Category: News

By the Light of the Moon

Published on by Sharron BurnettLeave a comment

Belarus Supermoon Lunar EclipseI love gazing at the heavens. Unfortunately I live in the fourth largest city in the United States and the proliferation of lights has made it rather difficult to see the stars in the sky. Only the moon and a few very bright orbs are able to overcome the competition from manmade illumination. When I was a child ours was a small town by most standards, surrounded by a number of farming and ranching communities which have now become heavily inhabited suburbs. I now have to drive a rather long way to reach a place where the stars at night are actually big and bright. Luckily the moon somehow manages to maintain its dominance over the night even where I live. As long as the clouds do not shroud it I am able to watch its phases cycle through a routine that is as familiar to me as the passage of the sun. I have never grown weary of looking skyward to see how the man in the moon is doing.

On Sunday evening I stepped into my backyard to watch an event that has not occurred since January of 1948, the year in which I was born. There in the sky was a bright and brilliant super moon so called because it appears to be much larger than the average full moon. That is because on November 14, at 8:59 Eastern time the moon orbited closer to the earth than it has at any point in over six decades. At that precise moment it was also as full as it ever gets.

My time zone prevented me from seeing the full effect of the super moon but I certainly got the idea. I found myself wondering if my mother or father had watched the super moon of 1948. They would not yet have known on that January evening that I would become part of their lives eleven months later. The seed that made me had not yet been planted but perhaps the idea of having a child may have crossed their minds. My mother often spoke of her natural inclination to have as many children as possible. She was in love with the idea of taking care of babies. She was only twenty one years old then and had a lifetime ahead of her. She would not have realized how difficult her journey would eventually become. She would have been filled with optimism, promise and perhaps a bit of romance. The world had ended a war not long before. She and my father were building a future that must have seemed as bright as that moon. I’d like to believe that they stood together holding hands, gazing at the night sky with great hope.

Who knew sixty eight years ago that we humans would one day walk on that very moon? How might anyone have imagined the changes and the progress that we have wrought? The era of television was not yet upon us. The idea of computers was still the domain of scientists and engineers. Telephones were tethered to outlets on the wall. Cars were devoid of seat belts and air bags. College degrees were the exception rather than the rule. Women still mostly stayed at home tending the children and the house. On warm summer days homes were cooled by fans that stirred breezes from open windows.

I would experience the sixty eight years of rapid change. I knew about the before 1948 only from books. I lived all of the time after from day to day as I grew from an infant to a teenager to a young adult to my middle ages to a senior. The progression has not always been smooth. There were times when the world appeared to be on the verge of a seismic shift, particularly when I was in my high school and college years. Most of my childhood was spent in a Cold War with the Soviet Union. I observed my elders worrying that there might one day be a nuclear holocaust. I watched the end of segregation unfold and spied on heated conversations between the adults who were part of my life. I boldly formed my own opinions and almost dared anyone to contradict my beliefs. I became my own person just as children have been doing since the beginning of time and will continue to do long after I am gone.

The day came when I was a young twenty one year old holding the hand of the man that I loved. I have been more fortunate than my mother. I have had the joy of growing old with him. He has been by my side through every phase of my adult life. We have shared the joys and the disappointments of living. We raised our children and eventually greeted our grandchildren. We have said goodbye to family members and friends who have died. We have grown in wisdom and understand the importance of counting our blessings and cherishing the moments that we have because we know that life is uncertain. The moon will circle our globe and we will move around the sun with regularity but all else might change in the blink of an eye. There is no time for taking our joys for granted.

The moon is beautiful whether it is the smallest of crescents or full. We associate it with humankind’s emotions. It is the stuff of legends and lore. It may engender romance or lunacy. On nights when it is at its peak it signals time for tiny creatures to engage in rituals tied to survival. Some believe that more babies are born during the full moon. Others insist that crimes and wars are more likely to occur on moonlit nights. Complaints of insomnia seem to increase when the moon is full. There are beliefs that more natural disasters occur under a full moon. Stories of old tell us of people who walked the night as werewolves or vampires. We somehow have a sense that the moon affects people much as it does the ocean tides.

