Celebrity

   

     Well-known, influential, admired: these qualities create a celebrity.  Physical appearance, talent, wealth, and power add to the star status.  Often we become aware of famous people from the media.  Seldom do we recognize those stars closest to us, those we know the best who are the greatest influence in our lives and deserve our admiration the most.

     Wishing we could be a star who has millions of fans or wanting to just have their perfectly shaped bodies, beautiful hair and clothes, this is a dream the media implants in our minds.  This image is often greatly exaggerated, even fake.  We need to appreciate how we are beautiful unique stars with talents to contribute to the world.

     We can be entertained by celebrities, watch their TV shows and movies, listen to their music, yet realize we must not idolize them.  Some politicians use their celebrity to gain our support and our vote.  We may be impressed by how celebrities promote themselves, their opinions and products, yet recognize what the celebrity really stands for and the limits that should be placed on their influence.

     Some celebrities gain more power than they deserve while many deserving individuals never receive the star treatment.  Appreciate all the stars around you and let your own star shine.      

         

     

Base(n.) Base(adj.)

     Base(n.) is the lowest level usually supporting an upper level.  Some leaders form, manipulate, and arouse their base to gain and maintain power.  Often this base remains loyal without logic or moral consideration.  They keep the leader on a pedestal, disallowing questions or criticism.
     Base(adj.) means low-minded, selfish, without moral principle.  If you are part of a base, make sure you are supporting someone who is deserving, who goes beyond serving just your interests.  The best leader welcomes constructive criticism and is considerate of the entire group.
     Beware.  Some bases are base.

Robicheaux

     James Lee Burke gives us Dave Robicheaux, a seasoned detective in southern Louisiana, who appreciates the beauty of the swamps and bayous, shows love and loyalty to his friends, family, and co-workers while dealing with his troubled past.  As he investigates crimes, he sees all sorts of characters, the good and the bad, the troubled and the criminal.  His best friend of many years Clete  Purcel assists in tracking down the evil criminals.

The Moment of Lift

     Melinda Gates has traveled the world focusing on the problems and solutions of poverty.  By talking to people in the poorest areas, contacting organizations already working on these problems, and supporting even more ways to help, she has become an expert on lifting people up and improving their situations.
     Her biggest discovery is how empowering women changes the world.  She states, "When you lift up women, you lift up humanity."  "Sometimes all that's needed to lift women up is to stop pulling them down."  Equal rights are "still often denied by cultural bias against women."
     She continues, "Being a feminist means believing that every woman should be able to use her voice and pursue her potential, and that women and men should all work together to take down the barriers and end the biases that still hold women back."
     By receiving vaccines, contraception, maternal and newborn care, and education, women, their children and their society can be lifted out of poverty.  "When the women were able to time and space their pregnancies, they were more likely to advance their education, earn an income, raise healthy children, and have the time and money to give each child the food, care, and education needed to thrive.  When children reach their potential, they don't end up poor.  This is how families and countries get out of poverty."
     All the countries around the world including the U.S. need to assure women have equal rights.  Melinda Gates states, "It's the mark of a backward society - or a society moving backward - when decisions are made for women by men.That's what's happening right now in the U.S." "If a girl can lift up her view of herself, she can start to change the culture that keeps her down."
     Look around your own country, state, and community, then realize the various ways the culture, some religions, and government need to change.  We all can have equal rights and be lifted up to a better life.
 

Where the Crawdads Sing

   
     In 1952, Kya is six years old, the youngest of five children, who live in the marshland of North Carolina "where critters are wild, still behaving like critters," where "biology sees right and wrong as the same color in a different light," where "man reverts to those instincts that aim straight at survival," "way out yonder where the crawdads sing."  In 1969, the body of Chase Andrews is found dead.  What happens before and after solves the mystery.

     After her family members leave one by one, Kya, still a child, becomes self-reliant living in the family shack, becoming a part of nature and using the marsh to survive.  She only goes into the village to sell the mussels she gets from the marsh and to purchase gas for the boat and other necessities.
     Author Delia Owens tells a story with style and substance of how we humans have the ability to survive, grow and face the challenges of life or choose a path that leads to destruction.

     

Mama’s Last Hug

   
     Mama, a chimpanzee matriarch, was near death, but when a biologist she had known for forty years came to visit, she showed joy through her smile, her sounds, and gentle strokes of his hair and pats on his head. She then gave him a last hug.  This demonstration showed emotions and feelings that all of us primates share.  Author Frans de Waal is a primatologist who has studied animal emotions and associated facial expressions, sounds, gestures, and behaviors.  Some of the many emotions all primates share include sadness, happiness, love, hate, anger, fear, disgust, shame, guilt, depression, pride, sympathy, empathy, affection, and sexual desire.
     De Waal states: "I believe that all the emotions we are familiar with can be found one way or another in all mammals." "Primates are made to be social, made to care about each other, made to get along, and the same applies to us." "Emotions can be good, bad, and ugly, which is as true for animals as it is for us."
     All primates including humans have many similar physical characteristics like having hands, forward facing eyes, and large brains.  We also have similar emotions, facial expressions, and gestures.  Even our behaviors are similar.  Frans de Waal writes about animal emotions and what they tell us about ourselves.

Values Shift

     As decades pass, values shift.  As phases of life are completed and new phases begin, values shift and evolve.  What was important may lose or gain relevance, be changed or downgraded.  New values may replace old.
     The importance of being in fashion may shift to comfort and practicality.  Some possessions and responsibilities may become burdensome and deemed unnecessary and a shift to a simpler life may be desirable.  As short term goals are satisfied, long term goals may become more logical.  What other people deem important may not matter as much as our own opinions.  Pleasing others may shift to making sure our own needs are met.  The list of what I shouldn't do gets shorter, and what I want to do may get more status.
     We learn to listen to our own voice and value our unique, one-of-a-kind self.  As we accumulate past experiences and our outlook on the future matures, we make better decisions.  A flexible and inquisitive frame of mind keeps us relevant to others but more importantly to ourselves.  We may improve our ability to influence others.  Wisdom enters in as we age.  We should appreciate it and not let anyone diminish it.
     Some of us remember learning to drive a stick shift and then later having the ease of  an automatic.  We still have to get out of neutral to move forward.  In order to move forward in our thinking, in order to evolve, our mind needs to shift gears.  We can value the past and honor our elders, even build on their wisdom, yet not value their opinions more than our own.  Use your freedom, allow yourself to go forward and let your values shift.