Jan’s Blog Posts

This summer I went back to graduate school. One might assume that 5 years of graduate school was quite enough (it definitely was, once upon a time). This time I was part of a social work graduate level class where volunteer older adults met with social work students in small groups after completing in-class autobiographical writing assignments. I am not sure who learned most in this intergenerational pairing. The writing was revealing, but the neglected need to tackle ageism in U.S. culture likely was our most important outcome.

The encore “students” displayed vibrant energy in expressing their views; no shrinking violets volunteered to go back to school. When looking backwards at one’s life experiences, there is perspective to be gained. Each of us has important history and relationship lessons to learn when paying attention to clinging decades of life education in the School of Hard Knocks. It is impossible to escape a variety of knock-‘em-up times — if you are lucky enough to live a long life.

Septuagenarians (ages 70-79), octogenarians (ages 80-89), nonagenarians (ages 90-99), and centenarians (ages 100-109) are revered in many cultures. When Becca Levy, psychologist, epidemiologist and professor at the Yale School of Public Health, spent a semester in Japan, she was amazed to see how differently older adults were treated there. She discovered that centenarians were celebrated as rock stars.

Older adults in America are too often assessed with less than positive attributes. Why do we snicker at stereotypical labels: old farts, geezers, gaffers, codgers, silver tsunami, gray wave, women of a certain age, or “over-the-hill” when milestone birthdays are reached? Birthday cards for encore years are raunchy with oddly positioned and/or tattered-looking individuals holding onto life. A revamp of social portrayals of older adults is overdue.

Showing up in ways to connect intergenerationally is just one solution in combating ageism. Consider attitude-shifting in singer songwriter Bob Dylan’s lyrics from Dear Landlord: “If you don’t underestimate me / I won’t underestimate you.” 

Junior citizens may underestimate seasoned citizens because of a negative experience with one or more older adults. Once a bias is formed it is difficult to break down one’s barriers to prejudice and stereotyping. According to Levy (Breaking the Age Code), unconscious ageism is “everywhere,” and starts as young as age 3.

Some individuals are groomed to become adept at putting down themselves. Levy’s 2-decade longevity study of Ohio residents (ages 50+) pinpoints how damaging it is for older adults to hold onto negative beliefs about aging; the median survival rate was 7 ½ years longer for those with the most positive attitudes about aging!  

All of us might adopt age affirmations that Dylan offers in this gem (Forever Young): “May your hands always be busy / May your feet always be swift / May you have a strong foundation / When the winds of changes shift.”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

213. When have you experienced ageism?

214. What might you do to combat ageism in your community?    

“Keep your eyes on the prize,” a poignant saying suggests, but what is the prize? The origin of the phrase is attributed to civil rights activist Alice Wine’s lyrics for her hymn, “Keep Your Hand on the Plow” (1956). A documentary (aired in 1987) re-invigorated the song’s message to instill motivation in African Americans working for the prized gem of equal rights.

Decades later, we still need to keep eyes on the prize of equality for ALL. But what about those who have tunnel vision?

The red brittle star, cousin of the starfish, sea urchin, and sea cucumber, contends with underwater tunnels but has no eyes. However, unlike the emperor who has no clothes, the brittle star is clothed in “eyesight!” Light-sensing cells or photoreceptors cover its body and pigment cells. Unbelievably, brittle stars can escape predators deep in the ocean due to their entire skeleton containing about 10,000 spherically domed crystals that operate as vison.

Furthermore, if an imminent attacker approaches, the brittle star breaks off the body part close to the predator and regrows it. In addition, the brittle star is a colorful character, as it makes color changes to correspond to available light in surroundings. From its reddish-brown daytime hiding color, the brittle star turns beige in nighttime foraging for food.

All of this action arises from a diffuse nervous system, but without a head or brain. An international team of scientists (physicists, chemists, and biologists) consider the genius of the red brittle star. The structure of its all-eyes-on-deck sight is studied as a prototype for tiny lenses for use in computer technology.

Mental tunnel “vision” in humans refers to a narrowing of one’s focus to a single point of view. The “tunnel” is a loss of an all-sides peripheral vision – even common sense may go unnoticed. Warning signals are also overlooked. While anxiety (leading to flight-fight-freeze mode) is often the reason for one’s psychological tunnel vision, other emotional states such as anger, frustration, or depression also limit one’s ability to evaluate incoming information. Consider the Gambian proverb: “If your only tool is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail.”

