My favorite freedom

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Still in a mood to celebrate July 4th, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate my favorite freedom guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States. The Bill of Rights is a list of 10 amendments to the constitution that specifically list rights that Americans citizens are guaranteed.

I have a friend who's Austrian who told me that every single Austrian paycheck has a deduction for the Catholic church and that citizens do not have a choice in the matter. This would be unthinkable in America. Christian culture predominates in America (not always graciously) simply because that's the majority, but I have met Agnostic, Atheist, Bahai, Buddhists, Confucian, Hindi, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, and Wiccan people about town. I don't know any Janists or Zoroastrians but, who knows, my circle of friends may be too narrow.

A fun way I experience other cultures is to visit and worship in other people's churches. My very favorite places to go are African-American churches because the music and the clothes and the joy are fantastic. Next would be Catholic Churches that are drop-dead gorgeous where passionate believers are engaging in all of their favorite rituals.

My own church is Congregationalist, which is very, very American, because it is governed from the bottom up. Barack Obama, until he parted ways with his minister, was a Congregationalist. Besides that grass-roots lack of hierarchy, what I fell in love with was the music (gorgeous, traditional hymns) and the strong sense of progressive social justice that runs throughout the history of my denomination.

But anyway, freedom from state religion is not my favorite American freedom. I got sidetracked. My favorite freedom is the freedom of speech and press. I think the healthiest measure of a democracy is the ability to say "the emperor has no clothes."

When bad ideas are allowed to hit the air, they can be quickly rejected. I was reading a book the other day about a culture that is known for people saying one thing and doing another. Why won't they say what they actually believe? Because political correctness is so powerful, that to say out loud what you actually believe, is unacceptable. There must be no correlation between speech and actions. Talk about a way for kids to become confused and believe lies. How does a culture move forward, grow, and be flexible if ideas can't be talked about?

A big part of free speech that is hard to live with is speech that is tasteless, irresponsible, and/or hateful. But hateful speech spoken out loud, in freedom, can be countered. Hateful speech, whispered, can not.

I've had a couple instances in my life where I had the opportunity to stand up and defend free speech. One time, when I was serving on my local library board, Madonna published her book "Sex." Fundamentalist Christians showed up at our board meeting demanding we remove the book from the public library. If we caved into their very emotional and vocal demands we would have been violating our own standards of selection. Our originally adopted selection policy required purchasing every single title that was on the New York Times bestsellers list. Madonna was #1 on that list. I made the motion to stick by our policy. I believe it passed unanimously.

Most of the time, I feel lonely in my appreciation of this freedom. Not very many Americans seem rabidly passionate about it. The erosion of civil liberties that is taking place in my country does seem, frankly, un-American.

For example, reading that our Guantanamo interrogation techniques had been borrowed from Chinese communist torture techniques seemed 100% plausible because it's so alien to our values. It all seems so insane. This isn't the way Americans do things! Which brings us back to the question: why then, ARE WE DOING IT? And I ask that with the greatest respect and appreciation for the mission of the people who keep us safe.

Until the present administration came into power, I never once thought about "does the Constitution apply to everyone who is physically present in the geographical boundaries of America or just the citizens? Does it still apply to American citizens when they go overseas? Does it apply to the way we expect our government to behave outside of our geographical boundaries to non-citizens?

Stateside Book Buzz

For all of you American expats who wonder what is going on back home, here's a nod to a popular book stateside. It's a title that took off out of nowhere and has been on the bestseller list for weeks based on word of mouth alone. "Three Cups of Tea" was written by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin in 2006.

Greg Mortenson, a mountaineer, got lost climbing K2. He wandered into a Pakistani mountain village so disoriented he kept thinking it was a completely different town. The people of Korphe, Pakistan took care of him and showed him kindness. He promised the people of the village he would come back and build them a school. And he actually followed through on that promise. The book is the incredibly uplifting story of his odyssey as he built first one school and then more.

I first heard of the book when a lady told me she had to read it because her daughter, whom she characterized as "the most frugal person on the face of the earth," had just finished the book and wanted to drain her bank accounts and send every single penny she had to the author so he could build more schools. "What is in this book that would make her say that?" she wondered.

A woman in my community read the book and urged the library to choose it as this year's title for the one book, one community program. Greg Mortenson, himself, is coming to speak in September. Her idea is not only should everyone enjoy the book, but wouldn't it be cool for our community to raise $50,000 to help him build a school. She's right. It would!

Daughter #2's university is asking every student to read the book this summer with book discussions to follow in the fall. I'm told many other universities are doing the same.

What Greg Mortenson has accomplished is to see the good in an area of the world few Americans even get too and far fewer of us understand. Long before 9/11, he began a mission to build schools in unserved Muslim rural areas. He not only was able to start educating young Muslim schoolgirls, he received blessings from Shia leadership in Iran to continue doing so. He built the schools using local labor and contacts and did it cheaply and effectively. And he's kept on doing it.

This is a wonderful story about a man who accepted people as they are, reached out without a demand that they change their faith, allegiances, or beliefs, and does what he can to help them help themselves. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Greg Mortenson is the director of the Central Asian Institute.

"Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life"

There is a first-rate article in Oprah Magazine (yes, I'm an official member of the cult) this month by Julie Morgenstern excerpting her new book When Organizing Isn't Enough. I would link to the article but it hasn't been loaded onto the magazine web site.

Julie says, "Let's say you want to make a major change...but you're stalled. Here's the things: You can't be a new you without to some extent dismantling the old you."

I like my present "you." I don't want to transform my "you" as much as I want to transform my "life." This article spoke to me because the inertia of making an almost 180-degree turn in my life (paring it down, living alone again without my children, moving across the world, beginning new work in a new culture) can be overwhelming. I can see how people stall and don't go anywhere! It's a lot easier to stay put and not do the work or feel the feelings of loss. Because there are always feelings of loss.

She says:

I devised a four-step system to help people manage their own transitions with grace. I call it SHED, and though the process isn't always pleasant or easy, without it life gets stalled. Clinging to the old, the irrelevant, the stagnant holds you back. It can confine you to a space that no longer fits, denying you the opportunity to be your truest, best self. By releasing your attachment to obsolete items in your space and schedule, you gain the energy and clarity to make changes in your life, find your passion, or deal with the transition of divorce, an empty nest, or retirement. SHED is a transformative process for letting go of things that represent the past so you can grow and move forward. The SHED steps are:

Separate the treasures - Identify and unearth the items and obligations that energize you and have value for the next chapter of your life.

Heave the trash - Let go of any activity or object that depletes you; the result is a significant opening of time and energy.

Embrace your identity - never mind your stuff. This is your new opportunity to reconnect to your most authentic self.

Drive yourself forward - Begin to fill your space and schedule with activities, experiences, and items related to your future goals.

This blog is a big part of "embracing my identity so I can drive myself forward" to "separate my treasures and heave my trash." Frankly, shedding an old skin can be exhausting. But I find that change is ten times more exhilarating when I make it happen rather than let it happen to me.

What helped you make the transition from full nest to empty nest or from one country to another?