Behind the Kitchen Door - Book Details

The following are the notes I picked out while reading the book "Behind the Kitchen Door"

Objective of the book is “to ensure that dining out is a pleasant experience on both sides of the kitchen door.” 

Forward:

But the food movement thus far has shown a much greater interest in assuring animal welfare than in protecting human rights.

Paying them poverty wages, denying them medical benefits and sick pay, and tolerating racism and sexism on the job

While the dishwashers and bussers in their kitchens get a wage of $2.13 an hour, plus a meager share of the tips.  The typical restaurant worker makes about $15,000 a year – roughly one-third the annual income of the average American worker

Since the late 1960’s, the value of the minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, has declined by about 20 percent.  For the poorest workers in the United States, that has meant an hourly pay cut of about $1.50.

Enforce the nation’s labor laws and increase the minimum wage.

And tells stories about individual workers that convey, more powerfully than any statistics.

Chapter 1:  The Hands on Your Plate

13,000 other restaurant workers in New York City who had lost their jobs after the 9/11 tragedy

Restaurant industry employs more than 10 million people

It includes 7 of the 11 lowest paying occupations in America

Only 20 percent of restaurant jobs pay a livable wage

Approximately 40 percent of New York City restaurant workers are undocumented immigrants

Although the industry continues to grow, restaurant workers’ wages have been stagnant over the last 20 years.

The federal minimum wage for tipped workers has been frozen at $2.13 an hour.

17 years in the industry he had never seen a white dishwasher in New York City

That poverty-level wages, wage theft, discrimination, and lack of benefits were not sustainable for anyone

The restaurants that mistreated their workers were more likely to engage in unsafe food-handling practices that sicken customers.

For the first time, I saw every kitchen worker, every restaurant worker, as a human being with a unique story, family, dreams, and desires.

It’s the frequency with which Americans eat out, and the way we choose to mark so many of our major life events – birthdays, anniversaries, marriage proposals – in restaurants.

I’ve educated and organized responsible employers to promote sustainable business practices.

In the words of Lanston Hughes, that’s millions of “dreams deferred”

But I saw a very easy avenue for consumers to act and change the industry:  if multiple diners told that manager that they appreciated seeing diversity and responsible labor practices in the restaurant – and if there were accessible resources to explain to owners and managers how other employers have successfully created these opportunities for their workers – it would certainly encourage him to consider training and promoting more of his bussers

The tipped minimum wage was raised to $4.65 an hour (New York City)

 Americans are increasingly concerned about what they eat – where their food comes from, how it is grown and harvested, and how it is prepared.

Most Americans are totally unaware of the horribly exploitative working conditions in restaurants which affect the quality of our food and, ultimately, our health.

Restaurants that force employees to work while sick are also usually careless when it comes to food safety and customers’ health

What it means to be a responsible diner

Chapter 2:          Real Susainability, Please!

What’s a sustainable restaurant?  It’s one in which as the restaurant grows, the people grow with it

Slow Food Movement … promotes “ethical consumption”, a commitment to organic, sustainable, locally sourced food.

We have become so removed from this cycle of life [seeing real pigs as pets] and from the values associated with it

It’s almost impossible for any restaurant to source a majority of its menu items from local, organic famers

However, “sustainable food” also needs to embody fair and equitable labor practices.

“  How can I make it an affordable restaurant and still have living wages and organic food?” – Answer – Figure out which items can reasonably be organic on your budget, instead of having 100% of your menu items certified organic.

A definition of a sustainable restaurant is one where as the business grows, the people grow with it.

Sustainability is about contributing to a society that everybody benefits from, not just going organic because you don’t want to die from cancer or have a difficult pregnancy

ROC [Restaurant Opportunities Center] has also produced a National Diners’ Guide to help consumers identify which restaurants have sustainable labor practices.  This is online at www.rocunited.org/dinersguide

ROC’s National Diners’ Guide comes with “tip cards” that consumers can hand to an employer to say, “I noticed that you don’t pay a livable tipped minimum wage.  As a consyumer, that’s unacceptable to me and part of the criteria I use when considering where to eat.”

Chapter 3:          Serving While Sick

Chart showing percentages of:  Workers did not receive health and safety training from employer; Workers had to work when restaurant was understaffed; Workers had to do a job for which he/she was not rained; Worker had to perform several jobs at once; Worker had to cut corners, because of time pressure, that might have harmed the health or safety of customers; and Workers did something to put her/his own safety at risk.

The industry puts workers at high risk of injury and illness without providing them with the income or health benefits to deal with either

Third highest in total number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses

Survey showed 49% of workers had suffered work-related cuts and 45.8% had been burned on the job

A median wage nationally of $9.02 an hour  [for 40 hours?  Or is the median of this survey less than 40 hours per week?]

