Happy Father's Day

There is a big difference between paternity and fatherhood. There is a big difference between someone who is a sperm-donor and the man who raises a child. One is defined by a moment of pleasure, the other is fulfilled by years of effort. One is a dime a dozen, the other is priceless.

On Father's Day we honor those who help raise our children. The family unit is a very interesting and complex thing. Certainly motherhood is the prime institution that carries procreation through with the birthing process (where I come in). But the reproductive process doesn't stop there. Crucial in reproduction is the raising of a successful human being. The development of a human being is a continuum from conception to death, of which birth is that semantic dividing line between what we call fetus and what we call child. We all continue developing, and parents, after birth, serve as the umbilical cord to the world a child grows in.

In my practice of obstetrics and gynecology, I see young girls have a happy and successful adolescence, but I also see some who make disastrous mistakes. Usually these are of a sexual nature. I am not an anthropologist or sociologist, but it seems to me that the young girl who becomes sexually active too early is the one who doesn't have a meaningful father image in her life. It's as if this biological unit is seeking the other half of parentage in some sort of way. Familiarity breeds contempt, and when the mother must play both mom and dad, there's a distortion that the daughter resents. This represents a tough time in mother-daughter relationships, and if reason and intelligence prevail, they get through it to become friends later on. But the bumpy road is painful for both mother and daughter while it lasts, and sometimes there is not a happy ending.

There is a deeper, intangible value to a father besides provider. As the ratio of fatherless families tilts heavy compared to two-parent families, we see more and more shocking examples of youth rage, now spilling into gun play and other senseless violence. True, maladaptive behavior is multifaceted, impacted by poverty, abuse, and lack of guidance; but aren't those things that a father can complement a mother's care to avoid. There are some jobs that are too big for the one of them. Like full parenting. So on Father's Day we should salute the fathers who raise their children after helping make them. We should salute the fatherhood in those mothers who don't have a husband to help. And most of all, we should salute those children, who in spite of getting ripped off at birth by a father's absence, rise above it all to do well.

Happy Belated Father's Day

This article was supposed to appear in our local paper on Father's Day, 1999. I figured to have it written the day before I was to take my entire family to Hawaii. I had blocked off the day before to pack, make all of my phone calls, and tidy up all of my bills, dictations, and of course this. The only medical duties were to make rounds at the hospital. Seeing my patients, I explained to them again how I'd be leaving town and turning their care over to my partner. That's when the phone call came from my wife, who told me that the plane we were to take the next morning;the one that had required over a year's advance reservations;had just left.

I could have sworn the tickets had been dated for the next day.

All of the loose ends suddenly became unimportant as I dropped everything to call the single most important person in the world. My travel agent, after pausing with her hand over the phone for a moment, told me that there was another plane leaving in ninety minutes from Baton Rouge, and if we could pack in ten minutes and plead our case, we might be able to fly stand-by via Dallas and Los Angeles to Honolulu.

What was a father to do? Certainly not worry. That was a Mother's job.

"What's the big deal?" I asked her. "Just throw a bunch of stuff in the suitcases and let's roll."

"Riiiiiight..." she said, mimicking Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movie.

On the road after said impossible feat, we drove madly in silence, remembering that scene in "Home Alone." We both snapped our heads around to take a quick count of children. Yes, we had remembered to turn off the lights, to turn the AC up, close the garage door, take the airline tickets;and yes, we had remembered to bring all of the children.

When my wife and I were expecting our first baby in 1982, I asked her obstetrician if I could come into the exam room to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time. Even though I myself was an obstetrician, he minded!

"You're an OBGYN and you want to hear this?" he asked, finding my need to hear what I had heard a million times ridiculous. And although it was true I had heard countless unborn beating hearts, this was in fact my own child. If I were a race car driver and my son or daughter were to follow into my footsteps, I would be sure to be there for that first race. Of course, this was back in, when a father's pacing in the labor and delivery waiting room was not yet a distant memory. We switched doctors anyway.

