On Being a Fan of “The West Wing”

 Articles, David, Nonfiction  No Responses »
Oct 272010
 

On Being a Fan of “The West Wing”

by David Satterlee

My wife and I are both fans of the television series The West Wing. We discovered, after getting married, that we had both aggressively managed our schedules to avoid missing an episode. In our five years together, we have twice dedicated summer evenings to a private West Wing marathon, and are overdue for a repeat

For five years, the series entertained and taught us. The plots were articulate, witty, and filled with human pathos that spanned the range from individual to international. The sets were meticulous reproductions of White House architecture and furnishings. The writers and actors developed believable and empathetic characters.

The West Wing dramatically portrayed the constant stress of dedicated public servants sacrificing to achieve goals for the public good, while trying to maintain relationships with each other, associates, and sometimes, belatedly, their families. I especially enjoyed the voyeuristic sense of seeing the intimate reality of the meat grinder at work in the sausage making of government.

Each episode crafted a major theme of political change-making with several related subplots mirrored in the lives of the characters. It was masterfully done. Each episode also taught lessons in personal and political issues. For instance, after the Islamist attack on Manhattan’s twin towers (and other targets), a special timely episode named “Jacob and Esau ” was inserted into the schedule, highlighting the relationships between Christianity and Islam.

Curiously, the president was originally intended to be a largely off-stage character. However, Martin Sheen’s early performances were so powerful, and portrayed such a profound gravitas, that several episodes were reshot and reedited to include him as a major character. Sheen played an unlikely Democratic economics professor-cum-candidate who struggles to let his personal rectitude light the way for himself, his staff, and the nation. The writers regularly demonstrated their literary and political acumen by subtle insider references such as the use of “better angels” from the last line of a Lincoln speech, while a subordinate criticizes the President’s compromise on an issue.

Watching The West Wing is much more than standard boob-tube fare. It is a thought provoking study of civics and character; it is a privilege.

Copyright 2009 David Satterlee

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, which essentially says that you are free to share the work under the conditions that you attribute it fully, do not use it for commercial purposes, and do not alter it.

Article: Dharma, Karma, Samsara, and Moksha

 Articles, Nonfiction  No Responses »
Oct 272010
 

Dharma, Karma, Samsara, and Moksha

by David Satterlee

[This is only an exploratory treatise by a non-Hindu. Comments are moderated but not disabled. That is to say that I may post a well-written clarifying comment or two but I do not care to debate the finer points of religious faith.]

Samsara is the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The reason we do not call it reincarnation is because you do not inhabit the same body when you return. The goal of Hinduism is to escape this cycle.

Moksha is the term for those who achieve enlightenment and will not be reborn. When this occurs, they will cease to exist as an individual being and will merge with the Supreme God called Brahman. Brahman is an impersonal force, more similar to the energy of the cosmos.

Karma is what keeps you from moksha and bound to samsara. Karma is negative. People want to generate as little karma as possible, because your karma determines how you will be reborn. Will you move up the social scale or down? The less karma, the higher your rebirth. Eastern religions do not believe in good karma, or that good actions will bring an attendant reward. Good karma is no karma.

Dharma means duty. Doing your duty in all things, according to your place in society, is the main way to avoid karma. Duty is traditionally defined as duty to the responsibilities of your caste.

Hinduism does not have a concept of an eternal heaven or hell. There are places similar to heaven or hell where souls wait until being reborn, but the ultimate goal is to return to Brahman, which is the source of creation. At that point, you cease to exist as a person. When enlightenment occurs, the person sees that this world of death and suffering is an illusion and that Brahman is all that actually exists. In Hinduism, it is illusory to think you are an individual being with a separate soul. Hindus can truly say, “you are God.”

Finally, since Brahman is an impersonal force, Hinduism does not require a belief in God. Hindus can be atheistic, monotheistic, or polytheistic, because each perspective does not change the basic goal of escape from samsara and returning to the energy of the universe.

