The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1205706
C-8 Wednesday, Januar y 29, 2020 The Press-Dispatch OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg I was going through some well- ness articles over the- you guessed it right- Google University- and one of the topics caught my attention. It's about handling worry. I don't know of anyone, I mean anyone, who has no worry about something. Some worries are small, some unnecessary, some big, some real big. I once heard an expression that has left a mark on me. A friend said perhaps it's bet- ter to look at an attitude of concern rather than worry about things that challenge us in life. Easier said than done. So, continuing on, here's some tips that experts shared on han- dling worry, or concern. They ex- plained that without challenges in life, we won't be able to identi- fy problems, we can lose our cre- ativeness, we will not find joy in solving problems, overcoming dif- ficulties, or finding relief. Here's some tips which even the authors on this field use in their own personal lives. • Rethink the way you approach chal- lenges. Apparently, excessive worry can be a thought garbage. When confronted worrying about some- thing, a therapist asks the following thought pathway: "Can I solve the problem? And what can I do about it? If I can't do anything about it, it may be time to take a pause, re- group, brainstorm possible solu- tions and revisit the problem some other time. If I can't do anything about, perhaps it's time to quit and change directions." • Another expert uses the, "Stop, take a deep breath and think method." Next time you feel tensed up, take a few deep breaths, and re- lax your entire body. You'll be surprised how much it deflates your body, like a bal- loon ready to pop, and when you let some air out, it gets softer. Seemingly it is good to do it now and then, like when you are driv- ing, when you are in a work situation and ten- sion builds up around you, or anything that sets up alarm bells. *Another respected author uses the technique of putting an end to the fear or anxiety temporarily or for good. Even if the worst fear oc- curs or happens, you can survive it. Most times, the worst fear will eventually dissipate over time. For time is a great healer. • Try not to read too much in- to things. Over thinking is not healthy. Ever heard of the expres- My Point of View By Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Dealing with stress and worry Minority View By Walter E. Williams Diversity and inclusion insanity Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 It's nearly impossible to have even a short conversation with a college administrator, politician or chief executive without the words diversity and inclusion dropping from their lips. Diversity and in- clusion appear to be the end-all and be-all of their existence. So, I thought I'd begin this discussion by first looking up the definition of diversity. According to the Oxford Dic- tionary, diversity is "the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different so- cial and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orien- tations, etc." The definition gratu- itously adds, "equality and diver- sity should be supported for their own sake." The standard definition given for inclusion is involvement and empowerment where the in- herent worth and dignity of all peo- ple are recognized. Here's my question to those who are wedded to diversity and inclu- sion: Are people better off the less they have in common with one an- other? For example, women are less likely to be able to march 12.4 miles in five hours with an 83-pound assault load. They are also less likely to be able to crawl, sprint, negotiate obstacles and move a wounded comrade weigh- ing 165 pounds while carrying that load. Would anyone ar- gue that a military out- fit would benefit from diversity by includ- ing soldiers who can and those who cannot march 12 miles in five hours while carrying an 83-pound load? You say, "Williams, the military is an ex- ception! " What about language? The International Civ- il Aviation Organization has de- creed that all air traffic controllers and flight crew members engaged in or in contact with internation- al flights must be proficient in the English language as a general spo- ken medium. According to UNES - CO, there are about 7,000 languag- es in the world. The International Civil Aviation Organization could promote language inclusiveness by requiring language rotation. Some years, Cebuano (of the Ma- layo-Polynesian language fami- ly) and in other years Kinyarwan- da (of the Niger-Congo language family) could be the language of pilots and air traffic controllers. Keep in mind that it is claimed that the great benefit of diversi- ty and inclusiveness is that it pro- motes and fosters a sense of be- longing. It values and practices respect for the differences in the talents, beliefs, back- grounds and ways of living of its members. Another issue is what should be do- ne when people who should know better praise nondiversity and noninclusiveness? Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse L. Jackson said, "I applaud commis- sioner Adam Silver's commitment to diversity and inclusion within the NBA." During the 2018 -2019 season, more than 33% of NBA teams had head coaches of col- or. The number of assistant head coaches of color was over 42 % . The number of black NBA players was 82 % . In the face of these statis- tics, Oris Stuart, the NBA's chief diversity and inclusion officer said, "Diversity, inclusion and equality are central to every aspect of our game and our business." I would like for Jesse Jackson and others who claim that there's racial di- versity and inclusiveness in pro- fessional basketball to make their Pursuit of the Cure By Star Parker Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Education choice could shift the black vote Powering beyond God The modern world is a paradox. People want to be free and left alone to cherish life, yet embrace social media and expose their "per- sonal" journey for all to see and re- post. It is voyeurism in reverse. The tabloids are awash with news of the royal couple, Harry and Megan, caught up in this di- lemma. They express the desire to be rescued from the "Royal Fam- ily Fishbowl," yet seek status as a millennial power duo. More than one royal observer on "Her Majesty's Island" has taken to pen and dissected the "Megex- it" plan; not only do the couple want the best of both worlds, they are courting what they say they want to escape. Megan Markel is not the first person to proclaim the mantra of "It is not enough to survive, you have to thrive." For some millen- nials to thrive he/she claims they must do what they want. If it hurts others-sorry-but I have to be true to what I want; and myself "I have to be me! I must be true to myself." These grandchildren of the ba- by-boomers are the results of be- ing born into a liberal post-Chris- tian world. These children as they journeyed toward adulthood were immersed in an amoral belief sys- tem that placed self at the center of their universe. They have been told he/she is special which has lead our boys and girls toward a life that wor- ships the journey of self-directed personal actualization [i.e. selfish- ness]. Many millennials suffer from PBBD [post baby boomer dis- order]. One of the symptoms is a narcissistic self-centeredness that rejects the cultural values of giving and deferring to others. These individuals seek relation- ships among their self-gratifying peers and contribute little to their community. Not all millennials suffer from PBBD. However, it is unmistak- ably obvious that those who seek a path of self-centeredness leave a path of destroyed relationship in their wake. A sweep of the T V re- ality programs reveals a host of in- dividuals who maneuver to seize the power position in their family [and all relationships] and power their will into the extended fami- ly and friends. The results are the family be- comes alienated and dysfunction- al. The power couple are insensible to pain directed at the family and their claim to victimhood is self-in- flicted, and they accuse the offend- ed of being the cause of the rift, failing to realize it is they [the pow- er couple] have poisoned and dis- rupted the family dynamics. Serious issues affect the mod- ern couple. Marriage involves cre- ating a unit. American culture in the not too distant past held that when a man and women marry they became one "unit," or a fami- ly. Their identities became merged into a Mr. and Mrs. However, many millennials at- tempt to keep their personal identi- ties intact while trying to forge the impossible "one-in a marriage." The result is one partner through much pain learns the unwritten rule of celebritism-there can on- ly be one "star" in a relationship. All millennials do not express "wokness," which by definition asserts there can be no criticism of their behavior or attitudes. Any challenge, however gentle, is met with howling denunciation using the nominally explosive words such as bigot, patriarchal, racist, homophobe, misogynist, or other derisive putdowns. If these modern millennials who demand their personal space and privacy weren't above the age of 30 their behavior could be considered extended adolescence. However, it is the result of shifting cultural norms that crown everyone "spe- cial." Because of a lack of account- ability the "power millennial" has been launched into a life of arrest- ed development and self-worship. The long-term outcome is pre- dictable. Friends who are influ- enced by the power person [or cou- ple] eventually experiences their own supernova of self-actualiza- tion and becomes alienated from their former "friend." Remember, Almost all of us know (because President Trump boasts of it in nearly every speech) that our 3.5% unemployment rate has reached a 50 -year low. But this official decline in joblessness doesn't tell the entire story of the improvement in the job market in the United States. And it doesn't fully capture the change in direction between what happened under President Barack Obama and Trump. In the Obama years, the unem- ployment rate kept falling after 2010. That's great. But the untold story was that the number of people moving from the living room couch into jobs was exceeded by the num- ber who dropped out of the work- force, or, as was the case with mil- lions of 20 -somethings, never got a job. From January 2009 to Decem- ber 2016, almost 10 million jobs were added, but amazingly, 1.6 mil- lion working-age people dropped out of the workforce. The percentage of people par- ticipating in the labor force fell from 65.7% to a low of 62.7% under Obama. Generally, in a recovery, job seekers rise as jobs reemerge. A chart from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the trend