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The Free Library > Literature > Wilkie Collins > No Name > Chapter X
ON returning to Sea View, Noel Vanstone executed the instructions which prescribed his line of conduct for the first of the five days with unimpeachable accuracy. A faint smile of contempt hovered about Mrs. Lecount's lips while the story of Mr. Bygrave's attempt to pass off his spurious pictures as originals was in progress, but she did not trouble herself to utter a single word of remark when it had come to an end. "Just what I said!" thought Noel Vanstone, cunningly watching her face; "she doesn't believe a word of it!"
The next day the meeting occurred on the Parade. Mr. Bygrave took off his hat, and Noel Vanstone looked the other way. The captain's start of surprise and scowl of indignation were executed to perfection, but they plainly failed to impose on Mrs. Lecount. "I am afraid, sir, you have offended Mr. Bygrave to-day," she ironically remarked. "Happily for you, he is an excellent Christian! and I venture to predict that he will forgive you to-morrow."
Noel Vanstone wisely refrained from committing himself to an answer. Once more he privately applauded his own penetration; once more he triumphed over his ingenious friend.
Thus far the captain's instructions had been too clear and simple to be mistaken by any one. But they advanced in complication with the advance of time, and on the third day Noel Vanstone fell confusedly into the commission of a slight error. After expressing the necessary weariness of Aldborough, and the consequent anxiety for change of scene, he was met (as he had anticipated) by an immediate suggestion from the housekeeper, recommending a visit to St. Crux. In giving his answer to the advice thus tendered, he made his first mistake. Instead of deferring his decision until the next day, he accepted Mrs. Lecount's suggestion on the day when it was offered to him.
The consequences of this error were of no great importance. The housekeeper merely set herself to watch her master one day earlier than had been calculated on -- a result which had been already provided for by the wise precautionary measure of forbidding Noel Vanstone all communication with North Shingles. Doubting, as Captain Wragge had foreseen, the sincerity of her master's desire to break off his connection with the Bygraves by going to St. Crux, Mrs. Lecount tested the truth or falsehood of the impression produced on her own mind by vigilantly watching for sign s of secret communication on one side or on the other. The close attention with which she had hit herto observed the out-goings and in-comings at North Shingles was now entirely transferred to her master. For the rest of that third day she never let him out of her sight; she never allowed any third person who came to the house, on any pretense whatever, a minute's chance of private communication with him. At intervals through the night she stole to the door of his room, to listen and assure herself that he was in bed; and before sunrise the next morning, the coast-guardsman going his rounds was surprised to see a lady who had risen as early as himself engaged over her work at one of the upper windows of Sea View.
On the fourth morning Noel Vanstone came down to breakfast conscious of the mistake that he had committed on the previous day. The obvious course to take, for the purpose of gaining time, was to declare that his mind was still undecided. He made the assertion boldly when the housekeeper asked him if he meant to move that day. Again Mrs. Lecount offered no remark, and again the signs and tokens of incredulity showed themselves in her face. Vacillation of purpose was not at all unusual in her experience of her master. But on this occasion she believed that his caprice of conduct was assumed for the purpose of gaining time to communicate with North Shingles, and she accordingly set her watch on him once more with doubled and trebled vigilance.
No letters came that morning. Toward noon the weather changed for the worse, and all idea of walking out as usual was abandoned. Hour after hour, while her master sat in one of the parlors, Mrs. Lecount kept watch in the other, with the door into the passage open, and with a full view of North Shingles through the convenient side-window at which she had established herself. Not a sign that was suspicious appeared, not a sound that was suspicious caught her ear. As the evening closed in, her master's hesitation came to an end. He was disgusted with the weather; he hated the place; he foresaw the annoyance of more meetings with Mr. Bygrave, and he was determined to go to St. Crux the first thing the next morning. Lecount could stay behind to pack up the curiosities and settle with the trades-people, and could follow him to the admiral's on the next day. The housekeeper was a little staggered by the tone and manner in which he gave these orders. He had, to her own certain knowledge, effected no communication of any sort with North Shingles, and yet he seemed determined to leave Aldborough at the earliest possible opportunity. For the first time she hesitated in her adherence to her own conclusions. She remembered that her master had complained of the Bygraves before they returned to Aldborough; and she was conscious that her own incredulity had once already misled her when the appearance of the traveling-carriage at the door had proved even Mr. Bygrave himself to be as good as his word.
Still Mrs. Lecount determined to act with unrelenting caution to the last. That night, when the doors were closed, she privately removed the keys from the door in front and the door at the back. She then softly opened her bedroom window and sat down by it, with her bonnet and cloak on, to prevent her taking cold. Noel Vanstone's window was on the same side of the house as her own. If any one came in the dark to speak to him from the garden beneath, they would speak to his housekeeper as well. Prepared at all points to intercept every form of clandestine communication which stratagem could invent, Mrs. Lecount watched through the quiet night. When morning came, she stole downstairs before the servant was up, restored the keys to their places, and re-occupied her position in the parlor until Noel Vanstone made his appearance at the breakfast-table. Had he altered his mind? No. He declined posting to the railway on account of the expense, but he was as firm as ever in his resolution to go to St. Crux. He desired that an inside place might be secured for him in the early coach. Suspicious to the last, Mrs. Lecount sent the baker's man to take the place. He was a public servant, and Mr. Bygrave would not suspect him of performing a private errand.
The coach called at Sea View. Mrs. Lecount saw her master established in his place, and ascertained that the other three inside seats were already occupied by strangers. She inquired of the coachman if the outside places (all of which were not yet filled up) had their full complement of passengers also. The man replied in the affirmative. He had two gentlemen to call for in the town, and the others would take their places at the inn. Mrs. Lecount forthwith turned her steps toward the inn, and took up her position on the Parade opposite from a point of view which would enable her to see the last of the coach on its departure. In ten minutes more it rattled away, full outside and in; and the housekeeper's own eyes assured her that neither Mr. Bygrave himself, nor any one belonging to North Shingles, was among the passengers.
There was only one more precaution to take, and Mrs. Lecount did not neglect it. Mr. Bygrave had doubtless seen the coach call at Sea View. He might hire a carriage and follow it to the railway on pure speculation. Mrs. Lecount remained within view of the inn
(the only place at which a carriage could be obtained) for nearly an hour longer, waiting for events. Nothing happened; no carriage made its appearance; no pursuit of Noel Vanstone was now within the range of human possibility. The long strain on Mrs. Lecount's mind relaxed at last. She left her seat on the Parade, and returned in higher spirits than usual, to perform the closing household ceremonies at Sea View.
She sat down alone in the parlor and drew a long breath of relief. Captain Wragge's calculations had not deceived him. The evidence of her own senses had at last conquered the housekeeper's incredulity, and had literally forced her into the opposite extreme of belief.
Estimating the events of the last three days from her own experience of them; knowing (as she certainly knew) that the first idea of going to St. Crux had been started by herself, and that her master had found no opportunity and shown no inclination to inform the family at North Shingles that he had accepted her proposal, Mrs. Lecount was fairly compelled to acknowledge that not a fragment of foundation remained to justify the continued suspicion of treachery in her own mind. Looking at the succession of circumstances under the new light thrown on them by results, she could see nothing unaccountable, nothing contradictory anywhere. The attempt to pass off the forged pictures as originals was in perfect harmony with the character of such a man as Mr. Bygrave. Her master's indignation at the attempt to impose on him; his plainly-expressed suspicion that Miss Bygrave was privy to it; his disappointment in the niece; his contemptuous treatment of the uncle on the Parade; his weariness of the place which had been the scene of his rash intimacy with strangers, and his readiness to quit it that morning, all commended themselves as genuine realities to the housekeeper's mind, for one sufficient reason. Her own eyes had seen Noel Vanstone take his departure from Aldborough without leaving, or attempting to leave, a single trace behind him for the Bygraves to follow.
Thus far the housekeeper's conclusions led her, but no further. She was too shrewd a woman to trust the future to chance and fortune. Her master's variable temper might relent. Accident might at any time give Mr. Bygrave an opportunity of repairing the error that he had committed, and of artfully regaining his lost place in Noel Vanstone's estimation. Admitting that circumstances had at last declared themselves unmistakably in her favor, Mrs. Lecount was not the less convinced that nothing would permanently assure her master's security for the future but the plain exposure of the conspiracy which she had striven to accomplish from the first -- which she was resolved to accomplish still.
"I always enjoy myself at St. Crux," thought Mrs. Lecount, opening her account-bo oks, and sorting the tradesmen's bills. "The admiral is a gentleman, the house is noble, the tab le is excellent. No matter! Here at Sea View I stay by myself till I have seen the inside of Miss Bygrave's wardrobe."
She packed her master's collection of curiosities in their various cases, settled the claims of the trades-people, and superintended the covering of the furniture in the course of the day. Toward nightfall she went out, bent on investigation, and ventured into the garden at North Shingles under cover of the darkness. She saw the light in the parlor window, and the lights in the windows of the rooms upstairs, as usual. After an instant's hesitation she stole to the house door, and noiselessly tried the handle from the outside. It turned the lock as she had expected, from her experience of houses at Aldborough and at other watering-places, but the door resisted her; the door was distrustfully bolted on the inside. After making that discovery, she went round to the back of the house, and ascertained that the door on that side was secured in the same manner. "Bolt your doors, Mr. Bygrave, as fast as you like," said the housekeeper, stealing back again to the Parade. "You can't bolt the entrance to your servant's pocket. The best lock you have may be opened by a golden key."
She went back to bed. The ceaseless watching, the unrelaxing excitement of the last two days, had worn her out.
The next morning she rose at seven o'clock. In half an hour more she saw the punctual Mr. Bygrave -- as she had seen him on many previous mornings at the same time -- issue from the gate of North Shingles, with his towels under his arm, and make his way to a boat that was waiting for him on the beach. Swimming was one among the many personal accomplishments of which the captain was master. He was rowed out to sea every morning, and took his bath luxuriously in the deep blue water. Mrs. Lecount had already computed the time consumed in this recreation by her watch, and had discovered that a full hour usually elapsed from the moment when he embarked on the beach to the moment when he returned.
During that period she had never seen any other inhabitant of North Shingles leave the house. The servant was no doubt at her work in the kitchen; Mrs. Bygrave was probably still in her bed; and Miss Bygrave (if she was up at that early hour) had perhaps received directions not to venture out in her uncle's absence. The difficulty of meeting the obstacle of Magdalen's presence in the house had been, for some days past, the one difficulty which all Mrs. Lecount's ingenuity had thus far proved unable to overcome.
She sat at the window for a quarter of an hour after the captain's boat had left the beach with her mind hard at work, and her eyes fixed mechanically on North Shingles -- she sat considering what written excuse she could send to her master for delaying her departure from Aldborough for some days to come -- when the door of the house she was watching suddenly opened, and Magdalen herself appeared in the garden. There was no mistaking her figure and her dress. She took a few steps hastily toward the gate, stopped and pulled down the veil of her garden hat as if she felt the clear morning light too much for her, then hurried out on the Parade and walked away northward, in such haste, or in such pre-occupation of mind, that she went through the garden gate without closing it after her.
Mrs. Lecount started up from her chair with a moment's doubt of the evidence of her own eyes. Had the opportunity which she had been vainly plotting to produce actually offered itself to her of its own accord? Had the chances declared themselves at last in her favor, after steadily acting against her for so long? There was no doubt of it: in the popular phrase, "her luck had turned." She snatched up her bonnet and mantilla, and made for North Shingles without an instant's hesitation. Mr. Bygrave out at sea; Miss Bygrave away for a walk; Mrs. Bygrave and the servant both at home, and both easily dealt with -- the opportunity was not to be lost; the risk was well worth running!
