This is the eulogy I wrote for my dear friend Luise Light, who passed away on April 15th.  I was unable attend the funeral in New York.  The remarks were read by her daughter Orrea. She will be sorely missed.

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I have Google to thank for finding Luise Light. It was 2007 and I was searching for a nutritional columnist for my new site, Enrichment.com.  I entered words like “nutritional experts, holisitic nutritional experts” and “stumbled” upon Luise and her book, “What To Eat:  The Ten Things You Really Need to Know to Eat Well and be Healthy!

 

I say “stumbled” – but now in retrospect, I know that meeting Luise was no accident.  It was as if I had reunited with a dear old friend, someone I had known for eons…and I had the feeling that we were two souls who had rediscovered each other.  Somehow, Spirit, with the help of Google, had let us to each other.

I have never met Luise in person.  That’s incredible to me because our connection was so deep and so satisfying, even if on the phone.  And who can mistake that rich and fullsome “Hello” as she picked up the phone.  Her unmistakable signature.  I think Luise could hardly wait to see who was calling.  For living up in Vermont, and living alone, the phone was her connector to the outside world.  The Internet too of course, but it was as if Luise rejoiced in connecting to people.  I think she celebrated each day in her phone meetings and exchanges with the people who constituted her galaxy of friends and colleagues.

I always felt Luise was full of energy, and enthusiasm, and eagerness to explore the world.  But it was much more than that.  For Luise was an intellectually brilliant person – and she was deeply spiritual in her own unique way.  You see, Luise CARED about the world, and about humanity.  Sometimes, when I’ve thought of Luise, I’ve thought of that statement by Rumi, “When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”  Because there was some kind of joy in Luise, and I think this joy had an almost kabbalistic quality – and by that I mean Luise’s joy had to do with going about to repair the world, making the world a better place, bringing it aright the way God intended it to be.

Luise cared about what we cavalierly call “Quality of Life”.  But for her there was nothing cavalier about that phrase.  Luise was deeply suspicious and resentful of what happens when entrenched power works for greed, or for anything that demeans the natural and God-given health and quality of life of the individual.  Luise was a true champion of the rights of the individual, a defender of each of our rights to live full and happy lives, and healthy lives.  Consequently, she was a harsh critic of the pharmaceutical industry – an entrenched power that in too many respects, she felt works against our health, overmedicating us and making us sicker, not healthier – all for the sake of more profits – motivated not by a concern for people’s well-being, but by greed.

Luise’s seminal book, What To Eat, shows her as a pioneer in the wellness movement.  As the once director of dietary guidance and nutrition education research at the United States Department of Agriculture – the USDA – Luise was the creator of the famed Food Pyramid.  What many people may not realize is that Luise’s version of the Food Pyramid – the original first draft of the Pyramid – was holistic, and emphasized whole grains and fruits and vegetables.  She was devastated when the USDA turned the tables on her, and reset the contents of the Pyramid by deemphasizing whole grains, and allowing processed flours and sugars and hydrogenated fats to become part of the American diet.  The truth is, is that if Luise Light had been given her way, the great explosion of obesity and diabetes in this country may never have occurred.  That was the potential impact of Luise’s work – and I believe that her pioneering work in striving to navigate a more natural, holistic course for our country laid track for the advent of the holistic food revolution that was about to come.

Dr. Walter Willett, M.D., who was Chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, said of Luise’s book:  “From her experiences inside the USDA, Dr. Light brings new insights on how powerful agricultural and political forces have created the recipe for our national diet.  Readers who care about their health will find much to learn within these covers.”

 

What To Eat is still a great book, with great advice about healthy eating, and wonderfully nutritious delicious healthy recipes, all tested by Luise and all standing the test of time.

 

I recognized Luise Light as a genius early on in our collegial association.  She was clearly a democrat in the small “d” sense of that word – someone who wanted to bring to the light the darker forces at work in political and corporate power mongering – mongering that undermined the health and rights of the individual.  She was a brilliant investigator of the work and movement of these darker forces, and a writer of articles on subjects seeking to expose them.

 

As her friend, I came to sense that Luise, with all her passion, and brilliance, did not fully recognize the extent of her genius or greatness.  I sometimes felt called to acknowledge her for her great gifts, to remind her of them, and to urge her to continue on her mission – and that the potential for great accomplishments were still ahead of her.  And because she was my friend, I will be eternally grateful to her for standing as an acknowledger and reminder of my own gifts and talents.  We were two souls, each on a mission, who recognized each other, and supported each other by being mirrors of each other’s gifts.

 

There was something else about Luise – and that is that she was a powerful voice for the Feminine Principle – the principle of Compassion and Kindness that has been sorely lacking in our world for so many centuries.  Without that principle, and its integration into society, everything is lopsided and out of balance.  Wars become rampant.  Holocausts and man’s inhumanity and cruelty to man create great wounding in the world.

 

Luise was a voice for the reintegration of the Feminine Principle into our world.  She was working on Magdalene as an archetypal representation of that Principle, and I have no doubt that that book, had it been completed, would have received a great and wonderful reception.

 

Luise introduced me to a man by the name of Dror Ashuah, who is here with you today.  Dror has written a wonderful book, now in multiple volumes, called Conversation with Angels.  It is a book of healing, written by a gentle soul who has been receiving messages from a higher dimension, beings who love us and care about us.

