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Showing posts with label world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world. Show all posts

Friday, January 1, 2016

Peggy and the Snowy Night

Peggy and the Snowy Night


Peggy woke up on a cold wintery night.
It was snowing outside and it wasn’t yet light.
As she looked out the window to see the new snow,
She spied creatures out standing right there in a row.

Each stood straight and neat by the street on one leg.
With a bright shiny head that looked just like an egg.
They stood there in line by the light of the moon,
But Peggy just knew they might march away soon.

And where once were bushes there only were lumps
That curled up like kittens (except they were bumps).
Snug under white bed sheets, all comfy and cozy,
They’ll sleep until sunlight peeps out orange and rosy.

Now, Peggy could see that they needed some heat
Like her little Kitty that slept at her feet.
Soon they would be purring and stretching their legs
While mother stood cooking and scrambling some eggs.

And out where the car had been parked in the drive
Our Peggy could see a big monster alive.
The shadows were dark in the place where it sat
It must be a dragon, all shiny and fat.

With jewels on its shoulders and chrome on its nose,
Her dragon would wander wherever it chose.
If she could just wait without doing her chores,
She’d see it belch smoke and hear how it roars.

With so much new snow out, there’d be no school bus,
And Peggy could play out — No trouble or fuss.
If everything happened according to plan,
She’d make some snow angels and build a snow man.

Soon mother will call her to drink some warm milk
With sweet yummy chocolate that tastes just like silk.
With imagination her life is such fun
although her new world will soon melt in the sun.


But, always by dreaming new things that can be
Young Peggy can create the things she can see.
And all the wide world, even more than she knew,
Will open up to her before she is through.

David Satterlee

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Essay: Walking with the flow of Tao in a modern world

Information and comments on the essay:


Walking with the flow of Tao in a modern world

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKSVRLUURhMFdlWkE/edit?usp=sharing

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters


Walking with the flow of Tao in a modern world


The Chinese character for Tao combines two signs: head and foot. It reflects the concept of walking consciously. It is simply “the way” and implies that the walker is in conscious harmony with the existing order of things. His/her actions are intentionally harmonious rather than in conflict or opposition to what is. The way of Tao tends to rely more on sensitized intuition rather than reasoning and logic.

The practical application of Tao-living leads to competences that Westerners would consider “giftedness.” For instance, an archer living with Tao would not attempt to mentally calculate trajectories and influences of a cross breeze, but would experience a sense of fullness with his environment, visualizing the arrow’s destination. He would release his arrow toward the target when the moment and position seemed right. Skilled basketball players (or golfers, etc.) can have the same reflexes for making good shots or right moves. Many of us feel the same sense of effortlessness while driving in traffic.

The research psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes a similar state of mind that he calls “flow.” Flow may occur while

Essay: Moral dilemmas of World War II

Information and comments on the essay:


Moral dilemmas of World War II

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKc0VhTnU5azlZeDQ/edit?usp=sharing

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters


Moral dilemmas of World War II


World War II had an entirely different character than The Great War. Advancing technology continued to increase the destructive power of armies and their ability to project that power, often in sudden and unexpected ways. World War II became alarmingly dangerous. The determination to definitively end this war posed a great many strategic and morally equivocal choices.

World War I followed centuries of colonialism and national consolidation. At that point, a bunch of bully-boys were ready and anxious to play king-of-the-mountain. Some of them played very rough and everybody got hurt. For the most part, they came away determined to play nicer in the future. Most of the world believed that they had learned the lessons of full-out nationalism.

As things worked out, social conventions (and faltering economics) had developed to the point that colonies could attempt (and usually gain) independence. World War II played out the end to large-scale overt military conquest when a pair of hard-core bad boys