Realpolitik

Today marks the anniversary in which President Nixon announced that he would visit communist China. It was a landmark event in the history of US foreign policy and it embodied a foreign policy worldview, first coined by Henry Kissinger (Secretary of State at the time), as "realpolitik".

Realpolitik basically says (definition courtesy of The History Channel), that this is a policy of "politics that favored dealing with other powerful nations in a practical manner rather than on the basis of political doctrine or ethics". Take a minute to digest that.

This opened the way for the US to enter into economic relations with China and change the free-market as we know it, flooding it with a myriad of cheaper manufactured goods - despite the human rights' atrocities that occur daily (Tibet, or the most recent Uighur protests and violence). It also currently allows us to turn a blind eye on human rights' atrocities occurring in Russia (check out this article and remember the situation with Georgia last summer). Other examples of realpolitik? How about turning a blind eye on Rwanda (not a powerful enough nation to warrant our attention), or not mentioning anything when former General Musharraf gained power by virtue of a coup (and then becoming our "ally" when we invaded Afghanistan in 2002?). How about continuing to support Israel, even as it demolishes Palestinian neighborhoods and builds a literal wall around the West Bank? How about supporting Saudi Arabia as it promotes radical, fundamental Wahhabi Islam, denigrates its female population, and employs migrant Indian workers (who are no better than indentured servants) while the entire population lives off royalties from oil?

Realpolitik allows the US to turn a blind eye on many things, allowing practicality and logic to dictate foreign policy. But the question has got to be, is this a good thing?

I truly don't know. I don't know when a state on the scale of the United States should step into conflicts and try to help the situation. Do you try to help a failed state like Somalia and risk another Black Hawk Down occurring? Do you go against the political power and money of the Jewish lobby and say that no, we will not support Israel's tactics against Palestine? Do you try to stop genocide occurring in Sudan? Do you confront an economic and military powerhouse like China about it's human rights violations that it flaunts in front of us? Do you rescue North Koreans from an insane dictator that is hellbent on starving his people before he launches a nuclear missile? What dictates a state's foreign policy? Economics? Or ethics? Sell your soul or be guided by principles? Can it be both? Or should it be neither?

What do you think? What should the role of a state like the US be in the realm of world politics? Isolate itself so that we do not "meddle" in the affairs of other states and do nothing; help ethnic minorities throw off the restrictions of a dictatorship so that they might have a chance at the basic human right of freedom; rescue those suffering from gross human rights' injustices; or follow a combination of economic-ethical policies that allow us to turn a blind eye on some things, but not others?

It's not an easy answer.

Book Review: Stephenie Meyer's "The Host"

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I don't know what it is about Stephenie Meyer, but she certainly has a way of capturing the imagination and interest of this reader. So much so that when I picked the book back up yesterday, I could only put it down once, and then once I started reading it again, I had to finish it before I went to bed. Meyer has a way of weaving a tale of such beautiful romantic proportions but in completely bizarre, weird wrappings that the beauty and romance ultimately transcends the bizzarity of the actual plot details.

The basic plot of the book entails an alien lifeform called a "soul" taking possession of it's host body, which in the case of this story, are human bodies. Kind of weird-freaky and frankly disturbing premise.

But the beauty in the story is that as it develops and transforms, you the reader find yourself adapting to the premise and developing sympathy for the plight of the main character, "the soul", although initially you care for the "host" body. By the middle of the tale you are intently involved with both characters and by the end you find yourself sobbing at the sacrifice of one for the other. Then at that time you also marvel at the fact that the story evolved from a love triangle to a love quadrangle and yet you knew somehow from the middle of the book that this was where the characters would ultimately end up. And while you are investing yourself in the main characters, there are a slew of other minor characters that enrich and enhance the story as well.

The choices that "soul" makes ends up showing it's distinct beauty and character, and I wonder as I reflect further upon it, if the "soul" is not actually a metaphor in some ways for our own, human, souls. I think this train of thought needs further reflection though.

All in all, it's another quality read by Stephenie Meyer, in the same vein (and yet completely different) as her Twilight novels. I highly recommend it and I highly enjoyed it. I hope that Meyer will continue to write more good quality, highly imaginative reads.


View all my reviews.

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

rating: 4 of 5 stars

So back in March of 2007 when I started this book, I thought it was ok - just another good, popular business book that I should probably read. The introduction was kind of dry and hard to get into when I was trying to read it on zero hours of sleep in the Charles De Gaulle Parisian airport. So I put it down for a bit...quite a long bit, as approximately two years when by before I picked it back up again.

And thank goodness I did. Once I made it past the introduction, I started to get into the meat, the heart of the book, which is a fascinating study of how social epidemics, whether it's a trendy new shoe or teenage smoking, get started and succeed. It's a study that looks at the actions of people and tries to make sense of why do some people act the way that they do? What makes a trend take off among people?