 

The wonderful thing about Luise is that she could recognize great souls like Dror, who as a man is also a carrier of the Feminine Principle into the world.  Luise assisted Dror as an editor with some of his material.  She had that special gift of recognizing people who are here to bless the world with messages of love and brotherhood and sisterhood.

 

In so many ways, Luise Light, was an emissary of the Light, and of Universal Love.

 

Did she have her struggles?  Yes she did.  One trauma she revealed to me, which I feel I can share with you at this time, is that Luise as a very young woman, as a girl really, while on a student trip overseas, was raped.  The ferocity of this act, and the deep wounding it created, set her on a long and sometimes difficult course of healing.  My own feeling is that this experience, while utterly dreadful, also heightened her awareness of the need for the Feminine Principle I just mentioned, the need for Love and Compassion, to come into the world as it has never come in before.

 

When she told me she had cancer, several months ago, and that it was a particularly difficult type, I recommended a remedy from China that had put my mother Sonny into remission.  Luise began on this remedy, but unfortunately had an allergic reaction to it.  Never, in the several months since Luise learned of her illness, until the time she arrived at the hospice, until the last moments of her life – never did I hear any fear in her voice.  I think part of her greatness is that as much as she felt a great mission still ahead of her, she seemed to also accept the hand that Destiny had given her.  I believe Luise trusted God at the deepest level.

 

For weeks, and every other day, I had the great privilege to give to Luise, on the phone, a ten minute Spiritual Healing Mind Treatment.  In that treatment, words would be said to her like:  “You are an individualized creative expression of the Infinite Creative Power of God.  There is One Divine Source, One Spirit of Love and Light pervading the Universe.  You are at One with this great Creative Source of all that is forever giving out of the loving action of Spirit.  You ARE Spirit manifest as Luise Light, a being of Light.”

 

When words such as this were uttered to Luise, she would often respond with the Hebrew Words, “Baruch Hashem” – “Blessed be God’s name”.

 

In this, I realized that Luise Light had not forgotten her Jewishness.  That she was a true daughter of Zion, living this life as a Universal Jew – and as one truly dedicated to Tikkun ha-Olam – the Repair, the Restoration of the World.  Our great, sweet Luise was one who was here to help bring Heaven to Earth!

 

My dear great sweet friend – thank you for having been in my life – thank you for seeing me, and dear God, thank you for having in some small way allowed me to have been a mirror for Luise to recognize her own greatness.  For great she surely was and is.

 

I also want to say that Luise loved her daughters Sarah and Orrea very much.  She told me so, and that she was very proud of them.  I note that the first people – the “women healers” – she dedicates her book to are her daughters, Sara Light-Waller and Orrea Light.

 

God Bless you Luise – and may you be blessed by all the angels and archangels on the other side – and embraced in the unconditionally loving embrace of God’s warm Hands.

May your Dreams continue onward, into the Celestial Sphere, and may all you have touched and taught, revere you always and touch the world with your light and love.  Amen.

 

Mike Schwager

April 18, 2010

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.

HELP HAITI !! Folks - the 7.0 earthquake that just hit Haiti was catastrophic. It has devastated this little country, the poorest in the world. The Prime Minister has said hundreds of thousands have already died, and the numbers may skyrocket to above a million. It’s a terrible situation for a nation mired in deep chronic poverty; and evidently the epicenter was near the capital city of Port-Au-Prince, in an area of very poor people.

The Miami Herald just published a good page with relief organizations to which people can donate. Please help and give as generously as you can. Here’s link and below:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/haiti/story/1421696.html

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.

President Obama delivered his first address to the UN General Assembly today, calling on the global community to come together in a “new era of engagement” to fight world problems.  As readers of this blog know, I did not vote for this President.  Now that he is our President, I can only wish him well.

I will say too that I liked this speech.  I thought it was a very important speech.  It was really the embodiment of a vision that leaves behind the old paradigms of the 20^th Century, and which charts a new course.  It represented a departure from the previous Administration’s unilateral policymaking.  I was both attracted to the idea of a new era of true world cooperation; and I felt caution too.  The latter comes from my reading of history, especially of the actions of malevolent dictatorships - the Nazi regime in particular - which represented an absence of adherence to moral codes - to which the amorality of the Iranian regime and al Qaeda seem to mirror.  We can only hope that President Obama gets that thoroughly.

That said, the President’s UN speech rested on “four pillars” that, he said, are fundamental for a successful 21^st Century:  non-proliferation and disarmament (pointing to the rights of nations to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but not for the  increase or development of nuclear weaponry that would threaten their neighbors [referring specifically to Iran and North Vietnam]); the promotion of peace and security;  the preservation of our planet (referring to the necessity for climate control and new forms of energy); and a global economy that advances opportunity for all people (which includes the “eradication” of global poverty).  I heard the reaffirmation of human rights, including rights for women and children, as a worldwide right. 

The speech was impressive in articulating the range of imperative issues that press on the world community and in clear allusion to our global interconnectedness, with  problems that must be solved requiring the cooperation of all nations and the citizens of all nations.  Underlying the speech, there was a “planetary consciousness” evident in the President’s weltanschauung.  That I believe is the first time I’ve felt that so compellingly coming from a President of the United States.

Within his remarks, the President indicated he recognized the perils of terrorism, and the need to address it.  What is interesting about this aspect of the speech is that he makes these issues true international issues requiring international cooperation.  It’s my prayer that given that given, he will not shirk from American leadership if the international community does not step up to the plate in critical moments.  We will have to see.

