Gaia Community: Andrei's Blog

Lee Iacocca is fed up!

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:45:17 -0000

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from its death throes? He's now 82 years old and has a new book, 'Where Have All The Leaders Gone?'.

Lee Iacocca Says:

'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder! We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course.'

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned, 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the ' America ' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C's of leadership, with crisis being the first.)

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess, so here's where we stand.

We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.

We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country.

We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.

Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble.

Our borders are like sieves.

The middle class is being squeezed every which way.

These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?

We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope - I believe in America . In my lifetime, I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: The 'Great Depression,' 'World War II,' the 'Korean War,' the 'Kennedy Assassination,' the 'Vietnam War,' the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.

If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a "Call to Action" for people who, like me, believe in America '. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'

Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. It's our country, folks, and it's our future. Our future is at stake!!

our mountains turned to sand upon a shore

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:55:58 -0000

A human life is so short.

In the greater timeline of our planet, it is a small dot.

It is love that makes it feel so large and important. Love of self and love of others.

To me, though I know it not to be true, my baby girl is the largest and most permanent seeming force in the universe, save possibly gravity. My love for her is so consuming that it fills my consciousness with more space than it has ever had. In the same way a place of great natural beauty seems eternal, so does my love for her. Because it feels like this she seems all of the timeline or the timeline of all living things breaths through her.

I am filled up with that love and suddenly the small blip that is my life seems somehow so large and lasting in that I can not ever see a time, though my body waste away and return to stardust, when the energy that flows from my love would ever dissipate.

This life is so short. Mine and my little Raine's - we will pass - our mountains turned to sand upon a shore. But the life of love is eternity - until then - it is forever, it is perennial, it is.

What is in a hug? Ode to Christine

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:40:13 -0000

Christine, since you came into my life, I have felt a growing presence that is loving, stabilizing and thoughtful. As Sherry is found of saying – you always show up. It is rare that I encounter someone so present as you, and somehow an event without you isn’t really complete.

Your smile!

Your hugs!

Did I ever tell you about Leona Wisemann – she is an old Hungarian Jewish Grandma version of you? She went to my and Sherry’s church when we were kids and I was close friends with her son. When you saw Leona coming at you, you saw a hug winding up and you knew you were going to have love squeezed into you with her strong arms pulling you into her soft grandmaness. Her hugs were legendary. Your hugs are legendary.

My father, I felt, was never more himself than after a church service when he stood in his vestments greeting people as they left the service. Long flowing colorful robes. Huge smile framed by a neatly trimmed beard – bright and happy eyes after having felt the Spirit moving through him as he shared his sermon, sang in his chanty sing song voice and walked us all through familiar ritual sayings and creeds. He was filled with love and spirit, and I remember waiting in line as person after person – young and old, stoic and emotional, white, Pilipino, Chinese, everyone – were caught up in his hugs. I waited with anticipation, knowing at an unconscious level that this was the best hug I would get all week. The hug where he was both my father and the father of my spiritual community. I think that this was true of everyone in that line in some shape or form – he was both spiritual leader and friend, or comrade, or counselor – some private aspect of his relationship with the person he was hugging but also his official role as a person of note in his community. When choosing a phrase for his headstone, one that my sister and I seriously entertained was “Gave Great Hugs!” I know that people visiting his gravesite would smile and agree because his hugs were legendary. Your hugs are legendary!

Now I feel more responsible for teaching hugs than ever. Our little Raine is becoming a hugger of note in her own right. She has mastered the art of the hug with patting. She is fairly adept at the hug and squeeeeeeze technique. She can sustain a hug for a prolonged period of time such that the hugee can truly relax and feel comfort from the hug. What’s more is that she truly can’t get enough of hugging once she starts – at least for the people she isn’t scared of right now. Looking at this, I know she has a bright future of hugs ahead of her. I told Sherry the other day how much it meant to me that you had a place in your heart for her. I am thankful that your own birth and story has made you the type of person who could teach my daughter your own hugging skills, as you love her up as only Auntie ‘Steen can. I am thankful for you Christine because with help of a loving community that you are such a central part of, her hugs will become legendary, as your hugs are legendary.