The following is a Westernized analogy of Hindu beliefs:

Mrs. Hooper walked into her classroom on the first day of 5th grade and announced, “You may not remember, but you have been in classrooms before (samsara). I understand that however well you did last year, that will be your starting place this year and I accept you just the way you are. I want you to always do your best so that you can be ready to go on to the next grade. Just in case you need reminding, there are certain expectations for academic performance and behavior (dharma). Always be kind and gentle to the smaller children when you meet them in the hall and be respectful to your teachers and the administrative staff (caste system). Always do your assigned work and turn it in on time (path of action). If you want, you can try out as a cheer leader or join a service organization (path of devotion). But, the best students are usually those who devote themselves completely to academic studies (path of knowledge). It is my philosophy that everybody starts out with a full 100 points, an A. If you take care of yourself, you can expect to do well, but misbehavior will result in demerits, detention, and possibly being held back (karma). Your goal is to progress through your elementary, education all the way through college and earn your degree (moksha).”

I’m glad to recall that Mrs. Hooper (hoop/circle/cycle pun intended) did chance to mention that she already loved and accepted each child just the way they are.

I suppose that a disabled or retarded child might be considered an appropriate life situation for parents who needed to learn further lessons in compassion in this life, rather than as punishment for something the child had done in the previous. In any event, whatever their condition or situation in this life, all that would be expected of a disabled child (or their parents) is positive actions within the limits that their condition/position allowed.

I have a friend who used to assert that the universe will keep on putting the same challenge in front of you until you learn the necessary lesson. One could be grateful for that.

We may be tempted to be outraged at the amount of tragedy and suffering in this world and be upset that it is unfair. However, the fact of the matter is that we can’t do much, individually, about “unfair.” The Hindus (and others), seem to have embraced a workable (or at least sanity-saving) approach. Just deal with what is in front of you and you always have hope, even if gratification is delayed. Expecting what-is-not will only make you suffer more. The path of liberation is to let go of grasping for unfulfilled expectations.

Copyright 2009, 2010 David Satterlee

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, which essentially says that you are free to share the work under the conditions that you attribute it fully, do not use it for commercial purposes, and do not alter it.

The Two Heroes of Thompsonville

 Short Stories  No Responses »
Oct 272010
 

The Two Heroes of Thompsonville

by David Satterlee

Thompsonville was nowhere. It was a town of modest size and not completely isolated, but mostly self-sufficient with its own traditions and community standards. The railroads had passed it by during the great expansion. The express highways had passed it by as well. It was too hilly for a canal – it was too flat for a reservoir. No native son ever grew up to be a governor or general. No one ever started a museum of tiny carved furniture or old farm implements. It was just a nice out-of-the-way place to live. As a matter of fact, it was a nice place to grow old and die if you didn’t wander off in search of something-or-other first.

Labith didn’t just wander off. He hit the road with a vengeance. He had loved his childhood sweetheart, Roatrine for as long as he could remember. They had played together as babies, studied together in school and, in the course of time, come to know each other very, very well. How could Roatrine refuse to marry him now? Why would she invent such a trivial excuse to cut off their friendship? Her parents, Robance and Rosatrine, weren’t the problem; they had always liked him and had given their enthusiastic approval when Labith had asked to formally court their daughter.

Labith was inconsolable. He wandered the hills and found no comfort. He immersed himself in the labor of clearing a new field and found no distraction. Roatrine possessed his heart and haunted his mind. Her ready smile and quick wit filled his thoughts while her silken skin and flowing hair filled his dreams. His mother, Salabith, advised him to be patient and he was. His father, Robance, eventually encouraged him to renew his affections with gifts and sweet words and he did. But, nothing he could think of could change his true love’s mind. “Do you love me?” “Yes.” “Will you marry me?” “I’m sorry, No!”

Some people would have eventually given up and resigned themselves to their fate. But for Labith, there was nothing else to do but keep on seeking. He couldn’t stand the pain of always seeing his beloved around town each day. He couldn’t not always watch for her either. Who else walked with such grace and poise? Who else shared his joys and values? Only Roatrine. And so, Labith, filled with the urgency of intolerable desperation, left. He left his family and his friends and his community. He left their traditions and … well, he left the life he knew behind.

