Serious. NO Bull!

#bullDogNATION’s Sunday BULLY Pulpit

Hello! And to #bullDogNATION’s Sunday BULLY Pulpit where each week we gather together fur the Gospel and the Gossip according to… Me! Or you.

This week: The gospel–

Conscience: “a personal sense of the moral content of one’s own conduct, intentions, or character with regard to a feeling of obligation to do right or be good. Conscience, usually informed by acculturation and instruction, is generally understood to give intuitively authoritative judgments regarding the moral quality of single actions.”

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online

Once upon a time good conscience was a character component PARENTS, some sort of faith, and community instilled. Children learned from the example of family and community leaders– their teachers, their preachers, business leaders and their neighbors.

“Train up a boy according to the way for him; even when he grows old he will not turn aside from it.”–Probverbs 22:6

So it’s disturbing to me how the media is making it appear as though all of a sudden there’s this prolific increase of lack of good judgement and good conscience. The truth is, this is a social phenomena that has been going on for quite a long time. Without a conscience, there can be no empathy. Conscience is the little voice behind you saying:  Do you really wanna do.., say.., wear…  that? Conscience is:

“The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one’s conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong.- The American Heritage® Stedman’s Medical Dictionary

I don’t believe more Internet cyber-etiquette classes are gonna cut it. Do you?

Linda McCartney very famously and poignantly expressed it this way:

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can break my heart.”

That, literally, is what’s at the heart of this matter. People not stopping to consider anyone else’s feelings anymore, probably because their own are so dulled down.

“…how can YOU speak good things, when YOU are wicked? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”– Matt 12: 34 & 35

Words are powerful. They are double-edged swords. They have the capacity to heal or humiliate. Help or harm. Build up or tear down. Words can kill! They kill the spirit. People who think it’s fun or funny to kill another person’s spirit are, in my opinion, no better than MURDERERS!

Some People think it makes them feel and appear superior when they can destroy the spirit of another Person. Like dying, there are sooo many ways to hurt another Person. The cumulative effect of all of this seemingly innocuous, funny ha-ha bullying is that it slowly, insidiously, bit by tiny bit, transforms potential friends and talented individuals into frightened, uncertain, hopeless victims.

Victimization leads to frustration. Frustration leads to anger. Anger devolves into resignation. Resignation leads to self-loathing and creates The 21st Century Zombie. A Person who looks perfectly normal, going through the motions of living on the outside. Spiritually, emotionally dead on the inside.

It’s a wretched existence. First of all, the psychological and emotional energy it takes  just to damp down all that pain, reign it all in– persevere and endure, often with no end in sight every day. It. Is. EXHAUSTING!Job only had to endure his torment three years. So did Jesus Christ.

Because you’re the victim, you have to do all the work. No one must ever know you’re angry, annoyed, disappointed, hurt, scared– fighting the good fight all by yourself in your head and in your heart.

Second, if you fail to understand how victimization works–  Poof! All of a sudden you’re not only a problem, you’re the one with the problem. You’re the difficult person, the malcontent, the complainer, the irritating source of all the friction. You don’t know how to “go with the flow.” You’re INFLEXIBLE! Everybody has bad stuff happen to them. You need to develop a “thick skin.” You have only yourself to blame. You should stand up for yourself!

“How does it feel to be a problem?”– W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk

These young people could tell you: Tyler Clementi. Megan Meier. Eric Mohat. Hope Witsell. Just a few of the former members of the sad and tragic fratority called the walking wounded. The living dead. Then there are the countless unpublished victims who dull their pain with alcohol or drugs or sexual promiscuity or non-suicidal self-injury behaviors (NSSIB) such as cutting or, acting out rages.

“How does it feel to be a problem?”

How does it feel

How does it feel

To be on your own

With no direction home

Like a complete unknown

Like a rolling stone?– Bob Dylan

There are so many more stories like theirs in the naked city; the neat and tidy suburbs.  Not only are children, teens and young adults bullied in schools and on college campuses all across America, but adults– Yes, ADULTS are bullied in the workplace or in their neighborhoods as well. People with children, and car notes, and student loans, and mortgages, and credit cards to repay are forced to quit their jobs (another form of suicide) to escape the relentless torment!

