The Connectedness

Apparently humans aren’t the only ones who know how to multi-task. Ambam, a Western Lowland Gorilla, has recently become famous for walking upright on his hind legs, MSNBC reports. Phil Ridges, a keeper at Britain’s Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, speculates that Ambam may have begun walking on his hind legs when he had his hands full with logs – the gorilla probably discovered that he could both walk and carry items at the same time.

It’s also possible that Ambam wanted a height advantage to peer over the wall and spot when keepers were bringing him food. Lastly, Ridges suggests that by standing upright, Ambam’s hands don’t get wet when it’s raining. Quite good reasons indeed.

Ambam isn’t the first gorilla to walk on his hindlegs. In fact, this unusual upright walking style was also seen in Ambam’s father and sister.

Ambam is part of a group of critically endangered species at the park, which is run by The Aspinall Foundation, a group that also runs gorilla rescue projects in Congo and Gabon.

Click the link below to see the video at Huffington Post. It is amazing!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/27/gorilla-walks-like-human_n_814994.html

Please, let’s be honest now. Baby Boomers such as myself do not want to believe that they are growing old. We have lived through an age when anything seemed possible and nothing could deter us from reaching any goal we set for ourselves. Sure, we were a bit cocky at times, but we were a sharper, more aware generation that never let anyone pull the wool over our enlightened eyes. We didn’t trust anyone over 30 and always questioned authority.

So how is it that now when we were blindsided by the banks and corporations that were running this country, and some of us lost most of our savings, homes and jobs can it be that we are facing age discrimination? Yes, it is true and blatantly so. Even though it is against the law, both private corporations and public government agencies are creating a system whereby knowledge, efficiency and experience no longer count. You must be young, pliable, agreeable until you are not, and most of all have an iphone glued to your ear or fingers 24/7. That is to say that you must have technological know-how even at the expense of conventional wisdom and communication ability.

In the last 10 years I have served on a Board of Directors for a supposed “professional” organization and worked in companies where the young are either enthusiastically willing to take direction and learn from their older co-workers/managers or they act stubbornly entitled to be on top before they can write a coherent sentence or memo and are willing to lie, cheat and steal their way to get you out. It is disheartening and discouraging to constantly be turned down for positions you are more qualified for or never even given a chance at an interview because everyone in the department is under 30. So my new mantra is: Don’t trust anyone under 30 – they are see you as a dinosaur and are passive/agressively taking over your position.

It is also shocking to hear about Planning Commissioners of a large city that create a lie to fire senior employees so they do not have to lay off the newer, younger employees that do not have seniority. Then they wonder why these same employees did not do a good enough job on a particularly thorny project. And there are the managers who will even tell you to your face that they are looking for younger hirees so they can replace the older workers they deem technology unfit. Then they wonder why one of those new employees, with supposedly all the proper credentials, cannot pass probation because their way was the better way so they should not have to listen to the trainer.

What will it take to turn this craziness around? A class action lawsuit against the government agency? Good luck fighting City Hall on this one. I tried and now I am even further black-listed when all the evidence pointed to clear age discrimination. Publicly shaming those individuals that make the comments? Good luck getting anyone to trust you after that. I have actually even tried privately shaming the head of the Human Resources Department for not complying with the law, but never even received a response.

I am now back in school and training for a new certification in the hopes that my supportive managers will create a position for me to be promoted into. I am in a science class with people more than half my age. When I chuckle at the teacher for his subtle humor, the other students look glaringly at me as if I am senile. But now at my age, I cannot care so much what the young and inexperienced think about me. It really doesn’t matter unless they are on the hiring committee. I may not have made it to the top of my last chosen career, but that isn’t for lack of effort and actually being expert in my field. Even Van Gogh didn’t become famous until after he died.

I’ve had a co-worker who is to be one of my trainers openly discourage me from the idea in front of my Supervisor. At least I know that my Supervisor was shocked, as later he told me not to pay attention to their comment. But it hurt and angered me nonetheless to be asked, “Why don’t you just go find a job in the work you were doing before?” As if I hadn’t been trying for over a year now.

So aside from “staying positive”, I would like to know what other boomers are experiencing, hearing, feeling about this issue. I cannot be suffering in a vacuum and there must be a way to stop this madness before we start a new “revolution” – we were very good at that in the 60s, so perhaps we will be even better at it “in our 60s”.

We must acknowledge that there can be no hope of gratifying the senses permanently. At best, the happiness we derive from eating a good meal can only last until the next time we are hungry.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

To admit that species generally become rare before they become extinct – to feel no surprise at the rarity of a species, and yet to marvel greatly when it ceases to exist, is much the same as to admit that sickness in the individual is the forerunner of death – to feel no surprise at sickness, but when the sick man dies, to wonder and to suspect that he died by some unknown deed of violence.

Charles Darwin

Environmental Enforcement: EPA Issues Cleanup Order to Honolulu Landfill Operator · Environmental Management & Energy News · Environmental Leader.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday issued an order to Waste Management, Inc. to take immediate steps to clean up recent releases of waste and contaminated storm water and prevent future releases from the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill on Oahu.

Waste Management, the contractor operating the landfill for the City and County of Honolulu, agreed to comply with the EPA’s order.

On January 12 and 13, heavy rains caused extreme flooding at the landfill. A section of the landfill’s property filled with storm water, causing waste to be released and resulted in beach closures.

According to the EPA, the agency promptly dispatched an emergency responder and engineers to assist the Hawaii Department of Health and the City and County of Honolulu with the response at the landfill. The responders are monitoring ocean water and any water released from the landfill. In addition, the agencies are monitoring the stability of the landfill, and cleaning up waste that reached nearby beaches.

Given my new-found love for our State of Hawaii, I am glad to hear the EPA is cracking down on landfill violations. I know this is a serious issue in Hawaii, where disposing of waste is a tricky business when any mainland is 3000 miles away.

Each day we should do at least one meritorious act. At the very least you can show kindness to an animal.

Ajahn Chah

Waste Management Meets Habitat Goal, Cuts Violations · Environmental Management & Energy News · Environmental Leader.

Waste Management (WM) has met its wildlife habitat goal ten years ahead of schedule, according to the company’s 2010 sustainability report.

The report says that the waste, recycling and bio-energy company has already met its target of receiving Wildlife Habitat Council certification at 100 landfills.

That is up from 24 certifications reported in the company’s 2008 sustainability report, and means that WM has already met its goal for 2020.

This is good news.

In my own experience, the period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one’s life. …Through a difficult period, you can learn, you can develop inner strength, determination, and courage to face the problem. Who gives you this chance? Your enemy.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another.

- Elie Wiesel

One act of pure love in saving life is greater than spending the whole of ones time in religious offerings to the gods.

- Dhammapada