stark REALITY check

On the eve of America’s celebration of Independence, @LindaAWI emailed a copy of a blog she wrote as a tribute to Neda and to Freedom.

TRIBUTE TO NEDA

Linda S. Fitzgerald   Blog Post – Thursday, June 25, 2009    Affiliated Women Intl

The Connection Station

…   Last Saturday sometime, somewhere on a street in Tehran (Iran), Neda – a young graduate philosophy student – was with her professor and a group of fellow students. As the story goes, she stepped behind the group to talk on her cell phone.

Suddenly a shot rang out from a man riding by on a cycle. The bullet struck Neda in the heart.

The rest is now “history”.

History because a young person near by shot video of Neda falling to the ground; her dazed classmates gathering about her; a doctor standing near by rushing to her aid. As he gave CPR, blood rushed from her nose and mouth, covered her face and rolled to the ground. All clearly visible on someone’s sophisticated cell phone video recorder. The video distinctly showed her eyes move to the side and the glaze of death overcome them!

27 year old Neda was dead.

She has become a rallying cry for oppressed people who dearly want their freedom! It began as a spontaneous response to an obviously “fixed” national election; but has become about people enjoying the Papa-given right to a life of dignity and democracy that has, since at least 1979, been denied them.

….  Neda could be anyone of us. Any of our daughters or granddaughters. She could be the neighbor’s child next door or the fiancee of our young son. And just because it happened half a world away in a strange land that knows not the slightest hint of human decency, does not make it any less repugnant or acceptable.

At least I would hope not!

So what do we do except feel sorry for all the Neda’s in Iran – or anywhere in the Middle East for that much (just take a look at Saudi Arabia’s approach to women for a real ‘eye-opener’)? What can we do? Is there anything we can do except lament that such attitudes still darken the world. . . anywhere in the world?

….  The greatest tribute we can make to Neda is to never forget the sacrifice she made. We can honor her memory by taking up the cause for women’s right to respect and dignity at home and abroad. We can determine that we will add our voices to the multitude of voices supporting women who long to be free. We can find ways to offer the women of Iran our support, our prayers, our comfort and anything else we can realistically give them.

…   Let us pay tribute to the memory of this brave and beautiful young woman and pray her sacrifice will not be in vain!

Much love in your day!

Linda, a fellow journeyer

Ahmadinejad, the current president of Iran, condemned the US, Great Britain, Australia and a number of other western countries for meddling. “Definitely…you will not be placed in the circle of friendship with the Iranian nation”- Ahmadinejad said to the US. But the governments aren’t meddling, it’s the international twitter community. Smoosier Alice A. Jackson lamented that, “..as free Americans, we can only watch and cringe at the violence.” I disagree, Alice. We can do so much more with very little effort. The list below contains things that we can do to show our support:

1. Send positive energy to those Iranians who are fighting for the right to be heard and pray for the families who have lost loved ones to violence.

2. Wear something green -the color of choice for the opposition against the repressive Iranian regime.

3. Change all your social media avatars to green (@owhimsical is a tweeter from China) :

4. Tweet advice or words of encouragement with the hashtag “#IranElection” to the protesters who are putting their lives on the line such as: (actual Tweets)
from: @Tymlee Iran Gov will respond with electric power cuts -prepare & have gas cylinders at home or gasoline for light/cooking #IranElection

from: @Beomoose “Acid” is tear gas w/ water. Treat w/ solution of 5% baking soda, 95% cold water. Carry spray bottle. #iranelection #gr88

from: @sadenshi Do not take advice on action from NEW people on Twitter. Many are govt agents trying to trap. Lives are at stake. #Iranelection

from: @ardentvox Watching the #iranelection tweets. Never before have we seen technology combine with purpose to create this much unity.

From: @_lindley Many governments worry about guns in their people’s hands, Iran fears computers in theirs! #IranElection #NetRevolution

5. Check out the #IranElection social media aggregator site created by #Indiana’s own Dr. Thomas Ho.

6. Change your social media settings to mess with the Iranian Government:
“Help cover the bloggers: change your twitter settings so that your location is TEHRAN and your time zone is GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location and timezone searches. If we all become ‘Iranians’ it becomes much harder to find them.” (There are seven other tips in BoingBoings “Cyberwar guide to #IranElections” )

7. Find a newspaper article to add to the tweet stream such as “Neda, young girl brutally killed in Iran, becoming symbol of rebellion.” (don’t forget the hashtag #IranElections).

8. Look through Picfog and select an image to retweet- a picture paints a thousand words. (all political cartoons retrieved from picfog)

I found this from @MarkIsMusing on twitter. Thanks Mark!

While doing research early in 2007 I discovered an outstanding website where the best and brightest shared ideas, innovations and inspirations. This brilliant site offered Talks-short videos-for free on topics ranging from Architecture to Zoology. I’ve been hooked ever since and now each morning, as I prepare myself to face the day, I watch a TED Talk rather than The Today Show. I’ve seen over 300 Talks (a modest estimation) – everything from the One Laptop Per Child initiative, to the Large Hadron Collider, to the comedic stylings of Rives at 4:00am and the list goes on and on.

Pat Coyle and I met last year at Hubbard and Cravens and while I enjoyed a cup of joe, Pat shared with me his initial vision and long term goals for Smaller Indiana. At that meeting I learned Pat was a fan of TED also, and that he hoped Smaller Indiana could be a TED-like repository where, “… Indiana’s most creative and inspired souls…[work] together to build community, culture and commerce.”

When I read Jeff Jerkington’s Blog “Top 10 Reasons Why I am NOT attending the Bigger Ideas Conference,” I felt compelled to share my unique perspective as a lover of all things TED, and a Smaller Indiana early adapter. In keeping with the list meme -which seems to be running rampant on Smaller Indiana – I will outline the Top 10 reasons why I AM attending the Bigger Ideas Conference on June 24th:

1. This is the ONLY opportunity to attend the Inaugural Smaller Indiana Bigger Ideas Conference, all subsequent events will be labeled the 2nd annual, 3rd, 4th, etc… In 25 years when the conference is celebrating its silver anniversary, I will be able to proudly say, “I attended the first one.”

2. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with early technology adopters who want to change the world? #Indiana geeks rock!

3. I’ll be able to say, “global grassroots communication at the speed of light” out loud and no one will react with glassy-eyed blank stares.

4. I’ll get at least five hugs from people I care about.

5. I hope to catch a glimpse of Eric Deckers in his leprechaun outfit.

6. I’ll be able to close my eyes during one of the inspirational talks and pretend TED is nearby.

7. I’ll have a chance to introduce my new nickname for Indianapolis => “The Crossroads of the Information Superhighway.” (Did anyone invite my man, Mitch?)

8. It will be an opportunity to show off my new purse which is now big enough to carry my twitter soapbox. On the 24th if you ask me anything about twitter be prepared for me to whip it out.

9. I’ll get to hang with Pat Coyle, who was the very FIRST tweeter I followed in April 2008. < @Sports20 >

10. I’ll also get to hang with Doug Karr who was number two … er, um … the SECOND tweeter I followed. < @DouglasKarr >

Idea (Pat) + Technology (Doug) = Smaller Indiana

Smaller Indiana + Bigger Ideas Conference = an opportunity to learn and add your voice to #Indiana’s best and brightest as we work together to build our future.

In the 1940s Winston Churchill said, “A lie can get half-way around the world before the truth even has a chance to get its pants on.”

Today a lie can touch 3 Billion people at the speed of light. Please forgive my slip into the colloquial but this is a game changer.