A hug is not just a physical act. I have come to see it as spiritual, emotional – even political act. A hug changes the nature of people’s connections to one another. It is a conversation between two people that transcends words. It says that the boundaries between us all as a collection of stardust are indeed illusions. The person who is unafraid to hug is a person who understands how closely connected we are. Some people seem to know this at their core and you are one of them.

So on your birthday, I for one celebrate your life with an abundance of appreciation for all you have given to me, to the people we are in community with at work and to the places where our families and friends connect. You are a wonderful big hug amidst the ups and downs of life. We would all be the poorer without you. Thank you so much for the evolution of your fearless and uplifting hugs and for sharing them with our little Raine-bow and the other little ones that are the future huggers our world needs.

Happy Birthday Christine – and many many more!

Peace, Love and Hugs,

Andrei

My love – another year of life

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:34:00 -0000

How can I grow for you something that the last thirteen plus years of marriage and more years of friendship has not brought to flower? Yet each flower fades, dries, turns to seed and bring more the next year. This year the garden that you have seeded is beginning to burst at the seems and I wonder if you see it.

We have made a life together – you and I – adding family and friends at varying closeness and now our little Raine. In this last year of your life, you have spent it as a visionary spends it. Finding inspiration and lesson in the moment, but working and building and growing for the future - the future of your own light and its expression. The future of your precious little charge and the future of the family and community that surrounds her.

Can a life be better spent? Can a year find something better than that? From my angle on the universe, so often crowded by the silliness of a man’s world or a business owner’s world or the world of someone negotiating over silly things like schedules and budgets – your year seems so well spent – possibly never more so.

There is a light in you that I have seen for so many years – seen it shine forth in different intensities and illuminating different corners of the world I live in. Sometimes, I have been blessed to have it shine directly on me and I have seen you shine it on our Raine. I see what a transformative and awakening response that light offers.

This year I have also felt an abundance of patience from you as I struggle and am so often lost from even myself. You are a calm or clear voice in the dark. I know this is not easy. I know sometimes I shout from the dark – “shut up you!” or just mumble something about how stressful my day was. Even in these times, I feel the undercurrent of the most stable and present love that has ever been in my life.

I see you reaching out more and more to tap into the wisdom of women around you. Finding teachers and friends, finding mentors and people to guide or counsel – this year you have taken even more meaningful steps into the circle of women, who in my mind have the answers to making life the true center of value on earth. It is women who are most connected to it and I feel like I can see your energetic tendrils reaching out and connecting with others in the web of life and know the coming years will be rich in simply being at your side and seeing that web catch more and more goodness, truth and beauty. I see it shaping the formation that is your growing wisdom.

I love your light. You honor me by sharing it with my own. I give thanks to your mother who brought you into this world and for the people who loved you into the person you are. I feel myself a better person for having contributed some love to the mix that is you. Happy Birthday my love – it has been a year well lived – thank you for the way you have used it!

Peace, Love and Very Good Things,

Andrei

Grateful for Fall

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:15:19 -0000

The fall has slipped in, and without judgment it is perfect and timely. Rain coming and shorter days, energy turning inward resting and percolating sweet saps, teeming damp leaves piling on top of one another, my thoughts fall between them.

It is easier to be kind, knowing the gentleness of this season, releases from reliance on outward warmth and the pulling of internal fires. Warming your hands at your own souls fire seeming both welcome and solitary. A cup of tea suddenly has nostalgic meaning again getting caught up in the magic of old ideal scenes.

As a human it is easy to accuse the change as a mood, as a failing of optimisms fortitude, but it is simply alike all natural things with cycles and rhythms that call for a time for falling and mulching ones own nature.

