BY MIKE SCHWAGER - PUBLISHED IN FT. LAUDERDALE SUN-SENTINEL, “OUTLOOK SECTION” (Sunday, April 25, 2010)

They are the beloved and comfort of millions. They connect us to what is natural and spontaneous and unconditionally loving in our lives. They take us out of our busyness and complexity, out of our everyday stresses, out of our heads, and bring us into the wonder and joy of each moment.

Dogs are members of more than 43 million households in America, and cats of more than 37.5 million. These feeling, intelligent, loyal creatures give comfort to people of all kinds - to the young, middle-aged and elderly, to families with children, to couples without children, and to those living alone. When they are brought into hospitals caring for children with grave illnesses, or into nursing homes tending to the aged, they become healers who bring smiles to faces. They defend homes as faithful watchers. They save lives, whether on the battlefield, or as brave aides to firefighters.

The fact is, each year we kill 3 million healthy and treatable dogs and cats at our shelters. Here in Broward, the number killed is 10,000 per year. At Miami-Dade Animal Services, it is a horrifying 40,000; and in Palm Beach it averages 18,000.

If we are agree that these animals are precious individuals who have a right to live, then we can also agree that a fundamental paradigm shift must take place at all animal shelters. The new underlying principle must be no-kill.

For those who don’t believe it is possible to transition from kill to no-kill, look at other shelters who’ve done it - in Charlottesville, Va., in Tompkins County, New York and in Reno, Nev. They’ve done it. They show it is possible.

Here are strategies needed for a transition to succeed:

Hire a director who embodies humaneness towards animals in his or her philosophy - someone committed to no-kill. This is the linchpin element in a successful conversion, and in the implementation of the other essential elements that must follow. The director must support a “culture of life.”

Hire staff people who are likewise committed to humaneness, and the no-kill principle. This means a review of the people on staff to determine who would support the new principle, the weeding out of those who don’t, and the recruitment of those who do.

Make comprehensive adoption programs central to the shelter strategy. Some examples:

Ongoing and intensive public relations/marketing programs. The new director should hire a director of PR/Marketing equally committed to the no-kill principle. If budget precludes a hire, enlist the support of a retired PR professional. This individual should enlist a team of other volunteer PR pros. Consultation with chapter leader of the local Public Relations Society of America can help pull a team together, as well as outreach to the heads of local PR agencies.

Outdoor or indoor adoption events. Work with local Petsmarts, Petcos, pet supply stores, community wellness centers, festivals and carnivals to set up booths presenting dogs and cats from shelters, and literature about the shelters. Arrange ongoing creative vehicles, and redesign a shelter’s website to reflect new culture of life, with a new name, e.g., “Friends of Best Friends.” Conduct active search engine optimization campaign for this website. Air public service spots on television and radio, and complement those with animal photos on major websites like Craigslist. Follow-up with speaking appearances by shelter officials at PTAs, churches, synagogues, Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, as well as in-studio appearances on radio/TV. Use those venues to announce off-site adoption events, and incorporate effective signage allowing traffic to shelters.

Help to increase pet retention. The shelter must be perceived by the community as a place to turn to for advice and support on how pet owners can keep their animals at home. Advice can include everything from discipline and house-breaking training programs to neutering programs to food budget savings.

Volunteers. An impassioned, dedicated and large group of volunteers needs to be the lifeblood of the shelter, often complementing too few-in-number paid staff. At Broward’s ACARD, limits have been put on the numbers of volunteers recruited, and volunteers have been discouraged to photograph animals and post on sites like Craigslist, which previously had brought in hundreds of adopters. Recruit volunteers at booths showcasing animals at festivals, carnivals and local pet supermarkets. Heading the Volunteer Corps should be a humane, paid (or retired) director of volunteers. Reports from other shelters indicate that more enthusiastic volunteers will be recruited after it’s known that a transition to no-kill has occurred.

Rescue groups currently account for only a relatively small percentage of animals saved. They need to be encouraged to pull as many animals as possible from a shelter - and not get discouraged from doing so. And that includes not only purebreds but the many greater-in-number and wonderful mixed breeds as well. Rescuers free up cage and kennel space, and reduce costs for feeding, cleaning - and killing. They need our support, not our discouragement.

Feral cat TNR programs. Trap, neuter and release programs have been effected by a number of communities across the country to reduce death rates.

Proactive redemptions. Often overlooked are lost animal reclaims. Sadly, besides having pet owners fill out a lost pet report, very little effort is made in this area. Becoming more proactive has proven to have a significant impact on life-saving and allow shelters to return a large percentage of lost animals to their families. Read animal advocate Nathan Wingrad’s book, Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation.

When you visit an animal shelter, walk up close to a dog or cat, and really look at it, appreciating it for its life and being. You can see and feel that you have simply connected with life, not only its life but your life. Then you can love it as you love yourself.

Mike Schwager lives in Plantation. His animal advocacy site: www.CompassionateAnimalFriendsofBroward.org. E-mail him at mikemaven@comcast.net.

Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D. is a psychiatrist with more than fifty years experience researching the healing and transformative potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness.

