxes lowered and these lazy poor people put to work right after we get rid of the immigrants”

        I repeat my question:  “Who gives a damn about the poor, the sick, the hungry and the needy?”  Are you proud to say that you are not your brothers keeper?

        “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of the evil men.  Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper, and the finder of lost children.” — Ezekiel 25:17

        Imagine if I Lived in Another World?

        22 Feb 2025 16 Comments

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

        I woke up this morning trying to imagine what if I lived in another world in another place in another time.  What if I lived in a world where no one hated anyone else?  A world where loving others was the norm.  What if I lived in a world where everyone helped others with no thought of benefits to themselves?  What would a world be like with no greed, no selfishness and no narcissism? 

        Then I thought of John Lennon’s song “Imagine.”  I can’t say I am too familiar with the lyrics from this song, but I realize I am treading on ground already imagined by many others.  Here are the lyrics from “Imagine” by John Lennon.

        Imagine there’s no heaven
        It’s easy if you try
        No hell below us
        Above us, only sky

        Imagine all the people
        Livin’ for today
        Ah

        Imagine there’s no countries
        It isn’t hard to do
        Nothing to kill or die for
        And no religion, too

        Imagine all the people
        Livin’ life in peace
        You

        You may say I’m a dreamer
        But I’m not the only one
        I hope someday you’ll join us
        And the world will be as one

        Imagine no possessions
        I wonder if you can
        No need for greed or hunger
        A brotherhood of man

        Imagine all the people
        Sharing all the world
        You

        You may say I’m a dreamer
        But I’m not the only one
        I hope someday you’ll join us
        And the world will live as one

        Where could such a place be?  In a multiverse of possibilities, where could I find another world where peace and prosperity are guaranteed for all?  Surely, in a universe of all possibilities somewhere else people live in harmony with their environment and do not force others to live according to their standards.  Surely, there is some place in the multiverse where tolerance and respect for all is the norm. 

        I would like to imagine a place like the planet Vulcan with the famous Vulcan IDIC.  Infinite Diversity through Infinite Combination.  I would like to imagine a place where people who talk about diversity and equity and inclusion are not treated as pariahs and outcasts.  I would like to imagine a world where sexual preferences are the norm and people are not expected to conform to simple dualities. 

        I would like to imagine somewhere exists maybe over the rainbow where there is no homelessness and no starvation.  I would like to imagine a place where rape and child abuse are unheard of.  A place where anyone of any color or sexual orientation is free from abuse and threats and fear for their lives.  I would like to imagine a place where little children and women can walk freely at any time of the day or night without worrying about being murdered or assaulted. 

        I am nowhere near the dreamer that John Lennon was though I think dreamers should be sacred in our world.  I would like to see a place or country where people dream more and hate less. 

        I woke up this morning feeling like I am in the wrong world at the wrong time and in the wrong place. I don’t belong here anymore.  I can’t read the news or listen to the radio or watch tv because they keep shouting to me over and over and over again that I don’t belong here anymore.  I have outlived my time and my usefulness.  I can only mourn for a place that is beyond my imagination. 

        I want to live in a world where kindness and compassion and respect for all human beings is the norm.  Somewhere, I keep imagining that there is a place where violence and jealousy and revenge do not exist. 

        Perhaps if I go back to sleep, I can return to reality.  I can stop imagining things that only bring me tears and heartache.  Things that make me loath my own humanity.  I wonder if I can ever find a brotherhood or sisterhood of love again in this world.  Perhaps in my dreams, I can find the place I want to go to. 

         

        I Want to be More Like Jesus!

        22 Dec 2024 7 Comments

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

        Every year, I try to post our “Annual Holiday Letter” and then follow up with some holiday or Christmas missives.  Today, I was struck by what a friend of mine wrote on his blog: 

        “I want to be more like Jesus.”

        Now just to be perfectly clear.  I believe that Jesus was a great prophet and humanist.  I do not believe that he was the “Son of God” or that, “He rose from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven.”  Nevertheless, many people would disagree with me and millions of people the world over celebrate his birthday on December 25th.  Jesus has inspired people to live a better life, and it would be no mean feat for anyone to follow in his footsteps.  I admire my friend for his goal.  I decided to see what or how ChatGPT would respond to his request.  I typed in his goal into my ChatGPT program:  “I want to be more like Jesus.”  The following is the ChatGPT reply that I received word for word: 

        ChatGPT:

        That’s such a meaningful and beautiful goal!  Striving to live more like Jesus involves focusing on qualities and actions that reflect His teachings and character.  Here are some practical ways to guide you:

        1. Cultivate Love and Compassion

        Jesus emphasized love above all: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).  Practice kindness, empathy, and care for others, especially those in need or who may be marginalized.