This time the house door was easily opened: no one had bolted it again after Magdalen's departure. Mrs. Lecount closed the door softly, listened for a moment in the passage, and heard the servant noisily occupied in the kitchen with her pots and pans. "If my lucky star leads me straight into Miss Bygrave's room," thought the housekeeper, stealing noiselessly up the stairs, "I may find my way to her wardrobe without disturbing anybody."
She tried the door nearest to the front of the house on the right-hand side of the landing. Capricious chance had deserted her already. The lock was turned. She tried the door opposite, on her left hand. The boots ranged symmetrically in a row, and the razors on the dressing-table, told her at once that she had not found the right room yet. She returned to the right-hand side of the landing, walked down a little passage leading to the back of the house, and tried a third door. The door opened, and the two opposite extremes of female humanity, Mrs. Wragge and Mrs. Lecount, stood face to face in an instant!
"I beg ten thousand pardons!" said Mrs. Lecount, with the most consummate self-possession.
"Lord bless us and save us!" cried Mrs. Wragge, with the most helpless amazement.
The two exclamations were uttered in a moment, and in that moment Mrs. Lecount took the measure of her victim. Nothing of the least importance escaped her. She noticed the Oriental Cashmere Robe lying half made, and half unpicked again, on the table; she noticed the imbecile foot of Mrs. Wragge searching blindly in the neighborhood of her chair for a lost shoe; she noticed that there was a second door in the room besides the door by which she had entered, and a second chair within easy reach, on which she might do well to seat herself in a friendly and confidential way. "Pray don't resent my intrusion," pleaded Mrs. Lecount, taking the chair. "Pray allow me to explain myself!"
Speaking in her softest voice, surveying Mrs. Wragge with a sweet smile on her insinuating lips, and a melting interest in her handsome black eyes, the housekeeper told her little introductory series of falsehoods with an artless truthfulness of manner which the Father of Lies himself might have envied. She had heard from Mr. Bygrave that Mrs. Bygrave was a great invalid; she had constantly reproached herself, in her idle half-hours at Sea View
(where she filled the situation of Mr. Noel Vanstone's housekeeper), for not having offered her friendly services to Mrs. Bygrave; she had been directed by her master (doubtless well known to Mrs. Bygrave, as one of her husband's friends, and, naturally, one of her charming niece's admirers), to join him that day at the residence to which he had removed from Aldborough; she was obliged to leave early, but she could not reconcile it to her conscience to go without calling to apologize for her apparent want of neighborly consideration; she had found nobody in the house; she had not been able to make the servant hear; she had presumed (not discovering that apartment downstairs) that Mrs. Bygrave's boudoir might be on the upper story; she had thoughtlessly committed an intrusion of which she was sincerely ashamed, and she could now only trust to Mrs. Bygrave's indulgence to excuse and forgive her.
A less elaborate apology might have served Mrs. Lecount's purpose. As soon as Mrs. Wragge's struggling perceptions had grasped the fact that her unexpected visitor was a neighbor well known to her by repute, her whole being became absorbed in admiration of Mrs. Lecount's lady-like manners, and Mrs. Lecount's perfectly-fitting gown! "What a noble way she has of talking!" thought poor Mrs. Wragge, as the housekeeper reached her closing sentence. "And, oh my heart alive, how nicely she's dressed!"
"I see I disturb you," pursued Mrs. Lecount, artfully availing herself of the Oriental Cashmere Robe as a means ready at hand of reaching the end she had in view -- "I see I disturb you, ma'am, over an occupation which, I know by experience, requires the closest attention. Dear, dear me, you are un picking the dress again, I see, after it has been made! This is my own experience again, Mrs. B ygrave. Some dresses are so obstinate! Some dresses seem to say to one, in so many words, 'No! you may do what you like with me; I won't fit!'"
Mrs. Wragge was greatly struck by this happy remark. She burst out laughing, and clapped her great hands in hearty approval.
"That's what this gown has been saying to me ever since I first put the scissors into it," she exclaimed, cheerfully. "I know I've got an awful big back, but that's no reason. Why should a gown be weeks on hand, and then not meet behind you after all? It hangs over my Boasom like a sack -- it does. Look here, ma'am, at the skirt. It won't come right. It draggles in front, and cocks up behind. It shows my heels -- and, Lord knows, I get into scrapes enough about my heels, without showing them into the bargain!"
"May I ask a favor?" inquired Mrs. Lecount, confidentially. "May I try, Mrs. Bygrave, if I can make my experience of any use to you? I think our bosoms, ma'am, are our great difficulty. Now, this bosom of yours? -- Shall I say in plain words what I think? This bosom of yours is an Enormous Mistake!"
"Don't say that!" cried Mrs. Wragge, imploringly. "Don't please, there's a good soul! It's an awful big one, I know; but it's modeled, for all that, from one of Magdalen's own."
She was far too deeply interested on the subject of the dress to notice that she had forgotten herself already, and that she had referred to Magdalen by her own name. Mrs. Lecount's sharp ears detected the mistake the instant it was committed. "So! so!" she thought. "One discovery already. If I had ever doubted my own suspicions, here is an estimable lady who would now have set me right. -I beg your pardon," she proceeded, aloud, "did you say this was modeled from one of your niece's dresses?"
"Yes," said Mrs. Wragge. "It's as like as two peas."
"Then," replied Mrs. Lecount, adroitly, "there must be some serious mistake in the making of your niece's dress. Can you show it to me?"
"Bless your heart -- yes!" cried Mrs. Wragge. "Step this way, ma'am; and bring the gown along with you, please. It keeps sliding off, out of pure aggravation, if you lay it out on the table. There's lots of room on the bed in here."
She opened the door of communication and led the way eagerly into Magdalen's room. As Mrs. Lecount followed, she stole a look at her watch. Never before had time flown as it flew that morning! In twenty minutes more Mr. Bygrave would be back from his bath.
"There!" said Mrs. Wragge, throwing open the wardrobe, and taking a dress down from one of the pegs. "Look there! There's plaits on her Boasom, and plaits on mine. Six of one and half a dozen of the other; and mine are the biggest -that's all!"
Mrs. Lecount shook her head gravely, and entered forthwith into subtleties of disquisition on the art of dressmaking which had the desired effect of utterly bewildering the proprietor of the Oriental Cashmere Robe in less than three minutes.
"Don't!" cried Mrs. Wragge, imploringly. "Don't go on like that! I'm miles behind you; and my head's Buzzing already. Tell us, like a good soul, what's to be done. You said something about the pattern just now. Perhaps I'm too big for the pattern? I can't help it if I am. Many's the good cry I had, when I was a growing girl, over my own size! There's half too much of me, ma'am -- measure me along or measure me across, I don't deny it -- there's half too much of me, anyway."
"My dear madam," protested Mrs. Lecount, "you do yourself a wrong! Permit me to assure you that you possess a commanding figure -- a figure of Minerva. A majestic simplicity in the form of a woman imperatively demands a majestic simplicity in the form of that woman's dress. The laws of costume are classical; the laws of costume must not be trifled with! Plaits for Venus, puffs for Juno, folds for Minerva. I venture to suggest a total change of pattern. Your niece has other dresses in her collection. Why may we not find a Minerva pattern among them?"
As she said those words, she led the way back to the wardrobe.
Mrs. Wragge followed, and took the dresses out one by one, shaking her head despondently. Silk dresses appeared, muslin dresses appeared. The one dress which remained invisible was the dress of which Mrs. Lecount was in search.
"There's the lot of 'em," said Mrs. Wragge. "They may do for Venus and the two other Ones (I've seen 'em in picters without a morsel of decent linen among the three), but they won't do for Me."
"Surely there is another dress left?" said Mrs. Lecount, pointing to the wardrobe, but touching nothing in it. "Surely I see something hanging in the corner behind that dark shawl?"
Mrs. Wragge removed the shawl; Mrs. Lecount opened the door of the wardrobe a little wider. There -- hitched carelessly on the innermost peg -- there, with its white spots, and its double flounce, was the brown Alpaca dress!
The suddenness and completeness of the discovery threw the housekeeper, practiced dissembler as she was, completely off her guard. She started at the sight of the dress. The instant afterward her eyes turned uneasily toward Mrs. Wragge. Had the start been observed? It had passed entirely unnoticed. Mrs. Wragge's whole attention was fixed on the Alpaca dress: she was staring at it incomprehensibly, with an expression of the utmost dismay.
"You seem alarmed, ma'am," said Mrs. Lecount. "What is there in the wardrobe to frighten you?"
"I'd have given a crown piece out of my pocket," said Mrs. Wragge, "not to have set my eyes on that gown. It had gone clean out of my head, and now it's come back again. Cover it up!" cried Mrs. Wragge, throwing the shawl over the dress in a sudden fit of desperation. "If I look at it much longer, I shall think I'm back again in Vauxhall Walk!"
Vauxhall Walk! Those two words told Mrs. Lecount she was on the brink of another discovery. She stole a second look at her watch. There was barely ten minutes to spare before the time when Mr. Bygrave might return; there was not one of those ten minutes which might not bring his niece back to the house. Caution counseled Mrs. Lecount to go, without running any more risks. Curiosity rooted her to the spot, and gave the courage to stay at all hazards until the time was up. Her amiable smile began to harden a little as she probed her way tenderly into Mrs. Wragge's feeble mind.
"You have some unpleasant remembrances of Vauxhall Walk?" she said, with the gentlest possible tone of inquiry in her voice. "Or perhaps I should say, unpleasant remembrances of that dress belonging to your niece?"
"The last time I saw her with that gown on," said Mrs. Wragge, dropping into a chair and beginning to tremble, "was the time when I came back from shopping and saw the Ghost."
"The Ghost?" repeated Mrs. Lecount, clasping her hands in graceful astonishment. "Dear madam, pardon me! Is there such a thing in the world? Where did you see it? In Vauxhall Walk? Tell me -- you are the first lady I ever met with who has seen a ghost -- pray tell me!"
Flattered by the position of importance which she had suddenly assumed in the housekeeper's eyes, Mrs. Wragge entered at full length into the narrative of her supernatural adventure. The breathless eagerness with which Mrs. Lecount listened to her description of the specter's costume, the specter's hurry on the stairs, and the specter's disappearance in the bedroom; the extraordinary interest which Mrs. Lecount displayed on hearing that the dress in the wardrobe was the very dress in which Magdalen happened to be attired at the awful moment when the ghost vanished, encouraged Mrs. Wragge to wade deeper and deeper into details, and to involve herself in a confusion of collateral circumstances out of which there seemed to be no prospect of her emerging for hours to come. Faster and faster the inexorable minutes flew by; nearer and nearer came the fatal moment of Mr. Bygrave's return. Mrs. Lecount looked at her watch for the third time, without an attempt on this occasion to conceal the action from her companion's notice. There were literally two minutes left for her to get clear of North Shingles. Two minutes would be enough, if no accident happened. She had discov ered the Alpaca dress; she had heard the whole story of the adventure in Vauxhall Walk; and, more than that, she had even informed herself of the number of the house -- which Mrs. Wragge happened to remember, because it answered to the number of years in her own age. All that was necessary to her master's complete enlightenment she had now accomplished. Even if there had been time to stay longer, there was nothing worth staying for. "I'll strike this worthy idiot dumb with a coup d'etat," thought the housekeeper, "and vanish before she recovers herself."
"Horrible!" cried Mrs. Lecount, interrupting the ghostly narrative by a shrill little scream and making for the door, to Mrs. Wragge's unutterable astonishment, without the least ceremony. "You freeze the very marrow of my bones. Good-morning!" She coolly tossed the Oriental Cashmere Robe into Mrs. Wragge's expansive lap and left the room in an instant.
As she swiftly descended the stairs, she heard the door of the bedroom open.
"Where are your manners?" cried a voice from above, hailing her feebly over the banisters. "What do you mean by pitching my gown at me in that way? You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" pursued Mrs. Wragge, turning from a lamb to a lioness, as she gradually realized the indignity offered to the Cashmere Robe. "You nasty foreigner, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!"
Pursued by this valedictory address, Mrs. Lecount reached the house door, and opened it without interruption. She glided rapidly along the garden path, passed through the gate, and finding herself safe on the Parade, stopped, and looked toward the sea.
The first object which her eyes encountered was the figure of Mr. Bygrave standing motionless on the beach -- a petrified bather, with his towels in his hand! One glance at him was enough to show that he had seen the housekeeper passing out through his garden gate.
Rightly conjecturing that Mr. Bygrave's first impulse would lead him to make instant inquiries in his own house, Mrs. Lecount pursued her way back to Sea View as composedly as if nothing had happened. When she entered the parlor where her solitary breakfast was waiting for her, she was surprised to see a letter lying on the table. She approached to take it up with an expression of impatience, thinking it might be some tradesman's bill which she had forgotten.
It was the forged letter from Zurich.