Imagine this:  more than 1 in 10 times that you eat out, your server takes your order, goes to the bathroom to vomit like Kinni did, and then brings you your food.  [BAD statistic.  The 10% mentioned is annually]

“Typhoid Mary” likely infected 53 people, 3 of whom died, between 1900 and 1907.  May worked in seven different restaurant kitchens before authorities discovered that she was spreading typhoid to diners citywide.

CDC has cited restaurants as the third most frequent setting for outbreaks of foodborne illnesses

Restaurant workers without health benefits were three times as likely as those with health benefits to use the emergency room [at hospitals]

One simple path to getting there is to win paid sick days for every restaurant worker in the United States

[No description of sample “sick time” plan.  How much?  How often?  How determined?]

Chapter 4:          $2.13 – The Tipping Point

The federal government permits restaurants nationwide to pay tipped workers an hourly wage of only $2.13, as long as the workers’ tips make up the difference between $2.13 and the federal minimum hourly wage of $7.25. 

As long as these restaurants bring in less than $500,000 in revenue annually (and therefore don’t fall under the purview of federal law), they can force their workers to live entirely off their tips.

Some workers don’t receive the minimum wage, some don’t get proper overtime payments, some don’t receive pay for all the hours they’ve worked, and some get paid late or not at all.  Some are even charged for things that aren’t their fault, like a guest walking out of the restaurant.

Restaurant workers hold 7 of the lowest-paying occupations in the United States, earning less, on average, than farm workers and all other domestic workers.

“I had to eat less than $6.50 for the employee meal,” says Claudia.  “If I wanted an omelette, I went over $6.50. I could only afford pancakes.  If you were on the schedule for only five hours, you couldn’t get a meal.  There were days when I wouldn’t eat all day.”

Food service workers in the United States need food stamps!  In fact, servers in the restaurant industry use food stamps at almost double the rate of the rest of the U.S. workforce.  [This means the food industry is being subsidized by the government and taxes.]

The average restaurant worker, earning the national restaurant median wage of $8.90 an hour, would have to work approximately 107 hours per week to rent a two-bedroom unit at the fair market price. 

Some white men who are servers in fine-dining restaurants are the only restaurant workers in the US who eneratlly do earn a living wage; they hold the second-highest paying position the restaurant industry.

It is possible that the whole tipped minimum wage structure is just as confusing to employers as it is to workers and customers.

Chapter 5:          Race in the Kitchen

Today I believe that racial segregation is one of the restaurant industry’s most pressing deep-seated problems, and part and parcel of every other pattern of injustice in the industry.

Darden Group, which claims to be the world’s largest full-service restaurant company.  Besides the Capital Grille, Darden owns Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, and other restaurant brands, employing almost 180,000 workers in 1,900 restaurants worldwide.

Although it raked in profits of over $7 Billion in 2011 and has a CEO who earns $8.5 Million annually and holds $22 Million in company stock, Darden pays its owrkers as little as $2.13 an hour (before tips) and does not provide paid sick days to any nonmanagement employee.

A server at an Olive Garden in Fayetteville, North Carolina, felt compelled to work with hepatitis A because she could not get paid sick days.  While Darden was proudly announcing a new partnership between the Olive Garden and First Lady Michelle Obama to provide healthy food for kids at the Olive Garden, 3,000 people in Fayetteville had to get tested for hepatitis after eating at the restaurant.

Restaurant workers are, of course, among the 99 percent who serve the 1 percent

People are segregated in the restaurant industry by position within the restaurant (server, busser, dishwasher), segment of the restaurant industry (fine-dining, family-style, or fast-food), and location (poor, middle-class, or upper-class neighborhoods).  

In our national survey of over 4,300 restaurant workers, white workers reported a median wage of $14.00 an hour, while people of color reported a median wage of $9.88 an hour.  Ninety-six percent of workers who reported that they earned less than the minimum wage were people of color

A black woman joked about needing a “tall white man’s suit” in order to get promoted

Segregation in the industry is not just a matter of employers having discriminatory hiring practices; it Is also about people of color not having access to more affluent neightborhoods, which are home to more affluent establishments

White workers living in the suburbs are twice as likely to earn a living wage as black workers living in the city of Detroit.  This is true even though the two populations are similar in terms of other demographic variables – gender, age, place of birth, and educational attainment

One of the main reasons discriminatory practices fly under the radar in restaurants is the lack of transparency with regard to job openings and what it takes to get a promotion.

We tend not to realize that diversity is not the same as equity – that simply seeing a lot of restaurant workers from different backgrounds doesn’t mean that restaurant workers have equal opportunities to advance to jobs that will allow them to support themselves and their families

As consumers, we should ask managers:  “Do you have promotion and training opportunities in your restaurant?  How diverse is your waitstaff?”

