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| A Larger View |
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A Bi-Monthly Newsletter of the Inner Outer Partnership |
| Volume VI Edition 5 |
September/October |
2001 |
One Humanity:
A Step Closer To Proof
It's one thing to say we are one humanity all children of one father and
another entirely to scientifically understand how that can be. We can
intuit with certainty that humanity stemmed from the same source, and yet
without the backing of scientific evidence we cannot support our certainty
with demonstrable proof. It is that scientific parallel which fleshes out
our inner knowledge in a way that transforms our intuitive understanding
from private belief into shared reality. As DNA studies take flight and
microbiologists are able to expand the scope of their studies, seeking the
parents of us all is now possible.
The Y chromosome is a sort of bio- chemical library. It usually
determines maleness, and is passed on from father to son. The mother's Y
chromosome passes on to her children a record of maternal descent and
preserves it in the genes of small cell structures called mitochondria. The
study of how the Y chromosome DNA mutate and are encoded provide us with a
map of human migration and diversity. These paternal and maternal genes
are ciphers of a chemical map of human migration and diversity. A team of
researchers led by population geneticists at Fudan University in Shanghai
and at the University of Texas in Houston, have found the strongest
evidence to date that all modern humans descend from one single group. The
group originated in Africa. From Africa, it migrated to all other
continents naturally multiplying without interbreeding.
The possible map, therefore, would place the parent group in central
Africa about 100,000 years ago. One arm of the migration went to Arabia
80,000 years ago . From there it went to India and Asia 60,000 years ago
and then traveled further on to Australia 40,000 years ago. One branch
went from Africa to Europe , traveled all the way across Eastern Europe to
end up in Alaska some 30,000 years ago. Still a third branch migrated to
Western Europe from 60,000 to 35,000 years ago.
Studies of maternal DNA support this theory but some scholars
disagree with how the migration spread and whether or not interbreeding
was involved, suggesting instead that modern man arose through the
interbreeding among several regional groups. It may be a while before
scholars can agree as to the interpretation of the origins of the human
race. It is, however, clear that we are much closer to prove that humanity
is indeed one.
Living conditions for those at the bottom of the economic ladder is always
cause for reflection. The following two articles touch on aspects of this
issue.
The Cost Of Basic Dignity
A few years ago janitors held a convention in Los Angeles and won not
only concessions but respect. This year the "journaleros" or day workers
are having a turn.
Day workers often make less than $7.00 an hour, $1000 a month if they're
very lucky and if no one pays them with a bad check. Furthermore, even
when they get the job, they can be abandoned at work sites or be given
dangerous tasks and be hurt. What these workers want is more established
job centers. These centers provide basic needs such as toilets and tarps
to protect them from the rain while they wait for possible employers, as
well as identity cards which usually reassure employers and even police.
The centers also provide allotting assignments fairly without
discriminating against those who are not the boldest or youngest. Many
such centers also provide literacy, computer and citizenship classes. Los
Angeles has six such centers, more than any other city in the United
States, more are needed and some of the existing ones need upgrading.
But obstacles abound, many neighborhoods object to having job centers near
them, and funding is not always easy.
Journaleros are not the only ones in search of dignity. Sheepherders
too are asking for better working conditions. They are often immigrants
from Latin America, or the Balkans, work 24x7 frequently for as little
as $600 a month and live in primitive trailers without utilities. In one
instance, the trailer was within view of a road and the sheepherder had to
make sure he used the relief bucket at night so he could be sheltered
from passing cars or people. While trying to improve conditions, the ranch
owners are concerned about the cost saying they will have to let some of
the sheepherders go if they are forced to provide better salaries and
working conditions.
The demands for better working conditions are integral to the
dignity each worker deserves. It is regrettable that an argument even
arises. Basic conditions such as sanitation ought to be required
regardless of cost.
Juxtaposing Incomes
This past summer the Economic Policy Institute issued a report
indicating that in the United States no less than 29% of families with
young children do not earn enough to live with minimal comfort and
security. The researchers included the cost of housing, food, clothing,
health insurance, transportation, child care and utilities. They eliminated
such items as meals out, vacations, movies, cigarettes, and other items
that are routinely consumed by middle income families. Non necessities like
videos rental or Internet access which many can take for granted were not
even considered. If one considers saving for retirement a necessity, it
wasn't factored in either. Researchers came up with the basic budget figure
of $33,511 for a family of four. That happens to be roughly twice the
poverty limit for a family of the same size. But in real life, 70% of
these families do worry about food, have to use emergency rooms for
health care or worry about missing a rent payment. Of these families,
nearly 30% report facing more serious hardships such as eviction or having
to forego meals.