Joseph Campbell said about Dr. Grof:  “I know of no work that so well incorporates the findings of Freud, Jung and Rank, adding fresh insights, which the methods of those psychotherapists could never have achieved.”

Currently, Dr. Grof is Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in the Department of Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness, and teaches at the Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, CA

Here is what Dr. Grof described after an experience on LSD:  “What happened next was my consciousness catapulted out of my body.  I lost the research assistant, I lost the clinic, I lost Prague, I lost the planet.  I had the feeling that my consciousness had no boundaries anymore, and I had become the totality of existence….it became clear to me that consciousness is not a product of the neurophysiological processes in the brain, as I had been taught at the university, but something much higher, possibly superordinate to matter.  The idea that consciousness somehow mysteriously emerges from matter didn’t make sense to me anymore.  It was easier to imagine that consciousness could create the experience of the material universe by an infinitely complex orchestration.  I was suddenly in the realm of the Eastern philosophies, where consciousness is a primary attribute of existence and cannot be reduced to anything else.”

It is this statement that fascinates me, and confirms my own speculations and intuition, without ever having experimented with LSD, but validated by various forms of meditation and especially an energetic form called “Body Focusing” taught by Don Kollmar, formerly of New York City, and now of Amsterdam, Holland.

On Enrichment.com, please also read my interview with renowned physicist Dr. Amit Goswami, author of “Creative Evolution” - who says that Evolution is guided by Higher Consciousness (the Consciousness undoubtedly referred to by Dr. Grof).

I’m happy to announce that I am now hosting a new Internet radio show called “The Enrichment Hour” on The Sedona Talk Radio Network.  Here is the link:  www.sedonatalkradio.com/the-enrichment-hour.  My show airs every other Tuesday, from 7 PM to 8 PM Eastern, and 4 PM to 5 PM Pacific.  You can call into the show at this number:  917-889-8553.

The Enrichment Hour is loosely based upon my spiritual/human potential/humanitarian web portal, www.Enrichment.com.  Its slogan:  “Enrich Your Life…Enrich Our World”.

I’m interested in speaking to authors, celebrities and opinion leaders on topics that can inspire people to enrich their lives inwardly and outwardly.

If you have a guest for The Enrichment Hour, you can e-mail me at:  mikemaven@comcast.net, or call me at 954-423-4413.   Thank you.

Last month, on December 10th, in Oslo, Norway, President Obama delivered his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize.  I thought it was a great speech, and has not been given enough attention or acknowledgement.  In that speech, the President navigated between the onward movement towards justice, humanitarianism and human rights, reduction of global poverty, global cooperation and world peace - with a recognition that “evil” exists in the world and that it must be confronted.  Here is a small excerpt:

“We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations - acting individually or in concert - will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.

“I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same ceremony years ago - “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life’s work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak -nothing passive - nothing naïve - in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.

“But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism - it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.”

As someone who sees himself as dedicated to helping to raise consciousness in the world - to being involved in looking for ways to encourage the expansion of human potential and dialogue between peoples (see my website www.Enrichment.com, and tune into my Internet spiritual radio show “The Enrichment Hour” on The Sedona Talk Radio Network [http://www.sedonatalkradio.com/the-enrichment-hour]), I am part of that group of millions who wish to help build a better world that allows for a real worldwide peace that constitutes the forward movement of human development and creativity, and human progress in science AND the human heart.  That said, I am also the son of German Jewish parents who fled Nazi Germany, and whose father lost his beloved mother and brothers and sisters to the awful hand of Hitler’s extermination squads.  My father, along with others who survived the Holocaust, was a wonderful man who used to tell me to “never judge another human being by his or her race or religion.”  I came to know too that he never totally recovered from the anguish of his losses, nor later the losses of his buddies who he fought with as a soldier in Darby’s First Ranger Battalion during World War II.

It was in part, I think, my awareness of my father’s experiences that brought to life my understanding of the horrors of war and totalitarianism, and my dedication to in some way work to build a gentler, kinder world.   I’ve come to understand that “consciousness” is the key, and that we must dedicate ourselves to first, developing our own consciousness, which includes acknowledging both the shadow side within us and working on the elimination of our own demons, along with accessing our inner greatness and gaining an understanding of our unique talents and missions - followed by helping in some way to inspire others to do the same.

I became momentarily discouraged as a consequence of 9/11, wondering if all the work of so many to build the better world, was in vain.  I quickly snapped out of it, though, recognizing that the forward march of consciousness has always encountered challenges and seeming setbacks.  Our duty, it seems to me, is to counter the adversarial forces with steadfastness of purpose - and I came to recognize that that steadfastness included the reconciliation of two “seeming” opposites:  first, a commitment to spiritual/humanitarian growth and development; and second, our recognition that “evil” in the world must sometimes be aggressively challenged.

I urge those of you who have not read President Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech to read it.  MSNBC has a full online transcript at:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34360743/ns/politics-white_house/

Those of you who have read my postings on this blog know that I did not vote for President Obama.  McCain was my choice in part because I knew that he would not take lightly the Al Quaida threat, and do his utmost to protect our country and encourage other nations to join forces to help rid the world of this tyrannical force.