But I do think that by making all nations stakeholders in the promise of a prosperous world, that he hopefully ups the chances for all nations’ cooperation on the Iranian proliferation front and the terrorist front, including the poorer nations.

Here is the speech in full:

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentleman: it is my honor to address you for the first time as the forty-fourth President of the United States.

I come before you humbled by the responsibility that the American people have placed upon me; mindful of the enormous challenges of our moment in history; and determined to act boldly and collectively on behalf of justice and prosperity at home and abroad.

I have been in office for just nine months, though some days it seems a lot longer. I am well aware of the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world. These expectations are not about me. Rather, they are rooted - I believe - in a discontent with a status quo that has allowed us to be increasingly defined by our differences, and outpaced by our problems.

But they are also rooted in hope - the hope that real change is possible, and the hope that America will be a leader in bringing about such change.

I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust. Part of this was due to misperceptions and misinformation about my country. Part of this was due to opposition to specific policies, and a belief that on certain critical issues, America has acted unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others.

This has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for our collective inaction.Like all of you, my responsibility is to act in the interest of my nation and my people, and I will never apologize for defending those interests.

But it is my deeply held belief that in the year 2009 - more than at any point in human history - the interests of nations and peoples are shared.The religious convictions that we hold in our hearts can forge new bonds among people, or tear us apart. The technology we harness can light the path to peace, or forever darken it. The energy we use can sustain our planet, or destroy it.

What happens to the hope of a single child - anywhere - can enrich our world, or impoverish it.In this hall, we come from many places, but we share a common future. No longer do we have the luxury of indulging our differences to the exclusion of the work that we must do together.

I have carried this message from London to Ankara; from Port of Spain to Moscow; from Accra to Cairo; and it’s what I will speak about today. Because the time has come for the world to move in a new direction. We must embrace a new era of engagement based on mutual interests and mutual respect, and our work must begin now.We know the future will be forged by deeds and not simply words. Speeches alone will not solve our problems - it will take persistent action. So for those who question the character and cause of my nation, I ask you to look at the concrete actions that we have taken in just nine months.

On my first day in office, I prohibited - without exception or equivocation - the use of torture by the United States of America. I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed, and we are doing the hard work of forging a framework to combat extremism within the rule of law.Every nation must know:  America will live its values, and we will lead by example. We have set a clear and focused goal: to work with all members of this body to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies - a network that has killed thousands of people of many faiths and nations, and that plotted to blow up this very building. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, we - and many nations here - are helping those governments develop the capacity to take the lead in this effort, while working to advance opportunity and security for their people.

In Iraq, we are responsibly ending a war. We have removed American combat brigades from Iraqi cities, and set a deadline of next August to remove all of our combat brigades from Iraqi territory.  And I have made clear that we will help Iraqis transition to full responsibility for their future, and keep our commitment to remove all American troops by the end of 2011. I have outlined a comprehensive agenda to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. In Moscow, the United States and Russia announced that we would pursue substantial reductions in our strategic warheads and launchers. At the Conference on Disarmament, we agreed on a work plan to negotiate an end to the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons.

And this week, my Secretary of State will become the first senior American representative to the annual Members Conference of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Upon taking office, I appointed a Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, and America has worked steadily and aggressively to advance the cause of two states - Israel and Palestine - in which peace and security take root, and the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians are respected.

To confront climate change, we have invested 80 billion dollars in clean energy. We have substantially increased our fuel-efficiency standards. We have provided new incentives for conservation, launched an energy partnership across the Americas, and moved from a bystander to a leader in international climate negotiations.

To overcome an economic crisis that touches every corner of the world, we worked with the G-20 nations to forge a coordinated international response of over two trillion dollars in stimulus to bring the global economy back from the brink. We mobilized resources that helped prevent the crisis from spreading further to developing countries. And we joined with others to launch a $20 billion global food security initiative that will lend a hand to those who need it most, and help them build their own capacity.

We have also re-engaged the United Nations. We have paid our bills. We have joined the Human Rights Council. We have signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We have fully embraced the Millennium Development Goals. And we address our priorities here, in this institution - for instance, through the Security Council meeting that I will chair tomorrow on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, and through the issues that I will discuss today.This is what we have done.

But this is just a beginning. Some of our actions have yielded progress. Some have laid the groundwork for progress in the future. But make no mistake: this cannot be solely America’s endeavor. Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world’s problems alone. We have sought - in word and deed - a new era of engagement with the world. Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.If we are honest with ourselves, we need to admit that we are not living up to that responsibility. Consider the course that we are on if we fail to confront the status quo.

Extremists sowing terror in pockets of the world. Protracted conflicts that grind on and on. Genocide and mass atrocities. More and more nations with nuclear weapons. Melting ice caps and ravaged populations. Persistent poverty and pandemic disease. I say this not to sow fear, but to state a fact: the magnitude of our challenges has yet to be met by the measure of our action.This body was founded on the belief that the nations of the world could solve their problems together. Franklin Roosevelt, who died before he could see his vision for this institution become a reality, put it this way - and I quote: “The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one Nation…. It cannot be a peace of large nations - or of small nations. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world.”

The cooperative effort of the whole world. Those words ring even more true today, when it is not simply peace - but our very health and prosperity that we hold in common.