It will be 2034 when the next super moon makes an appearance. By that time I will be eighty six years old if I manage to make it that far. I will know how things turned out with President Trump. I will have enjoyed watching my grandchildren enter their adult years and may have a great grandchild or two. Undoubtedly the world will have changed even more. The young men and women of the millennial generation will be running things. There will be new wonders invented that I have not yet imagined. Perhaps we will have found ways to keep our planet healthy. Hopefully I will not have to recall horrors or wars that have rocked our sensibilities but history cautions me to be ready for the unthinkable. Just as with the sun and the moon I will join my fellow travelers in the daily routines and rituals that move us slowly but surely into the future. I have enough faith in all of us that I truly believe that things will ultimately be just fine. It will be fun to watch history unfold even as I live it under the light of the moon.

The Sun Will Rise

Published on by Sharron BurnettLeave a comment

sunriseI woke up this morning. While that may seem to be a minor accomplishment I know it to be something quite special, a blessing. I have one more opportunity to approach life with generosity and love, to do something outside of myself, to realize what is truly important, maybe even to impact someone who needs a little support to make it through another day. Last week was very hard for me. It began with very personal sadness and ended with worry and concern.

I should know better than most people just how uncertain life can be. I have awakened on a beautiful summer day only to learn that my thirty three year old father died in a car crash. I have watched my mother deteriorate so quickly from cancer that we never even had the opportunity to receive a definitive diagnosis. I have attended more funerals for loved ones and friends than I care to recall. Illness and death is a recurring theme in our world. We know that our days are numbered and yet we allow ourselves again and again to become distracted from focusing on the people in our lives.

Last week I received a frightening text that my son-in-law and my grandson had been in a terrible wreck. The car in which they were riding was totally destroyed in the blink of an eye. If the impact had differed by an inch here a foot there it might have been fatal for them as well. My grandson had difficulty even exiting his seat because the dashboard had pushed so close to him. Luckily all of the safety features of the auto did exactly what they were designed to do and both of my loved ones were okay, at least physically if not emotionally. Kind strangers went out of their way to help and in the end all went well but our family was still shaken by thoughts of what might have been.

Within less than an hour on the same day I received yet another message informing me that one of my cousins was receiving hospice care. He is someone who has been part of my life for as long as I have memories. He was born ten months after I was. We grew up together, sharing our childhoods, our teenage years and our lives as adults. He has been a constant source of laughter for me. He loves to tickle my funny bone with his sense of humor and corny jokes. Even a week after receiving this devastating news I can’t fathom losing him.

Last night there was a remarkable event in honor of another cousin who is battling lymphoma. She is far younger than I am, a mother of two small children who is really just beginning her adult life. She is a woman of incalculable faith but her strength is being tested to its very limits. Those who love her have rallied to her cause. She has earned their attention with the generosity of her heart. She presents a brave face to all of us but I can’t help but believe that there are many times when she is so afraid of what the future will be. I sense that she will be a courageous warrior for her children and I believe that she will win. Still I worry for her and find myself praying throughout the day that she will soon be healed.

The results of the election last week were shocking to me. I never would have dreamed that our next President would be Donald Trump. I stayed awake to hear the final announcement and even laughed a bit at the thought of this strange man leading our country. My inclination was to take his victory in stride. I learned long ago to be resilient. If I did not know how to roll with life’s punches I would have been destroyed by now. It was with great concern that I realized just how many people were suffering deeply because of what had transpired. Their pain was true and visceral.

I am above all empathetic almost to the point of overkill. I actually feel the hurt of those around me. It ties me into emotional knots that bind my mind. For most of the past week I experienced anxiety attacks, insomnia and spasms in my lower back. All of these things are related to the worry that I have for the individuals who feel so lost and confused over what has just happened. While I believe that many of their fears for our future are not going to be quite as bad as they think I understand why they are so worried.