That said, I think that this speech brilliantly outlines the recognition of this force and the necessity to combat it ALONG WITH the need to build the better world we all yearn for.

Whether the President is fully up to implementing an effective war on terrorism IN ACTION, however, is open to question.  He and his Administration handled the Northwest Airline bomber incident disastrously.  He has recognized the system failed, but has not yet shown his willingness to put into place more effective, experienced and competent people to safeguard our national security.  Janet Napolitano, and others, should be replaced as soon as possible.  It remains to be seen how and when this will happen.  Hopefully it will happen soon.

I believe that “kindness” and “strength” can co-exist.  Spiritual/creative/human development can and must continue - for they represent the inexorable upside impulse in Evolution - and the willingness to confront “evil” in the world must simultaneously be accepted as a decision of necessity in order to ensure a safer and freer world that allows the forward movement of consciousness to continue.

I view “evil” as the absence of light and spiritual awareness.   Whatever it is, if it impinges on our right to exist and/or to live as free men and women, it must be fought.

 

I’m glad to announce the launching of two new YouTube videos today.  Part I - “The Power of the Wire Services…and National Publicity”.  Here’s the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EEWxX9elh0&feature=related

Part II - “Values in PR” - which articulates the basic values that drive my search for clients.  Here’s the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_op2Bslgo&feature=related

I’d be happy to hear your comments about these YouTube videos.  Indeed, you can rate and comment on each video at YouTube itself; and you can leave your comments here, or write me at:  mikemaven@comcast.net

Thanks and best,

Mike Schwager

Happy Thanksgiving.

“Gratitude” is the key theme of this distinctly American holiday.  A former client of mine, Sir John Templeton, the great financier and investor, believed that “gratitude” was one of the keys to his success.

Sir John also funded many projects through his Templeton Foundation.  The intention of these projects were to advance our understanding of spirituality through science.  In this project, a grant was given to Dr. Robert Emmons from the University of California at Davis, to better understand “gratitude.”  Dr. Emmons conducted eight years of intensive research on gratitude.  His research culminated in a best-selling book, “Thanks! How The New Science of Gratitude Can Make  You Happier.”  Here are his findings, courtesy of his website, GratitudePower.net.

The New Science of Gratitude

Author and researcher Dr. Robert Emmons has discovered what gives life meaning: Gratitude. Emmons found that people who view life as a gift and consciously acquire an “attitude of gratitude” will experience multiple advantages.

Gratitude improves emotional and physical health, and it can strengthen relationships and communities. Some strategies include keeping a gratitude journal, learning prayers of gratitude and using visual reminders.

“Without gratitude, life can be lonely, depressing and impoverished,” said Emmons. “Gratitude enriches human life. It elevates, energizes, inspires and transforms. People are moved, opened and humbled through expressions of gratitude.”

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude is tough.

It is, according to Emmons, a “chosen attitude.” We must be willing to recognize and acknowledge that we are the recipients of an unearned benefit.

Emmons’ research indicates that gratitude is not merely a positive emotion; it also improves your health if cultivated. People must give up a “victim mentality” and overcome a sense of entitlement and deservedness.

As a result, he says, they will experience significant improvements in several areas of life including relationships, academics, energy level and even dealing with tragedy and crisis.

Research has also suggested that feelings of gratitude may be beneficial to subjective emotional well-being (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). For example, Watkins and colleagues (Watkins et al., 2003) had participants test a number of different gratitude exercises, such as thinking about a living person for whom they were grateful, writing about someone for whom they were grateful, and writing a letter to deliver to someone for whom they were grateful. Participants in the control condition were asked to describe their living room. Participant who engaged in a gratitude exercise showed increases in their experiences of positive emotion immediately after the exercise, and this effect was strongest for participants who were asked to think about a person for whom they were grateful. Participants who had grateful personalities to begin with showed the greatest benefit from these gratitude exercises. In people who are grateful in general, life events have little influence on experienced gratitude (McCullough, Tsang & Emmons, 2004).

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Highlights from the Research Project on Gratitude and ThankfulnessDimensions and Perspectives of GratitudeCo-Investigators: Robert A. Emmons, University of California, Davis

Synopsis. Gratitude is the “forgotten factor” in happiness research. We are engaged in a long-term research project designed to create and disseminate a large body of novel scientific data on the nature of gratitude, its causes, and its potential consequences for human health and well-being. Scientists are latecomers to the concept of gratitude. Religions and philosophies have long embraced gratitude as an indispensable manifestation of virtue, and an integral component of health, wholeness, and well-being. Through conducting highly focused, cutting-edge studies on the nature of gratitude, its causes, and its consequences, we hope to shed important scientific light on this important concept. This document is intended to provide a brief, introductory overview of the major findings to date of the research project. For further information, please contact either of the project investigators.