It’s neither fun nor funny to deliberately or maliciously make another human being feel like a victim; to kill their spirit.  When someone physically assaults you or steals your property, or you lose a limb as a result of medical incompetence or malpractice, the law’s the remedy for you.  But when someone hurts, or assaults, or maims, or mercilessly bludgeons your feelings, where’s the remedy for you?

“Ouch! That hurt my feelings! Quick! Call the police!?”

Society says you just need to suck it up, act like an adult, shake it off, grow up, be a man, turn the other cheek, give it to God. But when Mean People, their lies and their hateful machinations interfere with your ability to sustain or even have quality of life itself or disrupts your pursuit of happiness–  it’s a tad harder to just shake off.

And the effort. It takes soo much out of you, requires soo much energy.  It’s soo exhausting.

Nowadays not even your home is a safe haven or shelter from the storms outside or a respite to recharge and gain your bearings to endure another day. There’s a note posted on your door. A message on your answering machine. An email in your inbox. A text on your mobile phone. A video on Youtube.

Now they can even follow you home.

You want a friend you- can rely on

One who will never fade away

And if you’re searching for an answer

Stick around. I say  It’s coming up, it’s coming up

Its coming up like a flower

Its coming up. Yeah– Paul McCartney and Wings

No rest for the weary.

What needs to be talked about more, everywhere, is being of good character– valuing a good conscience. Having a good FICA score is not an indicator of good character! All that demonstrates is that you can pay your bills. And yet, that’s all we publicly associate character with– a record of bill paying. No wonder no one really cares or has any regard for how anybody feels any more.

True happiness and joy rests in having a good conscience. You get a good conscience by having goodwill towards everyone every day and all the time. It’s not just how well you treat people, it’s how well you make them feel. A lot of the time, being good to one another requires no money at all.

When we can get back to being a society who cares more about the emotional health and well being of people and less about their credit scores, there may be hope for less of these true and tragic stories of People who are just plain mean to other People.

C’mon People now, Smile on your Brother

Everybody get together

try to love one another right now!

Goodwill Energies I direct

Toward Each and Every one of you

Each and every day!

Right now!

Right now!

“And there came to be evening and there came to be morning…”

That’s life today!Got somethin’ to say? Email your contribution to The Sunday Bully Pulpit: that1ebd at gmail

READ Across America Day

 

may come in like a lion but March also kicks off with an important program that takes place in schools, libraries and bookstores all across the nation. The event, usually scheduled around or on Dr. Seuss’s (aka Theodore Geisel) birthday (March 2nd), is Read Across America Day and it is the largest annual, nationally recognized reading event.

The National Education Association’s goal is to build a nation of readers through its signature program Read Across America, now in its thirteenth year. This year-round program focuses on motivating children and teens to read. On March 2, the National Education Association (NEA) is calling for every child to read in the company of a caring adult. Or WORD Dog.

Invite guest readers to your school, encourage  your parents to participate and even get their colleagues and your community excited about Read Across America Day. Send an animated Read Across America e-card created especially for NEA by Reading Rockets, a literacy partner this year.

For more information and resources just click on WORD Dog here:

 

Goodwill Energies I direct

Toward each and every one of you

Each and every day

❝And there came to be evening and there came to be morning…❞

That’s life today!

Related Articles

• Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! (firstbook.org)
• Four Simple Steps to Gear Up for ‘Read Across America Day’ (firstbook.org)

When Bad Breath Happens To Good Dogs

Meet Michael. He’s a WORD reader at The Learning Academy.  Michael is a strong, expressive reader with great enunciation and a particular fondness for funny picture books. That’s one reason I lub hearing Michael read aloud to me each week.

A perfect example, is a perfectly delightful and amusing picture book entitled Dog Breath: The Horrible Trouble with Hally Tosis, By Dav Pilkey.  Here’s how Dav Pilkey, the author, describes how he came up with the idea for the book:

“When I was growing up, I had a dog named “Halle” who had the worst breath in the world! My dad used to call her “Halle Tosis”, but I never understood his joke until I was much older. You see, “Halle Tosis” sounds a lot like the word “halitosis” which is a medical term for bad breath. So I borrowed my dad’s corny joke, added a few corny jokes of my own, and came up with a story about a very good dog with very bad breath!”

is even funnier when Michael reads it aloud! Too bad everybully can’t have Michael to read aloud to them. I guess that makes me one special, lucky bulldog. Thanks, Michael!