Recently my family and I suffered the loss of both my father and my brother-in-law. One was an old man, the other a young one. One death made me sad, the other made me feel ripped off. One was going to happen;I knew at some time in the foreseeable future, the other I still can't believe has happened. Last month my daughter and niece;my father's granddaughter and my brother-in-law's daughter;danced together at the ballet recital so beautifully, and I couldn't help but look at them through their father's and grandfather's eyes. We live on in our children and I saw these two fine men in each arabesque and pirouette. Fatherhood is really looking at one's children, wife, and family, and seeing in them yourself and your father and his father.

Fatherhood is going to each piano recital, ballet, and soccer match, video in hand while trying to shush the other ones soon to follow in their older siblings' footsteps. Fatherhood is turning on the hot shower at three in the morning for the croupy cough. Fatherhood is putting oneself third, then fourth, and then finally jockeying for position with the family dog. Fatherhood is shelling out that ridiculous amount for the "retired" beanie baby or that good school. Fatherhood is sleeping in the same bed with the expectant mother, knowing about every little ache and pain and taking part in the birthing process, even if cutting the cord seems hokey to some. Fatherhood is going with the family on vacation, even if it means fighting the strangers in 28D and 28F for an armrest for seven hours in a seat that doesn't recline because the exit row is the only space left on the standby list.

Fatherhood is being there for the family and the family-to-be, because that's what parenthood is all about.

In ancient times there was a great reverence for the hearth, the fireplace of the home, because this is where all the family gathered around. The hearth was the symbol of the home. I was able to spend my Father's Day in Hawaii with my wife and all of my children after all. If home is the house where the family is, then I spent Father's Day at home, even though it was a time-share condo with no fireplace at all.

Affection between a man and woman is special, because the baby that results makes them a family. If the doctor-patient relationship is special in obstetrics, then the doctor-couple relationship is all the more, because the family is the highest form of human affection and devotion.

WHAT OUR SOCIETY NEEDS MOST

The first object of our Society is the formation of a nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood. This is a practical object and at the same time a fact in nature. It has been long regarded by the greater number of men as an Utopian ideal, one that might be held up, talked about, desired, but impossible of attainment. And it was no wonder that people so regarded it, because the ordinary religious view of God, nature, and man placed everything on a selfish basis, offered personal distinction in heaven to the saints who might die in the odor of sanctity, and thus made impossible the realization of this beautiful dream. But when the Theosophical philosophy shows that there is a unity among beings not only in their better natures but also on the physical plane, our first object becomes most practical. For if all men are brothers in fact, that is, joined one to another by a tie which no one can break, then the formation of the nucleus for the future brotherhood is something that has to do with all the affairs of man, affects civilizations, and leads to the physical as well as moral betterment of each member of the great family. This first object means philanthropy. Each Theosophist should therefore not only continue his private or public acts of charity, but also strive to so understand Theosophical philosophy as to be able to expound it in a practical and easily understood manner, so that he may be a wider philanthropist by ministering to the needs of the inner man. This inner man is a thinking being who feeds upon a right or wrong philosophy. If he is given one which is wrong, then, becoming warped and diseased, he leads his instrument, the outer man, into bewilderment and sorrow. Now as Theosophical theories were and are still quite strange, fascinating, and peculiar when contrasted with the usual doctrines of men and things, very many members have occupied themselves with much metaphysical speculation or with diving into the occult and the wonderful, forgetting that the higher philanthropy calls for a spreading among men of a right basis for ethics, for thought, for action. So we often find Theosophists among themselves debating complicated doctrines that have no present application to practical life, and at the same time other members and some enquirers breathing a sigh of relief when anyone directs the inquiries into such a channel as shall cause all the doctrines to be extended to daily life and there applied. What we most need is such a Theosophical education as will give us the ability to expound Theosophy in a way to be understood by the ordinary person. This practical, clear exposition is entirely possible. That it is of the highest importance there can be no doubt whatever. It relates to and affects ethics, every day life, every thought, and consequently every act. The most learned, astute, and successful church, the Roman Catholic, proceeds on this basis. Should we refrain from a good practise because a bigot takes the same method? The priests of Rome do not explain, nor attempt to explain or expound, the highly metaphysical and obscure, though important, basis of their various doctrines. They touch the people in their daily life, a knowledge of their own system in all its details enabling them to put deep doctrine into every man's language, although the learning of the preacher may be temporarily concealed. With them the appeal is to fear; with us it is to reason and experience. So we have a natural advantage which ought not to be overlooked. High scholarship and a knowledge of metaphysics are good things to have, but the mass of the people are neither scholars nor metaphysicians. If our doctrines are of any such use as to command the efforts of sages in helping on to their promulgation, then it must be that those sages - our Masters - desire the doctrines to be placed before as many of the mass as we can reach. This our Theosophical scholars and metaphysicians can do by a little effort. It is indeed a little difficult, because slightly disagreeable, for a member who is naturally metaphysical to come down to the ordinary level of human minds in general, but it can be done. And when one does do this, the reward is great from the evident relief and satisfaction of the enquirer. It is pre-eminently our duty to be thus practical in exposition as often as possible. Intellectual study only of our Theosophy will not speedily better the world. It must, of course, have effect through immortal ideas once more set in motion, but while we are waiting for those ideas to bear fruit among men a revolution may break out and sweep us away. We should do as Buddha taught his disciples, preach, practise, promulgate, and illustrate our doctrines. He spoke to the meanest of men with effect, although having a deeper doctrine for greater and more learned minds. Let us, then, acquire the art of practical exposition of ethics based on our theories and enforced by the fact of Universal Brotherhood.