We are engaged in three main lines of inquiry at the present time: (1) developing methods to cultivate gratitude in daily life, (2) developing a measure to reliably assess individual differences in dispositional gratefulness and (3) designing experimental studies that enable us to distinguish the differential causes and consequences of gratitude and indebtedness.

This project is supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation of Radnor, PA.

Gratitude Interventions and Psychological and Physical

Well-Being

In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

A related benefit was observed in the realm of personal goal attainment: Participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals (academic, interpersonal and health-based) over a two-month period compared to subjects in the other experimental conditions.

A daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) with young adults resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy compared to a focus on hassles or a downward social comparison (ways in which participants thought they were better off than others). There was no difference in levels of unpleasant emotions reported in the three groups.

Participants in the daily gratitude condition were more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or having offered emotional support to another, relative to the hassles or social comparison condition.

In a sample of adults with neuromuscular disease, a 21-day gratitude intervention resulted in greater amounts of high energy positive moods, a greater sense of feeling connected to others, more optimistic ratings of one’s life, and better sleep duration and sleep quality, relative to a control group.

Measuring the Grateful Disposition

Most people report being grateful (average rating of nearly 6 on a 7 point scale).

Well-Being: Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism and lower levels of depression and stress. The disposition toward gratitude appears to enhance pleasant feeling states more than it diminishes unpleasant emotions. Grateful people do not deny or ignore the negative aspects of life.

Prosociality: People with a strong disposition toward gratitude have the capacity to be empathic and to take the perspective of others. They are rated as more generous and more helpful by people in their social networks (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002).

Spirituality: Those who regularly attend religious services and engage in religious activities such as prayer reading religious material score are more likely to be grateful. Grateful people are more likely to acknowledge a belief in the interconnectedness of all life and a commitment to and responsibility to others (McCullough et. al., 2002).

Materialism: Grateful individuals place less importance on material goods; they are less likely to judge their own and others success in terms of possessions accumulated; they are less envious of wealthy persons; and are more likely to share their possessions with others relative to less grateful persons.

Here is the transcript of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to the United Nations on September 24, 2009.  These words needed to be spoken.  President Ahmadinejad’s lies about the Holocaust needed to be exposed.  There will never be Peace until all nations and all Peoples are accepted as members of the human family.  That’s the premise of the United Nations.  As member-States of the United Nations, all countries have equal status.  But lies such as Ahmadinejad utters must be denounced - and denounced vociferously.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen. Nearly 62 years ago, the United Nations recognized the right of the Jews, an ancient people 3,500 years-old, to a state of their own in their ancestral homeland.
   
I stand here today as the Prime Minister of Israel, the Jewish state, and I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people.The United Nations was founded after the carnage of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust.  It was charged with preventing the recurrence of such horrendous events.  Nothing has undermined that central mission more than the systematic assault on the truth. Yesterday the President of Iran stood at this very podium, spewing his latest anti-Semitic rants.  Just a few days earlier, he again claimed that the Holocaust is a lie.
   
Last month, I went to a villa in a suburb of Berlin called Wannsee.  There, on January 20, 1942, after a hearty meal, senior Nazi officials met and decided how to exterminate the Jewish people.  The detailed minutes of that meeting have been preserved by successive German governments.  Here is a copy of those minutes, in which the Nazis issued precise instructions on how to carry out the extermination of the Jews.   Is this a lie?  A day before I was in Wannsee, I was given in Berlin the original construction plans for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.  Those plans are signed by Hitler’s deputy, Heinrich Himmler himself.  Here is a copy of the plans for Auschwitz-Birkenau, where one million Jews were murdered.  Is this too a lie?This June, President Obama visited the Buchenwald concentration camp.  Did President Obama pay tribute to a lie? And what of the

Auschwitz survivors whose arms still bear the tattooed numbers branded on them by the Nazis? Are those tattoos a lie?  One-third of all Jews perished in the conflagration.  Nearly every Jewish family was affected, including my own.  My wife’s grandparents, her father’s two sisters and three brothers, and all the aunts, uncles and cousins were all murdered by the Nazis.  Is that also a lie?Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium.  To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you.  You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries. But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame?  Have you no decency?  A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies that the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state. What a disgrace!  What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations!  Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime threaten only the Jews.  You’re wrong.  History has shown us time and again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many others. This Iranian regime is fueled by an extreme fundamentalism that burst onto the world scene three decades ago after lying dormant for centuries.  In the past thirty years, this fanaticism has swept the globe with a murderous violence and cold-blooded impartiality in its choice of victims.   It has callously slaughtered Moslems and Christians, Jews and Hindus, and many others.  Though it is comprised of different offshoots, the adherents of this unforgiving creed seek to return humanity to medieval times. Wherever they can, they impose a backward regimented society where women, minorities, gays or anyone not deemed to be a true believer is brutally subjugated. The struggle against this fanaticism does not pit faith against faith nor civilization against civilization.  It pits civilization against barbarism, the 21st century against the 9th century, those who sanctify life against those who glorify death. The primitivism of the 9th century ought to be no match for the progress of the 21st century.  The allure of freedom, the power of technology, the reach of communications should surely win the day.   Ultimately, the past cannot triumph over the future.  And the future offers all nations magnificent bounties of hope.   The pace of progress is growing exponentially.  It took us centuries to get from the printing press to the telephone, decades to get from the telephone to the personal computer, and only a few years to get from the personal computer to the internet.   What seemed impossible a few years ago is already outdated, and we can scarcely fathom the changes that are yet to come. We will crack the genetic code.  We will cure the incurable.  We will lengthen our lives.  We will find a cheap alternative to fossil fuels and clean up the planet.    I am proud that my country Israel is at the forefront of these advances – by leading innovations in science and technology, medicine and biology, agriculture and water, energy and the environment.  These innovations the world over offer humanity a sunlit future of unimagined promise. 

