The Individual in a Conflicted Society NEW

Beliefs commonly held by people are the sticky nodes of webs that bind people (and societies) together. They may be doctrinal (like those of the Roman Catholic Church, Southern Baptist Convention or Wahabi Sunni Islam, etc.), or conceptual, like the belief that “all men are created equal”. Beliefs can be the means of identity, to provide entry and participation in a given society. Beliefs can also spur ostracism, rejection, and even death. Is there something besides belief that sustains some people to live affirmatively, even when they have no realistic hope to survive that day or the next? 

Excerpts from two short books will be the basis to discuss the individual in a conflicted society. Some copies of these books may be available in public libraries, but they can be purchased used, through the internet: Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frank, a Nazi concentration camp survivor, and Last Night I Dreamed of Peace, a diary kept by Dang Thuy Tram, a North Vietnamese physician who died during the Vietnam War,

Les Ozawa, retired from the U.S. civil service, worked for the Army and Navy in public affairs in Honolulu, Alaska, Oregon, California and North Carolina. Not a scholar, he likes to read widely, mostly about culture and history.