Dare to read this one!

Without indulging in lexiphanicism (showing off with words) we should admit that we all have our bad habits or cacoëthes (from the Greek kakos, bad, and ethos, habit). The English Dictionary confirms the existence of this unusual term and divides it into three forms with a Latin ending: cacoëthes loquendi, carpendi & scribendi, namely insatiable urge to talk, a compulsion to criticize, and the incurable itch to write. In every word there is also some magic -- the more words we have, the more we add to our thoughts and lives. Sometimes words tell stories hidden in their meaning, or evoke unexpected connections between things and places. Years ago I played the role of Dracula in a small European community theater and for the occasion had to simulate a staurophobia, a beautiful word meaning: “a fear of crucifixes”. Unfortunately this is one of those words you can’t really use in real life unless you have to play the terrible Transylvanian Count or some other vampire. But sometimes, by chance, you can learn a few useful terms by simple means or even by reading this article. To walk home, while in France, I would pass every day by a blue painted brick house with a weathervane on its slate roof; a rusted weathercock that cast a thin shadow down the street and on windy days would make a plaguing noise that followed me like pattering of rain. It was only during my last night in Paris that I finally learned the French name for that damn thing: girouette. So far this story could have ended in Paris if ten years later a political activist on a downtown sidewalk in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, wasn’t handing flyers to passersby, complaining against the “girouettism” of politicians. At first I could not understand what a French iron rooster had to do with politics, but later found in the Dictionary that this was also a legitimate English word, used to define the slimy attitude, widespread among certain politicasters, of altering their opinion or positions to follow popular trends. Before that casual encounter “girouettism” was known to me only as “flip-flopping”. Amazing how through words you can move from roof weathervanes to politics. The topic of politics is also a verdant field for word genesis and inspires new terms in almost every generation: Aristotle, clearly referring to Plato, began one of his most famous work on the subject, saying that men are “ζῷον πολιτικόν, zoon politikon“ (political beings): since then the debate rages on and nowadays some people argue whether we live in a mesocracy (government by the middle class), in a cryptarchy (government conducted in secret), in an androcracy (consisting of men alone) or in a logocracy (rule by words) more than in a timocracy (rule by honorable persons – Plato again). Personally I would love to live in a paedocracy, not in the negative sense of “being ruled by adults that still think like children”, but by the real children, because when children behave in a bad way, they are sorry for that, and sincerely apologize with a tender smile that makes you smile too.

(© Sergio Caldarella, 2009)

Einstein in Princeton

If we could find a person well trained in physics, but ignorant of the prodigious development of that science since 1904 and show them the scientific works of Albert Einstein, he or she will definitively ask how many scientists have contributed to the incredible body of work in their hands, and would not believe that it is the product of a single mind! In our history Einstein is a man so unique that the future generations may have trouble believing that such a human being, such a mind, could exist.
All residences of the father of the Theory of Relativity -- from Bern, to Zurich, to Berlin -- are well kept and open to the public. Even though places like the Caputh cottage in Germany have been stormed by the Nazis and significantly damaged, they have been lovingly and painstakingly restored. All the more surprising is the situation in Princeton, New Jersey, where the great scientist passed the second half of his life.
Walking up to the 112 Mercer Street, Einstein residence from the mid-thirties until 1955, you will notice that not only has the house number been removed, but there is a little sign on the gate saying: “Private residence”. On the same street (#160), just a few blocks south from Einstein’s house, there is a plaque commemorating Karl Langlotz a Church organist who composed the music for the “Old Nassau” and died in 1915. The plaque reads, in capital letters: “May it be sacred to the sons of Princeton forever”! No similar plaque indicates the contribution of Albert Einstein to Princeton.
It is true that Einstein himself requested that his house should not be turned into a museum, but Kafka, for one, asked Max Brod to burn his books -- fortunately for us all he had had enough responsibility not to do that. It is somehow puzzling that neither the Institute for Advanced Study, the University, nor the city, or even some other cultural or government institution have had enough sensibility to understand that such a place belongs to mankind. It is also disturbing to find out that among the residents of the Einstein house have been renowned members of the intellectual community and Nobel Prize winners. How can they not see the importance, for the future generations, of the place where Einstein lived his last years? A noble and honest gesture would be to donate the house into the public custody – in which, indeed, it belongs. However in order to do so we may need to overcome our greed and understand that collective memory is more important than money and petty personal interests. This is, unfortunately, just another case where the interests of the few come before the interest of the many -- too bad that the people involved are scientists, both awarded and recognized for their contributions toward the collective. Too bad for us all.

(© Sergio Caldarella, 2008)

Competence and ability

The major crisis that companies and corporations, are facing today is not only the increase of oil prices, recession and other related economical issues, as much as the lack of competence and ability to forethought the future by those who are entitled to decide. When we ask the simple questions: “Where do those managers come from? Why do they behave like that?” we see a more complex problem of the ruling class and the executives, and of a society where the intellectual basics are undermined more and more by a primitive materialistic mentality, and a future vision plays little or no role at all.
This issue is clearly related to the not well-perceived crisis of the modern academic system that is able to provide degrees and certificates, without inspiring students in the values and higher truths of knowledge.
It is always possible to save money by reducing quality, and that is what is happening in the industrial societies all over the planet. A plethora of managers with very impressive resumes from prestigious universities, prefer to cut jobs and pay people less: reduce the quality to make more money, instead of taking the “road less traveled”. Customers do not have to wonder if they are treated poorly by one flight attendant who receives 20.000 dollars a year plus per diem, while the manager who decides to cut the jobs receives a few million!
Another thing that universities are supposed to imbue is the sense of decency and humanity. But just how decent is someone who gains millions and instead of optimizing processes, using his professionalism to save money and keep people at work, just decides to exclude them because it’s easier? Not very decent, I guess, but that is how the new world is.

