Laguna Beach, CA
17 September
Friends and Colleagues,
Just a week after giving a seminar on "Shame - the root of violence"
at the Australian National University, I awoke at 3AM on 12
September in Port Arthur, Tasmania -- the site of a horrific
massacre in 1996 -- 10,000 miles and 10 times zones from New York
City. A five minute newscast on Classic FM seemed surreal -- in my
semi-conscious state I thought someone was rewriting Tom Clancy's
"Debt of Honor." Then I fell back into a full sleep.
Since arising a few hours later to the full horror of events, I have
struggled to understand both my emotions and the horrific events of
September 11th. Despite my own research into violence they remain
incomprehensible in many respects.
Today Martin Amis, writing in The Guardian, gave me new and clear
insight. He concludes:
"Our best destiny, as planetary cohabitants, is the development of
what has been called "species consciousness" - something over and
above nationalisms, blocs, religions, ethnicities. During this week
of incredulous misery, I have been trying to apply such a
consciousness, and such a sensibility. Thinking of the victims, the
perpetrators, and the near future, I felt species grief, then species
shame, then species fear."
Please take the time to read all his words -- they are brilliant:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4259170,00.html
May peace and sanity prevail
--
===========================
Chris Poulson
Professor of Management and Human Resources
California State Polytechnic University Pomona
Pomona, CA 91768
cfpoulson@csupomona.edu
cpoulson@deltanet.com
909-869-2415 office
909-869-4353 office fax
949-464-9366 home
949-494-6596 home fax
http://www.csupomona.edu/~mhr/facFolders/cfpoulson/
Mail: P.O. Box 339, Claremont, CA 91711-0339
=====================================