EthicalStL.org

Martin Israel is a professor of physics at Washington University. He teaches a variety of courses in physics and astronomy. His astrophysics research, funded by NASA, is a study of cosmic rays. His lab builds instruments that go onto stratospheric balloons and spacecraft to measure these high-energy atomic nuclei.

Hooray! It's that time of year again when I get to talk about money! --Those are not sarcastic exclamations points; I truly have learned to value my yearly pledge campaign kick-off more than almost any other platform address. It?s an opportunity for me to examine my own giving to see if I am really putting my resources where my heart and my values are. It's an opportunity to celebrate our community's accomplishments and envision an even brighter future. It's an opportunity to tackle important questions, such as, how is it ethical to invest in our own community when there are so many needs in the world? I hope you will come share this opportunity.

What do YOU think about when you hear the word "military?" Unjust wars? Just ones? An uncomfortably large chunk of the national budget? Whatever your opinions or your personal connection to the military, our speaker this morning will offer an un-usual perspective on the subject. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Mary Wertsch, who grew up in an Army infantry family, needed to read a book that would help put her own childhood in perspective. When she couldn't find one, she decided to write it. A former investigative journalist, she interviewed 80 adults who grew up in career military families, looking for patterns in their childhoods and in how they conducted their adult lives. The resulting book describes a cultural shaping so powerful that it unites these children of warriors across lines of gender, race, and class-and forever sets them apart from their civilian peers. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Come hear about this radically different culture through the eyes of its children; and learn how Mary Wertsch's personal quest revealed a powerful truth she had not foreseen, with implications not only for adult military brats, but for how civilians can approach an ethical relationship with the armed forces.

Tom and Anna will share their personal stories of living with peaceful intention as Friends and the journey that brought them to that way of life. lt;brgt;lt;brgt; Anna Sandidge, a Quaker or Friend, currently works for The Center for Su-vivors of Torture and War Trauma, coordinating their gang-prevention program for refugee and immigrant youth. She worked a brief stint in corporate America as a human rights compliance specialist monitoring workers’ rights in China. As director and consultant for Friends Peace Teams, Anna worked with communities emerging from violent conflict. She worked in Burundi, Africa with local trauma healing groups that promote reconciliation between survivors and perpetrators of the war and genocide. She has worked as a consultant for the Global Leadership Institute’s courses at the United Nations on multi-cultural issues in reconciliation and has co-facilitated workshops on listening, dialogue and healing. Anna began her full-time peace work as the staff for the St. Louis Instead of War coalition and continues to actively participate in planning peace events in St. Louis. Anna received her Psychological Anthropology degree in 2001 and her Masters in Community Social Work in 2004. Anna also teaches Sivananda yoga at a local community center. lt;brgt;lt;brgt; Tom Sandidge is a Senior Database Administrator for Sisters of Mercy Health Care System. He co-facilitates Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) workshops at Missouri Eastern Correctional Center near Pacific, Missouri. He enlisted in 1976 as a Private and left military service in 2003 as a Major. He has served in the active Army and the Reserves and commanded twice with experience in the Engineer Corp, the Ordnance Corp, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Special Weapons, Protective Services, Interdiction of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Theater Ammunition Management, and the Chemical Corp. He also visited Burundi to facilitate AVP workshops as part of the reconciliation process. He has attended Quaker Meeting since 1997 and along with Anna has organized a Midwest Quaker Conference for the past 8 years.

As part of the Ethical Society's new long-range plan (see our web site for details), we are striving to strengthen our role in St. Louis as a welcoming home for humanists. The need for a home, or a home-away-from-home, is shared by many people, though we may have different ideas of what exactly that means to us and what that home should look like. There has been much discussion in recent years about community in America: people seem to be drifting away from traditional sources of community and toward sub-cultures, commercial transactions, virtual networks. How can humanists and our allies create community today? Why should we even want to?

Easier to recognize in the change of season or the change of calendar we humans begin again. Spending time to reflect on the subject of change and how we evolve, adapt, and reintegrate into new ways of being provides opportunities to develop strategies of holding on while letting go, being stable while moving forward, remaining rooted while re-establishing through periods of loss, grief, and change.lt;brgt;lt;brgt; As a teacher of Ethical Mindfulness and Engaged Buddhism, Randal pro-poses the development of an awareness of the impermanent/interbeing nature of all phenomena that can lead to a powerful foundation to deal with change. Drawing on his work over the last several years as a thanotiologist, he proposes several strategies for dealing with change in ways that minimize suffering and expands opportunities for regaining strength and joy. Ethical Society member Randal Blain, B.A., M. Div, serves as Teacher, non-theistic Spiritual Director, and Humanist Chaplain.

This platform will present updated information about climate change, while the world meets at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen, and gives some ideas of what each of us can do to help.lt;brgt;lt;brgt; Henry Robertson is an attorney with the lt;a href="http://www.greatriverslaw.org/" target="_blank"gt;Great Rivers Environmental Law Centerlt;/agt;. He concentrates on energy issues and is working primarily in the Missouri Public Service Commission. He was elected to the Sierra Club Eastern Missouri Group's Executive Committee in 2004 and to the Ozark (Missouri) Chapter's Executive Committee in 2005. He is the Chapter’s Clean Air/Energy Chair. In 2005 he founded the Eastern Missouri Group's Energy Committee.

Ethics is rarely a matter of black and white, but rather of choosing which shade of grey is acceptable in which situation. December is a compromise-heavy month in many ways-most holidays are historical compromises, and they tend to bring together family members with different views and beliefs, necessitating modern compromises. On a larger level, the Ethical Society recently helped form the Greater St. Louis Coalition of Reason with several freethinker organizations, groups with which we have things in common and things about which we disagree. Ethics is about relationships—how can we find "compromising positions" that stretch our boundaries and still fit our values?

Ask most people how the other sex communicates and how well the other sex communicates, and you will get an earful in response. Male and female styles of communication tend to be quite different, and if we don’t learn to acknowledge – and even appreciate – these differences as variations in style rather than right or wrong we may view the communication of the other sex as anything from perplexing to downright crazy. Kathy Ratino will explore past and current research and discuss personal experience that sheds light on this subject. lt;brgt;lt;brgt; Kathy Ratino is an adjunct instructor at several colleges in the St. Louis area. She teaches the basic communication course, public speaking, gender communication, and communication between cultures, as well as a course called Communication Breakdown, Perceptual Differences, and Media Portrayal of Tragic Events. Kathy has also worked as a corporate trainer, a writer on financial and mental health issues, and a project manager. She holds an M.A. in Communication from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She is a member of Ethical Society Mid Rivers and is vice president of its Board of Directors.

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved dirt, frogs, and being alone in the woods, and who grew up to be an Ethical Leader and an avid environmentalist. Are these facts related? Many researchers would say so, and they are concerned about current trends that diminish the role of nature in children’s lives. How does our relationship with nature affect our ethics and our self-development? How can we ensure that children today retain a strong connection to the natural world?