I have written on multiple occasions about the undocumented students that I have taught. They were brought into our country when they were tiny children. The United States of America is really all that they have ever known. Whether or not this should have happened to them is of little relevance. What’s done is done and they had nothing to do with it. To suddenly punish them by sending them back to countries that are foreign to them seems particularly cruel. Most of them have been outstanding citizens. They have earned college degrees and worked hard, asking for little or nothing from the rest of us. Now they are fearful that all that they have ever known will suddenly be turned upside down by a man who has pledged to send them away. Even those who were born here worry that their families will be torn asunder. Their fears are so tragically real and I feel their pain deep down in my soul.

I have taught many Black children. They too wonder how they will be treated in the new political reality. It would be easy for all of us to dismiss their concerns as being unrealistic but I believe them when they tell me that they often suffer indignities. They are so beautiful to me that I sometimes forget that prejudices still exist. They know that even with their educations and their best efforts there will be those who consider them to be less than.

I am acquainted with people who are incredulous that so many of our citizens were able to overlook the offensiveness of Donald Trump and elevate him to the highest office in the land. At the same time I am familiar with others who believed with all of their hearts that Hillary Clinton was easily as bad. Many voters saw their choice as being the selection of the lesser of two evils. They did not pick Trump because they were vicious people but for reasons that made perfect sense to them.   

In the aftermath of the election I have been brokenhearted, mostly because of the animosity that I have seen from both sides of the voting public. I have witnessed people reacting in self righteous and smug ways toward their fellow citizens. I have read of instances in which people declared that members of their family were dead to them based solely on the ways they voted. I heard from a former student who is sincerely worried that a civil war will break out in the streets of our cities and towns. He is a young father who only wants his little girl to live in the safety and security that he senses might slip away if we do not find ways to become more united. My heart has felt as if it will break into a million little pieces. It all seems so very wrong.

We have been fighting with each other for far too long. We simply cannot continue to be a split screen nation. I pray for the soul of my country. While I am not a fan of President Elect Trump I want him to prove me wrong. I would like nothing better than for him to pull us together as a nation and bind the gaping wounds that are making us so sick. We need to be able to hear the many voices of our people whether they be liberal or conservative, straight or gay, white or of color, young or old, from the north or the south, the east or the west, urban or rural. I suspect that if we remain unwilling to find ways to reach out to even those whose ideas confound us then we will be in for years of chaos and hurt. I believe that we are better than that. It is time for us to show our better selves for the sake of our children. The sun will rise no matter what we choose to do but our days will surely be sunnier if we learn how to work together once again.

No Greater Love

Published on by Sharron BurnettLeave a comment

vietnam-wall-120-jpg

Greater love has no man that this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I cannot even conceive of the courage that it must take to be a soldier. We all too often forget that many of our fellow citizens are in harm’s way in dangerous places even on this very day. They quietly pledge to protect our country and sometimes lose their lives in the process of doing a day’s work. Only last week a young man from Houston was killed in Jordan. He had attended Strake Jesuit High School and the University of Texas. He was known by his friends as someone who was fun and generous. He was bright and talented and had a whole lifetime of possibilities ahead of him and yet he chose to enter the military, an action that he felt was an honor and his duty. His friends and family grieve that he is gone and all of us should feel a sense of sorrow as well. It was for those of us that he never even met that he gave his life.

There were a couple of young men who went to my high school when I was there who died in Vietnam. One went to war shortly after graduating. He was a friendly fellow with an inviting smile. It broke my heart to hear of his death. The other soldier was brilliant. He had graduated from college and had a promising career but he wanted to help in the effort to maintain a democracy in South Vietnam. He too lost his life, a tragedy that touched me in a very personal way because his little brother was good friends with one of my siblings.

