Solomon Haws Osborne

 

                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

  

Solomon Haws Osborne (1974-2021)

 

 

 

A day after the advent of spring, I got a call from the best ex-girlfriend my son Solomon ever had:

"Solomon had a heart attack and he died," she said sobbing between every word. She gave me the phone number of his partner on the dock Sol had been working on, who was at the scene.  We talked briefly and he gave me the address.  In a haze of disbelief, I walked back to the office guest room where my physician partner has worked much of the last year.  I peaked in imagining that she was zooming and she was.

She turned in her chair with the non-verbal message that she was with her staff or a patient.  

I said, "I just got a phone call that said that Solomon had a heart attack and he died!" "For real" she said.

I'm afraid so.

We rushed out to 1515 Chipmunk in Lakeway, a lot right on Lake Travis.  The deputy let us through once I announced I was the deceased father.  When we got to the actual scene, I could see from our side of the yellow tape line his tricked out Jeep with the monster tires. It was parked a bit side wise on the road and the door was wide open.  He was obviously in a hurry.

The detectives weren't, and we waited more than an hour after talking with them and answering their questions.  Soon, the medical examiner arrived and they began their forensic analysis.  Meanwhile I slipped down off the road and moved towards the scene where I thought I might see my son. 

There he was under a crime scene tarp with his tennis shoes sticking out. It made a permanent impression on my mind and on my entire being. In another 30 minutes or so, after the examiner finished, they allowed us to be with the body before he was loaded into the carrier.  This was still an active investigation so we could only touch him through the blanket.

There, Dana and I said good bye to my 46 year old son.

They allowed me to drive the jeep with his phone and wallet and tools in the back to his house a couple of miles away.  All I could remember was the first time I drove him home from the hospital in that red Christmas stocking.  He was born 1 day before Christmas Eve.

There we began the process of rebuilding our lives without him. 10 days later, we hosted a small group of friends and relatives in the backyard pool area of his home and we produced a Zoom service for another 50 or so. We heard his mother speak, my partner read, and an old friend recounted his chaotic birth. Two of his friends talked of their love and admiration for him, a Buddhist Priest gave us higher context, and I gave the following Eulogy:

Solomon Haws Osborne was born early in the morning on December 23. It was 1974. Dee had gone through almost 24 hours of labor having starting early in the morning on the 22nd which was also the winter solstice. As you heard Jimmy explain, we invited all of our friends to the mansion in Taylor to celebrate the arrival of our first born. It didn’t work out.  By about 3 o'clock in the morning, after  emergency cesarean surgery I got my first look at my new son. Because he spent so much time in the birth canal, his head was greatly stretched like a pickle. When I said “oh wow we have a spaceman,” the doctor calmly assured me that the head would return to normal shape. Frankly I didn't believe it and I thought it was nice that he was trying to make me feel better about the situation.

We spent the next few days in Brackenridge Hospital and somewhere close to Christmas day Dee and Sol and I headed back home to the old cotton Baron mansion in Taylor.  At first, we were going to name him Sol but by the second day or so it turned into Solomon and we picked Dee’s maiden name to be his middle name. Somehow Solomon Haws Osborne sounded better than Sol Haws Osborne. And it paid off; his email address is Solomon Osborne@gmail.com.

He went home in a Christmas stocking that was given to us by the hospital, and I must say it was the most precious Christmas gift I've ever received.  I remember even today that feeling of leaving the hospital with a new being on board in my white Volvo station wagon and it took me a while to get accustomed to it.

Soon, we moved to the little House on the Prairie just east of Elgin where Solomon would spend his early years.  It was a tiny house but considering that we ran the goats out of it in order to live there, it was a pretty decent place to start a family. I built a little solar collector on the south Side of the house, and we put a woodstove in. The landlord had recently cleared the pastures around us and piled up the Mesquite so we had an endless supply of high-quality wood that kept us warm in those early winters.

Solomon was the favorite of his grandmother. And she was always glad to take him on when Dee and I finally started going out.  He was a good kid.  However, the first night we left him with Joan, he cried himself to sleep at the door where we had left and was asleep in the hallway when we got home from the movie.

