The Optimism of 9/11 Proves We are Still the Greatest Nation on Earth and Should be Proud to Shout it Out!!!

By: Dr. Russ

Monday is Dr. Russ Busster Day.  Today I offer-up some “Bussters” to beat the Pessimism out of your psyche, the psyche of others and any worldwide negative mindset.

Yesterday was the official tenth anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy.  For the last two weeks we have been inundated with stories of recovery and overcoming from this terrible tragedy born of one motive only: EVIL. 

When I was growing-up in the 1950’ and ‘60’s, my parents pressed upon me how thankful I should be for having been born in America.  They were part of Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation,” whose character was formed by being raised in the Great Depression and tested in World War II.

If I asked why I was so lucky, my parents would first point to the abundance of food, clothing and everyday comforts of refrigeration, air conditioning, televisions, airplanes, and automobiles that we had and other countries did not. After pointing out those material outcomes, my parents would then point to more important intangible processes like democracy, freedom to vote and to practice the religion of one’s choice without fear of persecution. 

In my opinion, democracy and freedom are processes essential to the long term happiness and luck my parents said I had been born into.  But, they taught it just wasn’t me who had been born into this abundance of goods and positive attitude, but everyone born here was guaranteed the opportunity structure to be all they could be.

Not fifty years later I am hearing that America is on the decline,  that we are like England at the dawn of the twentieth century, about to have their power usurped by neighbors to the west.  Some believe China and India are on target to become the next great superpowers.

I am for all countries of the world achieving superpower status, creating an equality in economic condition that has never been seen on earth.  While many countries have achieved even exceeded our quality of economic living, none exceeds the opportunity structure to be all you can be that is inherent in our democracy.

Here are 10 shouts to start making about our GREATNESS!

9/11 Super Bussters to Shout-Out-About

1. We are the “sweet land of liberty,” and Lady Liberty remains the entrance way and symbol of optimistic opportunity of the Land of the Free!
2. The fall of the Twin Towers only served to strengthen our resolve to stand strong for America and the values, not the material goods, that she has.
3. Ten years later, we see evil on the run, in hiding or dead.  Bin Laden is dead, uprisings through the middle east in the summer of 2011 have dethroned several oppressive dictatorships, and the epitomy of evil, Moamar Gadaffi is in hiding.
4. Ninety-nine days passed before the fires in ruble of the fallen towers were declared extinguished, but we endured.
5. I have yet to hear a story of someone being hopeless and helpless.  Every story I have heard is about someone giving their life to make sure a plane crashed in Pennsylvania and not the White House, firemen risking and giving up their lives to save someone, people sucking dust and risking death to go back in and carry out one more survivor.
6. The Twin Towers were a symbol of the material growth and greatness of America.  The new memorial at Ground Zero gives eternal honor to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and spirit of optimism.
7. Reality – The death toll was 2,977 total victims; 343 personnel of the fire department, and 60 police officers were killed.  I cite these statistics not to overwhelm or incite fear and helplessness, but to show the enormity of the tragedy and all that we have overcome.
8. Yes other countries are starting to achieve economic parity with us.  Let’s give them credit.  9/11 has reminded America that our greatness is our spirit, our spirit of optimism. 
9. Some 200 years ago, the British tried to torch the White House, and it was only thru the heroic efforts of Dolly Madison that many priceless artifacts of American History were saved. We have not changed!
10. It was not the fall of the Twin Towers that defined or defines this event, but it was and remains our response, our attitude about who we are and who we need to shout about. We should continue to invite the world to participate in our grand experiment of freedom and democracy. 
11. It is not about our greatness per se, but about the promise of great opportunity that the U.S. can shout out to the world.

Learn to Live the Dream of Martin Luther King's Promised Land

By Dr. Russ

Today is Martin Luther King Monday.  Monday is Dr. Russ Busster day.  Today I offer up some Bussters to help you knock out any pessimism standing in the way of your belief that you can make a difference for equality and freedom for all humans.

According to Dr. King we all have the following choice:

• Walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.

King’s persistent call to action, “What are you doing for others?” is as loud today 47 years after his death as it was in 1968.  For King, a life of service was the hallmark of a “full life.”

On February 4, 1968, from his pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church, he asked that we remember the following after his mortal death:

• I’d like for somebody to mention that . . . Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to give his life serving others . . . that I did try in my life . . . to love and serve humanity.

We do not celebrate King Day on the anniversary of his death, but on the Monday closest to his birth of January 15 (1929).

On this date we have the opportunity to not just mention King’s service to others, but to shout out, "DR. KING: YOU NOT ONLY TRIED BUT YOU DID LEAD A LIFE OF SERVICE TO OTHERS WITH LOVE FOR ALL HUMANITY!"