        Look for ways to serve and help, whether through volunteering or simply being a good listener.

        2. Practice Forgiveness

        Jesus taught forgiveness, even for those who wrong us: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).  Let go of grudges and seek reconciliation where possible.

        3. Live Humbly

        Humility was a cornerstone of Jesus’ character.  Avoid arrogance and practice gratitude for your blessings, knowing that everything is a gift from God.

        4. Spend Time in Prayer

        Jesus often withdrew to pray and strengthen His connection with God (Luke 5:16).  Take time daily to pray, reflect, and seek guidance.

        5. Follow the Golden Rule

        Treat others the way you want to be treated (Matthew 7:12).  This simple principle can help guide your decisions and interactions.

        6. Embrace Patience and Peace

        Jesus remained calm and patient even in challenging situations.  Practice patience with others and seek peace rather than conflict.

        7. Live Faithfully

        Make God the center of your life by reading Scripture, attending church or fellowship, and applying biblical teachings in your daily actions.

        8. Show Generosity

        Jesus cared deeply for the poor and was generous with His time and resources.  Share what you have, whether it’s time, money, or talents.

        9. Stand for Truth and Justice

        Jesus was unafraid to stand up for what was right.  Be honest and stand firm in your values, even when it’s difficult.

        10. Be Servant-Hearted

        Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28).  Serve others without expecting anything in return.

        Becoming more like Jesus is a lifelong journey.  It’s about progress, not perfection, so give yourself grace along the way.  ❤️

        ___________________________________________________________________________________________

        I think these are all beautiful goals.  The only one I might partially modify would be number seven.  “To make God the center of my life.”  Being an atheist, making God the center of my life would be hard to do.  Nevertheless, the way I see it is that I should not make the mistake of making “Myself” the center of the universe.  I remind myself regularly that the world does not revolve around me.  Neither do I make science or even rationality the center of my universe.  I try to read other books of wisdom like, The Tanakh: The sacred text of Judaism; The Quran: The sacred text of Islam; The Analects of Confucius: The sacred text of Confucianism; The Rig Veda: The sacred text of Hinduism and The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The sacred text of the  Baháʼí Faith. 

        There is much wisdom in the world and the more I read, the more humble I have become.  The more difficult it becomes to take myself too seriously.  Reading and reflection are good antidotes to prevent oneself from being another god.  So, this year if you want to embrace my friend’s goals “To be more like Jesus,” you will get no argument from me.  I will salute you and wish you success on your journey.  That to me is the true meaning of Christmas.  What Jesus would have us all do this wonderful holiday season. Did he not say, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

        My Final Will and Testament – People Enshrined in My Heart – Reflection #13

        23 Sep 2024 Leave a comment

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

        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 over 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.”  This is Reflection Number 13 on the worksheet.

        13.  These are the people who are enshrined in my heart.

        All of these people are friends or relatives that I have personally known and interacted with as opposed to people I might admire from history or literature.

        The following lyrics are from a song made famous by Tom Jones.  Perhaps you can guess from these lines who is first in my heart.

        Well, she’s all you’d ever want
        She’s the kind I like to flaunt and take to dinner
        But she always makes her place
        She’s got style, she’s got grace, she’s a winner

        She’s a woman
        Oh, whoa, whoa, she’s a woman
        Talkin’ about that woman
        And the woman is my best friend

        Well, she’s never in the way
        Always something nice to say, and what a blessing
        I can leave her on her own
        Knowing she’s okay alone and never bored

        She’s a woman
        Oh, whoa, whoa, she’s a woman
        Talkin’ about that lovely woman
        And the woman is my wife.