But if the most primitive fanaticism can acquire the most deadly weapons, the march of history could be reversed for a time.   And like the belated victory over the Nazis, the forces of progress and freedom will prevail only after a horrific toll of blood and fortune has been exacted from mankind.

That is why the greatest threat facing the world today is the marriage between religious fanaticism and the weapons of mass destruction, and the most urgent challenge facing this body is to prevent the tyrants of Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Are the member states of the United Nations up to that challenge?  Will the international community confront a despotism that terrorizes its own people as they bravely stand up for freedom?
 
Will it take action against the dictators who stole an election in broad daylight and gunned down Iranian protesters who died in the streets choking in their own blood? Will the international community thwart the world’s most pernicious sponsors and practitioners of terrorism? Above all, will the international community stop the terrorist regime of Iran from developing atomic weapons, thereby endangering the peace of the entire world?
 
The people of Iran are courageously standing up to this regime.  People of goodwill around the world stand with them, as do the thousands who have been protesting outside this hall.   Will the United Nations stand by their side?Ladies and Gentlemen, the jury is still out on the United Nations, and recent signs are not encouraging.  Rather than condemning the terrorists and their Iranian patrons, some here have condemned their victims.  That is exactly what a recent UN report on

Gaza did, falsely equating the terrorists with those they targeted.

For eight long years, Hamas fired from Gaza thousands of missiles, mortars and rockets on nearby Israeli cities.   Year after year, as these missiles were deliberately hurled at our civilians, not a single UN resolution was passed condemning those criminal attacks.
 
We heard nothing – absolutely nothing – from the UN Human Rights Council, a misnamed institution if there ever was one.
     
In 2005, hoping to advance peace, Israel unilaterally withdrew from every inch of Gaza.  It dismantled 21 settlements and uprooted over 8,000 Israelis.  We didn’t get peace.  Instead we got an Iranian backed terror base fifty miles from Tel Aviv.   Life in Israeli towns and cities next to

Gaza became a nightmare.You see, the Hamas rocket attacks not only continued, they increased tenfold. Again, the UN was silent.
 
Finally, after eight years of this unremitting assault,

Israel was finally forced to respond.  But how should we have responded? 

Well, there is only one example in history of thousands of rockets being fired on a country’s civilian population.  It happened when the Nazis rocketed British cities during World War II.  

During that war, the allies leveled German cities, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties.  

Israel chose to respond differently.  Faced with an enemy committing a double war crime of firing on civilians while hiding behind civilians –

Israel sought to conduct surgical strikes against the rocket launchers.

That was no easy task because the terrorists were firing missiles from homes and schools, using mosques as weapons depots and ferreting explosives in ambulances.

Israel, by contrast, tried to minimize casualties by urging Palestinian civilians to vacate the targeted areas.  We dropped countless flyers over their homes, sent thousands of text messages and called thousands of cell phones asking people to leave. Never has a country gone to such extraordinary lengths to remove the enemy’s civilian population from harm’s way.   Yet faced with such a clear case of aggressor and victim, who did the UN Human Rights Council decide to condemn?

Israel.  A democracy legitimately defending itself against terror is morally hanged, drawn and quartered, and given an unfair trial to boot.
 
By these twisted standards, the UN Human Rights Council would have dragged Roosevelt and Churchill to the dock as war criminals.  What a perversion of truth!  What a perversion of justice!Delegates of the United Nations, will you accept this farce?    Because if you do, the United Nations would revert to its darkest days, when the worst violators of human rights sat in judgment against the law-abiding democracies, when Zionism was equated with racism and when an automatic majority could declare that the earth is flat. If this body does not reject this report, it would send a message to terrorists everywhere: Terror pays; if you launch your attacks from densely populated areas, you will win immunity.
 
And in condemning Israel, this body would also deal a mortal blow to peace.  Here’s why.  When Israel left

Gaza, many hoped that the missile attacks would stop.  Others believed that at the very least,

Israel would have international legitimacy to exercise its right of self-defense.  What legitimacy?  What self-defense? 

The same UN that cheered Israel as it left Gaza and promised to back our right of self-defense now accuses us –my people, my country - of war crimes?  And for what?  For acting responsibly in self-defense.  What a travesty!