Yet I also know that this body is made up of sovereign states. And sadly, but not surprisingly, this body has often become a forum for sowing discord instead of forging common ground; a venue for playing politics and exploiting grievances rather than solving problems.

After all, it is easy to walk up to this podium and to point fingers and stoke division. Nothing is easier than blaming others for our troubles, and absolving ourselves of responsibility for our choices and our actions. Anyone can do that.

Responsibility and leadership in the 21st century demand more. In an era when our destiny is shared, power is no longer a zero sum game. No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation. No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed. No balance of power among nations will hold. The traditional division between nations of the south and north makes no sense in an interconnected world. Nor do alignments of nations rooted in the cleavages of a long gone Cold War.

The time has come to realize that the old habits and arguments are irrelevant to the challenges faced by our people. They lead nations to act in opposition to the very goals that they claim to pursue, and to vote - often in this body - against the interests of their own people. They build up walls between us and the future that our people seek, and the time has come for those walls to come down. Together, we must build new coalitions that bridge old divides - coalitions of different faiths and creeds; of north and south, east and west; black, white, and brown.

The choice is ours. We can be remembered as a generation that chose to drag the arguments of the 20th century into the 21st; that put off hard choices, refused to look ahead, and failed to keep pace because we defined ourselves by what we were against instead of what we were for. Or, we can be a generation that chooses to see the shoreline beyond the rough waters ahead; that comes together to serve the common interests of human beings, and finally gives meaning to the promise embedded in the name given to this institution: the United Nations.

That is the future America wants - a future of peace and prosperity that we can only reach if we recognize that all nations have rights, but all nations have responsibilities as well. That is the bargain that makes this work. That must be the guiding principle of international cooperation.

Today, I put forward four pillars that are fundamental to the future that we want for our children: non-proliferation and disarmament; the promotion of peace and security; the preservation of our planet; and a global economy that advances opportunity for all people.  First, we must stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and seek the goal of a world without them.

This institution was founded at the dawn of the atomic age, in part because man’s capacity to kill had to be contained. For decades, we averted disaster, even under the shadow of a super-power stand-off. But today, the threat of proliferation is growing in scope and complexity. If we fail to act, we will invite nuclear arms races in every region, and the prospect of wars and acts of terror on a scale that we can hardly imagine.A fragile consensus stands in the way of this frightening outcome - the basic bargain that shapes the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. It says that all nations have the right to peaceful nuclear energy; that nations with nuclear weapons have the responsibility to move toward disarmament; and those without them have the responsibility to forsake them.

The next twelve months could be pivotal in determining whether this compact will be strengthened or will slowly dissolve.  America will keep our end of the bargain. We will pursue a new agreement with Russia to substantially reduce our strategic warheads and launchers. We will move forward with ratification of the Test Ban Treaty, and work with others to bring the Treaty into force so that nuclear testing is permanently prohibited.

We will complete a Nuclear Posture Review that opens the door to deeper cuts, and reduces the role of nuclear weapons. And we will call upon countries to begin negotiations in January on a treaty to end the production of fissile material for weapons.I will also host a Summit next April that reaffirms each nation’s responsibility to secure nuclear material on its territory, and to help those who can’t - because we must never allow a single nuclear device to fall into the hands of a violent extremist. And we will work to strengthen the institutions and initiatives that combat nuclear smuggling and theft.

All of this must support efforts to strengthen the NPT. Those nations that refuse to live up to their obligations must face consequences. This is not about singling out individual nations - it is about standing up for the rights of all nations that do live up to their responsibilities. Because a world in which IAEA inspections are avoided and the United Nation’s demands are ignored will leave all people less safe, and all nations less secure.In their actions to date, the governments of North Korea and Iran threaten to take us down this dangerous slope.

We respect their rights as members of the community of nations.  I am committed to diplomacy that opens a path to greater prosperity and a more secure peace for both nations if they live up to their obligations. But if the governments of Iran and North Korea choose to ignore international standards; if they put the pursuit of nuclear weapons ahead of regional stability and the security and opportunity of their own people; if they are oblivious to the dangers of escalating nuclear arms races in both East Asia and the Middle East - then they must be held accountable.

The world must stand together to demonstrate that international law is not an empty promise, and that Treaties will be enforced. We must insist that the future not belong to fear.

That brings me to the second pillar for our future: the pursuit of peace.  The United Nations was born of the belief that the people of the world can live their lives, raise their families, and resolve their differences peacefully. And yet we know that in too many parts of the world, this ideal remains an abstraction. We can either accept that outcome as inevitable, and tolerate constant and crippling conflict. Or we can recognize that the yearning for peace is universal, and reassert our resolve to end conflicts around the world.

That effort must begin with an unshakeable determination that the murder of innocent men, women and children will never be tolerated. On this, there can be no dispute. The violent extremists who promote conflict by distorting faith have discredited and isolated themselves. They offer nothing but hatred and destruction.

In confronting them, America will forge lasting partnerships to target terrorists, share intelligence, coordinate law enforcement, and protect our people. We will permit no safe-haven for al Qaeda to launch attacks from Afghanistan or any other nation. We will stand by our friends on the front lines, as we and many nations will do in pledging support for the Pakistani people tomorrow. And we will pursue positive engagement that builds bridges among faiths, and new partnerships for opportunity.

