Archive for January, 2011
“The Last Samurai:” Follow Your Destiny
Thursday, January 27th, 2011In the first scene of “The Last Samurai,” starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, the Samurai has a dream in which he sees the tiger coming for him. He doesn’t know what it means, but he knows that it is important. Later, in the first battle, where the Samurai army overwhelms the poorly trained Imperial [...]
What Girls/Boys Need to Know: “Secondhand Lions”
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011The axis mundi of “Secondhand Lions,” starring Robert Duvall, Michael Caine and Haley Joel Osment, is that the kid is desperate to learn what he needs in order to become a good man. He’s never heard truth from his mother. He’s never had a good man in his life. How can he figure out what’s [...]
To what will you devote the rest of your life?
Monday, January 24th, 2011In “The Last Samurai,” with Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, the Samurai asks Tom Cruise what he has devoted his life to. Up to that point, nothing. He has had and still has nothing worthwhile to devote himself to. So he is empty; a shriveled heart moving from one whiskey bottle to the next. And [...]
Amy Chua, “The Chinese Mother,” is a Bully
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011Amy Chua’s article in the Wall Street Journal, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” has gotten enough publicity to make her book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” a best seller. She’s clear that she uses the term “Chinese Mother” to represent a certain way of treating children that may be found in people from many, [...]
Stop Bullying by “Self-Esteem Police”
Monday, January 10th, 2011George Will reported in his Newsweek column, “More Stimulating that the Stimulus,” that “In Ottawa, the sensitivity police in a children’s soccer league announced that any team attaining a five-goal lead would be declared to have lost, thereby sparing the feelings of those who were, if you will pardon the expression, losing.” This was confirmed [...]
Are “Chinese Mothers” Superior or are They Bullies?
Monday, January 10th, 2011There’s a wonderful and stimulating article in the Wall Street Journal by Amy Chua, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.” It’s sub-titled, “Can a regimen of no playdates, no TV, no computer games and hours of music practice create happy kids? And what happens when they fight back?” The sub-title’s focus on creating happy kids just [...]
BulliesBeGone on Facebook
Monday, January 10th, 2011You’ll find quotes, links to articles and other useful material to help you stop bullies at work, in personal relationships and with children at the BulliesBeGone page of Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bullies-Be-Gone/125559177508773 Or you can go directly to the wall at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bullies-Be-Gone/125559177508773#!/pages/Bullies-Be-Gone/125559177508773?v=wall I hope you “like” what’s there already and let all your friends know. And [...]
Colorado Needs Consistent Anti-Bullying Programs
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011We all remember: Colorado was home to the Columbine High School shootings in 1999. But as Jessica Fender reports in the Denver Post, “More Consistent Anti-Bullying Program Urged for Colorado,” after 11 years “good intentions have devolved into an uncoordinated approach that ignores best practices in some instances and leaves state authorities with no clear [...]