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Shashwat DC
Editor, Writer, Entrepreneur, Historian, Mythologist, Whatever…
Why demonise Raju?
January 8, 2009 January 8, 2009 by Shashwat DC
It is a sad irony that what took 22 years to be made, crumbled in a span of 2 weeks. Satyam,one of the biggest IT players in India, would never be one again, not at least in its current form. The fear that is stalking every one's mind is it an ill omen of more blood bath on corporate street, more skeletons tumbling out, more biggies taking a bow. If B Ramalinga Raju, the recipient of the Dataquest IT Man of the Year Award 2000, E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Services award 1999, the Asia Business Leader Award 2002, and the Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance, cannot be trusted, who can be?
But let's clear one thing, though Raju cheated the investors, clients, etc. he is certainly not a corporate thug out to make billions. Unlike Kenneth Lay from Enron, or Bernie Madoff, Raju claims to have been a personal fortune from the whole fiasco. The accounts being fudged at Satyam, were because of accounting indiscretion, what he referred as, "The gap in the balance sheet has arisen purely on account of inflated profits over a period of last several years (limited only to Satyam standalone, books of subsidiaries reflecting true performance). What started as a marginal gap between actual operating profit and the one reflected in the books of accounts continued to grow over the years. It has attained unmanageable proportions as the size of the company operations grew significantly (annualized revenue run rate of Rs 11,276 crore in the September quarter, 2008 and official reserves of Rs 8.392 crore)."
Don't forget, Raju's philantrophic interests, the Byrraju Foundation (that operates numerous charitable clinics, schools, hospitals in rural Andhra Pradesh), the Satyam Foundation, and the much appreciated 108 EMRI service in several states.
So, while might be very fashionable to compare the whole Satyam saga to WorldComm and Enron, it is important to distinguish between the two. The only time that Raju speaks his heart in the letter to the Board is when he says that the whole fraud exercise was akin to "riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten."
If that is indeed the case, then lets punish him for his follies, but lets not start a witch-hunt and demonize him. Even the mighty err, so could have Raju. The only thing that upsets me, is why didn't Raju own up to the thing earlier, even as the things were going down he was reassuring everyone that all was good. If only he would have owned up then, B Ramalinga Raju would not have been such a maligned name, neither would have Satyam become a synonm for corporate fraud and treachery.
Two issues back, there was a news analysis written by me and published in Dataquest, here it is:
When B Ramalinga Raju founded Satyam Computer Services in 1987, he decided to name it after the ancient Indian adage 'Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram' that can be literally translated as "truth is supreme and hence desirable". Thus in essence, trust and truth were the very foundations of the company. Yet over the past fortnight or so, these two very intangibles are what Satyam, more appropriately the management, has been found lacking on.
The past 2 weeks have been the most tumultuous ones in the company's two decade history. In the time gone by, the company has been accused of wrong-doings, banned by World Bank, stocks nose-diving on the bourses, a director resigning from the board, calls being made for Raju to resign, government promising to look into the corporate affairs, etc. In fact much like the Murphy's Law states; everything that could go wrong for Satyam was indeed going horribly wrong.
But that wasn't the case sometime back, in fact in the recent H1Y (Half year) analysis done by Dataquest, the company had come out as one of the few that had actually managed to do well in the downturn. Based on its international projects on hand, the company had grown by a rather healthy 43% over H1 last fiscal. So it was rather surprising when at a Board meeting on December 16th, Raju decided to embellish the decision to invest into Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas Properties (led by his two sons Teja Raju & Rama Raju) as a "diversification and de-risking strategy". It would seem that the 4th largest software player in India, suddenly realised that software and IT was not all that hot and hence it needed to take an alternative route to growth. Thus, the company announced the decision to acquire the two companies for some $1.6 billion without consulting the shareholders.
But what the management and especially Raju had not bargained for was the immediate disdain of the investors, who started dumping the company stocks in droves. Satyam stocks started to bleed and the management had little option but to decide against the proposed diversification. Within 9 hours of announcing the acquisition, the deal was cancelled in face of the investor onslaught.
A few days later in an open letter to his employees, Raju defended his decision to go ahead with the deal, stating that," the proposed acquisition of Maytas was part of our strategy to increase Satyam's market diversification and secure the company's position as a leader in urban infrastructure, construction and asset development. " What he rather conveniently forgot to mention was that the acquisition would have netted the Raju family some $570 million while exhausting Satyam's cash reserves and driving it into $400 million of debt.
The reversal of the decision was not the end of Satyam's woes, as almost on cue the World Bank announced that it was blacklisting the company for 8 years for corporate malpractices and the shares further tumbled. The company tried to pose strong by asking the World Bank to revoke the order, but that did not seem to work. The company was supposed to meet on December 29, wherein it was to announce a buyback but it has been postponed until Jan. 10, in order to consider additional "strategic options."
Speculation is rife about the future of the company, especially now that one of the independent directors, academician Mangalam Srinivasan resigned owning moral responsibility for voting in favour of the deal. There are also calls for Raju, whose family owns a mere 8.3% stake in Satyam, to quit. There is also the talk that with such depreciation on market cap, Satyam is now ripe for takeover by the likes of IBM, Accenture or Cap Gemini.
The Satyam saga still unfolds even as the story is penned; there seems to be little light at the end of the tunnel. One thing is for certain though this one false move is certainly going to affect the course of the company. It will take a long long time for Satyam to win back the trust it had been espoused with it. For now the name Satyam seems like an oxymoron, something that represents deceit and impropriety. The affairs of Satyam are anything but Sundaram, as of now.
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Posted in: Uncategorized	| Tagged: Corporate fraud, Enron, Satyam
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One thought on "Why demonise Raju?"
How much Raju paid to you for writing this supporting peace of shit?. Having known that he is manipulating the balance sheets for years why did Raju recieved the awards shamelessly?. Byrraju foundation with whose money? with money from investors like me? Shame on you Raju!. You left a bad impression of Indian corporate sector in the world!.
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About Ed Molitor
About Podcast
The Athletics Of Business
312.446.6988 ed@themolitorgroup.com
Values and Service in Business, with Aaron Jack
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Aaron "A.J." Jack is responsible for marketing, sales and business development for Argent's entire 12-state footprint. He spent 5 years as vice president, director of development and marketing of Argent's Oklahoma City-based group, Heritage Trust Company, before being named Chief Development Officer for Argent in January 2018.
Prior to joining the organization, A.J. spent 12 years in various sales and upper-management positions for Pfizer, Inc. Along with winning multiple awards, he spearheaded initiatives designed to enhance leadership roles, improve diversity and inclusion and maximize employee engagement.
A graduate of Texas A&M University, A.J. served as a two-time captain on the men's basketball team and holds several athletic honors. A.J. is been extremely active in the Oklahoma City community. He has served on several boards, including the All Sports Association, Downtown Club and the Isaiah Stone Foundation. He is a proud graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City Class 33 and participates on the board of advisors for the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce on behalf of Heritage.
A.J. and his wife, Allison, enjoy spending time with their 3 boys – Bowman, Lincoln, and Barrett. They are members at St. Luke's United Methodist in downtown Oklahoma City. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, playing golf and adding to his beginner's wine collection.
What you'll learn about in this episode:
How the mission at Heritage spoke to Aaron and led his career path in an entirely different direction than it had been going before
Why the service aspect of helping families with manage and administer their financial assets appealed to Aaron
What gave Aaron confidence that he could excel despite having no knowledge of the trust business prior to his time at Heritage
The importance of taking that initial leap of faith when you believe you're making the right move
How his training and experience in an entirely different industry prepared Aaron for the business side of his new role with Heritage
The role the location, Oklahoma City, played in Aaron's ability to make connections and develop the visibility necessary to succeed
The importance of bringing what you have to offer to the table in everything you do
Why you must acknowledge that there is always room to improve and seek out those improvements to move forward, build relationships, and ultimately earn the trust
Lessons Aaron has learned that have helped him not only improve but that has also helped him avoid repeating the mistakes of others
The way Aaron's history of dealing with changes as an athlete prepared him for dealing with changes in the business
The three abilities that helped Aaron get up to speed in his new roles quickly while establishing trust with the people he was now working with
Why humility is so important in business and the difference between confidence and cockiness – and why it's so important
Why Aaron believes conversations, actual face-to-face conversations or, when not possible, over the phone are so much more meaningful than text messages or emails
The reason Aaron believes service, serving families in his community, is the core of what he does