A result of tunnel vision is that one is simply unaware of what they are not “seeing.” Furthermore, a person with such blockages is rigid, tending to become irritated with anyone who is an interrupter of their particular focus.

The first step in locating ANY part of behavior in oneself is to take a few long, slow breaths. Often, the tunnel-vision trait is accompanied by rapid breathing alongside an indignant stance, as in “Duh…you don’t get it!” However, it is not possible to change anyone else’s colorful character; we are responsible for our own changes.

Let’s look for “available light” in our present surroundings. Can we make our light-sensing pearls as active as those of the red brittle star?

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

211. When do you catch yourself having tunnel vision?

212. What steps might you take to broaden your focus?      

Original pearls have parents; they are the only gems that grew within living creatures. OK, it may be a stretch to believe the oyster or mussel nest is “parenting,” but there are all kinds of parenting. What about cuckoo birds who lay their eggs in another bird’s nest and fly off? Yes, no, or maybe, is the cuckoo a parent?

Deception is one of the common cuckoo bird’s traits. Posing as a threat, the opportunist female cuckoo mimics a predator (like a sparrowhawk) to enter another bird’s nest for her egg dump. This cuckoo treachery involves over 100 different unsuspecting birds that includes warblers, pipits, robins and dunnocks.

Little cuckoo birdies do not fall far from family-tree values. They are pushy with their foster siblings, forcing them to fall out of the nest window. Cuckoo chicks are known bullies. By getting rid of either a foster parent’s eggs or babes, there is a roomier nest and more bird power (including food supplies) for themselves.

We can find deception throughout human history, both in and out of the nest. Consider the fake news propaganda of Roman Octavian who wanted to defeat Cleopatra, the famous female pharaoh of Egypt, and Mark Antony, his Roman rival. The backstory is important; Mark Antony abandoned his wife, who happened to be Octavian’s sister, and was involved romantically with Cleopatra, having 3 children with her. Cleopatra already had a son with Julius Caesar, Caesarion or “Little Caesar” who looked like Caesar, but reportedly the famous father refused to acknowledge his only biological child.

Cleopatra lived in Rome for 2 years with Caesar and young Caesarion, but she returned to Egypt when Caesar was assassinated. Just when you think this complicated nesting could not be more confusing, Octavian was Caesar’s adopted son.

While Octavian and Antony fought previous battles together, Octavian believed that Antony was engaged in a power grab for Rome. Octavian launched the naval Battle of Actium against the combined fleets of Cleopatra and Antony. Octavian was victorious and later assumed control of Egypt. One story is that the couple committed suicide after Cleopatra sent Caesarion to India for safety. Another story declares the lovers were murdered. Anyway, Caesarion was lured home and murdered. The Roman Senate bestowed the title of Augustus (meaning “revered”) upon Octavian.  

Although there are scant surviving documents about Cleopatra, she was a break-the-glass-pyramid powerful gal, thought to speak as many as a half-dozen languages including Egyptian although she was not Egyptian, but a Macedonian Greek. In one surviving papyrus dated 35 BCE, Cleopatra was described as Philopatris, “she who loves her country.” During Cleopatra’s rule, she increased trade routes to Arabia which contributed to Egyptian wealth and is credited with reforming Egypt’s monetary system.

Back in Rome, Cleopatra’s hairstyles and pearl jewelry were revered and became fashion trends.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

209. Have you encountered deceptions in your family tree?

210. What actions can you take to combat deception?

How do you get yourself to do ANYTHING? Are you like a Ming dynasty dragon flying through clouds to chase pearls?

In school we learned psychiatrist Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy” of needs (1943 paper, A Theory of Motivation): physiological needs/safety needs/love and belonging/esteem/self-actualization. After a few years of psychology practice, I took exception to Maslow’s linear line-up as well as his assertion that “self-actualization” occurred rarely, and only to a famous few — Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Adams, William James, Albert Schweitzer, Aldous Huxley, Benedict de Spinoza, Abraham Lincoln (in his last years), and Thomas Jefferson.