It is truly a big world and Labith, stunned to the core of his soul, traveled. He met people. He read books. He questioned authority. Labith pondered the nature of reality and law and truth. Assailed by ideas and forces that were new to him he found himself, in many ways, even more desperate and alienated than before he left. But, being a man of courage and character, he transcended his previous limits and views. His transformation brought freedom of thought and action. He now knew what he had to do.

People in Thompsonville welcomed Labith back, but watched him with unabashed curiosity. Naturally, he sought out his beloved Roatrine straight away. They walked down by the water path and sat under their favorite tree and they talked. Labith told her where he had gone and what he had learned. He told her how much he loved her and that he still wanted to raise a family with her. Labith told her that if they had a girl, it wouldn’t have to be named Latrine but that they could call her Becky or Marge or something else. “Oh!” said Roatrine, “What a good idea! This changes everything!”

I hadn’t been writing for a while following a move to our dream home in the woods. It was time to get into harness. It was exercise time. I sat down with no agenda and no plot; just the intent to write a short story. My fingers typed “Thompsonville.” Okay, that’s a start. I started describing the town. Then a character jumped in and so did his angst. In the middle of it all, I remembered recently talking to a customer service representative on the telephone. Her name was Latrina. I had pointed it out to my wife: “What parents would name their daughter “Latrina?” We were aware that it has become popular to name children using parts of their parent’s names. Now, what if it were a fixed, immutable, unchallenged tradition in this town?

You DID notice that the names were a conjugation of the first part of the father’s name and the last part of the mother’s name. Curiously, the name of the town is built using a different set of rules.

I have deliberately used pairs of thoughts and pairs of adjectives in the structure of this story. It was intended to be a reflection of how all the names were composed of two parts.

Copyright 2009, 2010 David Satterlee

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, which essentially says that you are free to share the work under the conditions that you attribute it fully, do not use it for commercial purposes, and do not alter it.

Human Behavior: Choice, Change, Control

 Being Human, Character, Positive Psychology  No Responses »
Oct 262010
 

The Question of Human Behavior

by David Satterlee

Source: “Pursuing Human Strengths,” Martin Bolt, Introduction

“The stream of causation from past to future runs through our present choices.” —David G. Myers, 2002

Individuals and groups have shown an astonishing capacity for both great good and great evil. World War II produced unprecedented levels of national violence. Individuals who risked themselves to help others escape from certain extermination are our modern heroes. Caretakers of the gravely disabled sacrifice large parts of their own lives in service to others. We honor those able to demonstrate a common levels of virtues such as compassion, commitment, and self-control.

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Human Strengths: Developing Core Virtues

 Books, Character, Positive Psychology  No Responses »
Oct 262010
 

by David Satterlee

Source: “Pursuing Human Strengths,” Martin Bolt, Preface

The weakness of psychology, during its short history as a science, has been its primary focus on human weaknesses rather than on human strengths. That began to change dramatically when Martin Seligman was elected president of the American Psychological Association. Seligman leveraged his research on learned helplessness and hopelessness into a new focus on learned optimism and happiness.

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TED Talk – Engineering value-for-many

 Geopolitics, Sociology  No Responses »
Oct 262010
 

Design and manufacturing often focuses on luxury products or drugs to improve sex. R. A. Mashelkar describes the virtues of designs for ultra-low-cost products: dramatic transformational innovation that is extremely affordable.

Getting MORE productivity from LESS investment for MORE benefit to MORE people.

The Nano automobile. Prosthetic devices ($28 foot). Treatment for psoriasis. Also consider the “one laptop per child” effort.

“When you wish to achieve results that have not been achieved before, it is an unwise fancy to think that they can be achieved by using methods that have been used before.” -Sir Francis Bacon

A Primer on Situational Awareness

 Geopolitics, Psychology, Self Improvement, Waking  No Responses »
Oct 102010
 
Source: Stratfor Global Intelligence – Security Weekly

Terrorism (and a great many other undesirable situations) do not erupt spontaneously, but are the end consequence and product of a series of preparatory or enabling steps. SITUATIONAL AWARENESS allows us to respond appropriately to a developing situation and may allow us to disrupt the chain of events.