text:
Born in Onomichi, Hiroshima.
Graduated from Faculty of Landscape, Tokyo University of Agriculture in 1970. After training as a gardener in Tokyo and Kyoto, he worked at Urban Design Consultant (headed by Kisho Kurokawa); then he established his own firm Yoshiki Toda Landscape Design Office in 1980, later renamed Yoshiki Toda Landscape and Architect Co. Ltd.
He has been creating many finely detailed works with simple and dynamic forms, yet with warm and soft ambience. Major awards received include: Grand Prize of Landscape in Tokyo University of Agriculture in 1989, and Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture Award in 1995 with "Niji no Sato" in Shuzenji. Lecturer at the Faculty of Landscape (currently Faculty of Landscaping Science), Tokyo University of Agriculture since 1996; also at the Faculty of Green Environment, Chiba University from 1999 to 2003, and the Faculty of Design, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music since 2007. In Aichi EXPO 2005, he was nominated as Landscape Director and supervised the overall site creation.
In recent years, he has been working on many projects in China and actively holding lecture meetings in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing.
Representative director
Visiting Professor, Faculty of Landscaping Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture
Registered Landscape Architect Fellow
1st Class Landscape Construction Management Engineer
2nd Class Landscape Architect


New York Times best selling writer Jeff Lemire (Descender) is joined by acclaimed artists Doug Braithwaite (ARMOR HUNTERS), Mico Suayan (Moon Knight), Tomás Giorello (X-O MANOWAR) and many more, as they continue the epic saga of Valiant's nanite-enhanced hero right here in the next deluxe volume of the most-nominated series of the 2016 Harvey Awards! Stranded on a mysterious desert island, Bloodshot is running for his life! But as he tries to make sense of his surroundings, he's quickly discovering that this is no ordinary tropical getaway... Surrounded by decommissioned relics of the same bloodstained project that created him - World War II Bloodshot, Cold War Bloodshot, Vietnam Bloodshot, and other antiquated experiments - Bloodshot is about to find out where Project Rising Spirit sends its old soldiers to die. Can this seasoned band of killers trust each other long enough to survive the threats that lie in the jungle around them...and unlock the secret at the heart of the island's existence before they're each permanently retired? And who or what is the sinister force called DEATHMATE that now hunts them at every turn?nCollecting BLOODSHOT REBORN #14-18, BLOODSHOT U.S.A. #1-4, BLOODSHOT REBORN #0, BLOODSHOT REBORN 2016 ANNUAL, BOOK OF DEATH: THE FALL OF BLOODSHOT and 4001 A.D.: BLOODSHOT, along with 20+ pages of rarely seen art and extras!