One time, after we had moved to the house on dead dog road on Highway 95, Solomon came running out to me with some big news he had heard on the evening news. “Dad dad” he said, “the gorillas have overrun Lebanon”. That was pretty big news to a five year old.

Solomon did well in school but he didn't like it very much when his younger sister just 22 months his junior skipped the second grade.  Like most brothers, he didn't think his younger sister was that smart.

While we were living in Elgin, we pretty much behaved like normal folks, we went to the first Baptist Church, I went to Kiwanis club and did the pancake cook off's, and I was baseball coach for nine years.  For the last three years Sol was on my team and he turned out to be a valuable power hitter. He hit a home run in all star game and somehow I missed it.

Our years in Elgin were good years. We had a good network of friends which we have to this day. Sol made many friends, one of them,  Will Owen, you heard from moments ago.

Ultimately Solomon graduated from McCallum high school in Austin where he began his love of all things with wires.  He was the best guy around to hook up your phone,  stereo, your security system or your computer. He worked for a cable company for many years wiring up all kinds of schools and institutions in the region. But I think he really enjoyed wiring up breathalyzers for those folks who had gotten in trouble drinking and driving and who had a judge who ordered a breathalyzer on their car for it to start. It was the perfect mixture of wires, car, technology and misbehavior.

When he was in his thirties, Solomon adopted Alex when Hope passed away, and after a few years in Elgin they moved to Lakeway.  Living in Lakeway here for the last 10 years or so, Solomon was able to expand his love for radio controlled cars, airplanes, even boats and also to indulge in his passion for great big huge trucks. And in  the last five years or so he's been investing in classic cars and fixing them up and selling them to find some more. There is a 60s model Chevy in the garage right now. But to his credit, and in at least a small bow to his father, he bought a Tesla and developed a love for electric cars and electric transportation in general.

For as you know, the world will not be able to solve the crisis of climate change without a complete transformation of our energy and transportation sectors to renewables and electricity.

During his time in Lakeway, Solomon got to watch Alexander play football with the state championship team from Lake Travis, almost winning two championships in a row.  And Alex has the bling Ring to prove it. Over Christmas we had several dinners with Sol, and Dana and I agreed that we thought Sol was happier than we had seen him in a while. We kept close touch during the Snow-Mageddon as we discussed the electric generator that is installed at this house. And just a few weeks ago, I called him and told him he needed to get a Covid vaccination and to begin to start thinking about his health. I told him that he wasn't a young man anymore and that he needs to take care of himself.

Not three weeks later I was working preparing for my one-on-one meetings with my director of local initiatives at the Texas Electric Transportation Resource Alliance when I get a phone call from Solomon's best ex girlfriend ever. It was Devon.

“Hi Devon, long time no see”

Devon was crying.  “I’m so sorry, but Solomon had a heart attack and died.”

It was the call that all parents hope to never receive.

Dana and I jumped in the car and made our way to 1515 Chipmunk, arriving before the Medical Examiners.  The area was taped off but I made my way around the trees to see.

There was Solomon, under a police tarp with his tennis shoes sticking out.

A sight no parent ever wants to see.

I wrote to Dana’s friend in Central America, “At times like these it seems that we are in a sea of death, When in truth, we are just blown by the winds of life,  in a universe of light.

I am finding peace with this, as we all should, for everything has a purpose.

Ecclesiasties 3.1-8

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, And a time to die;
A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill, And a time to heal;
A time to break down, And a time to build up;
A time to weep, And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain, And a time to lose;
A time to keep, And a time to throw away;
A time to tear, And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;
A time to love, And a time to hate;
A time of war, And a time of peace.

Let us all find that peace as we honor this life
And remember the love and his life that we shared."

His son, Alexander Deems Osborne followed me with his own words of appreciation and admiration.

Then, we released 46 balloons into a slight south wind.  

They barely did clear the trees.

And we watched as the multi-colored balloons

merged into a late afternoon sky,

As we released him and his spirit

into a universe of hope and light.

 

 

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Electric Drive is Happening

A crucial part of moving away from carbon fuels is uuh, moving away from fossil fueled cars.  You can close every coal plant in the world but we would still be spewing CO2 out of our cars and trucks in prodigious amounts.  It's about 14% of our total total emissions. So, moving to electric drive is essential to a successful strategy.