  • Awareness requires a mindset that enables readiness to be aware.
  • Awareness exists on several levels: Unaware, Relaxed, Focused, High Alert, and Shock.
  • The appropriate level of awareness for any situation allows for appropriate responses and interventions.
  • If you see something that is not right, do something about it.

Read the complete article at: http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100609_primer_situational_awareness?fn=6417307150

Story: A Man of Letters

 David, For Children, Short Stories  No Responses »
Oct 052010
 

A Man of Letters

by David Satterlee
[Inspired by a story told to my sister, Joyce Mock, by my father, Bill Satterlee. (Just to keep family history clear, I "invented" the ending part.)]

“Papaw, will you tell me a story?”

“Sure, sweetie. How about the one where I wrestled alligators, or how about the story of the troll and the princess?”

“No, Papaw; you know the one I like.”

“As you wish, dear. When I was a younger man, I worked on a railroad crew and my job was to repair railroad bridges. It was very hard work and we didn’t have all the large machines that they use these days. But, I was tall and strong, it was good honest work, and it paid pretty good so everything was just fine. Every time a train came by, we had to be sure that the bridge was strong enough to hold it. And, we all had to get out of the way, so we would stand beside the track as the train slowed down and went by.

“Back then, there was a big war going on and soldiers often traveled on passenger trains. There was a strict rule that soldiers weren’t allowed to get off the train until they reached their destination. This was all before there were cell phones or computers. So, if a soldier wanted to send a message to his family or his girlfriend, he would have to write a letter and mail it. Well, soldiers on long train trips had lots of time to write letters, but they could not get off to mail their letters. Whatever were they to do?”

“Oh dear, whatever DID they do?”

“Because the trains slowed way down for the bridge construction, soldiers would lean out the windows, throw letters to us, and ask us to please mail them. Sometimes the letters had stamps on them and sometimes they didn’t. But, that didn’t matter much to me. Whenever I got to the next town, I would just buy a few stamps and then put the letters in a mailbox. I always thought about how much his friends and loved ones would want to get a letter from that soldier while he was away from home.

“Sometimes, a soldier would throw me a letter that wasn’t finished. Sometimes the envelope wasn’t even sealed. Maybe he was still writing it when he realized that this might be his last chance in a long time to send his letter out. When a letter wasn’t complete, I would sometimes add a few lines to, you know, finish it off right.

“And then, one day, I was finishing off a letter to someone who sounded like she was very sweet and very pretty. I looked at the address and discovered, to my surprise, that she lived in the very next town that we were coming too. Why buy a stamp when I could deliver it myself? I worked especially hard to do my best job of finishing it.

“The next day, I found her address and I knocked at her door. She was very sweet, and very pretty too. She took the letter from my hand and read it right while I stood there. I guess I must have finished it off okay, because that is how I met your Mamaw.”

[The title had several iterations. It started out as “The Troll and the Princess” as an allusion to the amount of time that the storyteller spent under bridges before finding his princess. In the end, I settled on “A Man of Letters” as a tribute to a wonderful father who never went past 8th grade, but spent the prime of his life at hard work to provide for the family he loved.]

Copyright 2010, David Satterlee

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, which essentially says that you are free to share the work under the conditions that you attribute it fully, do not use it for commercial purposes, and do not alter it.

The “Mind of Man” Labyrinth

 Articles, David, Nonfiction  1 Response »
Oct 052010
 

The “Mind of Man” Labyrinth

by David Satterlee

It seemed like a good idea. I built a labyrinth. I’d been thinking about it all winter. It wouldn’t need to be very complicated; just a path mowed in the grass and borders not mown to define the path. A labyrinth is a good thing. It’s somewhere to walk in circles and nobody complains that you’re not getting anywhere. It’s not a maze because it doesn’t have any dead ends and you can always get back out just by keeping on the path.

The path switches back and forth. It’s balancing to the mind and calming to the heart. The path is like real life; it doesn’t get you directly to anywhere, it turns you back when you least expect, it leads you inexorably to the inevitable end. Sometimes you just have to quit doing everything better and just do what comes next.

My labyrinth isn’t some gothic mystical thing. It isn’t a form of worship or prayer. Oh, there’s some symbolism: if you saw it from above, it looks like the convolutions of the surface of the human brain. You enter from the brain stem (near the driveway) and walk toward the amygdala in the center. There are extra folds in the areas of visual and aural processing. It’s an original design and very clever.