Chapter 6:          Women Waiting on Equality

Women get less than preferential treatment across the board… whether you’re management, whether you’re a hostess, whether you’re a waitress … whether you’re a bartender …  That less-than-preferential treatment is from the client, that’s from the management, that’s from the owners, that’s from the bussers, that’s from the porters who are cleaning … across the board, women get less.

Few women could survive in “a man’s kitchen” so get stuck, if chefs, in pastry positions where they get paid less

The median weekly wage for women servers in the restaurant industry is $387; the median weekly wage for men servers is $423.

Students at culinary schools often have to work as interns which mean that there are thousands of culinary students who work in America’s restaurant kitchens for free

[Several personal stories of people in restaurant business because they have to take care of one or more family members.]

Most of the black women with whom she’d gone to school had become cake makers in local supermarkets

The only other students who became chefs in nice restaurants were white men

Women in the restaurant industry earn less than men for four reasons:  1) they are the majority of tipped workers who only earn $2.13 plus tips; 2) women are concentrated in lower-level segments of the industry (few in fine-dining establishments); 3) they typically have lower-level positions; and 4) earn less even when they work in the same positions

Environments dominated by men that often encourage sexual harassment

37 percent of the sexual harassment complaints received by the EEOC were filed by women restaurant workers, even though only 7 percent of women in the US work in restaurants

A General Manager is generally considered to be “untouchable’ so he can get away with irresponsible behavior

Most of us can agree that reality TV cooking shows sensationalize events behind the kitchen door

Chapter 7:          Recipes for Change

Employers have really succeeded in making workers feel a sense of inevititability

I hope these stories can inspire you, as they’ve inspired me, to tak small steps to improve your dining experience and help extend opportunities and a living wage to workers on the second-largest private-sector industry in the United States.

Stakeholders – workers, employers, and consummers.  First, we fight against exploitation in high-profile restaurant companies to send a signal to the whole industry.  Second we promote the “high road” to profitability by partnering with responsible employers and running our own worker-owned restaurants, which put oru principles into practice.  Third, we conduct worker-led research and advocate for policy changes to llft standards industry-wide. 

We show the restaurant industry the negative consequences of irresponsible business practices and the benefits of responsible, sustainable practices.

What can be done by ordinary consumers?  1) Adopt a definition of “sustainable food” that includes sustainable labor practices; 2) Talk to the workers when you eat in a restaurant; 3) Engage restaurant managers in a conversation about labor practices; 4) Help raise the federal minimum wage for tipped workers!  Tell policymakers and restaurant manager that you think $2.13 is unacceptable; 5) Vote for paid sick days for restaurant workers.  And tell restaurant managers you consider workers’ health when choosing where to eat; 6) Picket with your wallet – don’t eat in restaurants segregated by race and gender; and 7) Join our campaign to support workers all along the food chain. 

Working Poor article in Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/17/working-poor_n_4463606.html

Huffington Post article on raising minimum wage:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/minimum-wage-poll_n_4466009.html

Harvard and Religious Courses
 

Back in 2010, Newsweek magazine had an article about Harvard University and Religious courses.  It seems that there are certain professors who believe that for a person to be “well-educated”, they should understand how religions play such an important role in much of many societies.  However there are others who feel that religion should not be taught on the same level as science and other courses of higher learning.  Here is a link to the article:  Harvard 

I found it interesting that they didn’t discuss the approach that seemed to be the most logical to me:  teach it like they used to teach (and hopefully still do) Greek and Roman mythology when people studied to receive “The Classical Education”.  It used to be that education included the Classics of Latin as a language, and Greek and Roman Mythology.  This provided a basis for studying the Classic Literature.  One cannot understand (to say nothing about appreciate) John Milton’s Paradise Lost without a good grounding in “the Classics”.  So why not present today’s religions in a secular university like Harvard, the same way that Edith Hamilton presented the Greek and Roman myths? 

I had a friend recently tell me that he was showing the movie Elmer Gantry to a group of Japanese young women engaged in an immersion program.  He stopped the film and asked if they understood what was going on in the movie and they confessed they did not.  He then found out that they did not understand the concepts of heaven and hell nor of a preacher.  When he asked them what religion they were, they didn’t know how to answer him.  Finally one student said she guessed she was Buddhist.  The teacher realized then that these students should be taught religion if they are going to understand what goes on in our society.

The various religions are better understood as stories rather than conflicting facts and we can (and should) understand not only Christianity but also other religions that are a major part of other societies.  Perhaps more of us should not only understand Christians and Jews through their myths, but also Muslims. 