text:
We can help you with any type of legal research or writing project, large or small. Some of our past projects are described here. Check out our Writing Samples page for more examples.
Dispositive Motions
Trial Motions
Opinion Letters
Legal Editing
A NYC attorney representing a plaintiff in an action involving the breach of a real estate contract sought Lisa's help responding to a complicated appeal — very late in the game. The attorney agreed with Lisa's strategic recommendation to seek summary judgment in the appellate court, even though the plaintiff did not seek that relief in the court below, since it was supported by the record. While the appeal was pending, and also on very short notice, Lisa drafted opposition papers that convinced the appellate court to defer a decision on the defendant's motion to vacate a notice of pendency against the property until the merits of the appeal could be addressed.
A small New York City law firm had to find cases to use in opposing a disqualification motion. In addition to exhaustively reviewing case law, Lisa examined ABA and NYSBA ethics opinions concerning the existence and termination of an attorney-client relationship.
A small New York City firm defending a client against a federal court action alleging fraudulent inducement and seeking contract recission asked Lisa to draft a summary judgment motion. Before drafting the motion, Lisa extensively researched the level of due diligence expected of a sophisticated commercial party entering into a contract, the effect of audit provisions in a contract that contradict a party's alleged oral misrepresentations, and the effect of a party's unreasonable delay in seeking contract recission on the availability of that relief.
A Staten Island, New York solo practitioner was defending a personal injury action in which one issue was whether his client had notice of the dangerous condition that caused the plaintiff's accident. He requested that Lisa draft a motion in limine concerning the application of the Dead Man's Statute to oral statements made by the decedent and to a letter written by the decedent.
A Chicago trusts and estates attorney asked Lisa to perform research and draft an opinion letter for a client that wanted its co-owners to purchase its 50% beneficial interest in an Illinois land trust. Lisa's research dealt with complex issues involving personal property, partnerships and joint ventures.
An attorney requested that Lisa edit for style a memorandum of law submitted in bankruptcy court on behalf of the debtor in opposition to its landlord's motion for an order directing immediate payment of post-petition use and occupancy.


text:
is an anime television series sequel to The Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of Holy War. It was announced at the "Nanatsu no Taizai FES" event in July 2017 and premiered on January 13, 2018. Takeshi Furuta and Takao Yoshioka replaced Tensai Okamura and Shōtarō Suga as director and series composer, respectively, while the other main staff members returned from the first season to reprise their roles. The series was released on October 15, 2018 on Netflix. The first opening theme song of the series titled "Howling" is a collaboration between Flow and Granrodeo, and first ending theme song is "Beautiful" performed by Anly. The second opening theme titled "Ame ga Furu kara, Niji ga Deru"(雨が降るから虹が出る) by Sky Peace and second ending theme titled "Chikai"(誓い) by Sora Amamiya.

