Resilience

In a capitalistic society such as ours, the answer is pretty easy. Money. We tend to reward those who make it with more money and tend to penalize those who don’t with less money. And the rewards and punishments tend to come fairly quickly. Unprofitable stocks get sold and often, but not always, CEOs of [...]

A few days ago, I found an obituary that had been given to me by one of the Maine Resilience coaches, Tony Strodel. The obituary had been given to Tony by a friend of his and was the obituary of the friend’s brother. The obituary began by saying that Donald Wallace had been told throughout [...]

It appears now that many of those who knew the psychiatrist who is accused of committing the atrocity at Ft. Hood realized that he was having difficulty meeting the demands of his position . Those who were aware that something was not right included his supervisors, colleagues, and friends. But no one intervened. Sadly, the [...]

We need to value and reassert these skills and attitudes from the past and the present, but most importantly, we need to practice them. Research in the social sciences and our own experience tells us that: 1. Connecting with others is better than isolating ourselves. 2. Flexibility works better in most situations than rigidity. 3. [...]

Duct Tape Isn’t Enough does not focus on blaming the bad guys for our problems or finding the right good guy to act as our savior. There are no messianic good guys or demonic bad guys in the book. Many of those who survive the tragedies of 911 and Katrina, and who will be able [...]

Our nation survived 911. The dead were remembered. Iraq was attacked and Wall Street in time went back to business and usual. Yet, little was done to prepare the public for dealing with the aftermath of another financial collapse or another terrorist attack on American soil. Duct Tape Isn’t Enough is not focused on preventing [...]

Yesterday was the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I of course recognized the date, and knew it was coming around again. What I was not prepared for was 6 years later the day still would have profound emotional attachment for me. When I left home early yesterday morning I’d quickly wondered what holiday it was [...]

I’ve been thinking a lot about resilience lately. I’m involved with a project whose goal is to build the resilience of the citizens of my state, the great state of Maine. Now that’s not to say that Mainers aren’t a resilient lot; they’re probably more resilient than most of the folks in this country. Ever [...]