What is the definition of a myth?  A Google search comes up with this as the prime definition:  “a traditional story, esp. one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.”  This definition seems to fit the myths of ancient Greece, Rome, Nordic lands, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim. 

In the article it mentions that Steven Pinker was against including a course on “Reason and Faith” as a core requirement.  His argument was that the goal should be to pursue “truth through rational inquiry, and … religion has no place for that.”  While I love Pinker’s books on how the mind works, I realize that Pinker is a scientist.  But the universities used to separate “science and the Humanities” for a reason.  They are different.  They involve different parts of the mind.  While science deals with what is true and not true, the intuitive part of the mind deals with truth – which is not dependent on a binary distinction of true or not true.  And so religion should be understood through the Humanities such as literature, history, art, poetry, etc.  And as Humanists, we should understand these stories in order to understand other people (humans) among us.  So Pinker is right to say that religion should not be taught as science, but wrong to say that it shouldn’t be taught as a part of the Humanities.

I have no problems talking about the myths of Christians, Hindus, Jews, or Muslims.  And as such, I have no problems with them being studied as myths in educational institutions like Harvard.  Perhaps if we studied the myths of religions and understood them, we could then study the psychology of those who insist on not only believing in them, but insist that others believe in them also.  And maybe we could study why certain people insist on believing in the myths of Christianity but not the myths of ancient Greece.

David Kimball

Idolatry and Blasphemy

This morning, while lying in bed, I was thinking of writing a blog on Idolatry and Blasphemy.  I then was later reading some of the blogs on the Concord Area Humanists site and discovered to my surprise a blog on blasphemy by Ellery.  http://concordareahumanists.org/blog/201209/address-blasphemy-day-sunday-september-30-2012  This was a copy of an address he gave on Blasphemy Day, September 30, in 2012 at Massachusetts Beirut Memorial.  If I weren’t a Humanist, I would have sworn that this was a sign from the realms of the supernatural to “Go forth and declare”.  (smile)

How do we define “idolatry”?  Webster defines it as “the worship of a physical object as a god”, and also “immoderate attachment or devotion to something”.  In the Ten Commandments, idolatry is treated as the making and creating of a “graven image” (carved, sculpted, engraved, etc.)  This emphasizes that it is a thing made by man and given god-like characteristics.  (And man made god in his own image?)  Many Protestants accuse the Catholics of “worshipping” the statues of Mary and thus committing idolatry.  And Catholics, in the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” says that idolatry is “Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. Man commits idolatry whenever he honours and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods, or demons (for example satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money etc.”  It is ironic that the Commandment against worshipping graven images was supposedly engraved in a stone tablet and carried by Moses down the mountain to the people of Israel as they were worshipping the golden calf idol that had just been made.  Just as it is ironic that the 10 Commandments which many religious people want put up in courts and schools contain the Commandment not to worship any graven image such as the 10 Commandments.  

I propose that the holy scriptures of any religion is really idolatry.  Whether it be the Bible for Christians, the Koran for Muslims, or the Old Testament or Pentateuch for the Jews, these are the idols of the religious.  While Christians say that they believe in a god, and worship a god, it is really the Bible they worship.  If you take away the Bible, there is no god for them to believe in and worship.  Without the Koran or the Old Testament, there is no god to worship.  It is the “Word” or revelation of a god that is the basis of their faith and belief and that is what describes how they are to worship.  The same may be said of the teaching of Mary Baker Eddy and other religious cults who revere a book as holy writ. 

And yet that these “revelations” are man-made is evidenced by any type of critical analysis.  And of course this also applies to all the “holy books” of Eastern religions as well.  One doesn’t have to disprove the existence of a god, all one has to do is disprove these holy books as possessing god-like characteristics from some supernatural world. 

When a religious group claims that a certain action is blasphemous, we see that the object of this blasphemy is really an object of their idolatry.  If one idolizes the Bible, then they will see blasphemy when someone speaks against the Bible, or the god as represented in the Bible.  The same with the Koran and Muhammad.  Muslims do not like the appellation of Muhammadism as that indicates they worship Muhammad, which they deny.  Yet the fact that they call certain acts blasphemous against the prophet Muhammad, shows that they deify this personage.  The fact that Christians will call certain acts “blasphemous” when done regarding Christ or the Bible or the teachings in the Bible also show that these are the objects of their worship and deification. 

And so blasphemy and idolatry go hand in hand.  One cannot have blasphemy without a man/woman or a man-made object being first deified and worshipped as an idol. 

As Humanists, we believe that nothing, no man-made object or even another man/woman, is higher than our own human nature.  Nothing is considered divine as all is considered secular.  So as a Humanist, I have no definition of blasphemy that is meaningful to me.  And as a Humanist, any man or man-made object which is placed as being higher than one’s human nature in order to command or proscribe my beliefs and actions is idolatry.  And I, for one, am not an idolater.  