Episode list

References

External links
Official page at Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Official anime website
 (anime) at Netflix
Official video game website

2018 Japanese television seasons
2
Fiction about purgatory

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Published in 2013, the purpose of the Evaluators' Professional Learning Competency Framework is to guide and support members and other interested parties to enhance their evaluation knowledge and expertise.
The Framework contributes to the AES objective of improving the quality of evaluation practice in Australasia and is, therefore, available for download and to inform the work of evaluation professionals.
The aim of AES is to "improve the theory, practice and use of evaluation".
Workshops typically address needs that are important and can be provided to as wide a section of the membership, adn other stakeholders, as possible. The AES staff, in conjunction with regional networks, organise workshops to meet particular local needs or to take advantage of expertise offered by visiting evaluators. The focus is on providing opportunities for members to benefit from the training as well as raising the profile of the AES in the various regions.
by advising the Board on professionalism and professional practice, including the standards and ethical guidelines that should apply to AES members to effectively promote evaluation theory and practice in Australasia.
guiding and advising the AES Board in order to promote the Society's leadership in professional learning in evaluation and to guide the development, promotion and implementation of an annual program of professional learning activities in evaluation.
ensuring the work of the Learning and Professional Practice Committee incorporates and is responsive to the work of the Cultural Capacity Committee, Advocacy and Alliance Committee, and Membership Services and Engagement Committee.


J ust as the winter weather was setting in a member of the public bought a small hedgehog into our Stratford upon Avon surgery. He had been found in the middle of a car park during daylight hours. At just 97g he would not have survived the winter.Denni, one of our nurses, took him in. Over winter she kept him warm and well fed. His favourite food was meal worms but as these have little nutritional value they were rationed to encourage him to eat his healthier hedgehog mix. Over the winter he has grown big and strong, now weighing in at a healthy 700g.
As spring arrived, Heston was ready to be released. For safety reasons Heston was unable to be released back to where he was found. Thanks to Kyra at Hedgehog Friendly Town, Heston was released in a safe and hedgehog friendly environment.
Hedgehog Friendly Town work hard fostering hedgehogs and finding safe release sites. It is important to find out if other hedgehogs live in the area before releasing more on that site. If there are no resident hedgehogs already, there is probably a good reason for this and so an alternative site is found.
Unfortunately the hedgehog population is currently under threat. Here are a few ways you can help hedgehogs in your area.
Leave areas of wilderness in your garden where hedgehogs can snuffle for insects. Place a small hedgehog house to provide a safe place for them to hibernate during winter. A small hole in your fence will allow visiting hedgehogs to pass through. In the past people used to mark visiting hedgehogs with a little paint so they know if they return but the paint may be harmful and also makes it easier for predators to spot them.
Leave out a water bowl for them to drink from. Dusk is a good time to scatter food for them to eat. Avoid bread and milk as hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and these foods will make them ill. They like eating dog and cat food – wet or dry. They also like a few meal worms. Autumn and winter is a good time to leave out food for struggling hedgehogs.
Hedgehogs are nocturnal. If you see a hedgehog during the day then it may need help. Using gardening gloves or a thick towel, carefully pick him up and take him to a wildlife rescue centre. Hedgehogs are also good at getting stuck in litter so pick up litter and if you do see a hedgehog in trouble, please transport him to a veterinary centre or wildlife rescue centre.
If you are planning on having a bonfire, please always check for hedgehogs before lighting it. Unfortunately hedgehogs sometimes move into the heap before you light it and are then severely injured by the flames or worse.We would like to wish Heston and his fellow hedgehogs all the best for the future. It is also important to check for hedgehogs before using strimmers on long grass or vegetation.
Shelby the cat was brought into our Stratford surgery after she was found apparently lost in Stratford.
Head nurse Becky scanned Shelby to check if she had a microchip. Luckily she did, so were able to contact her worried owner straight away. He was very relieved to hear she was ok and came straight away to collect her.
Shelby had been missing from her home in Staffordshire for 2 weeks and was very happy to be reunited with hr owner.
Microchipping involves inserting a tiny chip under the animal's skin. This gives the pet their own unique code which can be scanned and matched to the owner's contact details, which are kept on a national database. This means that, as long as your details are kept up to date, your pet can be quickly and easily reunited with you should they get lost.
Microchipping is a legal requirement in all dogs, but is definitely advisable for all cats as well.
We are very proud of our Stratford nurses as they have been selected as finalists in the Team of the Year category at the Pride of Stratford Awards!
The Pride of Stratford Awards celebrate the best achievements in business and the community. The Team of the Year award celebrates teams which have made a significant contribution to the business, and the Stratford nurses have been nominated alongside The Attic Theatre and Sunflowers Pre-School.
We will find out the winner at the glitzy award ceremony on Friday 5th February at the Holiday Inn. Good luck to all those nominated!
Our new surgery opened today in Stratford Upon Avon. Vet Katie Wain and VNs Becky, Natasha and Laura have been welcoming new clients and their pets to the new surgery next door to Waitrose at the Rosebird Centre and enjoying showing off the new premises.
Guest of honour at our lunchtime official opening event was Pegasus Lewis. You may remember Peg as she was the loyal companion of local paratrooper Conrad Lewis who adopted her as a stray during his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Following his death whilst on active service his parents Sandi and Tony managed to trace Peg with the help of animal welfare charity Nowzad and brought her home to live with them.
Peg exemplifies the special bond between people and pets and we were delighted to have her as our official 'First Paw Through The Door' in Stratford. There were several other paws through the door today too and they all enjoyed a good sniff around.
Avonvale has pledged £5 to Nowzad and Hounds for Heroes for every new client that registers with our new Stratford surgery.


text:
Q: Simple GUI Java calculator I am building a simple GUI Java calculator. I have an issue finding a package or figuring out a method to do the actual calculation. So far I've figured that when I do a math operation, the number in the text box gets saved in a temporary location.
Then when I click on the "=" button, it will do the calculation, but I don't know how to tell it to take the temporary plus the math operation and the second number and do the calculation based on the selected math operation clicked, +, -, *, /
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.*;

public class JavaCalculator extends JFrame {
    private JButton jbtNum1;
        private JButton jbtNum2;
        private JButton jbtNum3;
        private JButton jbtNum4;
        private JButton jbtNum5;
        private JButton jbtNum6;
        private JButton jbtNum7;
        private JButton jbtNum8;
        private JButton jbtNum9;
        private JButton jbtNum0;
    private JButton jbtEqual;
        private JButton jbtAdd;
        private JButton jbtSubtract;
        private JButton jbtMultiply;
        private JButton jbtDivide;
        private JButton jbtSolve;
        private JButton jbtClear;
        private double TEMP;
        private double SolveTEMP;
    private JTextField jtfResult;
    String display = "";

    public JavaCalculator() {
        JPanel p1 = new JPanel();
        p1.setLayout(new GridLayout(4, 3));
        p1.add(jbtNum1 = new JButton("1"));
        p1.add(jbtNum2 = new JButton("2"));
        p1.add(jbtNum3 = new JButton("3"));
        p1.add(jbtNum4 = new JButton("4"));
        p1.add(jbtNum5 = new JButton("5"));
        p1.add(jbtNum6 = new JButton("6"));
        p1.add(jbtNum7 = new JButton("7"));
        p1.add(jbtNum8 = new JButton("8"));
        p1.add(jbtNum9 = new JButton("9"));
        p1.add(jbtNum0 = new JButton("0"));
        p1.add(jbtClear = new JButton("C"));