At the time that these two soldiers were killed it never occurred to me that theirs had been an act of love. I was too busy protesting the war and participating in rallies. I actually thought that they had been foolish to take part in the conflict. As the years went by I began to see their sacrifice as something sacred. I began to hold them in high esteem. When I visited the Vietnam wall on the National Mall I found their names and ran my fingers over the etching in the stone. I wept. I felt the love associated with what they had done. I spoke to their spirits and thanked them for their service to our country.

I came of age in an era of protest. I thought it noble and fitting to speak against a war that seemed unreasonable to me. It never occurred to me that it was so incredibly easy to do what I had done while the efforts of the soldiers who had been my classmates were monumental. It has been five decades since their passing. Their love of country inspires and humbles me.

I have a long time friend who served as a medic in that same war. I often think of the horrors that he must have seen as he fought to save lives. I suppose that I never expressed enough gratitude for what he did but I can imagine how important his efforts must have been to the soldiers who lived because he was there. I know that he never discusses those days. He came back far more serious and contemplative than he had been. His wife told me that he often had nightmares as he relived the battles and thought of the torn and bloodied bodies that he viewed.

We sit safely in our cities and towns and rarely think of what our fellow citizens of the military are doing. We complain about the unfairness of our country. We criticize and speak of being ashamed of our nation. We refuse to sing the national anthem or salute the flag. All the while the men and women of the Armed Forces are doing the heavy lifting that we don’t want to do so that we will have the freedom to make ourselves heard. They deal with uncertainties and danger as a matter of course. We all too often take them for granted, sometimes even neglecting them when they return home. Even worse is when we insult them by self righteously assuming that they are violent individuals who somehow deserve our scorn rather than our praise.

On this Veterans Day and everyday we should honor the present day military and those who once served. They are real heroes who deserve our highest consideration. They are mostly humble and silent about the work that they have done for you and me. They rarely bring attention to themselves. They will tell you that they were happy to be able to give back to the country and its people.

I see a great deal of whining in today’s world. People continuously complain about what they don’t have and tend not to count their many blessings. They take more note of slights than opportunities. They make degrading comments about our country, its leaders and our soldiers. They have little idea of how safe and secure they are because of the unseen, unsung men and women who are guarding us twenty four hours a day. They rarely think of our military if at all.

Take the time to remember our veterans and our Armed Forces today. Don’t just think of them. Thank them. They won’t ask for your gratitude but I can’t help but think that they will appreciate knowing that their efforts have not gone unnoticed. God bless them and their willingness to lay down their lives for friends that they don’t even know. There is no greater love.

Thoughts On An Election

Published on by Sharron BurnettLeave a comment

states_imgmapI am very tired and not particularly clear headed today. I stayed awake until almost 3:00 A.M. and was up and about by 6:30 this morning. I am presently confounded by the results of our Presidential election. I have been absolutely wrong from the first days of the primaries. I assured former students and friends and loved ones that Donald Trump would not make it past a few weeks of voting in those early days. Of course my predictions were way off. When he earned the nomination I insisted that he would never win. In fact I expected him to lose in the manner of George McGovern. As late as yesterday evening I thought that Hillary Clinton would be making an acceptance speech by 10:00 and I would be in bed by 11:00. I was utterly shocked as the returns came in and they kept favoring President Elect Trump.

Anyone who has kept up with my blogs has read the reasons why I did not think Donald Trump worthy of the presidency. I have outlined my views again and again. To be honest I wasn’t particularly jazzed about Secretary Clinton either. I crafted a humorous piece in which I made suggestions as to how she might become more relatable to the average person but of course my words were ignored. Along the way Ms. Clinton’s loyal followers began to deify her and that really worried me because we all know in our hearts that she is as deeply flawed as any of us are. It would have been far better to admit that both of the candidates needed to do some soul searching and then note that of the two Hillary had the better temperament for the job. I feared that creating a story that she was perhaps one of the most wonderful individuals ever to run for the office would be a big turn off to many voters and I suspect that I was correct.