I wrote an article for the local newspaper (included below). They didn’t use it.

The whole thing is 60 foot in diameter and sits in the vacant lot that my wife owns next to our house. It cost me 30 foot of string and 2 cans of grass paint that I already had. The funny thing is that the only times I walk it are when I mow the path. It seemed like a good idea.

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I was interested to read about a grant awarded to the Gifted and Talented program for the construction of a labyrinth in Chariton. [Chariton Herald-Patriot, Thursday, April 14, 2005, page 7]

This spring, Dianna and I constructed a grass labyrinth on our property in Russell. Visitors are welcome to walk it when it is daylight and dry.

Note: the “WWLL” in the Internet URL below is NOT a typo. A picture of the labyrinth is attached. A higher resolution copy is available on request.

David Satterlee
#############
Russell, IA 50238

641-###-#### (Private – Home)

Russell Labyrinth Available to the Public

Russell residents David and Dianna Satterlee created a grass labyrinth on their property two weeks ago. Visitors are welcome to walk it when it is daylight and dry. Although it looks like a maze, the 60-foot diameter labyrinth has no dead ends. It is intended to create mental balance and relaxation while following the reversing folds of the walkway.

This “Mind of Man” labyrinth lay-out is an original design. Visitors may park on the street and enter it at the “brain-stem” on the south side. “Switchbacks at the sides and far end represent auditory and visual processing centers in the brain” explained David Satterlee. “Viewed from overhead, the curves and turns resemble the folds in the surface of the brain.” Additional information can be found at the World-Wide Labyrinth Locator at http://wwll.veriditas.labyrinthsociety.org/

David is a Natural Health Writer and retired Computer Systems Manager. Dianna is the Music Teacher at Russell Community School. She says that their labyrinth is a great low-impact way to get some exercise, unwind, and relieve stress. Dianna added, “We began researching labyrinths last year but didn’t have the resources to do anything complicated. We laid it out using a center post, string, and a can of grass paint. Concepts from high school geometry let us do things like bisect angles. David mows the path every few days but the grass separating the paths is allowed to grow.”

The Satterlee’s labyrinth is on private property but is available for “respectful public use” when it is daylight and dry. It is located in the lot next to ############# in Russell, Iowa; just 5 miles east of Chariton and 2 miles south of US 34. There is room for several cars to park on the street. They request that no tobacco be used on the property.

A planned labyrinth in Chariton was previously reported (4/14/2005 p. 7).

[Note: This was written in 2005. We moved away; the labyrinth has been mown over for several years now. It isn’t there anymore. I have removed location and contact information to avoid disturbing the current residents.]

Copyright 2005, 2010 David Satterlee

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, which essentially says that you are free to share the work under the conditions that you attribute it fully, do not use it for commercial purposes, and do not alter it.

A Flippant Rant on the Use of Violence

 Articles, Nonfiction  No Responses »
Oct 042010
 

A Flippant Rant on the Use of Violence

by David Satterlee

Although good fences may be said to “make good neighbors,” hatred, blood-feuds, violent lust for revenge, and terrorism do not make good neighbors. Terrorism is often considered to be the use of violence by disenfranchised (not yet victorious) organizations or individuals against non-combatants to coerce political, social, or economic change. Similar violence by established authorities is often considered “counter-terrorism” and “collateral damage.” Similar violence by successful “freedom fighters” is often considered heroic. In any event, targeting civilians is generally considered bad sportsmanship and should be frowned upon and credited as unworthy of true gentlemen.

Likewise, Westerners may prefer to discuss the “ignominious French-Algerian War,” while North Africans refer to the glorious “Algerian War of Independence.” In any event, this war ran from 1954-1962, after over 120 years of French “international support” (or “imperialist colonial occupation and subjugation.”) History records similar atrocities committed by, and against, both sides during this war, regardless of issues of just or unjust causes.

