Author: gailpress

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Harriet Beecher Stowe

“Never  give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”

Today is known as Juneteenth, a federal holiday which commemorates the official end of slavery in the US.  

The history of slavery in North America has blurred edges, with accounts of enslaved Africans being brought to this continent as early as 1526. However, the first written account of the exchange of people for goods is documented in Virginia in 1619, so that year is often cited as the beginning of slavery. This egregious condition persisted for several centuries.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, is often cited as the most influential publication that garnered support of the abolitionist movement and became the catalyst for social change that ultimately led to Civil War. After the war, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. This declared freedom for the 3 million people who were enslaved in this country, and slavery was officially over. Not everyone complied, however, and it was two and a half years later that the final slaves in Texas were officially set free by Union soldiers on June 19, 1865. Currently, around one hundred and fifty years later, we are still feeling the effects of this horrific institution that have been engrained into our laws and social norms.

There are many historic moments where we pause and reflect on the effect of a specific action that defined slavery in the US throughout the years. Uncle Tom’s Cabin could be considered the left-side bookend that defined the era of monumental shift in social consciousness that led to the deconstruction of slavery as a legal institution. The right-side bookend, then, is June 19, 1865 when the final slaves were freed and America emerged as a nation dedicated to continued pursuit of equal rights and justice.

Harriet Beecher was born in 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut to a busy household of multiple children and Puritanical parents. She was brought up with strong Christian beliefs, but also was encouraged to pursue intellectual and literary interests. The family relocated in 1832 when her father became president of the Lane Theological Seminary. They moved to Cincinnati, a bustling port city on the Ohio river where, just to the south in the state of Kentucky, slavery was rampant. She befriended a Reverand who was helping slaves escape to freedom and heard his stories and met the people. She had the opportunity to visit a slave-run homestead in Kentucky and felt the tragic pain of being unable to control the destination of your family members. Her aunt had married a slave trader but was unprepared for the shocking conditions that she would witness and returned a year later to recount her stories. All these incidents had a profound effect on young Harriet, but perhaps the most influential was the murder of her father’s dear friend for publishing an article against slavery.

She was married to Calvin Stowe, a faculty member of the seminary, and they were living in Maine when the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850. This required that “Persons escaping from the Service of their Masters” be returned to their owners and that all free states must comply, using police force if necessary. A similar but less enforceable fugitive law had been passed in 1793, but the northern states often disregarded that law and the number of escapees was on the rise. Harriet Beecher Stowe felt the fire rise within her and knew it was time become a larger voice for the abolitionist movement. She connected with her God, and described an immersion-like state that resulted in the story she wrote down as Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The story revolves around a slave, Tom, who is sold multiple times and endures physical and mental brutality by his captors. He maintains his Christian beliefs through his travails and is portrayed as a Christ-like figure who forgives his captors and embraces his destiny.

First published as a series of articles in 1851, and finishing in 1852, the series was compiled into a book which immediately flourished and became the “second best-selling book of the 19th century, following the Bible.” (Wikipedia). It had a huge emotional impact in the country and abroad and brought to the forefront the evils of slavery. Even though it is based on accounts of interviews, witnessed events and documents, Harriet Beecher Stowe always maintained that it was the hand of God who wrote the book.

This WAVE Woman had Ambition to devote herself to a life of rectifying the enormous injustice of slavery, at a time when the tide was moving strongly against her. She had Virtue to know the correct moral path to take, even in defiance of others in power. She understood the Empowerment given to her by God to voice her cause so others may know the truth. She is a true WAVE and inspiration to anyone who sees an injustice and wants to make a difference.

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Sandra Day O’Connor

“Our purpose in life is to help others along the way.”

Sandra Day was born in 1930 and grew up on a remote cattle ranch in Arizona. For the first years of her life, her home had no running water or electricity! She grew up herding cattle and learned how to use a shotgun. She had a passion for reading. Her parents realized that educational opportunities were limited from their home, so she was sent to live with her grandmother in El Paso where she attended school.