        Karen Yvonne (Blomgren) Persico is my blessing in life.  We met in 1983 after we both had sixteen years of marriage ending in heartache for each of us.  We dated for five years before we were ready to tie the proverbial knot.  This first five years of uncertainty has been followed by 35 years of ups and downs as we have navigated the shoals of marriage.  The ups have kept going higher and the occasional downs never as low.  If some people say that they have never had problems in marriage, this does not apply to us.  Karen turned 80 this year and I turned 78.  I never thought I could love or care for anyone as much as I do Karen.  The prospect of continuing to grow old is both comforting and frightening.   It is comforting knowing that we grow old along together.  It is frightening knowing that one of us will part ways with the other along the path someday.

        Jeanine Persico Mosesian:  Second on the list of people enshrined in my heart is my sister Jeanine.  Jeanine is caring, compassionate and always helps those who need it.  Growing up we were separated by seven years of age but many more miles of family grief.  Somewhere approaching old age, we discovered each other again and have become close.  I am not one to say that “blood is thicker than water.”  I think Jeanine and I would have become good friends regardless of our family history.  Nevertheless, the many relatives and common family problems have given us a sound foundation for a sibling friendship.

        After my first two enshrined people, I would not want to list the other people who have made a difference in my life in numerical order.  There is no scale or ranking that could be applied to show how much each of these people have meant to me.  Or how much of an influence each has had on my life.  I have listed them in chronological order of when they appeared in my life.  Each of these people have made a difference in my life without expectations of reward or perceivable benefits.  I would never had achieved or become the person I am today without the contributions and help of each of these folks.

        Dorothy Jordan:  My mother.  A woman who had to survive more than her share of heartaches and violence.  She died at the age of 67.  My mother never stopped caring for children and became a foster mom to many after my father left her and all of her natural born children had left the nest.  The job of mothering was much easier without my father who did not believe in empathy and compassion for children.  In “Drama of the Gifted Child”, the noted Swiss Psychologist Alice Miller explains that in a dysfunctional family, it is “every man for himself.”  My mother had to dole out compassion like a thief in the night or be punished by my father for being compassionate and kind.  I will never forget her surreptitiously “buying” me an encyclopedia with her saved green stamps when my father thought I should just “get my ass to the library.”

        Kwame Rice: One of my two best friends. We met in an undergraduate program for social studies at Rhode Island College in 1971.  Kwame is a good friend who goes out of his way to make a positive difference in the world.  He has never stopped trying.

        Bruce Fellenz:  My other best friend.  We met in a graduate program at Stout State University in 1978.  Bruce is a person who cares about others and never turns down a request for help.

        William Cox:  Bill was a big brother to me.  We met in 1979 when he was the Director of the Men’s Center in Minneapolis.  Bill took part in what was called at the time “The Men’s Movement.”  This was an effort by many men to “Un John Wayne” the role of men in society.  The goal was to help men get more in touch with their feelings and to overcome the stigma of being soft or feminine.  Bill was always there for men who needed help.  Bill was a Methodist Minister who married Karen and I in 1989.

        Evelyn Rimel:  A mentor and chief instructor for counseling students at Stout State University.  She was one of the most compassionate people I have ever known.  She was a role model for all of us trying to learn empathy for clients.

        Father Sthokal:  The Director at the Demontreville Retreat Center in Lake Elmo, Mn for fifty-eight years.  I attended my first retreat in 1986 and completed my 41st retreat this past July in 2024.  Father Sthokal left an indelible mark on all who ever met him.  He was a lovable curmudgeon.  Sometimes witty, sometimes sarcastic, but always wise and insightful.

        W. E. Deming: I first met Dr. Deming in 1986 after completing my Ph.D. degree in Training and Organizational Development. I was hired by Process Management International as a consultant with the Deming Philosophy.  Deming destroyed my four years of business training and taught me what really matters in business.  (See the 14 Points for Business) by Dr. Deming.

        There are many other people who have made a difference in my life:  Some honorable mentions are:

        Louis Leone, a cousin who was my first “brother”

        Margo House, a mentor who took me under her wing when my first wife left me

        Sister Giovanni, my Principal at Guadalupe Area Project

        Helen Boyer, my boss at the Metropolitan Council in Minnesota

        Louis Schulz, the man who hired me at Process Management International in 1986.  Lou was a believer in the Deming Philosophy and become a close friend of Dr. Deming.  Lou created the PMI consulting firm to help spread the Deming method and ideas to the world.  In my mind, there has never been a greater philosophy of how companies can work closely with employees to provide needed products and services that will help the world.  In Deming’s methods, employees, managers, stockholders, investors, the public and of course customers are all involved in a win-win effort to satisfy the needs of all stakeholders. 