Israel justly defended itself against terror.  This biased and unjust report is a clear-cut test for all governments.   Will you stand with

Israel or will you stand with the terrorists?  We must know the answer to that question now.   Now and not later.  Because if Israel is again asked to take more risks for peace, we must know today that you will stand with us tomorrow.
 
Only if we have the confidence that we can defend ourselves can we take further risks for peace.Ladies and Gentlemen, all of Israel wants peace.   Any time an Arab leader genuinely wanted peace with us, we made peace.   We made peace with

Egypt led by Anwar Sadat.  We made peace with

Jordan led by King Hussein.  And if the Palestinians truly want peace, I and my government, and the people of

Israel, will make peace.  But we want a genuine peace, a defensible peace, a permanent peace.
In 1947, this body voted to establish two states for two peoples – a Jewish state and an Arab state.  The Jews accepted that resolution.  The Arabs rejected it.   We ask the Palestinians to finally do what they have refused to do for 62 years:  Say yes to a Jewish state.  Just as we are asked to recognize a nation-state for the Palestinian people, the Palestinians must be asked to recognize the nation state of the Jewish people.   The Jewish people are not foreign conquerors in the Land of

Israel.   This is the land of our forefathers.

 
Inscribed on the walls outside this building is the great Biblical vision of peace: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation.  They shall learn war no more.”   These words were spoken by the Jewish prophet Isaiah 2,800 years ago as he walked in my country, in my city - in the hills of Judea and in the streets of

Jerusalem.   We are not strangers to this land.  It is our homeland.As deeply connected as we are to this land, we recognize that the Palestinians also live there and want a home of their own.   We want to live side by side with them, two free peoples living in peace, prosperity and dignity. But we must have security.  The Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves except those handful of powers that could endanger Israel.  That is why a Palestinian state must be effectively demilitarized.   We don’t want another Gaza, another Iranian backed terror base abutting Jerusalem and perched on the hills a few kilometers from Tel Aviv.
 
We want peace. I believe such a peace can be achieved.  But only if we roll back the forces of terror, led by Iran, that seek to destroy peace, eliminate Israel and overthrow the world order.
 
The question facing the international community is whether it is prepared to confront those forces or accommodate them.
 
Over seventy years ago, Winston Churchill lamented what he called the “confirmed unteachability of mankind,” the unfortunate habit of civilized societies to sleep until danger nearly overtakes them. Churchill bemoaned what he called the “want of foresight, the unwillingness to act when action will be simple and effective, the lack of clear thinking, the confusion of counsel until emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong.”

I speak here today in the hope that Churchill’s assessment of the “unteachability of mankind” is for once proven wrong.  I speak here today in the hope that we can learn from history — that we can prevent danger in time.
  
In the spirit of the timeless words spoken to Joshua over 3,000 years ago, let us be strong and of good courage.  Let us confront this peril, secure our future and, God willing, forge an enduring peace for generations to come.

On Guardians of Being 

A Celebration of the Gift of Our Companion Animals 

[Note:  The following article appears on my spiritual/humanitarian site, www.Enrichment.com.  I thought I would share it with you here as well.  It’s by-lined by Patrick McDonnell, the creator of the MUTTS comic strip.  Patrick writes about his new book, Guardians of Being, which he co-authors with spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle.  It’s a book about what animals - dogs and cats in this case - give us by allowing us to connect with our own Beingness, through the gift of their own pure Beingness and connection with Divine Source.  I believe that’s true. - Mike Schwager]

By Patrick McDonnell 

 “Everything natural, every flower or tree, and every animal have important lessons to teach us….”  - Eckhart Tolle

Guardians of Being (words by Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now and A New Earth and art by Patrick McDonnell, creator of MUTTS) celebrates the reason we love our companion animals.  It illuminates for us their divine purpose.  While we are lost in our thoughts and busyness of everyday life, they have become our guardians of being.  They can bring us into the present moment and reconnect us to the one source of all life.    

Guardians of Being is a collaboration of Eckhart’s teachings and my cartoon illustrations.  As does all of Eckhart Tolle’s work, Guardians of Being teaches us about finding inner peace by living in the now, the transformation of our consciousness, and the arising of a more enlightened humanity. The primary signposts in this new book are all of nature and, in particular, our beloved dogs and cats.    

Eckhart’s words in Guardians of Being are succinct and to the point, similar to his text in Stillness Speaks.  As Eckhart Tolle said in his introduction to that work, the form the book takes is like “the oldest form of spiritual teachings: the sutras of ancient India. Sutras are powerful pointers to the truth in the form of aphorisms, or short sayings, with little conceptual elaboration…. The advantage of the sutra form lies in its brevity.  It does not engage the thinking mind more than is necessary.  What it doesn’t say - but only points to - is more important than what it says.”   

On a different level, I think the same can be said of the brief three-panel comic strip.  At its best, its humor and truth go beyond the obvious. 

I wanted to be a cartoonist as far back as I can remember.  I’ve always loved the art’s simplicity, immediacy, intimacy and absurdity.  From the start, I was enchanted by how a few simple pen-and-ink lines can come to life on the page, which is, for me, the magic of cartooning.  Many great comic strips (such as Peanuts and Krazy Kat) spoke to me directly and I always wanted to give back some of the joy and comfort I found there.   