Humanism and Sustainability

Back in 2009 I went for training at the United Nations Centre in Vienna, Austria.  This was to be certified in being a consultant for the United Nation’s Global Compact within the developing countries.  This was the only agency of the United Nations that is tasked with promoting businesses in the developing countries.  Developing Countries are those countries who are more economically stable than the Least Developed Countries, but are not at the level of the Most Developed Countries like the US.  Least Developed Countries is a preferred name to “Third World Countries” which sound like they are “Third Class Countries.  I had a mentor, a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize on year, who preferred calling them “Two-Thirds World Countries” as that was a better representation. 

Shortly after I returned, I wrote this blog but didn’t have a blogging site at that time.  So I am including it here and now.  This will be used as a basis for several blogs I plan to publish on the United Nations’ Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) for the their 2015 and Beyond program scheduled to replace the Millenium Development Goals for the civil sector combined with their Global Compact for the business sector.

Humanism and Sustainability

I have just returned from one week of intensive training for Sustainability consulting and Sustainability reporting for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs).  This was through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria.  UNIDO is the only United Nations agency tasked with developing jobs and work opportunities in the developing countries.  (The other agencies, like UNICEF, WHO, etc give aid and assistance to people in the least developed countries.)  Of the 20 attendees, 4 were from Croatia, 3 were from Bosnia, and one each from several countries including Ecuador, Moldova, Ukraine, Greece, Austria, Germany, etc.  I was the only representative from the United States and was also the only one there not involved in consulting in a developing country.  I was there not because of my job, but just because I have become very involved in many aspects of the United Nations as a personal interest and as a hobby – especially with their Global Compact.  As such, I have become quite involved with the United Nations Global Compact which is the UN’s work with the business sector in assuring that businesses are run in a Sustainable fashion.

As a quick explanation of business Sustainability, it is determining how a business should operate now so that it will be viable 50 years from now.  (Later, I will discuss how this can apply to us as individuals who are Humanists.)  This approach has evolved to be centered on what is called Triple Bottom Line Accountability (TBL)  Instead of just “the bottom line” of a business, which infers just the financial bottom line, TBL includes a bottom line accountability of Environmental and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).  (Triple Bottom Line accountability is also known as Profit/Planet/People accountability for those who like alliterations.)  A company is not considered a viable company if it is successful financially, but irresponsible environmentally.  At the same time, a company cannot do something for the environmental that is good if that means it will fail financially.  The same is true with Corporate Social Responsibility.  A company must operate responsibly in all three areas.

A company must perform environmentally in such a way that it will be viable in the future – that is, it cannot be depleting resources which will adversely impact the business later.  As an example, I work for a large Fortune 200 company.  They performed an energy audit and discovered that they could not continue to use their energy resources in the same trend and be viable later.  They discovered that within 25 years, between the increase in energy consumption and the increase in energy prices, they would not be viable.  They would not be able to afford the energy that would be consumed if they did not resort to energy conservation and/or energy alternatives.  And they can look at other environmental aspects and see that they need to change their whole approach to include issues such as recycling, etc.

The same was true with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).  CSR involves both the external stakeholders (shareholders, supply chain companies, customers, etc.) as well as internal stakeholders (employees and middle management).  They discovered that projecting ahead 50 years, they would not be able to draw on the available workforce the people they would need unless they changed.  There will not be the demographics of white, male engineers available for them.  So they have instituted many changes to become an “Employer of Choice” to appeal to many of the minority groups, and women.  They have also seen that of the four generations of workers now in the work force, the youngest generation is motivated most by “making a difference”.  The younger generation wants to work in jobs where they can make a difference (in the environment or socially) and/or work for a company that is socially and environmentally responsible.  My company has also seen that to be the Employer of Choice, they must reach out and become a sustaining member of the community – not as PR efforts, but as sincere efforts to remain viable.

These assumptions of environmental and social responsibility are because of business sense and not because they are showing themselves to be “progressive” or a “tree-hugger”.  The shareholders are demanding that companies be more transparent so that the investors can see how a company is operating in a sustainable fashion.  Investors want to make sure a company is not operating in an unsustainable manner and so TBL has become a business imperative.  I have been told that the SEC is thinking of requiring companies to publish an annual Sustainability Report by the year 2015.

How does this apply to us as individuals who are Humanists?  As a Humanist, I have the ability and the responsibility to develop all that it means to be human both in myself and in others.  This definition includes the word “responsibility”.  Humanism is more than a belief system, it is also a value system and one of our values should be Responsibility. 

