Imagine the disruption caused to Ukraine society by Putin’s war. Then remove the physical destruction by the military but retain the confusion, the lack of understanding about what is happening, the confusion of not knowing what is right and true. Welcome to America.

The United States citizen struggles with rising totalitarianism, is confused by the mindset of authoritarian logic in a democratic nation, dodges cultural conflict between church and state, and wanders in a land without public rules for common behavior. Even corporate America is taking exception to governments that willy-nilly legislate new ethical standards without checking the greater social mindset:

֎ Axios reports: It’s a rare event when a change to a company’s insurance benefits makes news. But that’s what happened this week when Citigroup mentioned in a regulatory filing that it would cover travel expenses for U.S. employees seeking abortions.

Citi appears to be one of the first public companies to officially update its employee healthcare policy in response to the changing legal landscape.

Apple, which has a big presence in Texas, confirmed to Axios that its health insurance policies cover abortions, including travel fees if needed.

֎ Gallup contributed that it may be difficult to think much about the concept of happiness in troubled times like these, with a war raging in Ukraine and the world still battling its biggest health crisis in a century.

But this year’s World Happiness Report — released on Friday — shows these tough times have led to more people helping others. And this surge in benevolence may actually end up making the world a happier place in the long run.

The annual report, which relies heavily on Gallup World Poll data, documents strong growth in three “acts of kindness” during the pandemic: helping strangers, volunteering time to organizations and donating money to charities. The percentages of people who said they engaged in these activities increased in every part of the world — exceeding their pre-pandemic levels by almost 25%.

֎ Axios went further to note why it matters: We often celebrate those who break things, invent things or build things with bravado. But the author has learned more studying two men of uncommon modesty: Mikey and the late Fred Rogers, a.k.a. Mister Rogers.

Mike is a two-time founder, Politico and Axios, and was featured on the cover of The New York Times Magazine as “The Man the White House Wakes Up To.”

“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” spanned 1,000 episodes — at the time, the longest-running and most popular children’s program.

Keep the faith

The two are eerily similar in subtlety and selflessness. Their common gifts do not come easily to most:

Authentic humility. There’s a total absence of look-at-me, spotlight-seeking you see in others. They position themselves as servants or beneficiaries, not superiors. They both make others feel in conversation like the most important person in the world.

Intense interest in others. Both ask so many questions it initially seems like deflection, even insincerity. They’re maddeningly private. But then you realize their superpower is wild curiosity about what really makes others tick. Think of all you learn when you’re intensely listening.

Unusual optimism. I am a skeptic by training, realist by default; Mike always sees the goodness in people and situations. Mister Rogers did the same, usually circling back to the child inside all of us.

Minimalist living. No fancy mansions. No splashy sports cars. Hell, Mike doesn’t even have his own car or cable service. He spends more on donuts for Axios colleagues than clothes.

Deep faith. Most of the impressive people I meet in life hold deep belief in something beyond themselves. And it shows without saying.

Try it … Fred Rogers had this cheesy if wonderful ritual he would encourage others to do: Close your eyes for one minute, and picture all the people who helped you get where you are today.

The quoted material above is just a sampling taken from web news, digital journals, magazines and newspapers. Political sociologists cite the importance of ‘unity’ while others have begun to use words like ’compassion’ and ‘respect’.

Dare we hope that the electorate will use these thoughts to straighten free roaming governments and infuse scruples into an indifferent social media?

Ancient Mariner

Mariner is reading a book, Dignity in a Digital Age, published recently and written by Congressman Ro Khanna (D-17^th District CA, AKA Silicon Valley). Rep. Khanna takes a two-fold position to resolve much of the unrest that disturbs politics, society and industry in the United States. First, he proposes that the formation of national policy be loosened from Washington D.C and spread among the population. Second, Khanna proposes that the intended purpose of the nation, its industries and society in general is to use the democratic process to promote dignity rather than to protect by legislated procedure.

This last point caught mariner’s interest because, along with many others, he believes Donald came to power because the labor class was not part of the success story of the United States. Despite personal business success, career prestige and a critical role in daily life, without a college degree American society felt labor careers did not represent success in life or have critical importance to society.

A major contribution to this prejudice occurred under Reagan economic policies which allowed corporations to send labor jobs to other countries with lower production costs and otherwise disassembled the financial security found in guaranteed full retirement, labor representation and other benefits. To this day, Labor makes less versus the Consumer Price Index than it did in 1980.

Back to the first point that national policy should be influenced more directly by the citizenry, it is true that policy influence has been drawn to Washington like gravity draws a rock to the ground. Now under the influence of an entrenched plutocracy, it is money that reflects dignity rather being a voting citizen. Khanna spends much of his book philosophizing about how all the components of society should help shape major policies. Mariner feels philosophy alone will not do the trick.

Under the original Constitution created in 1778-9, the Federal Government had to manage a nation with vast, unknown, empty spaces. The population of the Nation was 38.5 million. Today it is 331 million with fifty local governments. Yet the US Senate retains its original configuration of two senators per state. State governments are allowed to modify Federal elections – a necessary authority before trains and before organized Federal agencies could manage locally.

In 1780 the life expectancy was approximately 50 excluding 15 percent child mortality. Today government leaders live well into their eighties – far beyond the life expectancy of their childhood culture, which is approximately 60 years. Between the blindly rich and the culturally blind, it is no wonder no one knows how to promote dignity.

Mariner feels that before Congressman Khanna can modify policy influence to represent a cultural dignity, shudder, cringe, a Constitutional Convention will have to rewrite an outdated Constitution. If the convention does occur, thank goodness the old Constitution says we are allowed to own and bear arms!

Ancient Mariner