Goodwill Energies I direct

Toward each and every one of you

Each and every day!

“And there came to be evening and there came to be morning…”

That’s life today!

The Learning Academy—  Donations Welcomed.

Related Articles

• Picture Books are Not Just for Little Kids (chicagonow.com)
• What’s Behind Bad Pet Breath? (everydayhealth.com)
• Read Aloud Lesson Ideas with “A Chair for My Mother” (brighthub.com)
• Can Fart Jokes Get Boys Reading? (huffingtonpost.com)

Up, Despicable, Tulip & Toys

I lub movies. I go to the movies all the time. I especially like movies that are smart, fun and are mostly about kids and dogs. That makes sense, right? After all, I’m not only the Champion fur Children’s Literacy, I’m also a dog! BOL! So I decided I’d write about three films I especially enjoyed in 2010 and one that I lub every year all the time–  My favorite animated film “Up.”

“Up”

“Up“is a wonderful, thoughtful, thought provoking, utterly charming story that is basically about the affection that develops between a lonely, elderly widow named Carl and a chubby, awkward and neglected Eagle scout named Russell. And of course there’s a noisy, dangerous and scary adventure because what animated kids film would be worth its salt without the obligatory noisy, dangerous and scary adventure.  Oh and there must be no parents,  That’s the rule, too.

Our story begins with a sweet romance. Two children, Carl and Ellie, meet and discover they share the same dream of someday being explorers. In newsreels, they see the exploits of a daring adventurer named Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer). When his discoveries are reported being faked, he flies off in a rage to South America, vowing to bring back living creatures to prove his claims. Nothing is heard from him for years.

Meanwhile, Ellie and Carl (Edward Asner) grow up, have a courtship, marry, buy a fixer-upper and turn it into their dream home, live happily together and grow old– together. This process is shown in a sweet and lovely sequence, that depicts life and marriage in a way that is almost never found in a family film. The couple scrimp and save their loose change in a gallon jug.  They have a dream of someday taking a trip to Paradise Falls, but as John Lennon famously said in his famous song Beautiful Boy “Life is what happens to you– flat tires, home repairs, medical bills– while you’re busy making other plans.” Then the happy couple make a heartbreaking discovery. They will never be parents or have children of their own.  This interlude is poetic and touching.

After all this, the film focuses is on Carl’s life after Ellie. He becomes a recluse, holds out against the world, keeps his home as a memorial, talks to the absent Ellie. One day he decides to pack up and fly away — literally. Having worked all his life as a balloon man, he has the equipment on hand to suspend the house from countless helium-filled balloons and fulfill his dream of going to Paradise Falls. What he wasn’t counting on was an inadvertent stowaway, Russell (Jordan Nagai), an earnest Wilderness Explorer Scout.

There are  personalities here,  two old men struggling to articulate and account for meaning in their lives. And a kid who, for once, isn’t snarky or smarter than all the adults. And a loyal dog. And an animal sidekick. And “the cone of shame.” And a bulldog. And a house and all those balloons.

You will lub, lub, lub “Up.”

“Despicable Me”

This one begins with the truth that villains are often more fascinating than heroes, and creates a villain named Gru who freeze-dries the people ahead of him in line at Starbucks, and pops children’s balloons. Although he’s inspired by many a James Bond bad guy, two things set him apart: (1) His vast Mad Scientist lair is located not in the desert or on the Moon, but in the basement of his suburban home, and (2) He dreams not of world control so much as merely dominating the cable news ratings as The Greatest Villain of All Time.

Voiced by Steve Carell, Gru’s life is made more difficult because his mother (Julie Andrews) sometimes gets on his case. Memories stir of Rupert Pupkin in his basement, yanked from his fantasies by his mother’s voice. Gru’s most useful weapon is the Insta-Freeze Gun, but now, with the help of his genius staff inventor Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), he can employ a Shrink Ray. Just as global-scale villainy is looking promising, Gru is upstaged by his arch-rival Vector, who steals the Great Pyramid.