From a business/marketing standpoint, this is a great study. It provides a minefield of data and people to look for - the Salesmen, Connectors, and Mavens (the Law of the Few), as well as the encouragement to think outside of the box to figure out how to make a message "sticky" (The Stickiness Factor). It also makes the marketer think about how does your environment, your surroundings (the fascinating Broken Window theory, or also The Power of Context) affect your message? The thoughtful Afterword that comes at the end of the book also presents the challenges and questions of how does one overcome the Rise of Immunity to a message (my answer is engagement in social media marketing) and the importance of Finding the Mavens as your best ally in spreading the word about your product.

From a human, sociological, and in my case a Christian world-view, the book offers a dramatic look at how people are inherently and subconsciously influenced by the power of community. Especially in America, people like to flaunt their individualism as part of their identity. They are an individual so they make their own decisions and whatever else someone thinks does not matter or affect their actions and decisions. Gladwell's book gives countless examples of how little factors make a HUGE difference and how people, especially children and teens, are influenced by what their community around them tells them. The subversive thing about it, is that often these cues are subconscious, and a person responds out of those subconscious cues more than they would ever admit personally. It also is fascinating that children and teens are more influenced by their peers and the subconscious "permission" that these peers give them to try or do all sorts of things - which sometimes results in unspeakable destructive acts.

All in all, there is a lot to be learned from this book. I have read several reviews on here that seek to debunk all the theories or rail against it for lack of empirical data, but I can't agree with those arguments. It's not a life-changing book and I don't think that it should be read in that way. I believe that it should be read as a guide to think about human behavior and decisions in a way that we've never considered before. It is a great study of human behavior and how the little things really do make more of a difference than anyone has ever been aware of before. I liked this book enough that I'm going to put Gladwell's book, "Blink", on my "to-read" list, in the hopes that it is a continuation of this kind of interesting study on human behavior.


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Lord of Miracles

God is into miracles. Little ones. Big ones. Ones that require only a little bit of faith. Ones that require a mountain range plus Mt. Everest of faith. Ones in which it requires a little prayer. Ones in which a whole community rises up and surrounds a person or event with prayer. There are not many things that I am sure of, but of this I am - God is into miracles.

Two of my friends from college have been on an incredibly arduous journey of faith in trying to adopt two Ethiopian children. They have been on this journey for about two years. Two years of heartache, yearning, pain, obstacles, and now, insurmountable joy. For finally, FINALLY, the last leg of the journey is over and they are now currently on their way, journeying toward their children, ready to bring them home and start the family that God has created. He has been so unbelievably faithful to them, it brings tears to my eyes. And their faithfulness to Him is an epic tale of two people refusing to give up hope and to cry out to Him in the obstacles, in the pain. I invite you to take a look at some of their previous posts on their blog, Every Bitter Thing is Sweet. I have been praying for them and this journey for months now and to see how the insurmountable obstacles just melted away these past few weeks is beyond any description that I can give.

Some of my other dear friends just celebrated the one-year birthday of their daughter - a daughter who was born with serious heart defects and has, in her one year of life, already had multiple heart surgeries. Yet this sweet, beautiful little girl is the picture of health, love, and joy and again, the testament to how a community surrounded an impossible situation with prayers and how our Mighty Lord answered and gave us her life as a living reminder of His miracles.

Then there are the little miracles that the Lord of Lazy Susans, and now apparently Leather Couches, creates, reminding me of His sense of humor and how He can be involved in the little details of our life.

I need one more miracle though and I must ask you, whoever reads this, to pray with me for a friend of mine. She recently lost her mother and is so, so lost spiritually, mentally, and physically. I worry and fear for her, but I also know that I can have hope for her because of who God is and how He can work miracles. But this is a miracle that needs community, and so I am asking you to please keep my friend in your prayers. Pray for healing, for peace of mind, for strength to continue living through her pain, and that her physical needs would be met (she is in search of a job, home, insurance, etc.). And please pray for those of us walking with her through this, that we would have wisdom in what to say and what not to say, how to listen, and yet how to speak Truth into her life. My sincerest, heartfelt thanks to you. And Thank You Lord of Miracles.

**PS, Note on the Picture - I actually took this photograph one day as I was driving my country roads around lovely Fauquier county. Isn't it beautiful! It reminds me of God :).**

It Just Keeps Piling On....