MUTTS, my comic strip about a dog, Earl, and his unlikely friend, a cat named Mooch, started in 1994.  MUTTS focuses on experiencing the natural world (gentle rain, quiet flurries, full moons…) and that special bond that forms between companion animals and their guardians.  My own Jack Russell Terrier, Earl, was my inspiration.  Earl was my teacher; he constantly celebrated life.  I tried my best to convey his joie de vivre and good-hearted spirit in my strip.   

Animals are one with life and can be our link back to nature.  In MUTTS I try to keep the animals animal-like.  In trying to see the world through their eyes, I have become more aware of and empathic to their situation.   

MUTTS has led me to work closely with several animal welfare groups, and to join with The Humane Society of the United States where I serve on its board of directors. We face many issues of animal cruelty that humans perpetrate on animals, such as factory farming, dog fighting, and puppy mills.  The HSUS is making large strides on many fronts, but sometimes it feels to me like we are attacking the Hydra; every time a problem is resolved, another rears its ugly head.  But at its core there is just one problem, unconsciousness.  We no longer feel connected to nature, to the life force. In Guardians of Being, Eckhart shows us the reconnect:   “When you are present you can sense the spirit, the one consciousness, in every creature and love it as yourself.”

Making art can be a form of meditation. I start my day in the early morning by reading a passage or two from a spiritual book to keep my head and heart open.  In 1999, while traveling in Los Angeles and visiting one of my favorite book stores (The Bodhi Tree), I saw The Power of Now on their new arrival shelf.  I was compelled to bring that book home; it moved me with its directness, simplicity, and place of deep truth.  As it has done for millions, The Power of Now changed my life.  Eckhart’s teachings inspires MUTTS, and many strips have a direct connection.  

I thought combining my art with Eckhart’s teaching on how animals and nature can bring us into the present moment could be a good entry point for some people.  Seeing a photo of Eckhart with his new dog, Maya gave me the impetus to pursue this project. 

My wife, Karen O’Connell, and I compiled his passages and quotes that focused on animals and nature.  We paired these with MUTTS art that spoke to the teachings in their own way.  We created a proposal for the book and Eckhart graciously agreed to collaborate.  He edited, reworked and wrote new material for what was to become Guardians of Being.  He created a passionate, humorous, enlightening meditation on the power and grace that animals can bring into our lives.    

In Guardians of Being, Eckhart has translated what our companion animals have been telling us for ages.  “Life is good.”  “Live in the Now.”   “Enjoy.” 

Patrick McDonnell is the award-winning creator of the MUTTS comic strip, which appears in over 700 newspapers in 20 countries and has an estimated daily readership of 50 million, as well as the author and illustrator of the picture books The Gift of Nothing, Hug Time, and the upcoming October release, Wag! (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers).  He lives in New Jersey. His website is www.muttscomics.com

Eckhart Tolle is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Now (3 million copies sold) and A New Earth, the fastest-selling Oprah Book Club selection ever (5 million copies sold). He speaks and teaches extensively throughout the world. He lives in Vancouver, Canada and his website is www.eckharttolle.com  

Today is Mother’s Day.  It’s about honoring the person who gave us life and unconditional love.  Mothers everywhere, whether human or animal, are God and Nature’s expression of nurturance, kindness and comfort.  They epitomize that which every living being on this planet cherishes - the need for love, the need for acceptance and the certain knowledge that there is someone in the world who makes us feel truly valued. 

The fact that mothers exist is a universal statement that God and Nature affirms Life, and the sacredness of Life.  Mothers are an affirmation of Life, and of the Feminine Principle that embraces Life.   Through so much of human history, this Feminine Principle has been in decline, and the Masculine Principle has been dominant.  For sure, the masculine ethos is vital in creation and building - but when it predominates to the exclusion of the feminine factor, we have a recipe for power struggles and war.

The majority of the Earth’s surface is water - a feminine element.  There is no subtle hint here that God and Nature designed a world that expresses the Feminine as the preeminent energy.  It is time for us on this planet to come together embracing the Feminine principles of love, tolerance, sharing, and of dialogue and understanding.  The Masculine principle complements the Feminine, but must not be overshadowed by it.  We must learn to live with both, and to move forward as technology, a masculine force, allows the Heart to combine in a fulsome way with it - so as to create true Peace on Earth. 

The great actor Spencer Tracy played Thomas Edison in a movie about the great inventor’s life.  At the end of the movie, a great Testimonial dinner was given to the inventor of the phonograph and the electric lightbulb.  In his acknowledgement, Tracy as Edison made a plea.  His exhortation was that we not allow technology to overshadow the human Heart - for that would be a recipe for catastrophe.  That was well before World War II and the rise of Nazism.

In other words, we must not allow the Masculine Principle to overshadow the Feminine Principle.  Advice from a great intellect - but also wisdom from a great sage.  Advice to be honored on Mother’s Day.