Without naming them, Maslow pondered a list of his contemporaries for “partial cases” of self-actualization. Were these individuals also predominantly men? What about kids who often seem more self-actualized than the adults in their world? Could Greta Thunberg be recognized for “partial” self-actualization?

Maslow silently amended his model of needs (in notes in his journal which were published after his death in 1970), as his thinking was challenged by his friend, Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. This revelation is explained by Frankl’s grandson, documentary filmmaker and psychotherapist Alexander Vesely: “Abraham Maslow, in his ‘hierarchy of needs,’ said that once basic needs (food, shelter) are met, then the intangibles such as love, meaning, and self-actualization can be fulfilled. But my grandfather disagreed. He told Maslow how people did not have their ‘basic’ needs met in the concentration camps, but it was the ‘higher’ needs (i.e., meanings, love, and values) that proved to be much more relevant to their chance of survival. Maslow revised his ideas and said, ‘Frankl is right.’ My grandfather emphasized that it’s not about ‘having what you need to live’ but asking yourself, ‘What am I living for?’ The most affluent societies have all their basic needs met, but they lack something to live for….”

No longer hidden, “self-transcendence” is the pinnacle of Maslow’s basic needs. To self-transcend one finds meaning beyond self-fulfillment; to be fully human, one has integrity and takes responsibility for something “larger” than one’s own ability potential, as in altruistic actions.

All of us may be somewhere on the “partial” continuum of actualizing our potential, but where is our self-transcendent behavior evident? No one really knows what travails and trauma another individual may have encountered that led to their less-than-transcendent actions. The Chinese portrayal of a sharply clawed dragon chasing a “flaming pearl” is a poignant image. Each person struggles in particular ways to meet their continuously flowing and concurrent basic needs that often appear elusive.

Viktor Frankl’s keen understanding of human nature still reverberates today. Frankl believed that there’s a Hitler and a Mother Theresa in everyone; it is up to each of us to decide which of the two we will become. Beyond self-actualization, true happiness relates to finding purpose and meaning in life — the hidden pearl of self-transcendence.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

207. Where do you find “larger” meaning in your life today?

208. How might you engage in an altruistic action today?     

Do coyotes need International Self-Care Day? As I watched a pack of coyotes frolic the last time I visited Arizona, I admired their frisky playfulness with one another. From a second-floor balcony, I watched them cavort and tumble over one another with complete abandon. It looked fun! Coyotes do not have to sign up for a class on improvisational yips, yelps, whines or howls. They are considered as extremely adaptable mammals (they eat almost anything) and are faster than humans, running 35-43 mph when chasing food (the fastest man runs 23.35 mph). Are coyotes also smarter than people? Every day is a self-care day for coyotes.

I have never had more than one occasional coyote in my own yard. My neighbor watched a coyote chasing a rabbit in my front yard. He labeled it his Serengeti experience. During winter, I found coyote tracks into my lilac thicket where a rabbit community nest exists. Another day I encountered a coyote in my back yard. We each stopped in our tracks. We stared at each other, as if to inquire, “What are you doing in MY yard?” I noticed Sir/Madam Coyote was well groomed.

Humans seem to require reminders about self-care for themselves as well as for others. Different entities have declared a National Self-Care day (created in 2010 for April 5^th,), and even National Self-Care Month (first recognized in 2017 for the month of September). However, International Self-Care Day is TODAY, July 24^th. The World Health Organization in 2011 chose the 24^th day to symbolize self-care “24 hours a day/7 days a week” with the U.S. Senate endorsing the July 24^th concept in 2014. This international version developed this year’s theme of “resilience, adaptability, and thriving in adversity” — all traits that coyotes seem to embody fully.

Human self-care means much more than a healthy diet with mindfulness and exercise practices. Some individuals are more challenged with self-care than others when institutional and interpersonal discrimination affects them 24/7. Civil Rights activist Audre Lorde explained: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

An article in the New Yorker describes commercialized “Self-Care Planners” and self-care temporary tattoos — shaped like Band-Aids with such messages as “This too shall pass,” and “I am enough.” On this International Self-Care Day, let’s consider how the U.S. might provide affordable healthcare that includes equitable services for mental health along with physical health.

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you,” quipped writer Anne Lamont. Time-out, taking pauses for playtime, is self-care, but we also need bigger and lasting Band-Aids.