These things are my mulch – a bonfire on a cold southern California beach with college friends – ideas of artistic expression with power that seemed eternal. A line of a poem felt from a god, a star’s light like a muse. A café in Calle France – rain falling and running in broken sheets off the awning, a delicate cup of dark roasted coffee and a Gitanes cigarette. Zoe doing ancient Greek flash cards with me at another café. Lot’s of cafes, lots of cups of coffee, lots of cigarettes, savory meals, the soft orange glow of close conversation about the deeper things that slowly squeeze at the heart. Love, melancholy, old gothic buildings, Kafka, oil paints on a sweater, the smell of pipe tobacco, the sound of a walk alone or in silence with someone close. A whisper for time to slow, for growth to rest in some hidden process unknown to all but the most observant and to the truly wild things.

These things are fall to me.

Dairy and eggs research aimed at making humane choices

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:59:48 -0000

Below is a note my wonderful wife and our family health and wellness researcher:

Andrei asked me if I was sure that our dairy was coming from farms where the animals were treated humanely. I realized I wasn't positive, though I was pretty sure…..decided to do some research to update myself on the situation and the organic dairy options out there so that I had detailed information to make my choices based on. Feel free to pass this on to anyone you think might be interested too....

I'll just include links that will take you right to the screen with the info if I can so it won't take as much time to skim.....

ORGANIC VALLEY:
Interesting: Organic Valley is a farmer owned co-op, so there are farms all over the country (in 32 different states) that work together. The milk produced in California says "California Pastures" right on the box. I've never noticed that myself......I've emailed to ask where to get that or how to find it, etc.

http://www.organicvalley.coop/our-story/meet-the-farmers/california/

organic valley eggs/chickens:

http://www.organicvalley.coop/products/eggs/

loved this info about humane treatment:

http://www.organicvalley.coop/why-organic/organic-defined/humane-treatment/

also emailed to see if their chickens are fed a vegetarian diet like Horizons are.
Response (Mike Spencer) - 10/20/2008 02:55 PM
They are FED a vegetarian diet meaning no animal byproducts in the feed. Of course in a pasture situation as our animals are required to be, they can eat all the bugs around.
Hope that clears that up.

organic valley cows and pastures:

http://www.organicvalley.coop/products/milk-and-cream/

organic valley cheese, interesting: they have the largest "family" of organic cheeses on the market

organic valley meat info for Sherry--I've emailed to ask about slaughtering practices also

http://www.organicvalley.coop/products/meat/

CLOVER:

Cows are all in Northern California on family farms--but they have conventional farms and organic farms...so we are supporting a company that supports both when we buy these products. One positive thing is that they don't use rBST growth hormones in any of the cows, even the conventionally raised ones.

Dairy only, no eggs, no meat

http://cloverstornetta.com/ourcompany/farming_practices.html

HORIZON:

2 Company farms and 500 family farms across the country. Dairy and eggs, no meat.

http://www.horizonorganic.com/health/farmprac.html

I liked what I read about their usage of alternative medicine on their cows if they get sick.

http://www.horizonorganic.com/ourfarms/Our_Company_Owned_Farms.html
http://www.horizonorganic.com/ourfarms/Animal_Welfare.html

Not alot of info about chicken care so I emailed and also asked why they feed the chickens a vegetarian diet.

Other Horizon tidbits:

http://www.horizonorganic.com/aboutus/press/factsheet.html

STRAUSS FAMILY CREAMERY:

Family farm in Tomales Bay, CA
Most Milk comes in reusable glass bottles, reused an average of 8 times each (you return them to the store for a bottle refund/credit)

Wow! They run the farm and their electric car almost exclusively by using their cow shit!

http://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/?title=greenhouse%20gases

Info on how they pasteurize—lower temperatures for longer time, meaning that it tastes fresher and sweeter but has a shorter shelf life….about 2 weeks compared to ultrapasteurized dairy which has about 60 days! Wow. I don't want to drink milk that's 3 months old. Wow. This is turning out to be such an informative project!

http://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/?id=34

The only one that has a bunch of anti-gmo info on their site:

http://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/?id=55

Great info about "grass fed" or pasturing cows

http://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/?id=56
http://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/?id=61

"When the cows are let out onto the fields in the spring, when the rains let up, you should see them jump, scamper and skip -- seriously." Too much! I love it!