Oh blog, bloggedy, blog, blog. I have been meaning and wanting to post thoughts, feelings, and reactions to a myriad of things for a while, but the demands of summer, life, and living with Jesus have been pretty pressing as of late. I hope to post some thoughts up here soon though about my completed trip to Young Life camp, as well as some other things that have been ruminating, marinating, and rummaging around in my head. I am beyond grateful for a 3 day weekend this weekend, and hope that by the time I emerge from it, I will be a little bit more rested for the chaos of next week - which looks to be one heck of a ride! Sorry for only posting twice last month - that is a new all-time low. But be sure, as always to check out Ruminations and Reflections. I'm much better about posting up over there :).

Bury the Chains: Review

Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I finished reading this book about two or three weeks now I guess. The reason I have not reviewed it yet is because I don't want to acknowledge that I have in fact finished reading this book, because then it would just depress me that I do not have something as well-written, captivating, challenging, and stimulating to read as of right now.

This book by far is the best book I have read in 2009. Adam Hochschild truly captured not only the spirit of the abolition movement, but also the many different men involved in bringing the industry of slavery to an end in the British empire. His ability to narrate the events that led to this movement in history is unparalleled - perhaps only matched by the likes of Barbra Tuchman and Stephen Ambrose. And yet Hochschild made William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp and Equiano and James Stephen come to life in a way that I don't think any other author could have.

I am doing a poor job of reviewing - on to the details - the book lays the foundation for this period in history - the sociological, psychological, political, religious, and economical factors that lay underneath the acceptance of the slave trade and slavery in the world's greatest empire. From this foundation, it moves into the start of the fight against the slave trade - which was the world's very first grassroots human rights campaign. At no other prior point in human history, did human beings come together and systemically work within the confines of governmental law to change the norms of society. The book goes into further detail about the specifics of how this movement got started, how it developed, and the obstacles that it had to overcome (50 years worth of obstacles) in order to succeed. And yet in the end, the slave trade and slavery itself were finally abolished and for the first time in history, an empire existed in which slavery was outlawed. While there were many other forms of keeping the Africans in positions of subjugation to the ruling elite (many of which have ramifications on the state of world politics and economics today), the name and practice of slavery was officially banned from the British Empire.

Personally, it was an interesting time to be reading this book right on the heels of concluding Rob Bell's "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" in which he rails against "empire" and all of its trappings and how as Christians we need to fight against the empire. Yet empires are a fact of history - there has always been empires and there will always be empires. What I think that "Bury the Chains" did for me that Rob Bell's book did not was show how a group of people can fight for the basic human rights of people who could not fight for themselves. This book showed how a group of 11 men, working within the political, social, and religious confines of their society, were able to bring down the economic forces that allowed slavery to continue for as long as it did. These men helped regular people to identify with people of a different skin color and see them as human beings - not a means to an end. It took many years - and in the end, violent revolutions in the Caribbean - but they ultimately succeeded. Yet Hochschild does not overlook the fact that in doing so, that by eliminating slavery in the British Empire, that very Empire suffered an enormous loss to their GDP - well into the millions, billions. Obviously, a person's life is worth more than money - but it took a half century for the empire to recognize that it's people wanted them to realize that.

The characters that dot the timeline of the abolition movement were eccentric fellows and all very different from each other - yet they were able to overcome their differences - religious, political, and social - and work together to help their fellow man. I wish I could go back in time and meet Granville Sharp, or Thomas Clarkson, or Equiano, or William Wilberforce - such amazing men. Hochschild excels in detailing their lives and roles in bringing this movement into a reality and finally to an end.

While there are forms of slavery that still exist today in the forms of sexual trafficking and factory labor in the East, it is safe to say that the idea that slavery is inherently evil would never have occurred had it not been for the work and unparalleled dedication of these men to the most basic of human rights - that of freedom. Many kudos to Hochschild for capturing this tale in such an enlightening and brilliant way. I was truly sad when I turned to the last page and read the last words of this wonderful, wonderful book.

View all my reviews.

The Lord of Lazy Susans

Scene: Lauren is packing her things up after another long day at work. She looks at her watch - 7:55pm. *Sigh* She makes her way downstairs, for the final office check-through to make sure that everything is locked up so that she can set the alarm. As she walks down the hall to go out to the warehouse to double-check that everything is turned off and locked up, she notices a light on in one of her coworker's office. As she makes her way over to turn off the light, she is surprised to find another coworker still there...

