Author: Carolyn Ezzo

“We could could put seed packets in books and distribute them to school children and families…We could connect with universities… employ environmental groups…gain business sponsorships…”
That is the sound of Fairleigh Dickinson University students brainstorming how to re-forest our planet with one trillion (yes, trillion) more trees.
I know it’s traditional to look at the upcoming generation and fear for the future of our world. But let me assure you there seethes an energy, idealism, and creativity in today’s college students unequaled in many decades. Yesterday, FDU professor Gerard Farias invited me to speak to his “Managing Enterprise and Organizations” class. As part of the course, the students select some social need and create an enterprise aimed at fulfilling that need. These students have begun engineering a venture that will provide computers to computer-less young people so they may attend schools online. I challenged them with trillion-tree project, which is currently being undertaken and by social entrepreneur Roland Schatz (with astounding success.) These students’ enthusiasm and depth of thought, along with their unabashed optimism struck me forcefully. Having sat through many a “creative” session with businessfolks twice their age, I have seldom felt such positive hope. ‘Twould not surprise me to come across some of these individuals in the future as candidates for the Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards. So allow me this simple observation: whatever our generations have done to bring us to our present condition, we need not worry. Hot on our heels is coming a horde of freshly inspired successors dedicated to making things a lot better.

Congratulations of PeaceTech Lab’s CEO Sheldon Himelfarb and Board Chair Nick Donofrio for launching their inaugural International Peace Honors awards ceremony last night (Jan. 17th). Peacetech Lab employs data, media, and technology, to build scores of grass-roots peace-building enterprises worldwide. Sheldon himself is a 2019 Honoree of the Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards, and Nick Donofrio is a sponsor. Hosted by Ntalie Jimanez, Peace Honors explodes as a lavish , entertaining evening with songs by Sting, Ricky Martin and more. Honors went to Vint Cerf – father of the internet; Opal Toometi – founder of Black Lives Matter; Ricky Martin – who uses his singing talents & funds to enhance and protect children worldwide; Goodwill ambassador and humanitarian Ricardo Montaner; Covid-battling Anthony Fauci – Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and Amazonian Chief Raoni – fierce advocate for Brazil’s rainforests and indigineous peoples.
To learn more, visit PeaceTechlab.org. To hear Sheldon Himelfarb’s Torchbearer Talk visit Bartsbooks.com – Pormetheus Social Enterprise Awards.

I learned that the Rockettes are giving free aerobic classes online.  So I grabbed a cold beer, tuned in, and I must say it really works – my heart hasn’t raced this fast in years.

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 I truly admire everyone efforts to fill us with good cheer during these times, and I’m sure I could pull myself out of the dumps if only my investments would turn around and lead the way.  (When the liquor business booms – beware your portfolio, my friend.)

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Now that the president’s name is printed on the stimulus checks, they may be issued in hopes that, like a small child swallowing a dime, they may quickly pass through, providing no effect on the child, and go on to stimulate the corporations so desperately in need.  (Notice: they were not called “public aid checks.)

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This morning I knocked on the back door of a store and a man wearing a mask sold me one large pack of toilet paper. I felt half way between the 1950’s Soviet communist shopper and a Prohibition era alcoholic trying to enter a speakeasy.

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This virus is harsh – I’ve finally learned to handle the social distancing, but it’s the fiscal distancing – watching my money drift ever further away, that’s crushing me.

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One thing I’ve learned from this virus is gratitude for everything from friendship to toilet paper. Before it, I was like the farmer so busy praying for rain that I forgot to hold out my cup in a thunderstorm.

     Social Media is a mask that allows you to scream to an audience of thousands tales that would make you blush crimson if told to one friend in a bar room.

Yes, my friends, we Americans have still got it. We haven’t let go of that thirst for a just world and the readiness to roll up our sleeves to make it happen. Recently, I found myself battling back against the you-can’t-be-too-careful-nowadays folks by repeating my old quip: the reason we colonials won the American Revolution is that the founding fathers forgot to assign anyone to risk assessment. Sometimes, we get so roiled up against things that we all know are so unjust, so hurtful, that we say the hell with the tear gas and nightsticks. Damn the cost, even if there is virtually no hope of success.
We are not a resigned people. We are the immigrants and heirs of immigrants who left the not-so-good land for a better life in the USA, and we intend, by God, to make it better. So we stand up and protest, and we march on.
– No. Systemic brutality against any group or individual is not the law enforcement I want in my country. And I won’t tolerate it.
– No, the government cannot dictate my personal movements, even during a pandemic. They may guide and advise, but I still have the freedom to choose.
– No. We will not sacrifice justice for all in the interests of profit for a few. Not in my democracy.
And so here go Americans making our stand today: taking to the streets, forming organizations, proclaiming justice in all media, battling in the courts and the ballot box, still showing that thirst for the more just world, as we believe it to be. Tom, Ben, George and all our founders would be proud, though probably not surprised.

Yet, in our fervor, may we take one little lesson from history. After the British had been battled back, and the United States democratic experiment was established, our nation’s founders refused to hold the hateful grudge against our former enemies. We witnessed the European vilification and enmity that turned one nation’s people permanently against another, invariably leading to more conflict, and said, “That’s not for us – the U.S.” Oh, yes, we would not be pushed around, as Andy Jackson demonstrated so masterfully against the redcoats in the war of 1812. But we kept England and all nations as trading partners, and nixed the bigotry of cold wars. And it is my hope that we today, as heirs to that revolutionary spirit, continue to battle the evil, without marking out all of one group as inherent evildoers. To vilify all police officers, white males, government officials, or any group turns us into the very bigots whom we so deplore. And frankly, my friend, that kind of futile hate and negative rallying point will not give us that more just, less hurtful nation we are striving to build.

So have a happy Independence Day and accept my thanks, America, for carrying the revolutionary spirit onward.

Wishing you every success,
– Bart Jackson

This kindly bit of graffiti greeted me as I came down the driveway earlier on my natal day. Just one more example of the many fun & thoughtful kindnesses so many of you have paid me lo these several decades. I can think of no man more fortunate than I am this very day, and a great part of those blessings comes from you – my countless friends. Thanks for all your good wishes….and No, Peter. I did not have to use my glasses to read the two-foot-high letters, and no I did not depend on a walker, cane, or wife to make it to the end of the drive.
My greatest gratitude to you all. – Bart