By far the most informative and comprehensive site I looked at.

Interesting info about recycling…actually they offer some milk in recyclable plastic for families for whom glass bottles are not practical.

http://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/?id=65

Info on tours and Farm Practices:

http://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/?id=45

So much great info on this site! I would love to go and take a tour, anyone want to join me?

SUMMARY:

Cost aside, I think it is clear that Strauss is the top choice. It is also probably the most expensive (though I haven't done the price comparisons yet) and a bit more labor intensive with the returning of the glass bottles to get your deposit back. I'm going to try to make the switch though…they are definitely one I would like to support.

Second place goes to Organic Valley for sure.

In a pinch, I would choose Horizon over Clover because they don't produce any non-organic items. Also, Horizon seems to really participate in moving the organic trends forward on large scales, having programs to help farms convert to organic, turning toxic land into organic farmland, etc....and they were pioneers in this market from the beginning as well.

1. Strauss
2. Organic Valley
3. Horizon
4. Clover

Gratitude Latitude #18

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:51:02 -0000

I am grateful for:

Occidental California – I am coming! Less than a week until my personal retreat there.
Finding the courage to inspire the inspiring people around me
Notions of Aikido
New life – two growing souls in the belly of a friend.
Jollie Holland – damn she makes me feel like money is over rated, life should be slow, like a draw on a fiddle in an Americana folk song and like the real story is the simple love of an old couple on a porch watching the grandchildren make trouble.
My guitar off of its place on the wall – thoughts of buying new strings for her.
Ridiculous sci fi post apocalyptic book reading spree.
Free haircuts in the early hours of the morning – yes I shaved my own head this morning
The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs.

Gratitude Latitude #17

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 23:23:17 -0000

I am grateful for:

Working with people who understand how to support one another.
Good ideas
That I work with people who know how to value one another’s time
My mac laptop
The “one more kiss” from Raine this morning as I was heading out the door and the way she ran at me with open arms.
Sherry bringing home a vegan tamale with that awesome salsa.
That although I am a vet, I am not a homeless vet.
Arturo giving me a fake it til you make it talk.
Simple acts of protest – seems like all over SF we are seeing chalked protests saying something like below:

Gratitude Latitude #16

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:08:34 -0000

I am grateful for:

Help and encouragement from Zoe to meditate and focus my intentions for the day.
Encouragement from my business partner Arturo when he said – “You owe it to yourself to find ways to be happy”.
Clients who embrace the realities of everyday life and come together to form teams that do good work and are supportive in tough times.
Good friends
Christine’s CVO role idea – Chief Visionary Officer
More material for my cabinet of curiosities than I know what to do with.
A seal skull – long story.
What great hugs Raine is learning to give. She has her own style now. I am very proud.
An old friend who sent me a picture of myself from high school.

Gratitude Latitude #15

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:23:17 -0000

I am grateful for:

People who are courageous enough to have tough conversations and grow from them. It is all too easy now a days to run from the tough stuff. People who stand fast and
My friend Tao who is enjoying the office – quiet and peaceful late on a Friday night.
Finally learning what the ringing in my ears has been and finding out that acupuncture can help.
Raine’s kisses
iTunes
The smell of brugmansia
Reinvention
The dream of building paths through a redwood forest with my girls.
The memory of Regen Germany where I found a little bench and icon in the grove of trees between fields. It was probably carved a century before I arrived, and it was worn by both human and weather elements. It was a simple sacred place. I pray that I can accomplish something like that in my lifetime.