Because history tends to repeat itself, thoughtful men have carefully examined this paroxysm of French-Algerian violence to learn lessons so as to avoid confrontation (or to prevail) in the case of similar circumstances arising again. One hopes that the motive in examining past terrorism is not isolated to refining more-effective tactics of violence. Happily, many historians have begun to conclude that such violence is inherently counter-productive if you ever again want to sleep soundly while living in the same neighborhood.

From ancient history, the most reliable way to fully pacify an area (and plunder its resources) is to sustain the determination to murder every man, woman, and child, and be willing to do the same to their alarmed neighbors. This is just bad mojo, and out of the question in our modern world. So, the basic lesson of French-Algerian terrorism, with only a cursory glance, is “don’t even start.” As an alternative, try everything else, and keep on trying. End of story.

Prefer diplomacy. Even the poor widow of parable eventually received justice by her persistence. If you want something and do not have it, make your case while maintaining the moral high ground. If you are weak and stand to risk losing the little you have, do not imagine that poking the beast will make it consider your cause with empathy.

If you have superior force, forget about defending honor and saving face. You have the big stick and everybody knows it. You do not have to pick fights, just end any fight as quickly and surgically as possible. Do not occupy foreign territory; if an area’s population does not currently prefer to salute your flag, it is foreign territory. if you build a foundation for your tent, you have been there too long. Cultivate friends; if you make friends, you will have spies everywhere.

Do not get into the middle of someone else’s blood feud. If they still have such primitive values, you are not going to improve matters by taking sides. Your side will flaunt their new influence and the other side will feel unfairly disadvantaged. Only a fool will grab the ears of a mad dog. Many a friend has intervened in a family dispute, only to have both parties turn on him. Back off.

You are a sovereign nation. They, even if you perceive them as truly pathetic, are a sovereign nation. If you believe that diplomatic persuasion is ineffective and forcible intervention is required, do not organize a mob of peers. Get the neighborhood together and elect an honest-to-god sheriff, vested with the authority to enforce law uniformly, fairly, and without bias. And, especially if you commit to responsibility as a deputy, you had better be willing to fully submit your own house to that sheriff’s authority. Just because the big rancher has enough resources to throw his weight around does not mean that he is entitled to unilateral intimidation of any of his neighbors.

Do not be covetous or greedy. Your friends will not trust you and your enemies will despise you. Do not succumb to quaking fear in the face of terror; that is terror’s purpose. Decisions made on the basis of greed or fear are all suspect; they are very often terribly poor and destructive to yourself and others. Admire the clarity and purity of purpose that cohabit with virtuous motives, self-respect, and peace of mind.

Do not complain. Complaining is the last resort of the weak and impotent. Listen to the complaints of the weak and impotent. Discern the source of their distress and act with compassion to ease their suffering. Terrorism is the most desperate last resort of the weak and impotent.

There is pure evil. Actively resist evil. Shine the light of truth mercilessly upon evil. Do not waver or tire out. Show it for the outrage that it is. Squeeze it out of your heart and purge it from your lips. Do not tolerantly listen to it from your neighbor. Vote it out of your legislature. Hound it back to its deep holes and dark corners and reflect goodness back upon it until it cannot continue to abide itself. Do not be evil.

I do not believe that I am a blind pacifist. Individual, cultural, and national aggression demands a response. But, a good first response is to look down and see if you have been standing on someone’s toes. My kittens have scratched me when I stepped on them. I understood, immediately lifted my foot, forgave them, and opened a can of their favorite liver snack. Conversely, I have never caged and starved my dogs until they got mean.

I suppose that I could make a defense of organized violence as a logical response to interminable oppression and war as a necessary response to armed national hostilities. The thing is, damn it, can we not find a way to avoid getting into these escalating scrapes in the first place? And, to press the issue, how the hell did we get to the point of concluding that there were no better options then firebombing the population centers of cities like Dresden, and Hiroshima? What moral high ground and international honor did THAT achieve? Oh, and by the way… When I see scenes of plazas full of angry men shouting “Death to America,” I am reminded of the most primitive precedents of ancient history and it gives me a bad case of the creeping heebie-jeebies.

Copyright 2009, 2010 David Satterlee

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, which essentially says that you are free to share the work under the conditions that you attribute it fully, do not use it for commercial purposes, and do not alter it.

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