VALUES IN PR

This is a page you may not ordinarily see on a public relations site.  Many p.r. people are “invisible” when it comes to publicly taking a stand about their own values and what they believe in – or don’t believe in.  They hold a position of seeming neutrality in this area.

For some, this may be to maximize the field of potential clients they can attract, and consequently, to maximize the potential for doing business. The potential negative consequence of this decision is that it has created the perception of some p.r. professionals as “flacks” and “ambulence chasers.”  

For others, withholding a statement of values and beliefs is necessary in order to spotlight their clients’ values. They rightly hold that the mission of public relations professionals is to create compelling communications programs on behalf of their clients’ positions – not their own.  They believe that the most effective p.r. representation, therefore, is to represent virtually any kind of client, while remaining personally detached from that client’s point-of-view (even while exhuberantly presenting that view to editors and producers).   Some of the professionals in this latter grouping may even believe that by adhering to this position, they support the constitutional right of freedom of speech (on behalf of their clients).

While I believe there is merit to this latter position, if it is sincerely held, I come down in a slightly different place.  I believe that, for me, the times we live in make it necessary to enunciate a basic personal and professional declaration of “What I believe and what I value.”   For while I see myself as an advocate for my client’s core values and fundamental self-interests, as a citizen of my country and the world – like yourself - I also see myself as an advocate of core values that guide the decisions I make about who I  represent.

The first experience I can remember as a public relations professional that layed track for this position was just prior to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident in Pennsylania.  I was a young rookie, working for a major public relations agency (my first p.r. job).  I was asked to be part of a strategic brainstorming meeting with a new client, a major corporation involved in energy and electronics.  The client informed us that its nuclear power plants were one hundred percent safe from any mishaps, and asked us to craft a communications program that boldly enunciated that position.

When I raised my hand and asked the question, “Can you back up that position with sound scientific proof and evidence?” - I noticed that some of the more senior staffers in that meeting seemed to cringe, annoyed I had asked this question. I also suggested that a “crisis media plan” be developed in advance in case the client was confronted with some sudden catastrophe which required damage control.  I explained to the client that it was necessary to take a “devil’s advocate” stance, in order to build a stronger campaign which anticipated the tough questions that would inevitably be posed by adversaries of nuclear power plants, or in case of human error “in spite of  the client’s insistence that nothing could go wrong.”

The client “laughed me down,” saying that the proof was so “self-evident,” it wasn’t necessary to further research the issue or to prepare for a problem.

Two months later, the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant accident occurred. That plant was owned by this particular client.  When the media tried to approach the client for a statement, it took days before the client was ready to make an intelligent statement to the press, let alone answer tough questions.

It was at this moment that I realized four very important things:

(1)    It is the public relations professional’s responsibility to help the client anticipate problems in advance – and counsel the client on how to deal with      problems when they occur.

(2)    Clients can make mistakes, and should admit mistakes when they occur.

(3)  A good public relations professional must have the courage to follow his or her gut instincts and intuition, as long as they are honest and sincere – even in the face of raising questions the client may find unappealing.

(4)    Public relations agencies and professionals should think twice before representing clients they consciously know have services, products or ideas that may undermine the quality-of-life or higher public good, irrespective of the fees that client may be willing to pay the agency or professional.

In subsequent years, I developed a list of such “value statements” that ultimately turned into a kind of credo.  Here’s the rest:

*    Be open to representing clients which have services and products that minimally pose no hazards to public safety.  Just as a potential client will investigate whether  you as a public relations professional are right for them, you have every right to investigate whether they are right for you.

*    The world is in a critical stage in its development.  It needs advocates who embrace the values of both the American Declaration of Independence, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…advocates who are  willing to take a stand for the enrichment of life – and public relations advocates who represent   clients that enhance the quality of life with a view of life’s sacredness…clients that enrich the environment, human health and well-being, human rights (and animal rights)…clients that promote the advancement of human economic, creative and social potential, especially children’s potential…clients that advance human understanding, tolerance and respect      for the richness of, and differences  in, cultures, religions, genders, races, ethnicities and ideas…clients who if they       advance technology, also advance the progress of the human heart.

*    Take a stand for the Earth and the “wholeness” and intelligence of Nature.  Take a stand for the advancement of world culture while equally respecting the  uniqueness and sacredness of every individual human being, and the healthy, enriching uniqueness of  regional and national cultures.

*    Be suspicious of any group, organization or individual who believe they, he or she have “all the answers” or who wish to impose or project these  “answers” onto others.  Veer instead towards those who present creative solutions to specific problems; and judge these solutions on the basis as to whether they expand human human happiness and fulfillment

*    Consider groups, organizations or individuals who have creative or innovative ideas, services or products that enrich human life; or that have winning ideas, services or products that can help empower the poor or heal the sick.

*    Represent businesses that conduct themselves ethically, that deliver products or services that help, and don’t harm; that are businesses that invest in their people and contribute to the health and well-being of the communities in which they do business, both domestically and internationally; and that are sensitive to  the promotion of the human and civil rights of women and minorities, especially among their own employees and the customers they serve.