This piece from the NRDC says it well:

"In a report released Thursday, Driving Out Pollution: How Utilities Can Accelerate the Market for Electric Vehicles, we explain how the electric industry could accelerate the national EV market by helping to deploy charging stations where drivers live, work and play; increasing public awareness of EVs’ economic and environmental benefits; and incentivizing drivers to charge their cars at times that will help bring more solar and wind energy onto the grid.

The report details how the electric industry can use spare capacity in the grid to charge our nation’s vehicle fleet, partner with independent EV charging companies to increase access to electricity as a transportation fuel and maximize fuel cost savings relative to gasoline by offering lower rates for charging during periods when the grid is underutilized and/or excess renewable power is available.

According to a recent paper published by the National Academy of Sciences, the share of new vehicles sold that are electric vehicles needs to grow from today’s 1 percent, to 40 percent or more by 2030 to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.


This is not an impossible task—almost 400,000 people put down $1,000 deposits for the next-generation, moderately priced Tesla during a two-week period earlier this year and drivers are expected to pack dealerships later this year when the mass market Chevrolet Bolt goes on sale." more

Thanks to the Volt, the Leaf, and Tesla, Electric Drive is happening.

In 2015, the number of electric cars on the road globally passed the one million threshold for the first time.

The rapid growth of the industry means that it is now the only technology sector on track to meet the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) 2C scenario.

According to Carbon Brief:

"In 2015, sales of electric cars around the world amounted to 477,000, taking the total volume up to 1.15m. Sales grew by 70 percent over 2014 levels. The IEA says that this means it is catching up with the rates needed to meet the 2DS.

In an interview with Carbon Brief, the IEA’s chief economist Laszlo Varro said:

“Electric cars are roughly 10 years behind wind and solar in terms of deployment and technology development. Still, electric car technology is also gathering momentum. Electric cars increasingly capture the consumer’s imagination.”

The U.S., China, Netherlands and Norway accounted for 70 percent of all the electric cars sold worldwide. In 2015, China became the world’s largest electric car market. But growth was also occurring outside these countries. The number of countries with a market share of electric cars greater than 1 percent grew from three in 2014 to six in 2015."

Everyday now I see more and more electric drive vehicles.  And the list of available EVs is getting pretty long.

I'm on my third year with my ELR now and it's a blast to drive.  Electric Drive spoils you.  And perhaps more importantly, it's better for you.  The other night at dinner, I blurted out that since I started using electric drive, my health is better.  Maybe we are all a little allergic to gasoline, and we just never put it together.  Over the last two and half years, I have filled my plug in hybrid up perhaps 10 times.  And in that period, I have not had the flu, nor have my allergies flared like they used to.

Imagine the true health value of reduced hydrocarbons in the air that we breathe.

Now imagine the value of zero hydrocarbons in the air we breathe.

More importantly,  imagine what we might save.

Our lungs? Our minds? Our auto-immune systems?

Perhaps even

Our World.

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Santa Las Vegas

We spent the Christmas Holidays in Santa Monica and Las Vegas this year.

My son was turning 40 and he couldn't decide what he wanted to do.

Venice, New York, Paris?

They are all in Las Vegas.

I have always loved Santa Monica and have never really been to Las Vegas.

It always seemed a little icky to me.

Here is my version of it.

You can google it by searching Michael Osborne and Family do Las Vegas.

The Fireworks at the end are pretty cool.

The Fukushima Legacy

More and more news from Fukushima is dribbling out into the world in the last few weeks.  And the situation is just as dire or even more so than when the event was in the news more than two years ago.  Yes perhaps the greatest lie of all time on this story was the cold shut down announcement that was carried by just about everybody.

Well, perhaps not everybody.  Arnie Gunderson still reports on it often.

And then there is this from the Scientific American:

Here is what you need to know about the radioactive water leaking from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.

 Scientists on both sides of the Pacific have measured changing levels of radioactivity in fish and other ocean life since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. On Aug. 2, 2013, when Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) gave its first estimate of how much radioactive water from the nuclear plant has flowed into the ocean since the disaster, the company was finally facing up to what scientists have recognized for years.

 "As an oceanographer looking at the reactor, we've known this since 2011," said Ken Buesseler, a marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Mass. "The news is TEPCO is finally admitting this."