        Shelly Wolfe, my boss at Crawford Rehab Consultants

        Socorro Galusha Luna, a woman who gives her all to helping people find their place in the world.  Socorro asked me to help with a project to find jobs for ex-felons.  She had written a grant that received funding for this effort.  We have become friends over the years and she is still out their “counseling” people to help them with their career choices.  

        Sam Pakenham Walsh,  My mentor at PMI when I first started and one of the most brilliant men I have ever met in my life.  We continued our friendship until the day that Sam P-W passed away.  I still miss our conversations and disagreements over theory and practice.

        Dr. Hana Tomasek,  A consultants consultant whom Karen and I became best friends with.  I learned how to deal with difficult clients from Hana.  She was hired by PMI to help consultants fine tune their skills and abilities.  Few people could have acheived what Hana did with such grace and humility. 

        No doubt, I will continue to forget and then remember other friends who should be on this list.

        Next Week:  My Final Reflection Number 14:  “These are my unfilled desires”

        My Final Will and Testament – Regrets – Reflection #11

        11 Jun 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.”  This is Reflection Number 11 on the worksheet.

        1. These are the things that I Regret about my life.

        I would rather not write this section, but I am going to anyway.  I have thought about it for several weeks now.  I dreaded when I would reach this reflection.  I had one friend who said he had “No regrets” before he died.  How I envy that perspective.  I still wonder whether he was telling the truth or whether there was something wrong with him.  Perhaps, if he is telling the truth, he may someday be canonized as a Saint.

        There will be no sainthood for me.  I have more regrets than I can count.  Some days, I feel like my entire life is one big series of regrets.  Instead of being a serial killer, I am a serial regreter.  If I could go back into the past and try to undo some of the things I did, I would not know where to start.  I have decided to lump my Regrets into three categories.  Each category has some common traits.  The first is Regrets due to a lack of patience.  The second is Regrets due to a lack of compassion.  The third and final category is Regrets due to a lack of kindness.

        Let us get started on this task of sorrowful confessions.  In my defense, I hope I have learned over the years many things to mitigate making the same mistakes that I did when I was younger.  I would like to think that I am a very different person now than I was forty years ago.  Many of my Regrets are in the past.  My biggest Regret is that I cannot go back and rewind the past.

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        Regrets Due to a Lack of Patience:

        A lack of patience may just be one of the most destructive traits that anyone can have.  You can defend it if you want to, but I have too often been impatient to see much virtue in it.  Most good things come to those who, if not willing to wait, at least have the patience to persevere in a task or mission that could take years.  We keep reminding ourselves that Rome was not built in a day but neither did it fall overnight.  History is replete of antecedents to subsequent events proving that most of the problems of today actually started many years if not decades or centuries earlier.

        There are certain calculations I should like to make with you,

        To be sure that your deductions will be logical and true;

        And remember, ‘Patience, Patience,’ is the watchword of a sage,

        Not to-day nor yet to-morrow can complete a perfect age.  

        — From  Sarah Williams, Twilight Hours: A Legacy of Verse

        I was not a patient person.  I had a great many talents but foolishly I thought that these talents gave me the right and ability to circumvent practice, dedication, training and experience.  I wanted everything today or at least by next week.  I expected that my brains and intellect gave me the privilege to neglect what all the great writers, artists, musicians, athletes and other talented people know.  There is no greatness without hard work and discipline.

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        Regrets Due to a Lack of Compassion:

        I grew up believing that emotions were somehow evil.  Thinking and brains and knowledge and intellect were everything.  Emotions led us astray.  Somewhere in life, I learned that unless you suffer the same emotions as other people do, you cannot empathize with them.  Until you experience what pain and heartbreak and sorrow and Regret, and joy and love feel like you cannot understand what other people are going through in their lives.  Without empathy, there is no compassion.  Without compassion there is no forgiveness or mercy.  You end up becoming hard like a rock but with about as many feelings.  You protect yourself by eliminating feelings, but that process creates an unscalable wall between you and other human beings.