In the end I had to follow my conscience just as everyone else did. I could not have voted for Donald Trump even if someone put a gun to my head. I could not bring myself to vote for Hillary Clinton either. I chose to submit a write in vote even knowing that it would not count. That is how I reconciled all of the misgivings that I had.

I have spent the last year and a half reading voraciously about both candidates and about our Constitution and form of government. I have learned about previous presidents who were far from noble. I have listened to viewpoints from both avid supporters of Donald Trump and those who were excited about Hillary Clinton. What I learned is just how earnest each side truly is. I even had one of my former students who is a young millennial minority explain why he felt that it was so important to vote for Donald Trump in spite of his obvious deficiencies.

I was often surprised by the sincerity of the arguments that I heard. I don’t have friends or family members who are deplorable people. They are all exemplary human beings with generous hearts and good intentions but some of them were wholeheartedly in the Trump camp. I wanted to know why and so rather than trying to convince them to change their minds I simply listened. I found that their reasons varied. Some of them were upset by economic setbacks that they had experienced. Others were concerned about the Supreme Court. There were individuals who were now struggling to afford healthcare since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. I spoke with highly religious people who were worried that their faith was being ignored by our leaders. There were many adamantly against abortion who felt unable to abide by Ms. Clinton’s views. Always in the back of many of their minds was the sense that Secretary Clinton had not always been forthcoming in her dealings with the nation. Not one of them ever mentioned race, sexual preferences or the fact the Hillary Clinton is a woman as deciding factors in their decisions to support Donald Trump.  They also noted that they found it insulting to be viewed by so many as ignorant and mean spirited. They felt that nobody had been listening to them until Trump came along.

I travel a great deal down the side roads of America. I have been through the heart of our country far from the urban areas that almost unanimously voted for Hillary Clinton. I have seen places where factories are abandoned and towns have all but blown away unnoticed. I have felt a sense of guilt as I pass by beat up trailers and dilapidated homes occupied by people who sit in their yards staring vacantly into the distance. I suspect from the evidence that I saw last night that many of these people have felt as though nobody has been listening to them for a very long time. Donald Trump took the time to visit with them and provide them with a ray of hope. He won because he was able to earn votes in places like Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, traditional bastions of blue collar Democrats. They have been hurting and we have ignored them as a nation.

I am a well educated woman who lives in the fourth largest city in the country. Most of my friends were loyal supporters of Hillary Clinton. They are deeply hurt today. Their tears are real. They believed in Hillary’s message with all of their hearts. They are afraid that the ugliness that Donald Trump has so often voiced will become standard operating procedure in our country. They worry about the environment and fear that we will fall back into old habits that have harmed our land. They wonder who will advocate for minorities and the LGBT community. Their concerns are very real and just as visceral as the ones that Trump supporters have.

Perhaps the finest election speeches came from both the winners and the losers. President Elect Trump indicated that he wants to bind wounds. Secretary Clinton had one of her noblest hours as she urged her followers to work with the new President and within the system. President Obama spoke of the American tradition of a smooth transition which he will help to initiate.

Many times of late I have written of our need to communicate with one another in a spirit of compromise and optimism. The fighting between brother and brother, friend and friend, younger and older, one race and another should cease. I have learned that it really isn’t all that difficult to truly listen to what others have to say without thinking of what my response will be to those who do not share my views.