But our efforts to promote peace cannot be limited to defeating violent extremists. For the most powerful weapon in our arsenal is the hope of human beings - the belief that the future belongs to those who build, not destroy; the confidence that conflicts can end, and a new day begin.

That is why we will strengthen our support for effective peacekeeping, while energizing our efforts to prevent conflicts before they take hold. We will pursue a lasting peace in Sudan through support for the people of Darfur, and the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, so that we secure the peace that the Sudanese people deserve. And in countries ravaged by violence - from Haiti to Congo to East Timor - we will work with the UN and other partners to support an enduring peace.

I will also continue to seek a just and lasting peace between Israel, Palestine, and the Arab world. Yesterday, I had a constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas. We have made some progress.Palestinians have strengthened their efforts on security. Israelis have facilitated greater freedom of movement for the Palestinians.

As a result of these efforts by both sides, the economy in the West Bank has begun to grow. But more progress is needed. We continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel, and we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.

The time has come to re-launch negotiations - without preconditions - that address the permanent-status issues: security for Israelis and Palestinians; borders, refugees and Jerusalem. The goal is clear: two states living side by side in peace and security - a Jewish State of Israel, with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967, and realizes the potential of the Palestinian people. As we pursue this goal, we will also pursue peace between Israel and Lebanon, Israel and Syria, and a broader peace between Israel and its many neighbors. In pursuit of that goal, we will develop regional initiatives with multilateral participation, alongside bilateral negotiations.I am not naïve. I know this will be difficult. But all of us must decide whether we are serious about peace, or whether we only lend it lip-service. To break the old patterns - to break the cycle of insecurity and despair - all of us must say publicly what we would acknowledge in private.

The United States does Israel no favors when we fail to couple an unwavering commitment to its security with an insistence that Israel respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians. And nations within this body do the Palestinians no favors when they choose vitriolic attacks over a constructive willingness to recognize Israel’s legitimacy, and its right to exist in peace and security.

We must remember that the greatest price of this conflict is not paid by us. It is paid by the Israeli girl in Sderot who closes her eyes in fear that a rocket will take her life in the night. It is paid by the Palestinian boy in Gaza who has no clean water and no country to call his own. These are God’s children. And after all of the politics and all of the posturing, this is about the right of every human being to live with dignity and security.

That is a lesson embedded in the three great faiths that call one small slice of Earth the Holy Land. And that is why - even though there will be setbacks, and false starts, and tough days - I will not waiver in my pursuit of peace.

Third, we must recognize that in the 21st century, there will be no peace unless we make take responsibility for the preservation of our planet.The danger posed by climate change cannot be denied, and our responsibility to meet it must not be deferred. If we continue down our current course, every member of this Assembly will see irreversible changes within their borders. Our efforts to end conflicts will be eclipsed by wars over refugees and resources. Development will be devastated by drought and famine. Land that human beings have lived on for millennia will disappear. Future generations will look back and wonder why we refused to act - why we failed to pass on intact the environment that was our inheritance.

That is why the days when America dragged its feet on this issue are over. We will move forward with investments to transform our energy economy, while providing incentives to make clean energy the profitable kind of energy. We will press ahead with deep cuts in emissions to reach the goals that we set for 2020, and eventually 2050. We will continue to promote renewable energy and efficiency - and share new technologies – with countries around the world. And we will seize every opportunity for progress to address this threat in a cooperative effort with the whole world.

Those wealthy nations that did so much to damage the environment in the 20th century must accept our obligation to lead. But responsibility does not end there. While we must acknowledge the need for differentiated responses, any effort to curb carbon emissions must include the fast-growing carbon emitters who can do more to reduce their air pollution without inhibiting growth. And any effort that fails to help the poorest nations both adapt to the problems that climate change has already wrought - and travel a path of clean development - will not work.

It is hard to change something as fundamental as how we use energy. It’s even harder to do so in the midst of a global recession. Certainly, it will be tempting to sit back and wait for others to move first. But we cannot make this journey unless we all move forward together. As we head into Copenhagen, let us resolve to focus on what each of us can do for the sake of our common future.

This leads me to the final pillar that must fortify our future: a global economy that advances opportunity for all people. The world is still recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. In America, we see the engine of growth beginning to churn, yet many still struggle to find a job or pay their bills.

Across the globe, we find promising signs, yet little certainty about what lies ahead. And far too many people in far too many places live through the daily crises that challenge our common humanity - the despair of an empty stomach; the thirst brought on by dwindling water; the injustice of a child dying from a treatable disease, or a mother losing her life as she gives birth.

In Pittsburgh, we will work with the world’s largest economies to chart a course for growth that is balanced and sustained. That means vigilance to ensure that we do not let up until our people are back to work. That means taking steps to rekindle demand, so that a global recovery can be sustained. And that means setting new rules of the road and strengthening regulation for all financial centers, so that we put an end to the greed, excess and abuse that led us into disaster, and prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again.

At a time of such interdependence, we have a moral and pragmatic interest in broader questions of development. And so we will continue our historic effort to help people feed themselves. We have set aside $63 billion to carry forward the fight against HIV/AIDS; to end deaths from tuberculosis and malaria; to eradicate polio; and to strengthen public health systems. We are joining with other countries to contribute H1N1 vaccines to the World Health Organization. We will integrate more economies into a system of global trade. We will support the Millennium Development Goals, and approach next year’s Summit with a global plan to make them a reality. And we will set our sights on the eradication of extreme poverty in our time.