FYI, coyotes are considered to be a good omen by many First Nation people. Coyotes are believed to be spirit animals. Aren’t all humans spirit animals too?

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

205. What actions will you take in your own self-care today?

206. Does this weekly blog offer you any ideas for supporting the self-care of yourself and others?            

Nora Prior, PhD Senior Research Associate, Psychology Department at Cornell University, studies songbirds. The Australian Zebra finch is monogamous. Dad finch works cooperatively in parent partnering. Birdbrain couples closely coordinate their parenting actions through communicating vocal harmonies.

Contrast this bird behavior with bee behavior. Male bees are lusty, but not trusty fellows (One Earth Film Fest).  A male bee jumps a female’s back and pins down her wings so that she cannot fly off. Initially, the young male “…jumps on anything, even bees of a different species. He improves with practice!” Drones (male bees), are about 10% of a bee colony and do no work; their life consists of eating honey and mating.

And humans? Current statistics are that 40% of the U.S. births occur to unmarried women. This is more than double the number in 1980 (18%). Reportedly, there are 13.6 million single parents raising 21 million children in the U.S. today; 80% of these single-parent caregivers are women. Where are the fathers?

The 7-10-23 Washington Post article, “Men are Lost. Here’s a Map Out of the Wilderness” by columnist Christine Emba, underscores the uncertain identity roles of men currently. Emba met and talked with men around the country. While many were taught a traditional male-as-provider role, the reality is that many feel left behind with declining male earnings and females appearing stronger in earning power. There are only 74 men finishing a college degree for every 100 women. However, the real “missing out” factor may be that young men today are missing positive male role models.

O.K. Here’s hope! Parenting precious-as-pearls babies is more all-encompassing than singing lullabies, although singing is an important ingredient — even singing to a babe in the womb. Many young mothers find themselves in circumstances without physical and/or emotional support.

New Moms, a Chicago-based parenting support center for moms 24 years-old or younger, celebrates their 40-year anniversary this year. From lowly roots of handing out diapers to young moms from the trunk of Ellen Kogstad’s car, to moving into the impressive Transformation Center in the Austin neighborhood with 30 studio and 10 one-bedroom apartments to accommodate single moms needing housing, New Moms expanded into Oak Park, acquiring Parenthesis Family Center and creating housing for 18 additional families.

I recently participated in making candles with New Moms at Bright Endeavors where soy candles are made for individual or corporate gifts and Whole Foods’ distribution. The paid job-training site has young moms learning more than how to show up for work on time and pour hot wax efficiently. The candle factory hums with activity. Candle-making moms face a punch list of life-skill development: executive skills, organization, time management, planning and prioritization, goal directed persistence, working memory, task initiation, sustained attention, response inhibition, metacognition, emotional control, flexibility, and stress tolerance.

Every person needs a Hi-Ho-It’s-Off-to-Work-We-Go job where they learn this energizing skillset!    

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

203. What organizations for social betterment do you support?

204. How might you extend support to youthful parents?                 

Columbia University’s Sustaining Peace Project studies Mauritius, the most peaceful nation in Africa. Different ethnic and religious groups with populations of Hindus (52%), Christians (28%) and Muslims (16%) practice democracy. A simple sign reinforces acceptance: “One Island. Many Peoples. All Mauritians.” The ethic of respect is an everyday/everywhere practice, from how daily news is reported, how teachers support their students, and notably, how politicians relate. Peacefulness is not taken for granted but is cultivated nationally.

A diverse group of scholars – psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, astrophysicists, environmental scientists, political scientists, data scientists, communications experts – began meeting in 2014 to study cultures where peace was sustainable. They found non-warring social systems existing in the 5 Nordic countries who have lived peacefully with one another for 200+ years. Singapore, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Canada, Qatar, the Orang Asli of Malaysia, 10 Upper Xingu River basin communities of Brazil, the E.U. and Mauritius are further examples.

The scholars’ list of peace-promoting individual habits prescribes a model for healthy adulthood:

• Motives: Endorsing self-transcendent values, an attitude of openness, a cooperative orientation, and peace beliefs;
• Cognitions: Possessing strengths in moral reasoning, fluency of a language of peace, and embracing a global identity;
• Affect: Demonstrating levels of empathy and compassion, hopefulness and positivity, and a trusting mindset;
• Behavior: Exhibiting mindfulness and a willingness to compromise.

