CBrajkovich Ramblings

Author David Shenk believes that genius comes about because of genes interacting with our environment. But it doesn’t happen by simply adding one to the other. It has become more of a model with the formula of (G x E) where our gene are multiplied by the interaction of our surrounding environment with them. No matter what we look at, there can’t be a simple choice of one or the other. So don’t expect that your education alone will get you far, if you don’t put your learning to use in your environment. Or that talent alone will take you where you want, without paying attention to the resulting interactions of environments that are affecting your own actions and thoughts. We’re not just products of our environment or our upbringing, but the culmination of both interacting upon each and every one of us on a daily basis in a way that affects our entire being.

– found in a Big Think post

Ta’Kaiya Blaney, a Sliammon First Nation youth, had a message for Enbridge when she learned about another tar sands project that is being proposed from Alberta to British Columbia, covering a span of 1,170 km. Just like the Keystone XL project, there is a huge outcry because this project will bring hundreds of enormous oil tankers larger than Exxon Valdez near the Great Bear Rainforest. The Great Bear Rainforest is already under threat by excessive logging, even though the Canadian government had promised to help conserve one of the last unspoiled temperate rainforests left in the world.

This 10-year old girl waited outside of the offices of Enbridge, but her message was never heard. So she sang the song above in front of their building, accompanied by her mother and three members of Green Peace. Her song was soon passed along around the world, and is helping the rally cry of those who oppose using tar sands for oil production. You’ve already heard about the other project, Keystone XL, which has brought thousands to Washington to protest the approval of this project. Currently, President Obama is the only person who can stop the project from opening. Everyday more people are voicing their opposition: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, and six other Nobel Peace Prize winners. Here’s their letter to President Obama. Continue reading →

We were not alone in our tragedies. Across the ocean and years apart, another country was dragged down into a pit of terror. And they were by far not the only country to suffer, just one of the more recent tragedies that defied understanding. But their response was much different from ours. Yes, there is always more than one way to resolve an impossible situation. Until we’ve been faced with such horror, we won’t know what path or actions we’ll take.

Here’s another way from another country: Norway

http://youtu.be/uj3zVTj5jEg

“Our answer will not be hate and revenge, but more openness, more tolerance, and more democracy.”

– read more in Yes! article: A Truly Courageous Response To Terror

I can tell you that so many of those images are still in my head, though not in the same way as those who actually experienced it. That event was an experience that no one should ever have. Ever. I had to watch it on a screen that kept replaying a time of unimaginable tragedy resulting from a bottomless well of hatred. I didn’t stop watching it, because to stop felt sacrilegious. If those people in it couldn’t leave, then I shouldn’t be able to turn away from it. It was a potent reminder of how hatred destroys, and that I should never ever succumb to it for any reason.

We all remember this day as a day that changed the world that we live in. There have been many horrific events that similarly rocked the stable ground that we walk on. But nothing to the extent of 9/11. We’ve spent a decade going over the images that wouldn’t stop playing in our heads, or on our screens. It was that catastrophic. And yet, through it all, we found an inner strength in us to take a tentative step forward into our future. It’s not easy and we won’t forget. But we have to survive and persevere for those who didn’t. No one knows what the future will bring. The world that we thought existed wasn’t even close to reality. Other countries experience this more frequently than we do. Perhaps our continent’s distance because of two vast oceans has insulated us from the terror that seems to be everywhere. But the world is now connected on levels that we wouldn’t have believed a few decades ago, and that distance is only in our heads now.

Let’s all pause a moment in respect for those who passed in such a cruel and incomprehensible manner. Let’s all bring back those fond memories of those we hold dear. For though they’re not on the face of this Earth with us, they are in our hearts and minds each and every day separate from this one day that won’t let go. And let’s also remember that those devastating actions of those who disagree with us may beget another day such as today if everyone doesn’t change their ways. No one wants that ever. Anywhere.

We need to live our lives beyond the best of our abilities. Everyone is in a position to give something back for what they’ve been given. Freedom. Independence. Liberty and justice for all. These aren’t just words, but our way of life. Men and women fight for those words every day in near and far away places. But let’s move past the physical and open up a dialogue about what’s inside each and every one of us around the world. Because until we can have respectful open two-way communications about what’s inside us, days like today will continue to be a specter that we fear.

Here’s to hoping and working for a world where such days as today will never happen again. Anywhere.

Some remembrances of 9/11 by the NY Times

9/11 Memorial

911day.org

A Message

The September 11 Digital Archive

p.s. – I’m purposely not connecting with anything (with the exception of the digital archive) that will put us back into those mind-breaking moments, because those moments were too much to experience when they actually happened. We shouldn’t forget, but we also shouldn’t be caught in the vicious riptide of this day forever.

http://youtu.be/QhzKdA90kPw

The Mayhem spots by Allstate have always been a favorite of mine (and so many others). I guess that it speaks to our inner monsters?! But I think that they made an awesome one that’s appropriate for the times.

Just how big has our blind spot gotten when viewing the world around us? We would rather take the words of some “expert” then take a look for ourselves. And the blind spot only continues to grow. Well, if we don’t wake up, there won’t be anything left to view. Food for thought.

So, keep your eyes open, so that you don’t miss the world around you. I personally love the entire world being in my viewfinder. Who else does?