        JPanel p2 = new JPanel();
        p2.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        p2.add(jtfResult = new JTextField(20));
        jtfResult.setHorizontalAlignment(JTextField.RIGHT);
        jtfResult.setEditable(false);

                JPanel p3 = new JPanel();
                p3.setLayout(new GridLayout(5, 1));
                p3.add(jbtAdd = new JButton("+"));
                p3.add(jbtSubtract = new JButton("-"));
                p3.add(jbtMultiply = new JButton("*"));
                p3.add(jbtDivide = new JButton("/"));
                p3.add(jbtSolve = new JButton("="));

        JPanel p = new JPanel();
        p.setLayout(new GridLayout());
        p.add(p2, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        p.add(p1, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        p.add(p3, BorderLayout.EAST);

        add(p);

        jbtNum1.addActionListener(new ListenToOne());
        jbtNum2.addActionListener(new ListenToTwo());
        jbtNum3.addActionListener(new ListenToThree());
                jbtNum4.addActionListener(new ListenToFour());
        jbtNum5.addActionListener(new ListenToFive());
        jbtNum6.addActionListener(new ListenToSix());
        jbtNum7.addActionListener(new ListenToSeven());
        jbtNum8.addActionListener(new ListenToEight());
        jbtNum9.addActionListener(new ListenToNine());
        jbtNum0.addActionListener(new ListenToZero());

        jbtAdd.addActionListener(new ListenToAdd());
        jbtSubtract.addActionListener(new ListenToSubtract());
        jbtMultiply.addActionListener(new ListenToMultiply());
        jbtDivide.addActionListener(new ListenToDivide());
        jbtSolve.addActionListener(new ListenToSolve());

    } //JavaCaluclator()

    class ListenToOne implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "1");
        }
    }
    class ListenToTwo implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "2");
        }
    }
    class ListenToThree implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "3");
        }
    }
    class ListenToFour implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "4");
        }
    }
    class ListenToFive implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "5");
        }
    }
    class ListenToSix implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "6");
        }
    }
    class ListenToSeven implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "7");
        }
    }
    class ListenToEight implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "8");
        }
    }
    class ListenToNine implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "9");
        }
    }
    class ListenToZero implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "0");
        }
    }

        class ListenToAdd implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            TEMP = Double.parseDouble(jtfResult.getText());
                        jtfResult.setText("");

        }
    }
    class ListenToSubtract implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "0");
        }
    }
    class ListenToMultiply implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "0");
        }
    }
    class ListenToDivide implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "0");
        }
    }
    class ListenToSolve implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                        SolveTEMP = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(TEMP + Double.parseDouble(jtfResult);
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        JavaCalculator calc = new JavaCalculator();
        calc.pack();
        calc.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
                calc.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        calc.setVisible(true);
    }

} //JavaCalculator

A: This is the working code...
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.util.*;

public class JavaCalculator extends JFrame {

    private JButton jbtNum1;
    private JButton jbtNum2;
    private JButton jbtNum3;
    private JButton jbtNum4;
    private JButton jbtNum5;
    private JButton jbtNum6;
    private JButton jbtNum7;
    private JButton jbtNum8;
    private JButton jbtNum9;
    private JButton jbtNum0;
    private JButton jbtEqual;
    private JButton jbtAdd;
    private JButton jbtSubtract;
    private JButton jbtMultiply;
    private JButton jbtDivide;
    private JButton jbtSolve;
    private JButton jbtClear;
    private double TEMP;
    private double SolveTEMP;
    private JTextField jtfResult;

    Boolean addBool = false;
    Boolean subBool = false;
    Boolean divBool = false;
    Boolean mulBool = false;

    String display = "";

    public JavaCalculator() {

        JPanel p1 = new JPanel();
        p1.setLayout(new GridLayout(4, 3));
        p1.add(jbtNum1 = new JButton("1"));
        p1.add(jbtNum2 = new JButton("2"));
        p1.add(jbtNum3 = new JButton("3"));
        p1.add(jbtNum4 = new JButton("4"));
        p1.add(jbtNum5 = new JButton("5"));
        p1.add(jbtNum6 = new JButton("6"));
        p1.add(jbtNum7 = new JButton("7"));
        p1.add(jbtNum8 = new JButton("8"));
        p1.add(jbtNum9 = new JButton("9"));
        p1.add(jbtNum0 = new JButton("0"));
        p1.add(jbtClear = new JButton("C"));

        JPanel p2 = new JPanel();
        p2.setLayout(new FlowLayout());
        p2.add(jtfResult = new JTextField(20));
        jtfResult.setHorizontalAlignment(JTextField.RIGHT);
        jtfResult.setEditable(false);

        JPanel p3 = new JPanel();
        p3.setLayout(new GridLayout(5, 1));
        p3.add(jbtAdd = new JButton("+"));
        p3.add(jbtSubtract = new JButton("-"));
        p3.add(jbtMultiply = new JButton("*"));
        p3.add(jbtDivide = new JButton("/"));
        p3.add(jbtSolve = new JButton("="));

        JPanel p = new JPanel();
        p.setLayout(new GridLayout());
        p.add(p2, BorderLayout.NORTH);
        p.add(p1, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        p.add(p3, BorderLayout.EAST);

        add(p);

        jbtNum1.addActionListener(new ListenToOne());
        jbtNum2.addActionListener(new ListenToTwo());
        jbtNum3.addActionListener(new ListenToThree());
        jbtNum4.addActionListener(new ListenToFour());
        jbtNum5.addActionListener(new ListenToFive());
        jbtNum6.addActionListener(new ListenToSix());
        jbtNum7.addActionListener(new ListenToSeven());
        jbtNum8.addActionListener(new ListenToEight());
        jbtNum9.addActionListener(new ListenToNine());
        jbtNum0.addActionListener(new ListenToZero());

        jbtAdd.addActionListener(new ListenToAdd());
        jbtSubtract.addActionListener(new ListenToSubtract());
        jbtMultiply.addActionListener(new ListenToMultiply());
        jbtDivide.addActionListener(new ListenToDivide());
        jbtSolve.addActionListener(new ListenToSolve());
        jbtClear.addActionListener(new ListenToClear());
    } //JavaCaluclator()

    class ListenToClear implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            //display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText("");
            addBool = false;
            subBool = false;
            mulBool = false;
            divBool = false;