Gru finds three cute kids at his friendly neighborhood orphanage, run by the suspicious Miss Hattie. His plan is to keep them at his home until his Moon scheme is ready to hatch, and then use them to infiltrate Vector’s home by subterfuge — pretending to sell cookies, say. It follows as the night does the day that the orphans will work their little girl magic in Gru, and gradually force the revelation that the big lug has a heart after all. The refreshing thing about “Despicable Me” is that is violates the convention that children’s animation must have a perky, plucky young hero. Carl Fredrickson of “Up” effectively put an end to that.

Get your folks to take you to see “Despicable Me” while it’s still in theaters.

“My Dog Tulip”

Here is the story of a man who finds love only once in his life, for 15 perfect years. It is the love of a dog. J. R. Ackerley wrote a book about a German Shepherd he rescued from a cruel home. My Dog Tulip is now an animated feature combining elating visuals with a virtuoso voice performance by Christopher Plummer.

The film is animated, but not intended for children. It is told from and by an adult sensibility that understands loneliness, gratitude, and the intense curiosity we feel for other lives, man and beast. The story is narrated by Plummer, in the voice of a man in his 60’s who works for the BBC and lives in London. He is a soloist, cantankerous, crabby, lonely. Ackerley is educated by Tulip in the needs and ways of domesticated dogs. He attends to the feeding of Tulip, the training, the grooming, the walking, the territorial marking behavior, the illnesses, the personality, the life and death. No parents of a child have ever been more observant or a better caretaker.

Poignant.  Sweet revealing.  Entertaining and a joyful visual experience as well.

“My Dog Tulip.” You might have to rent or DVD this one. Or read the book!

Last but not least, there’s Disney/Pixar’s

“Toy Story 3”

Andy is all grown up now and headed fur college. Their problems begin with that most dreaded of commands, “Clean out your room!” Andy’s mom gives Andy three choices: (1) attic; (2) donation to a day-care center; (3) trash. As Andy examines his old toys, his gaze lingers fondly on Woody (voice of Tom Hanks), and he decides to take him along to college.

What with one thing and another, the other toys find themselves at the day-care center, which seems like a happy choice, until a dark underside of its toy society emerges in the person of an ominously hug-prone bear named Lotso. Buzz Lightyear is back, still in hapless hero mode, but after a reboot, he starts speaking Spanish and that leads to some funny stuff. I also enjoyed the plight of Mrs. Potato Head, whose missing eye continues to see independently of her head. This raises intriguing physiological questions, such as, if Mr. Potato Head lost an ear, would it continue to hear, or if he lost a mouth, would it continue to eat without a body? These are not academic questions; at one point, Mister becomes an uncooked taco shell.

This is a fun, fun, funny, fun, slapstick, fun comedy, lacking the almost eerie humanity that infused the earlier “Toy Story” sagas.  It’s also lighter and happier with action and jokes rather than character and emotions. “Tulip and Me,” it isn’t. Just a big ole’ smilefest.

So there you have it.  What were your favorite films in 2010?  I’d love to hear.

Goodwill Energies I project

On Each and every One of you

Each and every day.

“And there came to be evening and there came to be morning…”

That’s life today!

TODAY Was A Good Day

I had the day off today.

So I organized my email, worked on my blog, and posted updates to the NATION on my Twitter.

I found out my anipal Gisele’s not feelin’ so good, so here’s a little somethin’ I hope will cheer her up:

Then I got caught up on my stories:

I was gonna read a book, but the ending kinda got spoiled for me:

So, as usual I went outside and enjoyed a little association:

Afterwards, I listened to some music by One of my favorite anibands:

I gotta say, it was a good day.

Goodwill Energies I project towards each and every one of you each and every day!

“And there came to be evening and there came to be morning…”

That’s life today!

*photo Creds:
1. Underwater bulldog pix came from: http://bit.ly/3F0D5f
2. Defaced Marley&Me pix came from @Miss_Cakehead ‘s blog
3. Final That’s Life Today pix of Marley bulldog watchin’ That on TV courtesy @DolceGisele

kCiao!