Now it is our turn to not just SHOUT but to WALK where Dr. King wanted us to go.  In a recent article, his son --Martin Luther King III-- implores us to not just seek his father’s dream of freedom and equality for all, but to live our lives in each and every moment in service to others.  Today, I take some key ideas and phrases from this article to form the following Dr. Russ Bussters.

Dr. Russ Bussters for Living the Dream

1. If it has to be our way or the highway, we are not living the dream.  We live the dream by solving conflicts with greater understanding, reconciliation and cooperation.
2. If we speak with hateful rhetoric we are exercising our right to free speech, but we are not living the dream.  We live the dream when we invite all sisters and brothers of any race, faith, nationality, sexual orientation or political belief to be part of the human family.
3. We are not living the dream when we claim that God is our side.  We are living the dream when like Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King we pray that we are on God’s side.
4. We are not living the dream when we espouse there is only one exclusionary and correct voice of God’s word; one right religious ideology.  We are living the dream when we walk side by side with members of every religious faith.
5. We are not living the dream when we ignore the needs of the poor and less fortunate.  We are living the dream when we show compassion for the poor through donations of time and money.
6. We are not living the dream if we advocate violence over non-violence. We are living the dream if we make non-violence not only the means to the end, but the end itself.
7. We are not living the dream if we simply entitle the poor to a free lunch.  We are living the dream if we teach them how to earn their own wages so they can buy their own lunch.
8. We are not living the dream when we are idle and complacent about any form of injustice anywhere.  We are living the dream when we attempt to fight, with peaceful means, all threats to justice everywhere.
9. We are partially living the dream with donations of time and money to the poor.  We are fully living the dream when we work to find ways to end their unemployment and put them back to work rebuilding our tattered infrastructure, reducing pollution and saving the environment.
10. Learn to live the dream with this commitment:   

• Find new ways to reach out to one another, to heal our divisions, and build bridges of hope and opportunity benefiting all people. (Martin Luther King III).

Optimism in Memory of Christina Green and Martin Luther King, Jr.

By Dr. Russ

On Wednesday night President Obama asked the nation to follow the leadership of a nine year old child named Christina Green who lost her life pursuing democracy.  He said:

• I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations. (President Obama, Tucson, Arizona speech, January 12, 2011.

On Monday, January 17, 2011, our nation will honor another fallen hero who fought for democracy and the equality of all people, The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

As I try to make sense of the senseless, to bring some order to this chaos wrought of violence, I am struck by the juxtaposition of the date of Christina’s death and the date we have chosen for a national holiday to honor Martin Luther King.  Christina was gunned down a week before the three day King Holiday weekend, and her brief life was commemorated in her funeral just 5 days before the holiday itself. 

Christina at 9 years old was just beginning a promising life of service to her country. King at 39 had led African Americans to the precipice of equality.  Both lives remind us of the need to carry on with even more vigor and passion for the causes of freedom and equality.  King’s peaceful demonstrations were not only the means to an end, but embodied the end itself – live in peace and you will live peacefully, within.

I ask, you are asking, a nation is asking, “What can be done?”  Where is the “optimism” in these tragedies?  President Obama answered by asking if we are ready to become the disciples of a 9 year old child.  A child clearly advanced in her years, living beyond childhood self-centered ego concerns, who was already asking others to give back to their communities.

This weekend on MI Optimism, Jackie Monroe and I interview T.J. Duckett, an African American who is following the distant call of Reverend Martin Luther King to find that inner spirit of peace, kindness, and compassion in order to give back to his local community after living the “high life” of an eight year career in the NFL.

Below are some quotes of Reverend King that may help us make sense of this senselessness called violence, along with my interpretation of the possible OPTIMISTIC meaning of Christina’s death in the context of the spirit of each quote.

“Only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.” ~Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968

• Christina’s death has dimmed the heavenly lights so once again we can gaze upon the stars.

“When people get caught up with that which is right, are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.” ~Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968

• Christina was unstoppable in her thirst to learn more about living out the dream of democracy.  It is time to pick up her torch and carry it on. 

“We are poor people, but collectively we (black Americans) are richer than all the nations of the world with the exception of none.” ~Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968

• Christina’s death and the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Giffords has once again put out a call for the end of divisiveness and a rallying cry to unite in the collective and powerful spirit of collaboration and working together for the common good.

“I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” ~Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968

• Neither Christina nor the Reverend King will be there physically as we approach and get to the “Promised Land,” but if we do not keep their spirit and memory within us each and every moment of every day we WILL NOT get there.