Gratitude Latitude #14

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:52:43 -0000

I am grateful for:

Old growth coastal redwood trees. Once there was over 2 million acres of them on the west coast. Now only 4% of them exist. If you ever get a chance to see them it is a must – they are amongst the most noble and spectacular sites that nature has to offer.
My new colleague Linda who is an amazing coconspirator in trying to get adults to behave rationally and have reasonable expectations of one another.
Borderland Books – source of an incredible selection of sci fi, horror and fantasy books in SF and online http://www.borderlands-books.com/
Snuggling with my little Raine last night on the couch.
Fresh water
My vornado fan on a warm summer day
Old school biz people going new school sustainability – even if it is just for the money.
Peace – however seldom it stops by my door
Quiet - I still believe you are out there – I met you once in he sands of a foreign place.

Gratitude Latitude #13

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:25:45 -0000

OK so I have been very negligent lately in expressing my gratitude publicly but it doesn’t mean I haven’t been grateful. Let me do a little catch up here.

I am grateful that the love of my life and the mother of my wonderful little girl has successfully come through gall bladder removal surgery. As always my sweet you have been a trooper and have taken it like a tough amazon goddess!
I am grateful that my little girl Raine continues to thrive and do well in her world. She traveled to Russian River where we attended a wedding and where her mommy convalesced – and I am grateful that for that time Papa was enough to keep things together.
I am grateful that Raine is sleeping like a champ. She now likes to be put in her crib still awake and to put herself to sleep.
I am grateful that SweetRush got the space next door to us so we don’t have to move our offices due to growing so much this year.
I am grateful for a new potential project doing the good I want to be doing in the world with the Global Footprint Network.
I am grateful for my new coworkers in San Francisco and costa Rica.
I am grateful to have been at the wonderful wedding of Arturo and Danielle – truly beautiful and sweet
I am grateful for Café Gratitude where I took my friend to lunch yesterday.
I am grateful to myself for finally reading something that has no learning value whatsoever – World War Z – as in ZOMBIE Braaaaaiiiiiiiinsssssssssssssss…

Gratitude Latitude #12

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:55:21 -0000

This one goes out to my buddy E. who is struggling under the yoke of the animation industry to maintain his clarity, creativity and hope. Strange that an industry focused on entertaining children could treat the big kids so inconsiderately.

I am grateful for:

Sherry and Raine stopping by the office and seeing Raine laugh at Chili chasing the ball in the office.
Amy bringing Chili to work so Raine could laugh at him chasing the ball.
The office bought organic Nectarines Dru told me were ripe. It was so good that I simultaneously want to tell my office mates about it and also not :P
My speakers working in my office again so I can listen to music.
Sarah N’s computer working again so I can hear about all the things she is grateful for.
That I will see my grandparents tomorrow and Raine will meet her Great Grandparents.
The desire to live more simply
Sherry trimming my hair this morning
Deadwood

Gratitude Latitude #11

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:15:16 -0000

This one goes out to my new gratitude partner Becca.

I am grateful for:

Becca’s smile – you can light up a room with that genuine bright and hopeful smile that is all lips, all teeth, all eyes and all cheeks – prize winning show stopping gratitude inspiring smile!!!
Natasha my friend and MT – thanks for making me shut up during my massages. It’s about time I shut the trap and relax.
My new coworker Karina who brings both French and Japanese sensibilities, a genuine appreciation for her new coworkers and a kind and genuine presence that I know is going to be matched by fiercely competent project management.
My wife Sherry who continues to put up with me working too much, continues to be encouraging of healthier choices and continues to find new ways to love me and appreciate me even when I am not being as good at the same.
My sweet little Raine drop. I am so grateful that you are growing into a vivacious, funny, beautiful little girl. I am so grateful to have gotten to watch you run down the grassy slope and make it all the way down without falling. To see you turn with both exhilaration and pride of mastery in your eyes was a memory I hope holds for many years in the frame of the time and space that I found it.
A good night’s sleep. I am positive I saw one around her somewhere.
Xbox 360 playing gears of war with bro in law Dan and his kids Kelsey and PJ this weekend – even if for only a few games.
For the trust Dan gave me in talking through his business challenges. It is good to share the road with you man.
For Piccino Café in dogpatch for not cutting us off when we had too much coffee - Dan eight shots of espresso and two cups of coffee are seriously too much. You need help. Next time give me some more - I will help you carry the load brother!

