“Let’s start with a premise that I don’t think a lot of Americans are aware of. We have five percent of the world’s population; we have 25 percent of the world’s known prison population. There are only two possibilities here: either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States; or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice.”
I have this photo hanging in my house, love it for some reason. This presentation reviews some of the historical photographs captured by Charles Ebbets in the early 1930’s. Most of them depict daily scenes of the workers who participated in the construction of the skyscrapers between 1920 and 1935. As you will see, the safety measures were somewhat peculiar, and the photos were done trying to play down that situation.
Keeping Your Relationship Tank Full
I was cleaning up the house over the weekend and found a piece of paper taped to the back of a picture, which I think was given to us during pre-marriage counseling with the church we were going to. Today is my parent’s wedding anniversary, so it is especially timely. For those of you getting married (you know who you are), hope you find this helpful. Marriage is like fuel you put in your car, every now and then you have to fill it up before the tank empties for it to keep going.
We will do our best not to go to sleep while we are still angry with each other. We will work hard to achieve peace before shutting our eyes.
We will not add a burden to our relationship by living beyond our means. It only creates chronic discomfort and triggers an argument.
We will try hard to respect each other’s different way of being in the world. We will allow that there is not just one way of doing something.
We will each take responsibility for our own contributions to the problem we have, rather than point a finger at our partner.
We will remember to celebrate our strengths as a couple. These are easy to forget when we are locked in conflict.
We will agree that violence can never be a part of our relationship.
We will accept each other as wonderful, flawed human beings with limits.
We will expand our support system so that our relationship does not carry the entire burden when we are under stress.
We will each take the risk of reaching beyond old, familiar ways of relating and discover a new, mutually-rewarding way of experiencing the love that brought us together.
We will become skilled in the art of forgiving each other.
We will listen respectfully to each other. We need not agree, but we do need to be heard — and to hear.
We will commit ourselves to maintaining a healthy partnership, knowing that it takes work to create a rewarding life together.
Listen deeply, speak truthfully, and resolve conflicts before they fester.
Embrace each other’s unique qualities and differences with love and understanding.
Remember that lasting relationships require ongoing attention, care, and effort.
“Marriage is like fuel you put in your car, every now and then you have to fill it up before the tank empties for it to keep going.”
If we could control time like a DVR…
We went to a new Safeway in downtown Portland’s Pearl District this morning. It is literally right across the street from Bridgeport Brewing, which is pretty cool. They have a parking garage above the store, and a stairwell down from the garage gives you a nice view of the store (pictured above). It was actually pretty fun because I ran into two people I used to work with almost three years ago now in the store (Kathy Tribe and Melanie Carrol).