Now is the time for all of us to do our part. Growth will not be sustained or shared unless all nations embrace their responsibility. Wealthy nations must open their markets to more goods and extend a hand to those with less, while reforming international institutions to give more nations a greater voice. Developing nations must root out the corruption that is an obstacle to progress - for opportunity cannot thrive where individuals are oppressed and business have to pay bribes.

That’s why we will support honest police and independent judges; civil society and a vibrant private sector. Our goal is simple: a global economy in which growth is sustained, and opportunity is available to all.

The changes that I have spoken about today will not be easy to make. And they will not be realized simply by leaders like us coming together in forums like this. For as in any assembly of members, real change can only come through the people we represent. That is why we must do the hard work to lay the groundwork for progress in our own capitals.

That is where we will build the consensus to end conflicts and to harness technology for peaceful purposes; to change the way we use energy, and to promote growth that can be sustained and shared.

I believe that the people of the world want this future for their children. And that is why we must champion those principles which ensure that governments reflect the will of the people. These principles cannot be afterthoughts - democracy and human rights are essential to achieving each of the goals that I have discussed today. Because governments of the people and by the people are more likely to act in the broader interests of their own people, rather than the narrow interest of those in power.

The test of our leadership will not be the degree to which we feed the fears and old hatreds of our people. True leadership will not be measured by the ability to muzzle dissent, or to intimidate and harass political opponents at home. The people of the world want change. They will not long tolerate those who are on the wrong side of history.

This Assembly’s Charter commits each of us, and I quote - “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women.” Among those rights is the freedom to speak your mind and worship as you please; the promise of equality of the races, and the opportunity for women and girls to pursue their own potential; the ability of citizens to have a say in how you are governed, and to have confidence in the administration of justice. For just as no nation should be forced to accept the tyranny of another nation, no individual should be forced to accept the tyranny of their own government.

As an African-American, I will never forget that I would not be here today without the steady pursuit of a more perfect union in my country. That guides my belief that no matter how dark the day may seem, transformative change can be forged by those who choose the side of justice. And I pledge that America will always stand with those who stand up for their dignity and their rights - for the student who seeks to learn; the voter who demands to be heard; the innocent who longs to be free; and the oppressed who yearns to be equal.

Democracy cannot be imposed on any nation from the outside. Each society must search for its own path, and no path is perfect. Each country will pursue a path rooted in the culture of its people, and - in the past - America has too often been selective in its promotion of democracy.

But that does not weaken our commitment, it only reinforces it. There are basic principles that are universal; there are certain truths which are self evident - and the United States of America will never waiver in our efforts to stand up for the right of people everywhere to determine their own destiny.

Sixty-five years ago, a weary Franklin Roosevelt spoke to the American people in his fourth and final inaugural address. After years of war, he sought to sum up the lessons that could be drawn from the terrible suffering and enormous sacrifice that had taken place. “We have learned,” he said, “to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.”The United Nations was built by men and women like Roosevelt from every corner of the world - from Africa and Asia; from Europe to the Americas.

These architects of international cooperation had an idealism that was anything but naïve - it was rooted in the hard-earned lessons of war, and the wisdom that nations could advance their interests by acting together instead of splitting apart.

Now it falls to us - for this institution will be what we make of it. The United Nations does extraordinary good around the world in feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and mending places that have been broken. But it also struggles to enforce its will, and to live up to the ideals of its founding.

I believe that those imperfections are not a reason to walk away from this institution - they are a calling to redouble our efforts. The United Nations can either be a place where we bicker about outdated grievances, or forge common ground; a place where we focus on what drives us apart, or what brings us together; a place where we indulge tyranny, or a source of moral authority.

In short, the United Nations can be an institution that is disconnected from what matters in the lives of our citizens, or it can be indispensable in advancing the interests of the people we serve.

We have reached a pivotal moment. The United States stands ready to begin a new chapter of international cooperation - one that recognizes the rights and responsibilities of all nations. With confidence in our cause, and with a commitment to our values, we call on all nations to join us in building the future that our people deserve.  Thank you.

SunSentinel

An Outraged Citizen Speaks: Animal adoptions not a top county priority

Mike Schwager |

South Florida Sun-Sentinel    

For any who has made a dog or cat a member of your family, you know how endearing and valued they become. Yet across our nation, millions of healthy, adoptable dogs and cats are killed each year at our county shelters. This is true as well in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Here in Broward, in 2008, 10,339 animals were euthanized. The numbers were similar in 2007 and 2006.The core of the problem is an unspoken attitude of irreverence for the lives of these precious, feeling creatures. The Animal Care and Regulation Division is in actuality a disposal unit for the elimination of these endearing animals.  Until they are killed, and due to this disposal attitude, many are cramped in small cages, lack exercise, are not touched, and the food is awful. Virtually all develop kennel cough. No serious effort is made to draw traffic to the two Broward facilities, allowing for adoptions to increase. Few know their locations. Despite pleas for large, colorful signage leading to these places, they’ve been ignored, as have past offers to provide free publicity. It is heartbreaking to watch TV public service spots run by the ASPCA depicting the plight of shelter animals - and to recognize that ACARD does nothing of this kind.