in labor force participation and the unemployment rate adjusted for la- bor force dropouts from 2009 -2019. The strange thing about the Obama recovery was more jobs and less willing workers. When a person isn't looking for a job, for whatever reason, they do not get labeled as unemployed. The joke a few years ago was that Obama would shrink the unemployment rate to zero through the magic formula of driv- ing millions out of the workforce. In a world where everyone is living off of welfare or a trust fund, and no one is looking for a job—there are officially no unemployed people. Under Trump, we are experi- encing the best of all worlds. Un- employment is down, and the la- bor force participation rate is final- ly starting to grow again, albeit still slower than needed. Some 2.3 mil- lion more people have entered the workforce under Trump. Part of the rise in the workforce is undoubted- ly due to the steady increase in wag- es, which attracts workers to come off the sideline. Is the healthy job mar- ket today due to a con- tinuation of the Obama recovery? Hardly. My Heritage Foundation colleague John Mer- line ran the numbers. When Obama left office, the Congressional Bud- get Office, or CBO, pre- dicted the "trend" in hir- ing. For example, the CBO forecast the unemployment rate would nev- er get below 4.4% and would start rising again in 2019. The current unemployment rate is now a full percentage point below the CBO's forecast, with 1.6 million more jobs than the Obama trend line would have predicted. The CBO also predicted at the end of the Obama years that the la- bor force participation rate would continue to fall under Trump. Wrong: It rose. One last point: When I was study- ing economics in college in the 1970s, the professors and the text- Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Sometimes the timing of events is so auspicious that it is hard to at- tribute it to coincidence. The week of Jan. 26 is National School Choice week. First observed in 2011, for the 10th time, events will take place around the nation that are focused on raising awareness about paren- tal choice in K-12 education and the options available to parents and children. A few days before National School Choice week, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case Espinoza v. Montana De- partment of Revenue, which will address the constitutionality of the so-called Blaine Amendments, arguably the greatest obstacle to school choice the nation faces. Named after Rep. James G. Blaine, who attempted but failed to enact a federal ban on funding religious schools, 37 states subse- quently adopted the provision in their state constitutions. In the case of Espinoza, the state of Montana passed a law al- lowing dollar-for-dollar tax credits for funds contributed to scholar- ship programs that parents could use for paying for education in pri- vate schools. In that some of these funds would be used for religious schools, the constitutionality of the program was challenged, and the state wound up trashing the whole program. The hope of many, including me, is that the court will find the ra- tionale behind the Blaine Amend- ments unconstitutional. It will be a victory for both religious freedom and education freedom. It is perverse that the First Amendment, which is meant to guarantee religious freedom, has become a tool for discrimination against religion. A fter all, when public funds are available for education of any kind and some parents use those funds for a religious school, this is a private choice, not a govern- ment mandate. How can this in any way be understood as government establishing religion? It most cer- tainly interferes with the "free ex- ercise" of religion, which the First Amendment protects. A decision wiping out the Blaine Amendment prohibitions will also be another reason to congratulate President Donald Trump, who has given us this solidly conservative Supreme Court. It's also another factor in why black voters may realign their po- litical allegiances. Education freedom is an issue that deeply divides Republicans and Democrats. And it is an issue on which blacks are more aligned with Republicans. In a May 2019 poll by Educa- tion Next, 70 % of black Demo- crats expressed support for tar- geted vouchers, 60 % for univer- sal vouchers and 55% for charter schools. It makes sense. Black parents understand the importance of ed- ucation. Yet their kids are trapped in the worst public schools in the country. Black parents understand the simple logic of education freedom and the benefits of parents having the power to choose where to send their children to school. President Trump is now advanc- ing Education Freedom Scholar- ships, which would provide for up to $5 billion in annual tax credits for donations made to scholarships that fund education-choice oppor- tunities. The Democratic presiden- tial candidates across the board want to slam the door on char- ter schools and education choice. They all see one answer to K- 12 education: more federal dol- lars for public school monopolies. Democrats have their eye on po- litical contributions from teachers unions, not on what children, par- ticularly black children, need. The electoral model that Repub- licans need to follow for 2020 is that of the 2018 Florida governor's race. Ron DeSantis defeated his black opponent, liberal Tallahas- Heritage Viewpoint By Stephen Moore Working hard versus hardly working