Poetry and Fiction - When Gandhi became God

Strengthening Elected Women Leaders in India

Empowering Women's Leadership

Effective bottom-up strategies for ending hunger and poverty combine three factors: mobilizing people at the grassroots level to build self-reliance, empowering women as key change agents and forging effective partnerships with local government. In India, these come together in our Panchayati Raj Campaign.

Panchayati raj refers to India's local democracy, based on elected local councils known aspanchayats. The 73rd amendment to India's constitution, passed in 1993, mandates local elections every five years and reserves one-third of all seats for women.

Beginning in 2000, The Hunger Project seized this historic opportunity. Our Panchayati Raj Campaign is a multi-pronged strategy that has, to date, empowered 71,000 elected women representatives to be effective change agents for the end of hunger in their villages. In each year of a woman leader's term, we implement specific interventions to empower her to succeed.

When women, who have traditionally been denied a voice in decision-making, come to power, they transform the development agenda toward the human component - focusing on health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation and better family income. They tackle long-ignored problems such as domestic violence, alcoholism and corruption.

Year 1 - Stepping Forth As Leaders

In the first year after election, women participate in a three-day Women's Leadership Workshop that (a) awakens women to their selfhood and human rights, (b) educates them about their powers and responsibilities as panchayat leaders, (c) builds their capacity to create a vision and plan actions to achieve it, and (d) links them with government and other resource people in their area. This is reinforced three months later in a follow-up workshop and through needs-based workshops that women request to strengthen their skills in communication, finances, and knowledge of laws and government programs.

Women leaders are trained to organize the women of their villages into self-help groups (SHGs) for mutual support and economic activity. SHGs become a constituency to stand with the elected leader for women's priorities. The SHGs are mobilized to attend mandatory open meetings known as gram sabhas, where they can hold panchayats to account. They are empowered to meet beforehand to prepare a clear list of priorities.

Year 2 - Leadership for Development

In year two, we work with panchayats to create bottom-up plans (or "microplans") for villages to meet basic needs. These plans are not a wish list; bottom-up planning means assessing available resources and creating strategies for actions that people can take themselves. When resources from local government are required, such as for improving schools or health clinics, planning includes establishing good partnerships with local officials.

During year two, there are additional capacity-building workshops for elected women leaders, particularly about government programs. We take additional action to mobilize women to participate in the gram sabhas, in which panchayat plans and budgets must be approved.

Year 3 - Creating Federations for a Greater Voice

As villages take action, they inevitably run up against bureaucratic obstacles. The best way to overcome these obstacles - and to sustain villages' process of empowerment on their own - is to form federations of elected women representatives. These are formed at the block (100+ villages), district and state levels. Block-level federations are able to provide regular monthly forums for mutual support, and state federations are able to rally massive numbers of elected women annually to demand change at the policy level.