Moving to family and community, peace-promoting includes these variables:

• A shared identity as a peaceful family/community with peace-enhancing ceremonies;
• A belief in cooperative tasks, goals, and reward structures;
• High levels of education and literacy, including early access to tolerance and multiculturalism in education;
• An ability to promote superordinate identity groups as unified across differences;
• Leaders who model peaceful values such as egalitarian values and norms;
• Examples of peace language in media and a spirit of sharing a free flow of information.

As a point of interest, an astrophysicist set his mathematic genius to work during one weekend and made an algorithm of the peace variables. No worries, I am not going there in this blogpost, but just know that the interactions of the above characteristics change when a variable is “decreased.” Peace-promoting can encounter rocky shorelines.

Internationally we suffer from an Attention-to-peace Deficit Disorder in spite of the United Nations attempts to sustain a peaceful planet.

Perhaps the education piece of peace is where we might best focus efforts for world peace. As psychiatrist Erich Fromm (The Sane Society, 1955) asked: “Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age?”

A song popularized by singer Vince Gill (and daughter Jenny) was written by husband-and-wife songwriters Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller (in 1955) with a message that still rings true today: “Let there be peace on earth, And let it begin with me. Let there be peace on earth, The peace that was meant to be….”   

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

201. What does peace-promoting mean in your own words?

202. What peaceful language can you use today?        

Confucius is attributed with these words: “To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.” Informed critical thinking seems to be in short supply these days. While I am unqualified to interpret constitutionality or precedents in the law, I do tend to think downstream as well as upstream. Supreme Court decisions last week have massive implications. The “majority” seems to cross a line.

Columbia University president, Lee Bollinger, is a lawyer. He holds the longest tenure as president in the Ivy League (21 years). Previously, he held the presidency role at University of Michigan. His book, A Legacy of Discrimination: The Essential Constitutionality of Affirmative Action (with co-author Geoffrey Stone), warns of dangers of overturning a 2003 Gruttere v. Bollinger Supreme Court decision (upholding affirmative action in promoting diversity in education and ultimately, the general society). Bollinger labels the current ruling “tragic.”

Racial discrimination in the U.S. is problematic on many fronts. Bollinger’s expertise in running major U.S. universities with an effort to promote fairness in the student selection processes has been overlooked by this latest Supreme Court decision. How many of the justices studied his book?  

In an interview with S. Mitra Kalita (4-11-23), Bollinger was worried about how the current members of the Supreme Court would rule on affirmative action. Here is his thinking: “Is it constitutional and consistent with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for selective universities and colleges to consider race and ethnicity as a factor in accepting students? If the effective answer will be no, if that is the outcome, it will reverse a half-century of efforts by higher education to try to become more diverse, and it will have profound effects on society…

I was a defendant in the Michigan case. That was the first time a majority of the Supreme Court, five to four, ruled in favor of higher education taking race into account as a factor in admissions for educational purposes…the court solidly declared that principle under the 14th Amendment. However, the opponents of affirmative action are dogged…[Professor]Geoff Stone and I wrote this book because we felt that not only is affirmative action constitutional, it has been extremely successful in helping to realize the ideals of Brown v. Board of Education…certainly the greatest decision of the Supreme Court in our entire history. It was a unanimous decision by a court with Republican-and-Democrat-appointed justices.”

In a second Supreme Court decision last week, student loan forgiveness was rebuffed. Notably, the individuals holding the most student loans are Black women. As a point of interest, the 3 justices who believed in affirming “affirmative” education and helping with college debt were all women. Were they better informed on long-term issues?

Former justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said: “The right to swing your arm ends just where the other man’s nose begins.” Happy Independence Day!

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

199. When has a precedent mattered in your life?

200. Does anyone in your family struggle with student loans?      

My community library has a book sale every summer. People donate books that they no longer want. A volunteer army attacks bags and boxes of books piling up in sections of the library; they sort books into categories for ease of purchase. You drive to the library loading dock for a big stash of giveaways. No less than 5 individuals (of every decade past age 10) swarmed my last truckload. The ensuing sale draws a huge crowd. One can enlarge their home library for very little money. 