 TEPCO estimated that between 20 trillion and 40 trillion becquerels (units of radioactivity representing decay per second) of radioactive tritium have leaked into the ocean since the disaster, according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. The Fukushima plant is still leaking about 300 tons of radioactive water into the ocean every day, according to Japanese government officials. [Infographic: Inside Japan's Nuclear Reactors]

 Japan is haunted by two lingering questions from this aftermath of the disaster: First, how the radioactivity might seriously contaminate ocean life that represents a source of seafood for humans; second, whether it can stop the leaks of radioactive water from the Fukushima plant. more

But the real story is not just these two issues.

The real story is much more dire.  Fukushima is now and always has been in a state of emergency.

The upshot is that the Fukushima disaster is not only far worse than you've been told; it's very likely going to be worse than you could ever imagine. The radiation leak isn't plugged, in other words, and another explosion -- which many experts believe might be imminent -- would release thousands of times more nuclear material into the open environment.

Ultimately, the entire Northern hemisphere has been placed at risk by a bunch of corporate bureaucrats who thought building a nuclear facility in the path of a sure-to-happen tidal wave was a fantastic idea. Instead of acknowledging the problem and working to fix it like a responsible person would, our world's top politicians and ass-coverers have decided it is in their best short-term interests to play along with the TEPCO fairy tale which ridiculously pretends that radioactive leaks can be controlled by wishful thinking. more

Now even according to TEPCO, we have a crisis.

And as bad as the polluting of the Pacific Ocean is, the real worry comes with the management of the spent fuel rods.  This from RT News:

Even the tiniest mistake during an operation to extract over 1,300 fuel rods at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan could lead to a series of cascading failures with an apocalyptic outcome, fallout researcher Christina Consolo told RT.

Fukushima operator TEPCO wants to extract 400 tons worth of spent fuel rods stored in a pool at the plant’s damaged Reactor No. 4. The removal would have to be done manually from the top store of the damaged building in the radiation-contaminated environment.

In the worst-case scenario, a mishandled rod may go critical, resulting in an above-ground meltdown releasing radioactive fallout with no way to stop it, said Consolo, who is the founder and host of Nuked Radio. But leaving the things as they are is not an option, because statistical risk of a similarly bad outcome increases every day, she said.

RT: How serious is the fuel rod situation compared to the danger of contaminated water build-up which we already know about?

Christina Consolo: Although fuel rod removal happens on a daily basis at the 430+ nuclear sites around the world, it is a very delicate procedure even under the best of circumstances. What makes fuel removal at Fukushima so dangerous and complex is that it will be attempted on a fuel pool whose integrity has been severely compromised. 

However, it must be attempted as Reactor 4 has the most significant problems structurally, and this pool is on the top floor of the building.

There are numerous other reasons that this will be a dangerous undertaking:

- The racks inside the pool that contain this fuel were damaged by the explosion in the early days of the accident.

- Zirconium cladding which encased the rods burned when water levels dropped, but to what extent the rods have been damaged is not known, and probably won't be until removal is attempted.

- Saltwater cooling has caused corrosion of the pool walls, and probably the fuel rods and racks.

- The building is sinking.

- The cranes that normally lift the fuel were destroyed.

- Computer-guided removal will not be possible; everything will have to be done manually.

- TEPCO cannot attempt this process without humans, which will manage this enormous task while being bombarded with radiation during the extraction and casking.

- The process of removing each rod will have to be repeated over 1,300 times without incident.

- Moving damaged nuclear fuel under such complex conditions could result in a criticality if the rods come into close proximity to one another, which would then set off a chain reaction that cannot be stopped.

What could potentially happen is the contents of the pool could burn and/or explode, and the entire structure sustain further damage or collapse. This chain reaction process could be self-sustaining and go on for a long time.

This is the apocalyptic scenario in a nutshell.

The world should not allow TEPCO to do this work without the help of the very best among us.  The US  should force Japan to bring in the Russians, bring in the Brits, bring in the French.

Cleaning up Fukushima must and will become a global project.

For Fukushima, will bring about a global  legacy.

One legacy will deliver us from the brink of this nuclear madness.

The other Legacy will bring us to the edge of extinction.

 And that Legacy must not prevail.