Year 4 - Changing Policies/Delivering Results

By year four, with plans and federations in place, The Hunger Project focuses on ensuring that panchayats have successfully implemented their plans and that lives have truly improved on a sustainable basis. In addition, where leaders have run up against major legal obstacles, this is a year when women are powerful enough to demand policy changes and sometimes even engage in public-interest litigation. For example, in Bihar in 2004, The Hunger Project mobilized 2,000 women to protest the failure of the state government to implement key provisions of the 73rd amendment, and then followed up with successful litigation for change.

Year 5 - Increasing Women's Participation in Elections

In the run-up to elections, The Hunger Project carries out massive campaigns to encourage the participation of women both as independently minded voters and as candidates. As the reserved seats rotate to different areas each term, new women are encouraged to step forward to run for those seats. In addition, women who have already served are encouraged to stand for reelection against men in unreserved seats.

Implementation via Partnership

India is enormously diverse - with 16 official languages and hundreds of dialects. In addition, since the Freedom Movement days of Mahatma Gandhi, India has been blessed with the existence of more than 35,000 local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with highly committed leadership.

To implement the Panchayati Raj Campaign, The Hunger Project has formed partnerships with 55 of the best of these local NGOs across 14 states of India. Hunger Project state and national staff have trained more than 800 staff trainers of these organizations to lead the Women's Leadership Workshop and provide ongoing empowerment to women leaders. These organizations make up a national alliance that advocates for change at the state and national levels.

Empowering Women as Key Change Agents

Women bear almost all responsibility for meeting basic needs of the family, yet are systematically denied the resources, information and freedom of action they need to fulfill this responsibility.

The vast majority of the world's poor are women. Two-thirds of the world's illiterates are female. Of the millions of school age children not in school, the majority are girls. And today, HIV/AIDS is rapidly becoming a woman's disease. In several southern African countries, more than three-quarters of all young people living with HIV are women.

The current world food price crisis is having a severe impact on women. Around the world, millions of people eat two or three times a day, but a significant percentage of women eat only once. And, now, many women are denying themselves even that one meal to ensure that their children are fed. These women are already suffering the effects of even more severe malnutrition, which inevitably will be their children's fate as well. The impact of this crisis will be with us for many years.

Studies show that when women are supported and empowered, all of society benefits.Their families are healthier, more children go to school, agricultural productivity improves and incomes increase. In short, communities become more resilient.

The Hunger Project firmly believes that empowering women to be key change agents is an essential element to achieving the end of hunger and poverty. Wherever we work, our programs aim to support women and build their capacity.

The results of these programs include:

• By providing women food farmers easy access to credit, adequate training and instilling in them the importance of saving, THP's Microfinance Program enables women to engage in income-generating activities to increase their incomes and invest in their families and communities.
• More than 840,000 people have taken the HIV/AIDS and Gender Inequality Workshop, in which they not only learn the facts of AIDS, but also confront and transform the gender-based behaviors that fuel the pandemic.
• In India, our Women's Leadership Workshop has empowered 71,000 women elected to local councils to be effective change agents in their villages. They are forming district- and state-wide federations to ensure that their voices are heard at top levels of government.
• In Bangladesh, we catalyzed the formation of a 300-organization alliance that organizes more than 800 events across the country each September in honor of National Girl Child Day, a day to focus on eradicating all forms of discrimination against girl children.

Empowering Women as Key Change Agents

Bhopal Gas tragedy panel reconstituted

IN THE wake of the growing storm over the Bhopal gas verdict, which has failed to do any justice to the victims of the tragedy, the UPA government has decided to reconstitute an empowered group of ministers.

IN THE wake of the growing storm over the Bhopal gas verdict, which has failed to do any justice to the victims of the tragedy, the UPA government has decided to reconstitute an empowered group of ministers, which will look into the entire matter and suggest remedial measures to help the sufferrers.

Home Minister P Chidambaram will head the high powered panel, which also includes, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy, Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath, Housing Minister Kumari Selja and Fertiliser Minister M.K. Azhagiri.

An official of the Prime Minister's office said that this group will look into the entire matter and study all the issues related to Bhopal Gas accident. It will also make recommendations for the rehabilitation of the victims and their families.

It is pertinent to mention that there emerged a worldwide outrage after a judicial court in Bhopal held seven Union Carbide officials guilty of mere negligence, a charge that carries a maximum 2-year imprisonment.