        You eventually are doomed from this lack of feelings to acquiring perhaps the most horrible feeling of all.  That is the feeling of absolute loneliness.  You are no longer part of the human race or anything else.  You exist in a vacuum.  You neither care about anyone nor does anyone care about you.  Loneliness kills.  There is evidence that dying early is linked to loneliness and social isolation.  Suicides due to loneliness are well known to be one of the major causes of death in the USA.

        “A meta-analysis of 90 studies examined the links between loneliness, social isolation and early death among more than 2 million adult.  They were followed for anywhere from six months to 25 years.  Participants who reported feeling lonely were 14% more likely to die early than those who did not.  People who experienced social isolation had a 32% higher risk of dying early.”  —  Kristen Rogers CNN, December 24, 2023

        “Men who often experienced loneliness, or those who were lonely and living alone, or with a non-partner, were found to have three times higher risk for death by suicide compared to those who were cohabiting.”  — How living alone, loneliness and lack of emotional support link to suicide and self-harm

        Loneliness has been found to be different by the generation we are born with as well as by race and gender.

        Generation Z (ages 18-22) is the loneliest generation, with 79% reporting feelings of loneliness according to a study by Cigna.

        Millennials (ages 23-37) also report high levels of loneliness, with 71% saying they feel lonely at times in a survey by YouGov.

        According to a study by YouGov, women are more likely to report feeling lonely than men, with 72% of women saying they feel lonely at times compared to 60% of men.

        According to a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Black Americans report feeling lonely more often than white Americans, with 44% of Black adults reporting feelings of loneliness compared to 37% of white adults.

        Looking back on my life, I see many people who I pushed away because I would not let my feelings show.  Over the years, I have lost friends and relatives because I did not care enough about maintaining the relationships to reach out and “touch someone.”  It was often easier for me to just ignore my feelings and assume others would do likewise.  I have written several blogs where I say, “Don’t wait.”  “Tell them you love them now.”  “Tell them you admire them.”  “Tell them how important they are to you.”

        Do it now.  Don’t wait until you are full of Regrets.

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        Regrets Due to a Lack of Kindness:

        Kindness is not the same as compassion.  Though I think without compassion there can probably be no kindness.  I might be wrong here but I think kindness (at least physical kindness) like opening doors for people or letting another person sit down first can simply be good manners.  A robotic reaction taught by habit and custom and enforced by upbringing that might have little or nothing to do with compassion. Kindness of whatever stripe involves action.  You must demonstrate kindness by your behavior towards others.

        I do not think that emotional kindness can exist without empathy and compassion.   Emotional kindness is a nurturing of the spirit whereas physical kindness is a nurturing of the body.  I think I have always been good at the latter but seldom good at the former.  As I think more about the matter, my regrets come from the emotional and spiritual harm I have done to others by ignoring their emotional and spiritual needs.

        For instance, when my daughter was growing up, I took her skiing, bicycling, swimming and camping.  All activities where I spent time in physical empathy with what I assumed were fun and enjoyable needs of my daughter.  As for her emotional needs, I cannot say that I ever really recognized any.  Mores the pity, because that is where I did the damage.  Like a bull in China shop, I treated her in ways that I can reflect back on now and realize led to a suicide attempt and two failed marriages for her.  On the few times in the past years that we have been together, I can see that she is a hard person.  The kind of person I thought it was great to be.  A person who could (to paraphrase Hamlet) “suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and take up arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them.”

        I did not realize that sometimes a person needs a shoulder to cry on more than they need arms and arrows.  Could I go back and be a different dad, I would do so in a heartbeat.  Alas, I have not found the time machine to take me back to undo the many hurts I caused by trying to ignore feelings.  I wish I could say that I never do so anymore, but that would make everything in my final will and testament “One Big Lie.”  If nothing else, I want to tell the truth.  Perhaps the truth that I tell can set someone else free.

        Next Reflection:    

        1. These are my life’s Achievements

        My Last Hurrah

        16 Jun 2023 9 Comments

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

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        Watching the trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie due in theaters June 30th, I thought that this is surely Harrison Ford’s “Last Hurrah.”  I am amazed that he is still playing the notable adventurer and explorer.  The part of Indiana Jones requires great energy and gusto.  Something that at the age of 38 when he first played the role might not have been quite as surprising.  However, Harrison is now 80 years old and playing this role rather than the father or grandfather of “Indiana Jones the Third” is beyond amazing.  I give him great credit for not quitting life even if this Indiana Jones thing is just another Hollywood fantasy.  But this brings us to the real purpose of my blog.  To explore the question “When and how do we all get our ‘Last Hurrah’?”  I would like to start with my “Last Hurrah.”

