A Woman President?

I think we have another revolution in process. The roles of women in our society are changing again; or at the least, we are giving a great deal of thought to changing their roles. Both Democrats and Republicans are thinking somewhat about running a woman for U.S. President. This week’s issue of Newsweek is devoted to the leadership of women.
Many of us believe that if women were in charge we would have a kinder and less violent world; but, if women were in charge would they continue to be kind and gentle? Or, would they be corrupted by the power? For positions of power, I think that we have to choose not only the best qualified, but the candidates that have a kinder and less violent philosophy and attitude, whatever their race or gender.
GWB was never my choice for president; but I have to admit that he gives women a chance, even sometimes going against political birds of his own flock. He may not be a philosopher or intellectual, but just maybe his attitude toward women is forged by the fact that he is the father of daughters. Don’t we all want what is best for those we love most?
I am the father of one son and two daughters, and the grandfather of one granddaughter and three grandsons. I believe that this fact has a big effect on my attitude and philosophy. I want what is best for both men and women.

Who is screwing up the world?

I read e-mail before I started writing. There are constant pleas for money, and I would like to help each and every one; however, how would we live if we gave our money away? I wonder how much money GWB has given from his personal account. He seems to be more about stealing from the poor to give to the rich. He is a reverse Robin Hood. The struggle between the rich and the poor has been going on for ages. The Communists started out to help the poor, but ended up hurting them more than they helped them until their system imploded. I think that the struggle for power is the real problem. Whoever has the power is screwing up things, whether they are rich or poor.
It is the nature of human beings to control each other. Political and religious systems are their tools for such control. On the other hand, some people need to be controlled. It is an eternal dilemma. A democratic form of government is the best solution anyone has come up with yet. Our problem today is that people who are claiming to be all for democracy are screwing it up, much as the Communists screwed up their countries.
What we need is for all people to be moral and compassionate. The religions have been fighting “sin” for ages by trying to control people. They are steaming toward more and more power, and are on the edge of destroying the church systems by being more concerned with following dogma and doctrine than teaching morality and compassion.
It is the power hungry who are screwing up the world.

Attitude and Intention

I have been thinking lately about attitude and attention. If a person goes around with the right attitude and good intentions, then that person is constantly learning and becoming a better person.
I had a lot of trouble defining and living a positive mental attitude. That got me into a lot of trouble financially and otherwise. Faith could be called a positive mental attitude, but so-called faith can lead you to believe something that is not true. I tend to think that an intelligent and thoughtful attitude is a lot closer to the perfect attitude. Some people seem to feel it necessary to go around with a defensive attitude; I think that might come from being mistreated in the past, but perhaps some of it is necessary. Maybe a good attitude is something different for each of us. Maybe all that is necessary to begin with is to decide to have a good attitude; then one can decide as one goes along what is the best attitude for oneself. I’m not going to tell you what your attitude should be; that is for you to decide. The important thing is that you think about it and build your own best attitude. Right intention is one of Buddha’s precepts; and I think a good one. I think that anyone who makes a conscious decision to have right intentions intends to be a good person. What constitutes good is something that we each need to decide for ourselves.

One

I believe that the best religion is a religion of doing the right thing. Getting all hot and bothered about church and dogma is not a thing that leads us in the right direction. In fact, if you look at certain groups, you will see that their Koran and mosque or Bible and church lead them into being some of the planet’s most immoral beings. They don’t do the right thing because they are too concerned with the wrong aspects of their religion.
I thought for a long time that Buddhism had the right answer to living right, but I see Buddhists who also spend too much money throwing up a big temple, an edifice in which to pray to Buddha and read holy texts. They do meditate, which is good; but they also spend too many resources on ritual and self-aggrandizement, just like the other religions. H.G. Wells, in his History of the World, told us that religion began with human sacrifice. Has that really changed? Acts of terrorism and war seem to be all about human sacrifice. It has gotten so bad that the young people are sacrificing their own lives to kill others. Young Muslims, young Christians, and others are dying daily in the streets of Iraq in a war between two religions. Wouldn’t it be so very much better if we all were citizens of the universe, and exercised our call to religion by living good lives of love, caring, compassion, responsibility, and so forth? We need to stop choosing up sides and all live as one people dedicated to peace, caring for each other, and being the responsible sort of human beings our maker intended.