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Save Our Trees at Barton Springs

Action Alert:
Urban Forestry Board Hearing
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 19
Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River St.
Bring signs. Arrive on time to sign up to speak.

4. Environmental Board
6 p.m. Wednesday, May 20
Austin City Hall, 301 W. Second St.
Bring signs. Arrive on time to sign up to speak.

Interview with Bill Bunch --

I have been impressed with the outpouring of love
and concern people in my home town have expressed
for our heritage trees at Barton Springs and in Zilker Park —
in all our parks and throughout the city—
since, under the auspices of the BartonSprings Master Plan,
a tree report was published that calls for cutting down
28 beautiful, old trees around the Springs
and another 30 or so in the park.

I took the pic above so we can see how much shade
one of the City's new saplings provides, compared
to the old pecan directly behind it marked for cutting.

email council: Ask them to Save Our Trees

The children at Pease Elementary School, the oldest
school in town, know to save the trees and
have shared drawings with us thanks to their
art teacher Desi Burke, a regular morning swimmer.

email Parks Board: lhg@grandecom.net,
dchimenti@austin.rr.com,mvbostick@seton.org,
jfrancell@tnc.org,saramarler@sbcglobal.net,
janehrivera@austin.rr.com,mvane@gardere.com



Unfortunately, the city doesn't always, or very often even,
replace trees they cut down. This tree was cut 2 years ago.

See Twitter updates at end of post.



The children suggest we could take care of our trees.




Ya think?



email Parks Director, Sara Hensley: Sara.hensley@ci.austin.tx.us

The small, darker green tree by the steps was planted
for Beverly Sheffield ten years ago. The huge pecan
flush to the bath house (three people are standing nearby)
is marked for execution. In a hundred years Bev's tree will
have a similar canopy to the one they are planning
to cut down — this summer.

There are legends that it is the thirst
of Earth's great trees that draws water from
underground, makes springs flow.
We know they pull water from the sky
down to the aquifer.

Sign up to get SOS action alerts.



As I write Don Gardiner is conducting a tree-by-tree
learning tour of these trees, so we can learn how to
save as many of them as humanly possible.

email Environmental Board members:
marygaymaxwell@sbcglobal.net,moncadataz@sbcglobal.net,
rodahart@yahoo.com, jonbeall1@onr.com,
dbezanson@tnc.org, john@bseacd.org,
maryannneely@austin.rr.com



The tree behind our old friend tree, supported by steel poles
since I began swimming here in 1971, is starting to provide
shade to back up the old leaning pecan. It is 30 years old.




This cutting of trees, if we don't stop it, will strip
the park and pool of the beautiful tree canopy
for decades.

Why would anyone want to do that?

email members of the Forestry Board: arborworks@austintx.com, texastreecare@hotmail.com, wildewoode@grandecom.net,tgallo@wildflower.org, s.leigh@mail.utexas.edu




One argument is that the City will plant new --
really big trees. That these new ones will be safe.

Can someone explain how a new tree that can be
transported, roots wrapped in burlap, transported
in a truck, can possibly be less likely to fall down
than these old giants which have been hanging on
to the earth here for more than a hundred years?



These drawings by children are laminated. We will hole
punch and tie them with ribbons to the pink tape
around the trees the city wants to cut down,
so there will be something beautiful and hopeful —
next to the Tree Report pages the City has hung
on condemned trees, blessings from the best of us,
our children, blessings for these old souls, our heritage trees.

Add your voice to the work of creating
a tree friendly paradigm for our home town.

If you have children who love trees, laminate
their drawings and put them up next time
you're at the Springs.

Copy these links and one to earthfamilyalpha into your twitter
notes and onto your facebook pages so all your friends can help you
help us save the trees. Voices from afar are welcome —
our city loves tourists.

Here are events, official and communal, where
we can continue the work of creating a tree
friendly paradigm for our home town.