As a Humanist, I have a responsibility to my environment.  There is a Native American saying that says “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”  As Humanists, we need to insure that the environment will be just as viable for our future generations as it is now.  There is a movement in some of the religious circles (especially among the young) that mankind has a caretaker responsibility assigned by a god.  We don’t need to take this direction from a god to recognize our own responsibility for environmental sustainability.  We can be good without a god and we can and should do the right thing environmentally.

And as a Humanist, we should recognize our social responsibility.  We have the responsibility to do what we can to care for the vulnerables in our society, to narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots, to care for those who are in our first degree of separation (family and friends) as well as those who are six degrees separated from us.  To sustain the global society, we need to recognize our responsibilities in all of our social milieus.  The continuation of the increase of the gap between the haves and the have-nots is not sustainable.

It is striking to see how Business Sustainability has become so prevalent in Europe while only beginning to be used here in the States.  (If I had not known beforehand how much more prevalent this is in Europe, it would have been embarrassing for me as a person from the United States at this training session.)  Although many of the top Fortune US companies are now publishing annual Sustainability Reports, it is a concept that has not become popular in the United States culture like it has in Europe – even in the European developing countries formerly of the Soviet Union.  The whole concept is part of the general vernacular in Europe and several European CEOs were meeting and discussing what they could do to attract the best talent.  They came to the decision that although most young people looking for a job do not read the company’s annual Financial Report, almost all of them (in Europe) will read the company’s annual Sustainability Report.  Over there, in order to broaden the scope of the approach beyond that of corporations, they are now using the term Responsibility Reporting.

Perhaps we as Humanists should include Responsibility Reporting as some of our Key Performance Indicators at the individual level.  Imagine the branding image if Humanists were known for their Environmental responsibilities and their Social responsibilities as so many more businesses are becoming known.

David Kimball

Obama's Eulogy of Nelson Mandela

If you are like me, you can absorb and retain and assimilate much more by hearing and at the same time reading.  So here is a link to Obama's eulogy of Nelson Mandela and also a transcript.  (It's rather hard to hear amid all the cheering.)

Here is link to the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SggOsfjsL0c

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA

AT MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN

PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA

First National Bank Stadium

Johannesburg, South Africa

1:31 P.M. SAST

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Thank you. To Graça Machel and the Mandela family; to PresidentZuma and members of the government; to heads of states and government, past and present; distinguished guests -- it is a singular honor to be with you today, to celebrate a life like no other. To the people of South Africa -- (applause) -- people of every race and walk of life --the world thanks you for sharing Nelson Mandela with us. His struggle was your struggle. His triumph was your triumph. Your dignity andyour hope found expression in his life. And your freedom, your democracy is his cherished legacy.  It is hard to eulogize any man -- to capture in words not just the facts and the dates that make a life, but the essential truth of a person -- their private joys and sorrows; the quiet moments and unique qualities that illuminate someone’s soul. How much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation toward justice, and in the process moved billions around the world.

Born during World War I, far from the corridors of power, a boy raised herding cattle and tutored by the elders of his Thembu tribe, Madiba would emerge as the last great liberator of the 20thcentury. Like Gandhi, he would lead a resistance movement – a movement that at its start had little prospect for success. Like Dr. King, he would give potent voice to the claims of the oppressed and the moral necessity of racial justice. He would endure a brutal imprisonment that began in the time of Kennedy and Khrushchev, and reached the final days of the Cold War. Emerging from prison, without the force of arms, he would -- like Abraham Lincoln -- hold his country together when it threatened to break apart. And like America’s Founding Fathers, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations -- a commitment to democracy and rule of law ratified not only by his election, but by his willingness to stepdown from power after only one term.

Given the sweep of his life, the scope of his accomplishments, the adoration that he so rightly earned, it’s tempting I think to remember Nelson Mandela as an icon, smiling and serene, detached from the tawdry affairs of lesser men. But Madiba himself strongly resisted such alifeless portrait. (Applause.) Instead, Madiba insisted on sharingwith us his doubts and his fears; his miscalculations along with his victories. “I am not a saint,” he said, “unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

It was precisely because he could admit to imperfection – because he could be so full of good humor, even mischief, despite the heavy burdens he carried -- that we loved him so. He was not a bust made of marble; he was a man of flesh and blood -- a son and a husband, a father and a friend. And that’s why we learned so much from him, and that’s why we can learn from him still. For nothing he achieved was inevitable. In the arc of his life, we see a man who earned his place in history through struggle and shrewdness, and persistence and faith. He tells us what is possible not just in the pages of history books, but in our own lives as well.

Mandela showed us the power of action; of taking risks on behalf of our ideals. Perhaps Madiba was right that he inherited, “a proud rebelliousness, a stubborn sense of fairness” from his father. And we know he shared with millions of black and colored South Africans the anger born of, “a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments…a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people,” he said.