Many people were asking this morning what they should say to their children. I suspect that it isn’t really as hard to have an honest response as it may seem. Here is how I would approach it:

“We live in a great country but not one that is without its flaws. We are a nation of many differences so it is only natural that our political views will run the gamut of possibilities. Every four years we get the glorious opportunity to choose our President. In our history such moments have often been contentious. One election literally lead to the Civil War. Our candidates win sometimes and at other times they lose. Over the long haul things have a way of evening out. Our nation has been able to weather wars, depressions, assassinations and other difficulties that seemed at the time to spell doom. Over and over again we adjust and manage to keep moving forward. Each successive generation steps forward to hold the reigns and guide the United States to a better and better version of itself. In such a grand undertaking there are bound to be setbacks but we will always be okay as long as we work together in a spirit of cooperation and love of country. If we elect someone who is not up to the job we need only wait four years to find a more suitable replacement. We have certainly had to do that before and will no doubt have to do it again. Our system works so long as we do not allow our differences to cause us to turn on one another. Taking the high road is always the best path even when others choose not to do so. We can only hope for the best and if we believe in God, pray that He will guide us. Regardless of whether we are part of the winning team or not this is not a time for despair but one to celebrate our freedoms. They will still be ours long after the dust settles. History shows us that we will move ever forward. As more eloquent people have reminded us in the past there should be no red America or blue America, no Republican America or Democrat America. There should only be the United States of America”

A More Perfect Union

Published on by Sharron BurnettLeave a comment

USconstitutionWeThePeople.jpgWe the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We the people speak today as ordained by our founding fathers. Of course we all know that back when these words were written “the people” did not include women, blacks, Native Americans and others. Efforts to make our union more perfect and just have evolved over more than two centuries. We are still not perfect but constantly trying to get there. Today more of us are franchised than ever before. Millions will voice their opinions on who should lead our country. It is my prayer that whoever wins will remember his or her duty to all of the citizens, not just those from a particular base. “We the people” should be inclusive, not just we the women, we the college students, we the African Americans, we the union members, we the southerners, we the males, we the people from Hispanic countries, we the Christians, we the Muslims, we the Jews, we the gays and lesbians. Ours is a severely divided country and those at the helm must strive to secure our liberty for now and posterity by bringing us together in so far as possible. It will be a daunting task.

Ours is the most diverse country on the earth. We come from all over the globe. We are spread over a geographical area that includes plains, deserts, mountains, oceans, forests, big cities, rural towns, farms, mines. Where we live and how we work makes each of us just a bit different from the others. Still it was the grand hope of those who ratified our Constitution that we would somehow overcome the barriers that divide us in order to embrace the freedom that we all cherish. There were those who believed even as the founders were agreeing on the Constitution that it was folly to think that such a government would work for all of the people. They called themselves anti-Federalists and they predicted that we would one day be torn asunder when one group imposed its will on another. They believed that the most personal of the laws should be placed in the hands of those closest to the citizens, in other words the states. They lost the argument back then but their cautionary words are just as important today as they were when they first made them. We have to demonstrate a willingness to honor differences of opinion without the rancor that has become so common place.

Perhaps it is just a sign of age but I worry about the extremes that seem to be so prevalent in politics more so than usual. We can’t seem to find the middle road that brings satisfaction to the majority. We must learn how to hear arguments without becoming negative and personally insulting.

I saw a news segment featuring an old woman whose two sons had stopped speaking with each other because of their differing political views. The lady was quite upset that her family had been torn apart simply because neither of her children had been able to accept that we each have our own world views and we need not judge simply because one set of ideas does not match our own. Neither should we always feel compelled to change someone’s opinion. The mother wondered why her sons were so willing to turn on each other. Such situations are not that uncommon in the present super charged atmosphere. I have seen friendships end and quarrels become so devastating that a schism opened its wide jaws. That is not what was supposed to happen and I fear that if we do not begin to curb such tendencies our union will most surely be threatened.

We will soon know who our new President will be. I hope that we are all able to demonstrate respect for our system of government and for the person chosen to lead us, even if the vote is very close. I pray that the winners will not gloat and the losers will take the loss with dignity. It is not about just you or just me. It is about “we the people” and it is time for all of us to show the entire world that being a citizen of the United States means insuring domestic tranquility, protecting freedoms, and providing for the welfare of all. We cannot accomplish such noble goals if we refuse to even acknowledge one another. It is past time for us to make our country truly the United States of America. God bless America and guide us to becoming better than we have lately been.