1. Saturday May 1 — 9:45 AM
Press Conference and Community Wide Meeting
for Save Our Trees at Barton Springs Pool
WHERE: Outside the Main Entrance to Barton Springs Pool
WHO: Nicki Bishop, ISA-Certified Arborist; Michell Brown Owner, Xanadu Nursery; Graham Rasor, Masters in Horticulture from Texas A&M University; Cheyenne Thomas - Arborist, Robin Rather-3 time former Chair of the Save Our Springs Alliance with her child, and other elementary children displaying their art work especially drawn for this event, Bill Bunch-Executive Director-Save Our Springs Alliance
WHAT: We, the citizens of Austin, call on the City of Austin to slow down the plans of the Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) to cut down 28 heritage trees at Barton Springs Pool. We are asking the City to investigate all alternative options to save these trees, as well as to consult further with local experts on their opinions and solutions to keep both citizens and the trees safe. We are not only asking the City to initiate measures to preserve the trees but also to consider a tree-friendly regime for all city parks that includes tree maintenance, planting and preventative care. We appreciate the City's concerns regarding the safety of citizens and look forward to ongoing dialogue and together finding creative solutions to raise the needed monies to ensure that all city parks retain a beautiful, natural canopy of shade from healthy, stable trees.

Click to read an independent study of the trees by ISA Certified Arborist Don Gardner.
Click to view the Tree Report commissioned by the City of Austin.
Here is their map of all the trees scheduled to be removed or pruned and monitored.

Pink and green tape has been tied around the living trees to reflect the color coding on the map which indicates which trees will be removed (pink tape) or pruned and monitored (green tape).

2. Sunday, May 17th, noon - 3
Save The Trees Activist Picnic
South gate (off Robert E Lee)
Music, poetry, letter, cell, text, emails to council and boards and commissions.
Contact: jj1305@txstate.edu.
go to "Save Barton Springs Trees" on Facebook.

3.
Urban Forestry Board Hearing
6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 19
Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River St.
Bring signs. Arrive on time to sign up to speak.

4. Environmental Board
6 p.m. Wednesday, May 20
Austin City Hall, 301 W. Second St.
Bring signs. Arrive on time to sign up to speak.

5. Scheduled hearing for 5/14 to amend city code to make
it harder to cut down heritge trees has been postponed.
Right now the new schedule calls for a briefing on the
proposed new ordinances on June 11 and action on June
18. Stay tuned.

email council: Ask them to Save Our Trees

©Susan Bright, 2009

Susan Bright is the author of nineteen books of poetry. She is the editor of Plain View Press which since 1975 has published two-hundred-and-fifty books. Her work as a poet, publisher, activist and educator has taken her all over the United States and abroad. Her most recent book, The Layers of Our Seeing, is a collection of poetry, photographs and essays about peace done in collaboration with photographer Alan Pogue and Middle Eastern journalist, Muna Hamzeh

Click to see Austin New Real program: Tree Friendly Paradigm featuring Susan Bright (SB), John Correy (arborist) and Pam Thompson (show host) recorded 23rd, tech by Stefan Wray.

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Babies Know

AND -----




Here's something you can do for our children and grandchildren with MoveOn —

This was sent to us by California poet, Lauren Rusk. Author of Pictures In the Firestorm. Thanks!

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Children know too

Thanks to DS for this:

Travels with Charlie and Lex

Here's the finished piece.

Respectism and the AK-47

Respectism is the simple belief that the universal practice and promotion of respect for oneself, others and place is a pragmatic necessity for human survival.

Until we truly have that epiphany, we will not be green, we will not be kind or just, and we will not be able to work together to solve the massive problems created by our weapons and our waste.

We are the problem.

We just need to admit ourselves to the solution.

The AK-47 assault rifle is legendary for it's user friendliness and rugged construction. Any child over nine can easily operate it.

Let us not waste the terrible, costly wisdom we have learned from the AK-47 about tools that can be made to work in the hands of children.

If we are to survive and grow into a true civilization, the human population living beneath this miraculous halo must have a simple and durable principle to guide us, one that can be taught to toddlers, but which can also instruct our leaders.

If you have read this far, please consider this question.

Can we possibly have a better world for ourselves and our children without the universal practice and promotion of respect for oneself, others and place?

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Perhaps respectism* is the necessary word, meaning that we don't just need respect, we need theory about its importance and possibility. In short, to get to the moon, we have to believe we can fly.


*"Respectism" is presently at 182 Google hits, many of them relating to Tou Ger Xiong's Project Respectism, "an educational service project that uses comedy, storytelling and rap music to bridge cultures and generations."