If the politicians and bureaucrats who run ACARD truly valued the lives of these stressed-out animals, why is little done to boost traffic and adoptions? Officials feign concern, but it is disingenuous. A few staunch volunteers who have saved hundreds of lives each year by taking pictures of these precious ones and posting them on Craig’s List and Petfinder are no longer allowed to do so. With an annual budget that runs in the millions, why aren’t resources marshaled toward saving lives instead of destroying them? Why don’t we see a competent PR agency hired to develop relationships with the media? Why isn’t the volunteer corps drastically increased to promote the animals on Web sites?

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”Petition your Broward

County commissioner. Visit http://www.compassionateanimalfriendsofbroward.org/. You will also find the location of ACARD’s two facilities. Go there. Save a life. Adopt a pet.

Mike Schwager is a resident of Fort Lauderdale.  Websites:  www.mediamavens.com,www.Enrichment.com, www.TVtraining.tv, www.PRStraightTalk.com.

The above OpEd was recently published in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.  It is short due to word length limitation.  There was much more to write.  Healthy, adoptable, sweet and vulnerable dogs dragged in terror to the killing rooms, knowing what awaits them; lying on tables, shaking and terrified, as “normal, reasonable” people inject them with poison.  Their dead but warm bodies thrown into trash bags and disposal bins.  In Broward County, 10,000 killed every year by “normal, reasonable” people.  In Miami/Dade, the official count is 21,000 - but the true number is higher.  This atrocity must end.  More - much more - must be done to end the kill policies in these counties and other counties across America.  Money must be invested in aggressive marketing/PR campaigns that boost traffic, and adoptions to these places.  Political officials feign concern, but in truth do not care, for the numbers are not declining, and in the present economic Recession, the numbers are actually increasing.  These unconditionally loving creatures have no voice.  We ARE their voices.  They are our comfort, our connection to pure Being - and we must NOT treat them without reverence or respect.  If you are in Broward County, Florida, please sign a Petition of Protest to the Broward Commissioners at this site:  www.CompassionateAnimalFriendsofBroward.org.

Read the book, “Redemption” by Nathan Winograd and learn that it IS possible to convert kill disposal units into no-kill adoption facilities.  Thank you.  God Bless you, and let God work through us to bless them!

[This page is dedicated to my beloved late sister Heddy Schwager McKenna, who was a devout lover of animals, and who understood their purity and connection to Divine Source].

In a moving tribute to his father, Senator Edward Kennedy, Ted Kennedy Jr., said that one of the greatest lessons his father  passed on, was to never give up.  With tears, he shared the story of how, when he was 12 years old, his father helped him climb an icy hill, even though Ted, Jr. had lost a leg to cancer.

“He held me around my waist, and we slowly made it to the top,” Ted Jr. said.  “He said, ‘I know you can do it. We’re going to climb that hill together if it takes us all day… And I knew I was going to be OK…He taught me that nothing is impossible.”

Of all the extraordinary eulogies at Senator Kennedy’s funeral today, there was no moment more poignant than this; and no greater testament to the Senator’s indomitable spirit and big heart.

Senator Ted Kennedy - a great human being, and a great legislator.  As Vice President Biden said at the Senator’s Memorial Service at the JFK Library, “It was never about him.  It was always about YOU.”    President Obama accurately ascribed to him “A man whose name graces nearly 1,000 laws, and who penned more than 300 laws himself.”

And from many who worked with him in the Senate, Democrat and Republican alike, “He always kept his word.”  A key ingredient of character - and of success in relationships, both personal and professional.

God Bless You, Ted Kennedy!

I once handled a book for Harvey Mackay, who had asked me to publicize a manuscript called “Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.”  Harvey was a first-time unknown author, an envelope manufacturer, and I needed to call upon many creative approaches in promoting him.  Fortunately for me, Harvey is an extraordinary individual and a great natural salesman (I say that in the best sense of that word) - and representing him was a delight.  He was incredibly energized and never said “no” to any media placements I put in front of him.  I remember once when I landed an interview for him with a syndicated columnist in Cleveland, and all that was required was a phone interview (Harvey is based in Minneapolis) - Harvey not only flew to Cleveland to meet the columnist…he had lunch with her and the meeting translated into not one column item, but a series of syndicated column items.  Harvey had impressed her that much.  I imagine some of you may recall that that book, “Swim With The Sharks…” became a mega-bestseller, including nearly a year on the New York Times Bestseller List.

One of the many placements arranged for Harvey was with the Asssociated Press (AP) Bureau out of Minneapolis.  That was really the first major national placement, because it ran on the AP’s “A” Wire, which is the national wire that goes to hundreds and sometimes thousands of newspapers, both nationally and internationally.  That single placement became the engine for more major media pickup, and the rest is history.  It showed me the power of the wire services.  AP, Reuters and UPI are the primary such services.

Years later, when I represent a humanitarian NGO, CURE International, which builds and runs teaching hospitals for disabled children in Third World countries, an extraordinary event was about to occur at one of their hospitals in the Dominican Republic.  A baby girl, Rebecca, had been born deformed with a vestige incomplete head connected to her actual head.  The vestigial head needed to be removed, and that surgery would be a first in medical history.  Teams of surgeons flew in to join the Dominican surgeons, and I knew that this was a story that had great media potential.  It was a risky surgery too, and our hearts went out for little Rebecca and her family.  I first planted a seed with Reuters out of Miami, which ran the story in advance of the event.  The pickup on that story was huge, and created a great deal of curiosity with the press.  All the broadcast network and national cable networks positioned themselves to cover the story.  I then notified the local AP reporter out of Santo Domingo, who received permission from his editor in New York to cover the actual operation, and that story ran in thousands of newspapers.  [I had simultaneously worked with a medical reporter from USA Today, for whom I arranged a phone conference with the doctors in advance of the surgery, and that national newspaper ran over a full page, with graphics, of the surgery].