She graduated high school at age 16 and was accepted into Stanford, where graduated at the top of her class with a Batchelor degree in economics. She entered Stanford Law School in 1952. She served on the Law Review, where she worked under future Supreme Court justice Wiliam Rehnquist. He moved on to a law career in Washington DC. Sandra Day, on the other hand, having graduated in the top 10% of her class, in 2 years instead of the usual 3, could not find a job as an attorney because of her gender. She was offered a job as a legal secretary but decided to volunteer as a deputy county attorney in San Mateo, California. This ultimately resulted in a small salary.

Sandra Day married John Jay O’Connor after graduation from law school. They settled in Arizona and raised three boys. O’Connor began her political career here, serving as assistant Attorney General, followed by a seat in the Arizona Senate.

Ronal Reagan nominated O’Connor to the Supreme Court in 1981, and when she was appointed, she became the FIRST WOMAN to achieve this outstanding accomplishment.  She served from 1981-2006, when she stepped down to spend time with her family.

During retirement, she realized an opportunity to teach young Americans about government and how they can participate. She created the iCivics interactive program in 2009 which engages 9 million middle school children every year.

She passed on December 1, 2023 at age 93. She was known for her clear thinking, endless energy, work ethic, and ability to balance family and career. One of her more notable attributes was the open respect that she showed to all individuals, even her dissenters. She would engage her colleagues on the Supreme Court to gather for lunch after their discussions.

The remarkable Woman was Ambitious in her pursuit of knowledge. When faced with challenges, she persevered and molded the situation into something more equitable. She lived a life of Virtue, and valued the Empowering opportunities when they arose. She is an inspiration for everyone. Her contributions will endure.

Text and photo credit of Wikipedia.org

Sandra Day O’Connor being sworn into Supreme Court by Chief Justice Warren Burger as her husband John look on.

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Slavery and Injustice in Medical Journals

Doctors get a majority of information from reliable medical journals. We scan the contents of each publication and take note of the articles that are pertinent to our practice. The leading article in the most recent publication of New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM, a respected publisher of medical knowledge for two centuries) snagged my attention like a dog spotting a squirrel. The title: Slavery and the Journal – Reckoning with History and Complicity (by historians Jones et al, vol 389;23. Dec 7, 2023) This captivating article recognizes that NEJM has played a role as a “prominent forum where physicians perpetuated race hierarchies before and after the Civil War” and published articles that referred to enslaved people in “dehumanizing ways.”

The article is rife with references from prior publications promoting the justification of slavery and demeaning attitude toward Blacks. A particularly egregious example was an account of a violent attack in 1856 by South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks on Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner. Sumner, an abolitionist, had given an impassioned speech criticizing slaveholders. Two days later Preston beat him mercilessly with a cane, nearly killing him. This heinous act occurred in the United States Senate chamber. NEJM account “described Sumner’s injuries in exquisite detail but said nothing about what prompted the assault.” (This incident highlighted the intolerance of opposing sides regarding slavery and the inevitable violence that ensued leading to the Civil War.)

NEJM realizes that any current discussion of slavery is complicated by the prevailing attitudes of the time, but it takes responsibility for being complicit in spreading unsubstantiated racist claims, such as the concept that giving freedom to formerly enslaved people could cause mental illness. Ideas like these that support the underlying narrative of those in power are difficult to retract. Progress has been gradual, but purposeful. For instance, increased awareness of unethical treatment of minorities in the last century led to the establishment of safety nets such as Institutional Review Boards that oversee research with attention to Respect for Persons, Beneficence, and Justice.

Enslaved Africans were first brought to Virginia in 1619. The US abolished slavery in 1865, about 250 years later. The African race has known slavery on this soil for significantly longer than they have known freedom. True equality is still being sought. Progress is excruciatingly slow when embedded with deep, albeit erroneous, beliefs that are supported by trusted institutions such as published peer-reviewed medical knowledge. Over the past century, though, humans have developed tools based on logic that we can trust to help us improve as a species. Transparency tells us where we were. Vision lets us see where we want to be. Logic gets us there.