Meanwhile, individuals transform their former book stacks and bookshelves for a variety of reasons: making space for new books (wink), using cleared-out space for something totally new, or needing to reduce “stuff” from a family’s estate hand-me-down books.

As an author I have mixed feelings about all of this. What if the precious books that I donate to the book sale are not purchased? Where do they go? Several years ago I was told that there are simply too many books left over from the sale; they go to the equivalent of book cemeteries. I was aghast. Knowing how much time, deliberation, and energy it takes to write a book, I could not imagine this fate.

Another part of my mind put a philosophical and transformative spin on the life span of a book. What if each book had served its purpose at a particular time in a culture? With paper coming from trees, and trees rising out of the dusty earth, was the return of paper to a landfill just another example of “dust to dust?” After all, my college paperback copy of War and Peace by Russian Leo Tolstoy was on the tattered (and quite dusty) side already. I confess that I never read every fictional war portion. Today we ponder horrors of a current Russian war.

Tolstoy penned these 1867 lines, as if written today: “He recalled his mother’s last letter. ‘What would she feel,’ he wondered, ‘if she saw me here now, on this field, with cannon aimed at me?’” We can answer this, whether we gave birth or not. Clearly, we are a people in need of transformation.

While War and Peace immigrated to the library book sale, I held back another college-era book, psychiatrist Erich Fromm’s The Sane Society (1955). Fromm is described on the back cover as “…counter[ing] the profound pessimism for our future that Freud expressed in his Civilization and its Discontents” (another donation). I am struck by this Fromm quote: “The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots.”

Again, Tolstoy’s deliberations are timeless: “There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth…” and “If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.”

Transformation is primarily an inside job.

 Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

197. What books from college resonate with you?

198. How do you decide to let go of a book?               

Juneteenth is a remembrance acknowledging the 1865 emancipation of enslaved African Americans in Texas — 3 years after slavery was abolished in the U.S. While the intent of Juneteenth was to dismantle systemic racism, it has not received general recognition among white folks. President Biden highlighted a history lesson in pronouncing Juneteenth a federal holiday June 17, 2020. Perhaps George Floyd’s life cut short in Minneapolis a month prior can be accredited with the impetus for Juneteenth’s national recognition, along with the 100^th anniversary of the Tulsa (Oklahoma) Race Massacre (also not covered in many history books).

Unfortunately, many Black and Brown cut-short lives have not merited as much notice as George Floyd’s murder by police. In a stinging report of Minneapolis police injustice this past week, Attorney General Merrick Garland laid bare the disturbing facts about racial profiling and police violence.

Lest one is tempted to berate Texas, Oklahoma, or Minnesota for ultra-racist behavior, the NAACP has issued a travel advisory to Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ individuals regarding Florida where it may be especially dangerous for them. Louisiana is another state where the NAACP is considering similar travel warnings.

Trauma from racial and gender injustice seemingly has no bounds. Complicating holiday festivities this weekend, gunfire took down a peaceful Juneteenth gathering in Willowbrook, Illinois, just as Father’s Day arrived. One person died, two individuals were cast into critical conditions, and 20 others were wounded.

What happened to everyone’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Are we teaching democracy in our public schools? I wonder about the children of those who assaulted democracy on January 6^th. What messages did they take away from a parent’s violent behavior to subvert democracy? Too many innocent lives exist in a near-constant state of peril.

And yet, there are pearls.

Journalist Victor Luckerson’s 2023 publication, Built from the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, America’s Black Wall Street, chronicles the race massacre in Oklahoma on June 1, 1921, and the community’s rise from literal ashes. Tulsa’s unfortunate legacy includes stories of white rioters burning nearly every Black business to the ground and destroying 1200 homes; most concerning, an estimated 300 individuals lost their lives. This once flourishing Black community struggled to rebuild, but encountered rejected insurance claims, property theft, and a later highway which removed shops and homes without fires. Still, rebuilding took place.

One descendant of a founding family of Black Wall Street, Regina Goodwin, became a state representative. In her State Senate run for office in 2015, Goodwin announced, “Some women get lost in the fire and some…are built from the fire.”

While we mourn the lives lost to injustice everywhere, we also celebrate the resilience that reigns in the form of post-traumatic growth.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

195. How might you advance the cause of inclusive education — recognizing everyone’s history?

196. In what ways do you affirm the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for ALL?