But like other early giants of the ANC -- the Sisulus and Tambos -- Madiba disciplined his anger and channeled his desire to fight into organization, and platforms, and strategies for action, so men and women could stand up for their God-given dignity. Moreover, he accepted the consequences of his actions, knowing that standing up to powerful interests and injustice carries a price. “I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I’ve cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and [with] equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” (Applause.)

Mandela taught us the power of action, but he also taught us the power of ideas; the importance of reason and arguments; the need to study not only those who you agree with, but also those who you don’t agree with. He understood that ideas cannot be contained by prison walls, or extinguished by a sniper’s bullet. He turned his trial into an indictment of apartheid because of his eloquence and his passion, but also because of his training as an advocate. He used decades in prison to sharpen his arguments, but also to spread his thirst for knowledge to others in the movement. And he learned the language and the customs of his oppressor so that one day he might better convey to them how their own freedom depend upon his. (Applause.)

Mandela demonstrated that action and ideas are not enough. No matter how right, they must be chiseled into law and institutions. He was practical, testing his beliefs against the hard surface of circumstance and history. On core principles he was unyielding, which is why he could rebuff offers of unconditional release, reminding the Apartheid regime that “prisoners cannot enter into contracts.”

But as he showed in painstaking negotiations to transfer power and draft new laws, he was not afraid to compromise for the sake of a larger goal. And because he was not only a leader of a movement but a skillful politician, the Constitution that emerged was worthy of this multiracial democracy, true to his vision of laws that protect minority as well as majority rights, and the precious freedoms of every South African.

And finally, Mandela understood the ties that bind the human spirit. There is a word in South Africa -- Ubuntu -- (applause) – a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift: his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.

We can never know how much of this sense was innate in him, or how much was shaped in a dark and solitary cell. But we remember the gestures, large and small -- introducing his jailers as honored guests at his inauguration; taking a pitch in a Springbok uniform; turning his family’s heartbreak into a call to confront HIV/AIDS -- that revealed the depth of his empathy and his understanding. He not only embodied Ubuntu, he taught millions to find that truth within themselves.  It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well -- (applause) -- to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion and generosity and truth. He changed laws, but he also changed hearts.

For the people of South Africa, for those he inspired around the globe, Madiba’s passing is rightly a time of mourning, and a time to celebrate a heroic life. But I believe it should also prompt in each of us a time for self-reflection. With honesty, regardless of our station or our circumstance, we must ask: How well have I applied his lessons in my own life? It’s a question I ask myself, as a man and as a President.  We know that, like South Africa, the United States had to overcome centuries of racial subjugation. As was true here, it took sacrifice -- the sacrifice of countless people, known and unknown, to see the dawn of a new day. Michelle and I are beneficiaries of that struggle.  (Applause.) But in America, and in South Africa, and in countries all around the globe, we cannot allow our progress to cloud the fact that our work is not yet done.

The struggles that follow the victory of formal equality or universal franchise may not be as filled with drama and moral clarity as those that came before, but they are no less important. For around the world today, we still see children suffering from hunger and disease. We still see run-down schools. We still see young peoplewithout prospects for the future. Around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs, and are still persecuted for what they look like, and how they worship, and who they love.  That is happening today.  (Applause.)

And so we, too, must action behalf of justice. We, too, must act on behalf of peace. There are too many people who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality. There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from theirown people. (Applause.) And there are too many of us on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be heard.

The questions we face today -- how to promote equality and justice; how to uphold freedom and human rights; how to end conflict and sectarian war -- these things do not have easy answers. But there were no easy answers in front of that child born in World War I. Nelson Mandela reminds us that it always seems impossible until it is done. South Africa shows that is true.  South Africa shows we can change, that we can choose a world defined not by our differences, but by our common hopes. We can choose a world defined not by conflict, but by peace and justice and opportunity.

We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. But let me say to the young people of Africa and the young people around the world-- you, too, can make his life’s work your own. Over 30 years ago, while still a student, I learned of Nelson Mandela and the struggles taking place in this beautiful land, and it stirred something in me. It woke me up to my responsibilities to others and to myself, and it set me on an improbable journey that finds me here today. And while I will always fall short of Madiba’s example, he makes me want to be a better man. (Applause.) He speaks to what’s best inside us.

After this great liberator is laid to rest, and when we have returned to our cities and villages and rejoined our daily routines, let us search for his strength. Let us search for his largeness of spirit somewhere inside of ourselves. And when the night grows dark, when injustice weighs heavy on our hearts, when our best-laid plans seem beyond our reach, let us think of Madiba and the words that brought him comfort within the four walls of his cell: “It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

What a magnificent soul it was. We will miss him deeply. May God bless the memory of Nelson Mandela. May God bless the people of South Africa. (Applause.)