Kudos to NEJM for opening this discourse and allowing us to move forward by defining the errors of the past. The evolutionary process is sometimes sluggish, but it is persistent. Progress is facilitated when people who have enjoyed empowerment are willing to look at things through an enlightened and compassionate lens. We all benefit as we evolve together. Logic points us in the right direction.

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Gravity

Our bodies evolved in a gravitational environment. We can’t “see” gravity, so we often forget about it, but we can’t live without it. Gravity keeps our oxygenic atmosphere conveniently outside our noses. It draws rain to soil so plants that sustain us can flourish. Every earthly creature depends on it. It’s a constant force that surrounds us like a cozy blanket. As we move through this world, the energy we exert that is necessary to counteract the tug that it exerts helps us make new cells to rejuvenate our bodies. To fulfill livelongfeelgood, we need to stay upright and mobile for as long as we can. That means we need to engage with gravity and use it as a tool to strengthen our muscles. But it’s also a force that continuously pulls us downward, until we ultimately succumb at the end of our lives and allow the earth to envelope us.

Gravity can be thought of as a god-like force that protects us and nourishes us. We are never without it. Gravity has been there since the beginning of time. It exists throughout the vast universe. We know we will dissolve deeper into its presence when we die. Yet we can find comfort that in its immense power, it has been and forever will be an earthly provider for all living things, past, present, and yet to come. “Gravity” has the qualities of a benevolent, timeless, omnipresent god. Every time our foot hits the ground, every breath we take, every time we see birds fly or enjoy a babbling creek, we can be grateful for this presence.

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Pathway to Peace

Peace is something everyone wants, and for good reason. It is a healthier way to live. People who know inner peace are easier to be around. They live longer and feel better. They are happy.

There are some ground rules for the search for inner peace.

-It is a journey, rather than a destination. It’s a refinement process that takes time, perhaps years. The process itself, though, is rewarding.

-It takes practice. We CAN change the way we think; neuroscience research has shown this. We can rewire our brains to accept situations differently and choose an alternate course that is in our best interest. We must want to make this investment.

-Most people who attain it do not live in a state of peace every minute of every day. Humans evolved in a binary environment, so our brains are wired that way. We would not appreciate light but for the dark. In the same way, we would not know peace unless we know turmoil. Living in a state of turmoil, however, is unhealthy. Many dysfunctional situations are not worth fighting, especially when there is limited control over the outcome. It’s better to disengage using peace practices. Other situations may be worth the effort to find a satisfying solution. We can use logic (Precious Logic!) and peace practices to turn these tumultuous situations into friendly ones.

There are different ways to approach the search for inner peace, and expert advice varies especially from different sides of the globe. Most experts agree that finding peace involves not just a singular practice, but a combination of habits that are intertwined and reformed over time.

i.  Practice Gratitude. This is HUGE in any approach that I have read about, and I can endorse it because I practice it and it works! Learn to be grateful for the gifts that have been bestowed on us. Look at situations as “Cup half full” instead of “half empty.” People who are grateful are easy to be around because they are so darn happy! And happiness is infectious. Surround yourself with people who feel gratitude.

ii. Let go of Judgement. This one takes lots of practice. It’s healthier to let go of toxic feelings about past situations rather than harbor unhappy memories in packages that get opened and reopened. When these memories surface, release them like popping soap bubbles. Forgive. Think about something joyful instead. Also, and here’s a BIG one, let go of self-judgement. Learn the practice of self-love. Forgive yourself for past mistakes and know that everyone makes them. Accept yourself as lovable, and then you will be able to experience love in a more meaningful way.

iii. Live in the moment. As individuals living in a fast-paced time-fragmented society, we have been programmed to want to jump to the next “thing” that grabs our attention and not linger where we are. Studies have shown that these rapid-fire attention changes are detrimental to the focus needed to accomplish singular tasks. Slow down. Take deep breaths. Learn to shut out distractions. One way to help with this is through meditation, which results in long-term beneficial changes and can be done just about anywhere, and even during certain activities.

I hope you will join me on this Pathway to Peace. There will be more detail in further blogs.

See you soon!