February 12, 2008 by admin.

Dear Monica,

I have relived our moments so many times. Searching for years, I was finally reunited with you on a random art site. It is with great sadness for me that this was not a positive meeting.

The times that I knew you, I loved you. I cherished you for the being that you were, young, innocent, just beginning to grasp at life. You came into my family with child, and you were a bitter disappointment to your blood relatives, in particular your mother.

Not to me, though. I recognized you as the free spirit you were. Someone who had a vast amount of potential. A being who could love and be loved.

I was there for you through many a trial and tribulation. Offering my love and support seemed to be the natural way. Watching you give birth to your first child was an honor. I, ready to deliver my third child, stayed with you through the entire delivery. I was honored. I drove like a mad woman to the birth of your second child. I didn’t make it in time for the delivery, but I was by your side in the recovery room. I love you.

As you grew, I was delighted in the being I saw. You were a Sister, a friend, someone I could speak with about the everyday, mundane moments. I saw potential in you.

When your separation and divorce from my brother became a thought, I still supported you. I stood on each side with love and devotion, offering whatever help I could. I was devastated when you took the children far away. I was crushed when I could no longer see or hold the babies.

You phoned me one day to tell me about your abortion. I don’t remember the father’s name, Steve, John, Jim, there were a few possibilities. You thought I would be disappointed in you, hate you, but I told you that it was your decision, and that I still cared for you. I always will.

Time passed, and I lost touch with you and the babies. Life changed, movements occurred, miles were cast between us. Many things happened to me. The death of my Father, the murder of my Brother. Moments. I survived and moved forward.

Joel and I separated and divorced, mutual, we had grown apart. I remarried. A wonderful man is my second husband, but irreconcilable differences brought us too to separation and divorce. We remain friends, all of us.

Monica, I wish for you to know that no matter what you have written to me, I still hold you within my heart as a Sister. You will always be there as that being that I loved from the beginning. I am saddened that you hold me as someone to not forgive for transgressions I never committed. My soul churns with emotions that you feel this way. Perhaps it is something that I cannot change. I would hope that you, as a professing Christian, would walk the path that the philosophy proclaims. I can only hope.

In closing, I want you to know that I will always remember you fondly. I love you and the children. I think of you daily. I miss all of you. Walk your path with dignity Monica. And with Peace.

Kindest Thoughts,

Susan

Posted in Spirituality, Psychology, News Bulletin | Print | No Comments »

December 30, 2007 by admin.

It was Solomon who said “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” The words we use today, and the way that we phrase our sentences has all been seen before. The sequence of the words may be different, but the meanings behind the words are the same.

Chiasmus

Main Entry:
chi·as·mus
Pronunciation:
\kī-ˈaz-məs, kē-\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
New Latin, from Greek chiasmos, from chiazein to mark with a chi
Date:
1871
:an inverted relationship between the syntactic elements of parallel phrases (as in Goldsmith’s to stop too fearful, and too faint to go)

The definition above is from Merriam Websters Online Dictionary, http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/chiasmus+/. It is a term which has been replaced with the word plagiarism in todays sophisticated and educated world. I found the following to not only be interesting, but really quite entertaining as well.

For instance, when Benjamin Franklin said “”Where there is a marriage without love, there will be a love without marriage”, he paraphrased, or in todays terms plagiarized, the English writer Thomas Fuller, who wrote in ‘The Holy State and the Profane State’ (1642) “They that marry where they do not love, will love where they do not marry.” This may not be the first instance of the use of this exact phrase, and it certainly was not the last, since it has been used by many other writers since Franklin’s time.

Here is another example of Franklin’s use of others thoughts. “Grief often treads Upon the heels of pleasure, Marry’d in haste, We oft repent at leisure; Some by experience Find these words misplaced, Marry’d at leisure, They repent in haste.” This was lifted in its entirety from English writer William Congreve (1670-1729), who wrote in his 1693 play, The Old Bachelor:

Sharper: Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure: Marry’d in haste, we may repent at leisure.
Setter: Some by experience find those words mis-plac’d: At leisure marry’d they repent in haste.

The list of names of famous politicians and writers who practiced ‘chiasmus’ includes, but is not limited to, Confucius, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

For more information, please visit Chiasmus.com.

Posted in Research, Psychology, News Bulletin, Artists Area | Print | No Comments »

July 27, 2006 by admin.

Modern societies seem to have left behind the tribe and village mind set that dominated our existence on this planet until just a few centuries ago. Our cities provide anonymity and privacy not possible in a small village or tribe. A corresponding rise in non productive behavior accompanies this change. Crime, selfish acts, violations of ethics and morals are more difficult to deal with today. Banishing a tribal member for transgression against the group was often the punishment of last resort.
For many years the network enhanced and furthered communication and knowledge. Of course it wasn’t called the Internet then it was uunet/usenet and arpanet. The UseNet News Groups posting boards, so useful for engineering and science, soon became the gossip center and porn source for “anyone with two neurons they could rub together, and a modem”. This bit of humor is from the 1980s. Nearly thirty years later the only change has been that you no longer need any neurons, LOL.

The Internet allows anyone to be anyone, something that wasn’t possible nor desired 30 years ago. This freedom of identity allows and facilitates behaviors generally considered rude or hateful in person. Many engineers my age, 57, can remember how flame wars on uunet became common once general society became participants. The Internet became a place where identity could and can be hidden, where ethics, morals, integrity, and courtesy are optional.

I began a study of alpha personalities and aggressive behavior in societies and organizations many years ago. My interest area is in group dynamics and the interplay/interaction between the leader(s) and the follower(s). For an organization to exist there must be a benefit to the membership. This generalization is the basis for why cells organize into organs which organized into bodies. Note that not all organizations provide useful benefits to its members. Jim Jones comes to mind here as well as perhaps prisons. Not all alpha personalities are aggressive. Gandhi comes to mind who used passive resistance to influence society. Long time members of an organization who often are also the alpha personality may influence more through example and guidance then through aggression and control.

Tom Repasky
Susan Repasky
Copyright 2007 Flicker Light Studio™

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