The report is an empirical fleshing out of a reality documented by
Barbara Ehrenreichs "Nickel and Dimed", a chronicle of her experiences
working at a series of low paying jobs to see whether the American dream
is still real. Ehrenreich's book which has been on the best seller list for
several weeks is an intriguing juxtaposition to the pay increases
witnessed by many CEOs despite the economic slump. Disney's Michael Eisner
for example received a $12,313.00 increase over last year. Eisner may
rank among those who have received the largest increases, but is by no
means alone. When one contrasts this to the fight going on in many
communities about a living wage, one is forced to pause and think about
our implementation of social justice.
When Is Enough Enough?
***Forty nine year old Timothy Lamar Walton escaped from a Georgia
prison 25 years ago. Since, he has been living as a productive citizen in
Los Angeles. One night last April police stopped him as he was riding a
bicycle, checked his background and arrested him as a fugitive. Now Georgia
officials want him extradited so that he can finish his sentence.
Decades ago when he was a young man Walton was convicted of robbing a
theater of $11. But, when during a prison disturbance, he and 20 other
inmates saw a way out, they ran and kept running until they found freedom.
***The FCC is auctioning the radio stations of 60 year old Michael
Rice, a convicted child molester. Their action is based on a rarely used
law dating back to the 1930s that requires license holders be of sound
moral character. Rice's two licenses in Missouri have been appraised at
about $2.5 million. He also owns three licenses in Terre Haute, Indiana. In
either case he would receive no money from the sales. Rice, who molested
five boys and served five years in prison, wants the chance to put his
past behind him: " I was convicted. I paid the price. I have been
rehabilitated." He has been on medication and in therapy since his
arrest in 1991. He admits that in the past he had no control over his
behavior but he says his mental illness is now in remission and his
psychiatrist agrees with him. Rice, who has been a broadcaster for 35
years, always had an exemplary record. He just wants the right to be able
to earn his livelihood the way he always has. So far he has lost all
appeals. The supreme court has refused to hear the case and the FCC has
turned down requests for further hearings.
Being a productive member of society seems preferable to being either
an outcast or an inmate. We all benefit when such a principle is honored.
Certainly there is more spiritual value in proving oneself in the crucible
of daily life rather than from behind bars. There comes a time when the
one who erred, criminally or not, has to be given a chance to prove him
or herself, and be given a clean slate to engage in a better way of
living. If the spiritual practice of harmlessness must reach beyond
individual practice, wouldn't an ethos suggested by the experience of these
two men, also put harmlessness in action in a larger way?
Web Site Of Interest: www. gutenberg.net
Accessible Literature
The subtitle of this unusual web site says it well: "fine literature
digitally re-published." That's exactly what Project Gutenberg is about. It
aims to have all the literature in the public domain by the end of this
year. They don't claim to have the latest edition, or even one to satisfy
a purist's heart, but the text is there and available to be
downloaded free allowing as many people as possible to enjoy it.
The project was begun in 1971 by Michael Hart who was given an
operator's account with a huge amount of computer time. There he met other
operators. With volunteers and donations, including the use of the Xerox
Sigma V Mainframe at the Material Research Lab of the University of
Illinois and volunteers, they were able to sustain their idea of storing,
retrieving and searching what was already stored in libraries. It is now
a site with a substantial database of much of the world's literature.
The site has instructions that will ease the process for first time
users. The poem below was retrieved through searching gutenberg.net and
downloading the Pulitzer Prize winning book of which it is a part, Edgar
Lee Masters "Spoon River Anthology."
To Ponder On
Jonathan Swift Somers
After you have enriched your soul
To the highest point,
With books, thought, suffering,
The understanding of many personalities,
The pauses in momentous transformations,
The power to interpret glances, silences,
The genius of divination and prophecy;
So that you feel able at times to hold your soul
In the hollow of your hand;
Then, if by the crowding of so many powers
Into the compass of your soul.
Your soul takes fire,
And in the conflagration of your soul
The evil of the world is lighted and made clear
Be thankful if in that hour of supreme vision
Life does not fiddle.
From Edgar Lee Masters, "Spoon River
Anthology"
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