New Era

In just two days Bush will no longer be the POTUS. Hurray to that! And Barack Obama will be the next POTUS. Double HURRAY to that!

I was offered an inauguration ticket. I don't know whether that was because I volunteered so much during the campaign or because I gave whatever I could of my money so that Obama could pay his people.

I loved all the field organizers that worked out of my town's field office. They were all young, idealistic people, people who had put their own lives on hold to take part in something greater than themselves. They felt a calling, and they literally dropped everything to help out in the movement that they saw as their generation's duty. Most of them were college students who had taken a year off. Now what did I do when I was in college? Hmmm. Some were already successful in their careers, but were besieged by doubts as to whatever they were doing was at all meaningful.

Now we are about to swear in Obama as our new president. I believe that this is a moment that I will not forget the rest of my life. I wish I could have gone to the inauguration. I had to give up the ticket because I was offered only one ticket. But I can't possibly go without my family. They helped me volunteer. My husband by babysitting countless hours, my children by helping me decorate the office, sort papers, make meals for the staff members. It was an effort that really took the whole family.

As Tuesday nears, I am going to sit back with my family and watch the inauguration. And I will be beaming with joy.

Help and Love Those Near You

Ok, I am not a conservative. Never will be. There is just so much about this world to love.

Conservatives believe that this world is imperfect. Conservatives believe that human nature is imperfect. We need to always be on guard so as not to fall to temptations, not to give into impulses, not to live as sinners. The whole world is one big temptation, and we need to be constantly vigilant because you never know where the next danger lies. We are just one split second away from falling.

Wow. How can you live like that? I would much rather believe that, though we are not perfect, we are within ourselves the Divine. Why would the Supreme Being create us in her image and not lend us divinity? Only if you recognize your own divinity, we empower ourselves. We can in our own way affect. That is what I would like to believe. Together we can march toward perfection. We may never get there, but it sure is a powerful incentive.

Can Yogis Be Conservative?

When I volunteered for Obama during the summer, I had a curious encounter with an undecided voter. I walked up his driveway, and I noticed a sticker from a local yoga studio on his car. When I finally talked to him, he said he wasn't too sure who he was going to vote for. Having been immersed in yoga for a few years now and training to become a teacher, I just can't see how someone who practices yoga can have a conservative mind.

Let's see. First it is necessary to define "conservative." Though there is no facile, universal definition of "conservative," I believe it is safe to say that "conservatives" believe in looking for answers in the past. They believe in "good, old" values and tradition and are, therefore, resistant to change. They also tend to look outside themselves for guidance, most notably from religion. That seems to be true especially of conservatives of today.

Yoga, on the other hand, teaches enlightenment within yourself. You look inward to find peace and practice to live in the moment, for anything other than the present moment is not within our ability to fully enjoy. If you look too much into future, you may be fearful of the unknowables happening. If you look too much in the past, you may be fearful of the bad things repeating. Therefore, you may live in the grip of fear if you are not able to focus on the present.

I refuse to live in fear. I would much rather live for the moment, focusing on making each moment more beautiful than the last. Isn't that what progress is?

Democracy vs. Republic

This from a letter to the editor in Star News: "The United States is a republic and not a democracy and the majority does not rule."

I have to agree with that. If democracy were synonymous only with the majority rule, then everything would be relative. The majority rule trivializes inalienable human rights. In other words, there would be no inherent rights, only those that the majority would vote for. Imagine the struggle for Civil Rights in the 60's. Can we imagine voting for Civil Rights? And are we sure that the majority would have voted for the Act?

For example, prop 8 in California. It put gay marriage, which was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court of California, to a vote. The scant majority (even that is questionable as many people did not even vote on the proposition) voted for the proposition in banning gay marriage. The majority ruled here that gay people do not have a right to marry when the state Supreme Court, in interpreting the state law, said they did. Hmm. I think that this majority rule is dangerous. Another case in point: I like to point out to my students that Nazis were also voted into office.

It truly is important for citizens to be educated so that the vocal majority does not rule and the true majority does not remain silent.

Bush's Contribution to American Culture, Finally.

I see on blogs and on facebook that a lot of people are getting ready to send and/or throw shoes (sadly, only symbolically) at Bush. We are truly taking cue from our Iraqi friend.

And then it dawned on me; this could be Bush's unique contribution to American culture. We didn't know before we invaded Iraq that being hit with shoes is a supreme insults in that part of the world. And how symbolic it is!

Being Korean-American, I can tell you that, at least in Korean culture, feet are considered the dirtiest part of your body. Why? I can only guess, but I will try. Just the little bit of Korean culture that I know tells me that, again at least in Korean culture, there is no romantic notion of Mother Earth. Earth is dirt, and dirt is dirty. And so being hit with shoes that amble on this dirt, I can see why being hit with shoes in that part of the world is also an insult.

So, here we are. Bush might have inadvertently introduced the shoe as the agent of insult to American culture.