Sadly, Baby Rebecca died in that surgery, though she contributed enormously to the advancement of medical science in understanding that abberation - and helped future babies with a similar condition - to survive.

AP then ran a lengthy story about the tragic outcome; as did Reuters and USA Today.  Naturally both the pre-surgical story and the post-event story ran in thousands of newspapers nationwide and internationally; and broadcast network and cable tv newscasts did the same. 

Most recently, I represented Dr. Peter Langman, head of psychology at KidsPeace: The National Center for Kids In Crisis.  He had written a book called “Why Kids Kill:  Inside the Minds of School Shooters”.  It was an analysis of the mental/emotional conditions of the Columbine killers.  I knew that a major story with AP, as well as a story in USA Today, would do much to give life to this book.  I worked with the local AP Reporter in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, where Dr. Langman was situated.  The seeds were planted early, and because this was a very busy reporter, I knew that I would need to maintain contact with him on a fairly regular basis.  Then, a couple of weeks before the anniversary of Columbine, the reporter interviewed Dr. Langman.  He brought a photographer.  The interview was in-depth.  I sensed it would be a long story; and indeed it became just that.  The outcome?  Over two thousand newspapers picked the story up.  Virtually overnight, the book had been placed on the radar screen of millions of people.

In fact, I had also cultivated contact with a reporter from USA Today, again, well ahead of the Columbine anniversary.  USA Today not only published their story on the front page of the paper, they also had a separate long book review published on the same day.  “Why Kids Kill,” which had barely received any attention until the AP and USA Today stories, had jumped from practically zero on Amazon.com’s list, to  Number 1 on Amazon’s bestseller list for crime books.

All of this is to say that the wire services carry great power and impact.  Look for opportunities to work not only with AP out of New York or Washington, but with the local AP (or Reuters) bureaus in the locales where the story is taking place.

Walter Cronkite passed away last week.  I’ll admit it.  I hate to use the word “died.”  He was so much a part of our culture.  So much an anchor for us as this nation moved through tumultuous times:  World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Civil Rights, the Moon landing, the assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King Jr., and Bobby Kennedy, the elections of American presidents, the Vietnam War…and so much more.  He had an avuncular style, he was centered as the anchorman of the CBS Evening News, he exhuded confidence and concern.  I would say even more, he conveyed the sense that he cared.  He cared about our country, the principles and values upon which it stood, its journey through time and its history.  His patriotism was genuine but not in any way jingoistic.  One had the sense with Walter that he viewed the American experience as an ongoing narrative with meaning, with some kind of unfolding purpose that had no end point - and that he viewed our nation as a positive force in the world.  Having said that, one could sense his disappointment and even pain when things did not go well.  Vietnam, which he eventually saw as a failure (and which brought Lyndon Johnson to say, “If I’ve lost Walter, I’ve lost middle America”).  The assassinations of JFK, Martin Luther King and Bobby, and more.  And he exulted with joy and ebullience when we landed a man on the Moon.

Walter Cronkite brought a sense of comfort and stability to the American psyche.  Whatever the news of the day, with its ups and downs, Walter conveyed reassurance that the Republic was moving forward.  He conveyed a sense of hope in the future because he embodied the American story and the American dream.  He was a kind of glue that held things together - that held us together.

In my view, he was the greatest news anchor in American television news history.  He carried a Spirit that was contained in his very energy. There was no one like him.  And though he may have politically leaned on the liberal side in his personal views - I think he was probably a moderate - he really never showed it on-the-air.  And yet, more than 20 years after his retirement, he is known to have expressed the view that we were missing something in the war on terrorism.   He in no way condoned the ferocity and cruelty of Islamic extremism - for he was a witness to many ferocious ideologies - from Nazism in Germany to the Kmer Rouge in Cambodia - but he was deeply concerned that as an affluent country we were not sensitive enough to the plight of the poor in the developing world.  I saw and heard him say that if he was a parent ensnared in the trap of deeply entrenched poverty in one of those countries, seeing his children hungry and feeling frustrated and anguished about being unable to help them, that he would feel resentment towards those in the West whose prosperity was so self-evident on the television shows and movies that came from America.  He talked about the poor being fodder for the terrorists’ agendas. 

What fascinated me about this is that it confirmed for me that Walter had empathy for people, even with the objectivity he presented as a news anchor and reporter.  He cared.  He cared about America and the American people - but his caring reached out to people and peoples everywhere.   He had seen the Earthrise from the videos that came back from the Appollo missions.  We were one planet - and our species, the human species, was one species.  Walter’s vision was global, and that global vision was not inconsistent with his love for his country as real and deep.  As a great observer of events, he saw connections - he saw the relationships between those events. 

The greatness about Walter Cronkite was that as a professional he was objective.  As a human being, he cared.  He gave a damn.

Walter had a commentator on the CBS Evening News - Eric Sevareid.  Eric was a giant too, for like Walter his view was wide and deep.  He saw the little things, but like Walter, he also saw the larger picture.

There is no one on television today of the stature of Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid.  The void is real, and hopefully it will not take too many years for that void to be filled.