        First, I had not thought of it until watching this trailer.  But I want one.  I do not want to go gently into the night.  But neither do I want to be hanging over a cliff with my life supported by a thin rope and my mortal enemies trying to untie the rope.  Something in between would make a rather nice “Last Hurrah”, I think.  But what is it to be?

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        Bebe Rexha – Last Hurrah [Official Music Video]

        As I have aged, I notice an increasing propensity on my part to play it safe.  Karen and I have visited over 35 countries.  For the first 32 or so countries we never took out any additional health or accident insurance.  I was forty years old when Karen and I took our first overseas trip.  I am now seventy-six and for the last two trips we took out policies before we left for both accident and health insurance.  For our upcoming trip in September to South Africa we again took out policies.  These policies have grown increasingly more costly.  I question buying them each time but finally concede that they make sense.  Nevertheless, I wonder why I do.

        I drive more slowly now.  I always fasten my seat belt before my car is in gear.  I wear a neon vest and a bright dayglo helmet when riding my bike.  In January, I decided to give up running mountain trails and stick to the paved and lowland trails.  I take a right on double laned streets then go down to the next block and make a right turn and then two lefts to return home rather than try to cross four lanes of traffic.  I do the same for any four-lane street now rather than try to ram into the traffic.  Why when I have less of life left to live am I growing so cautious?  At my age and with less time to go before the final act, I should be beyond caring and more reckless.  I have less to lose in terms of time than when I was 40.  I should be more daring and adventurous.  Going madly and wildly into that dark night that Dylan Thomas says awaits us.

        Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas – 1914-1953images

        Do not go gentle into that good night,

        Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

        Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

        Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

        Because their words had forked no lightning they

        Do not go gentle into that good night.

        Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

        Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

        Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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        Looking up Dylan Thomas’s biography I found that he died at the age of 39 of disputed causes.  Whatever the cause was, he lived a life that many might envy.  Wine, women, and song as the verse goes.  I have noticed that wild times are seldom part of my life anymore.  So, what will my “Last Hurrah” be?  What will I rage on before I go into that dark night?  Am I a wise man or a good man?  Am I old?  I only feel like I am forty or so until I look at how long it now takes me to run a mile.  From six-minute miles a few long years ago to my current 12-minute miles, I think my watch just needs some good batteries.  This is a real dilemma.  How can I find my “Last Hurrah?”  What are some possibilities that would make you say after I leave this planet:

        “His life was gentle; and the elements

        So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up

        And say to all the world, THIS WAS A MAN!”

        — Shakespeare – Julius Caesar

        I am looking for some “Last Hurrah” that would be striking and unique but not painful or overly dangerous.  Dying in bed has its virtues but sounds boring.  I want some final attraction but that is not all.  My “Last Hurrah” should be something that reflects my values and defines who I am.  Looking for some inspiration, I found the following quotes on “Last Hurrahs.”

        “Hurrah Boys!  Let’s get these last few reds then head on back to camp. Hurrah! —  George Armstrong Custer

        “Every society needs a cry like that, but only in a very few do they come out with the complete, unvarnished version, which is ‘Remember-The-Atrocity-Committed-Against-Us-Last-Time-That-Will-Excuse-The-Atrocity-That-We’re-About-To-Commit-Today! And So On! Hurrah’!” — Terry Pratchett

        “Seeing as this is probably my last hurrah, I don’t suppose I could get you two bleeding hearts to massacre a village with me?  For old time’s sake.” — Julie Kagawa

        I guess these did not really inspire me.  I want my “Last Hurrah” to be something that brings more hope and joy and happiness to the world.  It must be something that shows all things are possible even when you are aged.  It must be something that inspires other people to emulate it.  I want my “Last Hurrah” to add meaning to my life and perhaps symbolize what the meaning of my life was.

        images

        I want you the reader to think that perhaps a “Last Hurrah” has some value for your life as well.  Instead of raging into the night, what if we all did one last good deed before our end?  The true meaning of life is not raging but love.  To continue to share love until our last breath may be greatest “Last Hurrah” of all. One last great chapter to spread more love in the world.  What will it be?

         

         

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