END 1:50 P.M. SAST

Emily Dickinson’s Refusal to “Be Saved”

Today, Dec 10, is the birthday of Emily Dickinson.  (http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2013%2F12%2F10%3Frefid%3D0&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+writersalmanac+(APM%3A+Garrison+Keillor's+The+Writer's+Almanac+RSS+Feed)

I found it very interesting to find out about Dickinson’s experience at Mt Holyoke Academy.  She was born in 1830 and went there for only one year when she was 16 years old.  By then, the Mt Holyoke Seminary, one of the first for women, was already 10 years old.  But religion so infested the campus that the students were labelled as one of three categories:  Those who declared their faith; Those who had hope of conversion; and those who were considered “no hope”.  Dickinson fell into the third group with “no hope”.

Before attending, she seemed to be full of life and truly celebrating life.  However, after only one year at Mt Holyoke, her demeanor seemed completely changed.  Of course it didn’t help that this was the time of the Second Great Awakening of religion in America and so all of her friends even outside of Mt Holyoke were also ”finding” religion.  She wrote:  “How lonely this world is growing, something so desolate creeps over the spirit and we don't know its name, and it won't go away, either Heaven is seeming greater, or Earth a great deal more small [...] Christ is calling everyone here, all my companions have answered, even my darling Vinnie believes she loves, and trusts him, and I am standing alone in rebellion, and growing very careless. Abby, Mary, Jane, and farthest of all my Vinnie have been seeking, and they all believe they have found; I can't tell you what they have found, but they think it is something precious. I wonder if it is?"

Yet she was able to also write:  “There is a great deal of religious interest here and many are flocking to the ark of safety. I have not yet given up to the claims of Christ, but trust I am not entirely thoughtless on so important & serious a subject.”

And she was able to write and become famous for her skepticism and wrote this poem:

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – (236)

BY EMILY DICKINSON

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church –

I keep it, staying at Home –

With a Bobolink for a Chorister –

And an Orchard, for a Dome –

Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice –

I, just wear my Wings –

And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,

Our little Sexton – sings.

God preaches, a noted Clergyman –

And the sermon is never long,

So instead of getting to Heaven, at last –

I’m going, all along.

I Don’t Want to be Labelled a “Humanist” 

What is a label but a gauzy screen hiding the reality and truth giving us impressions rather than distinctions?  Labels only obfuscate issues and allow for miscommunications when communications are most important.  Labels are good for broad-brush descriptions or discussions from the “50,000 foot level”.  What does the label “Humanist” mean to different people if not different concepts?  I cannot know that a person to whom I am speaking knows the definition according to the American Humanist Association (AHA) or in Wikipedia. 

But what is the alternative if I am unwilling to be labelled a Humanist?  I need to be prepared to offer my own definition of what it means to me to be a Humanist.  I have defined a philosopher as one who has thought about an issue enough that they are confident to offer their own definitions.  (Can you see that I’ve thought about this?  Smile)  I need to think about what it means to be a Humanist to the point where I can come up with my own elevator speech and define it myself whenever I use it with someone who does not know me well enough to know what I mean.

While many people think that if everyone comes up with their own definition, then we lose the power of communicating with others.  But the opposite is actually true.  We communicate less of the truth when we rely on accepted labels (especially misunderstood labels) than when we are prepared to define them in the immediate discussion.  Defining our own terms assures better and more thorough dialogue than resorting to labels where they mean different things to each listener. 

To me, Humanism is the belief that I have the ability and the responsibility to do all that I can to develop all that it means to be human both in myself and in others.  And from this definition, I am ready to parse it and expound on “belief”, “ability”, “responsibility”, “all that I can”, “develop”, “all that it means to be human”, and “both in myself and in others”. 

And this is a major difference between my being a Humanist and someone who is a religionist of whatever persuasion.  As a Humanist, I believe that I am the top of the value-chain and there is nothing higher than me and my human nature that I need to identify with in defining my values and definitions.  This is what it means to “honor” one’s human nature and to honor the human-ness in another person.  I must honor that person, their nature, their definitions, and their values and not some “label” that is considered higher or above that person and is responsible for dictating these values and definitions to that person. 

And so I need to constantly ask another person what they mean when they say they are a “Christian”, or a “Theist”, or a “Republican”, or a “Democrat”, or a “Liberal”, or a “Conservative” or “into Sustainability” or a “Global Citizen”.  No issue is based on how we are labelled, or even by what we “are”, but rather by what we “use”.  What definitions do we use?  What values do we use?  What rationales do we use?  What motivations do we use?  What we use are the parts that make us human and those are what we should develop – both in ourselves and in others. 

David Kimball