Late 4th of July email string

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:29:55 -0000

Hi there - had to share a recent email exchange that I had with one of my coworkers in Costa Rica:

S of Costa Rica

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it. - Thomas Jefferson

Celebrate and enjoy your freedom, guys. It´s a privilege. Happy 4th!

Don´t get me wrong... This is a huge day for you and your country, but what I meant to say is that it´s also a day to compare the freedom that your ancestors thought about when they proclaimed their independence with the freedom that you have right now. There may be a huge gap between them.

I don´t want to spoil the party being a kind of Debbie Downer here, I just think this is the best day to judge the freedom you have and think about its cost to you and the world. And if your thoughts bring you down, what can you do to reverse that?

All I know is that if Jefferson and company lived to see how things are right now and the kind of freedom that you have, they would be highly disappointed... It´s the awful truth.

So, celebrate and enjoy, but don´t forget, and most importantly, think and act, so that the 4th becomes not only a ¨flag waiving¨ or ¨fireworks show¨ day, when everyone just looks apart from the truth and denies reality, but a day to celebrate freedom, the true kind.

My reply:

Thanks for the thought provoking message. In fact Jefferson and company - at least many of that company - were highly disappointed even before their lives ended. Jefferson was as close to an anarchist (complete freedom and self governance type of anarchist) as has ever been in the White House. People like he and John Adams saw the ideals they worked for descending into schism.

At the beginning of our country's independent history a few came together to design the experiment that is the United States and crafted a path to both independence as well as the basic human rights that are at the root of democratic rules of government.

Then many came together to fight for these rights, but even more so to fight for freedom from the injustice of taxation by an absentee landlord - the King of England - who was out of touch with his tenants.

But these fights fell away long ago. The names on the document that they wrote are fading and the paper crumbling. The concepts are still true though and I believe seen in much of the basic respect and rights we believe in at SweetRush - social justice, equality, fair wages for a days work, etc.

In addition, those concepts made their way across the globe as with any idea whose time has come, and the United States has been an ambassador for this concept for a few centuries.

New fights emerge today however. How do we apply these concepts in an age when new powers such as global corporations hold our life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness hostage? Or how do we improve a society when so many still remain in poverty and it is so easy to fall into that place?

The answer is still the same as long ago. Self governance - personal responsibility - and a value system that does not place property above life. When we give the governance or responsibility of our own lives and decisions over to others we create a situation that will head inevitably towards some sort of injustice like taxation without representation or buying your kid toys that it turns out have lead paint in them placed there by some careless manufacturer. When we give our lives over in mass to a minority with great power, then we strengthen another form of tyranny.

So wherever you are celebrating an independence - whether in the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Kyiv, etc. - in my estimation it comes down to celebrating the same thing. I have been afforded a life and with it the responsibility to live it in concert with the many other lives around me and those yet to come.

I was blessed today to celebrate it with my moms - my biological mother and my heart mother (the woman who my mom has been committed to since I was a small boy), my sister and her new boyfriend, my mother in law, my wife and my daughter.

We played, sang, ate and drank together and I got to see my moms with their granddaughter. Women who when I was small it was illegal to just love one another. The house behind us is a family where the father is Palestinian and the mother is Puerto Rican. There are Jordanians across the street and a few families from Mexico, I just read an email form the father of my Ukrainian god daughter. I work in a workplace that has many powerful and brilliant women free to engage their talents in their workplace. Now I am responding to an email from a coworker in Costa Rica.

In my mind there is no freedom without responsibility. As long as we close our eyes to the areas of our lives and our societies that need the application of that responsibility, we remain in bondage.