© Sergio Caldarella, 2009.

Glory to those for whom “human” is not just a name

«In every aspect of human existence it is always the humanity of men that makes the difference, it is the creativity, the kindness and the intelligence that is capable of transforming not only the material things but, perhaps, even destiny. For this reason there is an inherent danger when things dominates human lives and not vice versa. In the face of sinister interests, of the delirium or of the evil, every word becomes empty and meaningless, unable to reach the hearts of those who live in the house of gold and blind obedience. When the material interest speaks, the true voice is silent: everything becomes a proxy, shifting the center of wonder from the human to the gloomy laws of the inanimate matter. So glory to those who violate the laws of the flock, those who faced with the matter say “I overcome you, I am not your slave.” Glory to those who, against brutality and love of money, answer: frangar non flectar, I break, but I do not bend. If it were not for them the world would be just horror. So glory to those for whom “human” is not just a name»

(From: Sergio Caldarella, L’Algebra degli Scacchi, Zambon Verlag, Verona, Frankfurt am Main, 2008, p. 21, Preface)

The Madman is driving

Writing? Why? Would it not be better to keep silent? Personally, I believe that screaming is definitively healthier than writing, but that’s just me. What a weird society we live in! Surrounded by a sea of words that keep repeating just the same message: CONFUSION! That’s the word that should be written on the cover of magazines, buried inside the pages of books, sketched on canvas and repeated in schools. Principals and Presidents should make it their epigram! Confusion is the most accepted sin and certainly the most accurate representation of the inner nature of our time! It’s the state of the world; it’s where we are, but not who we are. In spite of the spirit of the time, in human nature there is something different: inside of every one of us there is a sad, broken angel. And this is the same angel that was running with us around our world when our eyes weren’t corrupted, when nobody had yet taught us how to deceive ourselves, how to be different from what we really and profoundly are. What we are is what we feel. We forgot to free this delicate angel inside of us, and that’s what makes us so poor when faced with the world. True richness is that of the spirit, the only health, that of our hearts. We also believe that this forgetting is an excuse, and that our forgetting will be forgiven, that we will be absolved of our failure to remember. But that’s not going to happen. Would you ever go into a restaurant without money to pay the bill and still order a fine dinner expecting that you will be excused at the exit? Sooner or later, the check will come and not having means will not be an excuse or a reason not to pay!

I like but I don’t enjoy watching rich people and trying to detect the differences between them and the poor tramps on the streets begging for a penny. I am not talking about a social difference, that’s evident; the difference I am interested in is the human difference: the way a rich person perceives himself and the world, compared to that of a socially disadvantaged person. Rich people, for example, smile in a different way: their smile is never open; it’s a tool, a presentation accessory, which they try to impose on everybody.
The rich person’s biggest delusion is that he really believes that he owns something that human life is made to hold and not to give. In fact, he is a poor, dangerous man. Why is he dangerous? Because society trusts him and believes in his delusions, letting him shape the future of us all. Using either coercion or subtle means, he lets many people believe you can measure human value with money and that money is all that there is, all that counts. In their hands even time has become money. Too bad that money is not time, and even the biggest sum cannot buy an extra second of life.

© Sergio Caldarella, 2007.

Anthony Balderrama Esq.

Recently the web has been stormed by articles and suggestions by a certain Anthony Balderrama, a "writer" and blogger for CareerBuilder.com (this is his blog: The Work Buzz). According to the description "He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues." In reality when you read his "suggestions", you see that Mr. Balderrama is a new fascist that believes only in the power of corporate and try to convince you, with not so subtle arguments, that the strongest is always right and if you are on the other side of the power chain, too bad for you. For him employees have to be always like little nice small sheep in the hands of the big, strong and powerful boss. The boss is always right, whatever he/she is doing and the employee, for his daily bread, should change his mind, his soul, his personality only to accommodate the wishes of the strongest. Daily fascism under the mask of nice advices... It is definitively true the proverb: "worse vice, be advice."

(Dr. Divago)

Time of Crisis

Crisis is a short word with long consequences. For ordinary people, those who restrict themselves to implementing the orders of the strongest, it's just a storm that they hope will soon pass. For those who govern with cynical attention for this theater, is the perfect script for a reorganization of the world. They shout the word “crises”, but in reality they are just tightening the screws of the social device. Thanks to the crisis they can force people to work harder for less, they can throw the mask of smile, show their sneer and punch hard, and because of the crisis, people will bear even that. The same day that Bill Gates, one of these great man lit by darkness, has donated 250 million dollars to the Rotary Foundation, has also fired 5000 employees. Ah! The crisis! A few days after Boeing fired 5000 workers also invoking “the crisis”. But nobody says that if it were not for the empty-headed management that decided to invest huge sums in the failing developing of a new mega airplane, perhaps not all those people would have been redundant. Lehman Brother, Chrysler and other bad company orderly follows. Ah! The crisis! The true fact is that we have forgotten how to look at people. Just by looking at the faces of those who govern us how can you believe that this world is heading in a good direction? How do you think that people with a hard muzzle will do something good? They do good things for themselves, but even this is a debatable issue. They are under anesthesia and know nothing about the true, real life. I traveled a lot and I saw many people and many places, but rarely have met managers or people of power who were good people, people capable and genuine. Those “power people” are generally social climbers, small souls, and poor individuals --often ridiculous. But it is in the hands of these people that we put our future. And no tiger is never so dangerous as a small and ridiculous human being.

(© Sergio Caldarella, 2009)