Monthly Archives: June 2024

Will You Abandon Humanity?

Posted on June 23, 2024 by Darrick Dean

“The greatest cataclysm in human history.” – Ken Burns


The War is perhaps the best documentary on WWII ever filmed. I am currently watching through the series for the second time, which seems very appropriate considering some things I’ve heard recently.

Certain groups of people in the younger generations are speaking about how depressing and terrible the world seems to them. They see no hope for the future, and many have decided not to have children. I feel bad for those who apparently have no knowledge of their ancestor’s history; for the loss of resilience among these people; for their suppressed human spirit; for the close-minded manner of thinking they have indoctrinated with.

Is anything now so bad – real or imagined – compared to the most horrific conflict our species endured? One that occurred not early in our history, but recently while we were supposedly at the height of civilization.

When the veterans returned from this war, did they give up on life? Did they, after seeing such unprecedented death and evil, shut themselves from society and promise never to have children? Did they abandon the responsibility of ever generation to move forward?

No, they did the exact opposite.

Every time has its challenges, its problems, its obstacles.

Every era also has its people who embody the spirit of thousands of generations before them as they rise to overcome everything thrown at them.

For those who see no hope, let me apologize on behalf of those older than you that abandoned their responsibility to teach you our past. Now do yourself a favor and watch what your ancestors, only a few short decades ago, faced, endured, and conquered.

Categories: History, Modern History | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Being Present

Posted on June 15, 2024 by Darrick Dean

“Rarely are we ever truly present.” – Evy Poumpouras

People have gone to such great lengths to be connected — cell phones, WebEx, Slack, smart watches — yet we have managed to be disconnected. We no longer know how to give someone undivided attention. The irony is we have been sold that these apps and devices increase our productivity. Not only do they not do this, our personal connections falter. Evy Poumpouras writes in Becoming Bulletproof:

“One of the fastest ways to sabotage you rapport with someone is to keep your phone out. I’ve seen people go to great lengths to connect with others, and yet their phone will be in their hand, splayed out on their desks or dinner table, signaling to everyone around them that there is something else of potentially greater importance waiting to take their attention away. This sends the message that whoever you’re with is less deserving of your time and that you’re not fully present.”

You might think this is just about courtesy or respect, but it’s bigger than that. “…it’s about influence…this signals how much you value” someone and “…you’ll be able to observe and read them better if you’re giving them your full focus…”

For some people, their devices have become an addiction. I see people who can’t walk across the hall to another office for a few minutes without their phone. For those who bring it in the bathroom, what are you doing? Does always having your phone make you feel important? Listen, kids have phones. Devices haven’t been a status symbol for decades. What are you going to miss by being away from your phone for a few minutes or — the horror — a few hours?

“Unless you’re expecting an emergency call, such as news about a sick family member, then the statistical probability of your personal Armageddon occurring during thirty minutes of being unavailable, is, well… statistically improbable.”

Maybe being part of the last generation to grow up without cells phones (Gen X, but some of you older Millennials as well) gives us a different perspective. We knew how to be gone all day, or a whole week, and no one knew we were alive until we got back. We used phones at other peoples houses (they existed). We didn’t check in every five minutes. Could you survive if cell service disappeared? Do you panic when you realize you forgot your phone at home?

Technology is a tool, but tools can be misused. Learn to use them, and not used by them. In our quest to communicate and connect more with people, we quite often are doing the complete opposite.

Categories: What You Can Do | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Freedom Dies Without You

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Darrick Dean

“We tend to assume that our American legacy promises us liberty and the pursuit of happiness—no questions asked. But I learned from my reading of the founders’ work that just as you aren’t promised freedom in the American contract without the reciprocal expectation that you will risk yourself to defend freedom, so you aren’t promised happiness or even the purely self-regarding right to pursue happiness. That’s a myth.” – Naomi Wolf, Give Me Liberty

Many people think democracy is some sort of self-propagating institution. Once set in motion, it needs little guidance or attention. This couldn’t be further from the truth. As soon as people stop paying attention, those in power abuse their power. A small amount of bureaucrats can shape, influence, undermine and destroy the people’s rights. Once it starts, it slowly gets worse, a little at a time. In modern times, this has been referred to as moving the Overton Window. The Founders of the United States understood this well. It’s embedded in the Declaration of Independence.

As Naomi Wolf writes, the Declaration’s language:

“…is quite difficult; it is the formal language of a very formal time far removed from our own…We tend to think that the Declaration intends something pleasant and benign…but it turns out the Declaration of Independence is about our continual duty as Americans to rebel…[its] first long sentence asserts the ‘right to revolution.'”

In fact, the Declaration “…charges us categorically and always as Americans to rise up in person against threats to liberty.”

Democracy is not a natural state. It requires attention, participation, protest — and when necessary — restoration.

Paying attention only on election day is to not pay attention at all. If you are too busy to understand and protect democracy, you will lose your freedom. Many in history have awoken to an oppressive government, only to ask, “How did it come to this?”

Categories: government, History | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

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