As I spent time today with my moms - both who have worked tirelessly for women's and minorities rights - and I hear their conviction even in their sixties to continue that work - I am reminded of the daily need for a commitment to that work. We have been building something special at SweetRush and much of it does have to do with taking responsibility for the work we touch and the lives we touch. We are collectively building something that provides a growing number of individuals and families with a increased quality of life, liberty and happiness. What better way is there to honor the spirit of our forefathers and mothers unless it is to do more of the same :)

Again, thanks for the thought provoking email Stuart. Happy 4th of July to you too.

Good Things,

andrei

-----

Here are a few favorite quotes that a few of my fellow U.S. colleagues added to the conversation -

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -- Thomas Jefferson - This was a lead quote from an article

or another from a U.S. colleague

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak and write. John Adams

Gratitude Latitude #10

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:33:02 -0000

Waves of gratitude for:

My father who would have been 65 today. He passed in February. Our relationship was strained for much of the last decade plus, but we loved each other and I had some very special memories with him which I am thankful for. Dad - remember those pancakes you made us in the shape of dinosaurs and mickey mouse. I was thinking of them the other day.
Arts and Crafts style - Greene and Greene brothers - thanks for affirming in your work what my heart has always wanted to see in wood, stone, tile and copper. Genius.
Global Footprint Network
Coworkers who don't give up and for a team that works together across timezones and cultures. I am thinking about Alexey's wedding in Kiev and hearing the Scorpions singing Winds of Change - "Did you ever think that we could be so close.. like brothers". So much to change still but working together is a start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taVW8Kv2HcQ
Vornado fans on a hot day
Women with tattoos in the Mission District of San Francisco in summer.
Primavera of Sonoma Salsa and vegan tamales and jasmine rice Sherry made.
Rootbeer and iced tea - next to water they are the best beverages on the planets
The thing in me that won't let me quit, that causes me pain when I am not on my path, that knows when I must make amends or when I have not done my best. Whatever that is and wherever it came from, I have infinite gratitude for its existence and its persistence in helping me shape my life.

Gratitude Latitude #9

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:23:33 -0000

I am grateful for:

My moms visiting for the weekend and falling even more in love with Raine.
Conversations about staying agitated in order to fuel change in ourselves and in our world
A day of cooking and serving
Seeing our Raine and little Zoe rolling around on the floor together.
Grandmas working for social justice in their communities
That my daughter is happy and healthy
The beautiful and loving looks my Sherry gave me today while I was cooking and serving
New directions and opportunities that make me feel like choice and chance are still alive in the world
A walk with my family by the reservoir and Raine mesmerized by swaying grass.

Gratitude Latitude #8

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:04:50 -0000

the idea of a new tattoo
my moms coming to town tomorrow
the new level of closeness i have with Raine
awaking from the nightmare of her death to find that she was indeed alive
Sherry being sweet when I told her about it
A mellow day in the office with one good heated and interesting conversation with Arturo
a paycheck
a clean home office
the salad i made tonight with lettuce from the backyard

Gratitude Latitude #7

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:23:49 -0000

gratitude fullness:

Memories of Baltimore - of note today was looking down into Tom Everhart's studio when he was painting snoopy and peppermint pattie - also listening to Louie Armstrong in our backyard while sitting on the swing drinking iced tea and smoking.
Time with Raine today - and how she is getting to be generous with her kisses.
Sherry putting up with my crankiness
Purple potatoes
Amazing coworkers who don't give up
Amazing artists who I can ask favors of
Bob Marley
silence - assuming it still exists somewhere :P
Blue bottle coffee

Gratitude Latitude #6

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:16:47 -0000

I am overflowing with gratitude for:

my little Raine drop for playing chase with me in our house
my lovely bride who dressed up cute for my birthday dinner (about two months past) at Atlas Cafe - yes I had the beetloaf sandwich again.
Bohemia beer
Resilience thinking
Dogeared books on Valencia Street http://www.dogearedbooks.com/dogeared/index.php
Alemany Farmers Market!!! White Peaches, strawberries, dates and Armenian cucumbers
Arturo - my business partner who never stops, even sometimes when I want him to :)
Amy who is taking on a project everyone else is scared of
Clean water to drink