Me: "Oh! Hey D, I didn't know you were still here!"
D: "Yep, just finishing up on a few things for some customers."
(Lauren and D chat for a little bit...talking about the designs that she's working on, the customers that she's working with, how hard it can be to work with some people, the inane requests that come in...)
D: "Oh, let me tell you the story about this one guy about a week ago. This guy phones in. He is looking for one piece of a lazy susan that Cardell manufactures. I tell him that we might have one in the back warehouse, and to let me go check. So, I go in the back, and climb up a ladder to see if we have this piece, and lo and behold it is there. It is covered in dust, spiders, cobwebs - disgusting. But, we have the piece. So I call the guy back, and tell him that he is in luck, we do actually have this piece that he is looking for, and he can have it for free if he cleans it himself. He agrees. So I sit the piece up front, with his name on it, and expect that to be the last of the situation. Well, when the guy comes in, he asks to see me. I am, like "great, what does he need now? I don't have time to deal with this, grumble, grumble, grumble". But I go up and meet with him, and he asks me if he can speak to me in private."
Me: "What? Uh oh..."
D: "I know. I figure that he is going to try to sell me Amway - which is a pyramid scheme from back in the day. So, we go back to my office and I shut the door, and he starts crying!"
Me: "What!? Seriously??"
D: "Yes! He starts crying, and then he asks me if I am a Christian, and I say yes. He then tells me that he had been praying for two weeks for this lazy susan part, because he really needed it to sell his house and he didn't know what he was going to do, and that I must have been sent by God to answer his prayers!"
Me: "What!?" Looking up to the ceiling/heavens "Seriously, Lord?? Really, seriously?? I've been praying for a husband for two years, and this guy prays for a lazy susan for two weeks and gets it?? You've gotta be kidding me."

The Moral of the Story? Obviously, I should have prayed a little harder for the white chocolate creme brulee to be found last week at Girls' Night so that we could have all received a free dinner. And that the Yankees need to be in my prayers as well.

Mild Techy-Genius

One of the things that I love the most about blogging is that I get to dabble in HTML code. Most of the time, this frustrates me to no end, and this foreign language remains a mystery to me. But every so often, a chance occurrence happens in which I DO figure out a neat bit of coding and I am able to apply it to my blog format. Today was one of those rare days in which I am able to figure out how to make the code work for me and do what I want it to do! Check out my other blog, Ruminations and Reflections to see the tiling of one of my pictures at Whitney State Forest, the new blog color background, and title. I'm currently struggling with the Blog Title Color - I can't quite find a color that I love, but the one I have is sufficient for the moment. And please let me know what you think! I'm thinking of maybe trying to do something similar both at the work blog that I maintain as well at my beloved "The Road Goes Ever On". It's been fun to figure out, though it caused at least a couple of hours of puzzlement and bewilderment to figure out! But, many thanks to the folks over at Blogger Buster for their informative how-to articles on how to make this work!

A Heart Bursting Full of Joy

I hope that everyone has these days. There is nothing better than a day in which a good mood envelopes every fiber of your being and you can almost feel the joy shining out of your skin. It is a gift, one that I absolutely relish and cherish because of how quickly this joy can dissipate, especially in this world. I wish I could describe the feeling more accurately, but there are not really any words to express and color in the lines of the space of happiness in my heart. I wish I could let other people into my heart during these times and that they could see the world with eyes of such wonder and become overwhelmed by its simple, yet utterly complex, beauty.

I think this is one of those rare tastes of what heaven has to be like. I believe that God gives us these gifts of opening our jaded eyes to the wonder of His creation - all of His creation, including us, His people. And I can't express enough how wonderful it is to come up out of the darkness of sarcasm, jadedness, and disappointment that I normally live in, and lift my eyes up to the sun, the Son, that literally shines down on me, and be enveloped in the joy and love of my Creator through the touches of His creation.

This is a happiness that sets aside the worries of the world and leaves them by the wayside, as I journey along this path. It's a happiness that makes me silly and child-like and laughter close to my heart, my eyes, and lips. It's a happiness that patiently forbears the pain of sitting enclosed in my cubicle when all I want to do is be outside - in no matter what shape or form - just to be outside. It's a happiness that had to create it's own playlist in order to fully encapsulate the tone of the mood that I'm in. It's a happiness that wants to put 50 dozen smiley emoticons behind every sentence :) :) :) :) and 50 more exclamation points!!!!!

And yet, it's a happiness that also has to deal with the reality, pain, and darkness of this world. An old neighbor committed suicide last week, leaving behind a son and daughter as virtual orphans in this world. How do you processs that? Tonight I travel to the memorial service of another neighbor who lost his brief life in a senseless accident, in which the perpetrator got to walk away, even though he was a multiple offender. My job hangs on a thread daily - any second could be the last one. My sister is off living in Australia and it is a daily pain to be separated from her by such a long distance for who knows how long?

The thing is, tears are always close by. Pain and suffering is only a heartbeat away. This journey takes unimaginable dips, turns, and flips, and if you don't watch out, you can be sucked into the darkness, the lies, the temptations that seek to utterly destroy our lives.

Which is why this happiness is such a blessing and gift. Thank God for the beauty of humanity and nature that He surrounds me with, that gives me the gift of a heart full of joy that is bursting at the seams today. Hallelujah. Amen.

Brilliant (Said with an English Accent)

View the video to understand the post title :)

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