            TEMP = 0;
            SolveTEMP = 0;
        }
    }

    class ListenToOne implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "1");
        }
    }

    class ListenToTwo implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "2");
        }
    }

    class ListenToThree implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "3");
        }
    }

    class ListenToFour implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "4");
        }
    }

    class ListenToFive implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "5");
        }
    }

    class ListenToSix implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "6");
        }
    }

    class ListenToSeven implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "7");
        }
    }

    class ListenToEight implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "8");
        }
    }

    class ListenToNine implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "9");
        }
    }

    class ListenToZero implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            display = jtfResult.getText();
            jtfResult.setText(display + "0");
        }
    }

    class ListenToAdd implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            TEMP = Double.parseDouble(jtfResult.getText());
            jtfResult.setText("");
            addBool = true;
        }
    }

    class ListenToSubtract implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            TEMP = Double.parseDouble(jtfResult.getText());
            jtfResult.setText("");
            subBool = true;
        }
    }

    class ListenToMultiply implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            TEMP = Double.parseDouble(jtfResult.getText());
            jtfResult.setText("");
            mulBool = true;
        }
    }

    class ListenToDivide implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            TEMP = Double.parseDouble(jtfResult.getText());
            jtfResult.setText("");
            divBool = true;
        }
    }

    class ListenToSolve implements ActionListener {
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            SolveTEMP = Double.parseDouble(jtfResult.getText());
            if (addBool == true)
                SolveTEMP = SolveTEMP + TEMP;
            else if ( subBool == true)
                SolveTEMP = SolveTEMP - TEMP;
            else if ( mulBool == true)
                SolveTEMP = SolveTEMP * TEMP;
            else if ( divBool == true)
                            SolveTEMP = SolveTEMP / TEMP;
            jtfResult.setText(  Double.toString(SolveTEMP));

            addBool = false;
            subBool = false;
            mulBool = false;
            divBool = false;
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        JavaCalculator calc = new JavaCalculator();
        calc.pack();
        calc.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
                calc.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        calc.setVisible(true);
    }

} //JavaCalculator

A: Somewhere you have to keep track of what button had been pressed. When things happen, you need to store something in a variable so you can recall the information or it's gone forever.
When someone pressed one of the operator buttons, don't just let them type in another value. Save the operator symbol, then let them type in another value. You could literally just have a String operator that gets the text of the operator button pressed. Then, when the equals button is pressed, you have to check to see which operator you stored. You could do this with an if/else if/else chain.
So, in your symbol's button press event, store the symbol text in a variable, then, in the = button press event, check to see which symbol is in the variable and act accordingly.
Alternatively, if you feel comfortable enough with enums (looks like you're just starting, so if you're not to that point yet, ignore this), you could have an enumeration of symbols that lets you check symbols easily with a switch.

A: What you need is something that calculates the result of the infix notated calculation, have a look at the Shunting-Yard Algorithm.
There's an example in C++ on Wikipedia's page, but it shouldn't be too hard to implement it in Java.
And since it's the primary function of your calculator, I would advise you to not grab some codez from the Web in this Case (except all you want to do is building calculator GUIs).

A: assuming that string1 is your whole operation
use mdas
double result;
string recurAndCheck(string operation){
  if(operation.indexOf("/")){
     String leftSide = recurAndCheck(operation.split("/")[0]);
     string rightSide = recurAndCheck(operation.split("/")[1]);
     result = Double.parseDouble(leftSide)/Double.parseDouble(rightSide);

  } else if (..continue w/ *...) {
    //same as above but change / with *
  } else if (..continue w/ -) {
    //change as above but change with -
  } else if (..continuew with +) {
    //change with add
  } else {
    return;
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Ahmed had said that this was a safe place, a place with no alphas, no rivalries, and no need to fight among ourselves. But that didn't mean he wasn't in charge, watching. Or that he didn't have clear ideas of how things should be run. And according to him, you stayed safe by keeping to yourself and not getting involved.
I'd stuck my neck out too many times to take that attitude. I tried to keep from tensing up defensively. He wasn't challenging me. There was nothing wrong with what I was doing.
He was a German soldier from World War II. Everyone else just filled in the blanks. But did that really make him a war criminal? I'd probably never find out for sure.
Ahmed's brow furrowed in a way that was admonishing. Here it came, the I'm older and wiser than you so sit down and shut up speech. It was like having a pack alpha all over again.
"I'm sure I do not have to tell you to be careful." I'd been hearing that a lot lately. If it weren't for all the people telling me how much trouble I was potentially getting into, this trip would be a breeze.
Jack gave me a thumbs-up on my way out.
Considering how little time I'd spent on it, the show came together nicely. I'd taken advantage of the collection of interesting folk who'd gathered for the Senate hearings and spent the first hour of the show doing interview after interview. The trio from the Crescent played music, and Robert Carr came in and chatted about werewolves.
But for the last hour I opened the floodgates. I was sure someone out in radioland had some good stories to tell.
I checked the monitor. Then I double-checked it. Line four: Fritz from D.C. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be.
"Yes. Kitty? Am I speaking with Kitty?" He spoke with a German accent, tired and grizzled. It was him. My Fritz.


Science Buddies has been a wonderful resource for Science Fair in my classroom! I am excited to share this article they wrote about me!
Students in grades three through six at Wilshire Boulevard Temple's Brawerman Elementary School in Los Angeles all participate in the school's annual science fair. While doing a Science Buddies Project Idea is not a requirement in Lisa Niver Rajna's science classes, all of her fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students begin their search for a science fair project by using the Topic Selection Wizard, a Science Buddies tool that suggests science projects to students based on their interests, assignment, timeline, and grade level.
From Lisa's perspective, the project selection phase of the science fair assignment is a "crucial" step in the process. "I want each student to care and be passionate about her topic," says Lisa, who has been using Science Buddies and the Topic Selection Wizard with students at Brawerman for several years. When she talks with her fourth, fifth, and sixth grade classes about the science fair project assignment, Lisa says she "highly recommends" that they choose a Science Buddies project, and she allots valuable classroom time for her students to use the Wizard. Despite the crunch many teachers feel in fitting all the pieces of core curriculum into the hours of a school year, using class time to have students use the Wizard is a process that helps both Lisa and her students.
 Archived in Great, helping, inspiration, Lisa Niver Rajna, science, Science Fair, teaching. Bookmark the permalink.


Calling all groups and individuals in the Greater Boston area to join us in our mission to provide a sense of security, love and comfort to local children who are undergoing illness, crisis or other needs!
Our volunteer blanketeers havedonated and delivered almost 50,000 new, homemade washable blankets to children in the Greater Boston area since 2001!
If you are looking to make a donation, volunteer behind the scenes, organize a blanket making event or request a blanket for a child in need, or have any questions, please contact us!
To provide the comfort and security of a handmade blanket, quilt or afghan to any child who may be in need of extra consolation due to severe illness, trauma, and/or other needs.
To provide a fun and rewarding service opportunity for individuals and groups of any age with varied skill levels in the Greater Boston Area that benefits local children.
Greater Boston Area Project Linus is an affiliated local chapter of the national Project Linus organization. Read more about the national organization by visiting http://www.projectlinus.org/.
Jim is the blanketeer/sewer in this family, his wife Susan buys the fabric and helps deliver the blankets. Here they are getting ready to deliver 12 blankets for children devastated by floods in Houston. Next week they will deliver 10 along with sleepers they always purchase to the DCF office in Weymouth, especially for foster children who are often sent to new homes with very few possessions! Our volunteers are wonderful!
We are mothers, fathers, grandmothers, aunts, friends, scouts, children, nurses, teachers… anyone who wants to help. Greater Boston Area Project Linus is a 100% volunteer organization. We are quilters, knitters, crocheters, and also folks who have never tried a craft before but are willing to put in a little time. We are people who care about bringing comfort to children when they might need it most.
Nationally, since 1995, Project Linus has contributed over 7 million blankets! As of today, Greater Boston Area Project Linus has delivered blankets to area children in need of comfort.
After bring inspired by a photograph and article in Parade Magazine about a 3 year old's attachment to her blankie during aggressive cancer treatments, the first Project Linus chapter was formed in 1995, by Kathy Loucks, in the Denver, Colorado area.
Through the support of the National organization, Project Linus is run by volunteers in locally run chapters that distribute blankets to hospitals, shelters, social service agencies, organizations or individually to any child that may be in need of the comfort a blankie can bring. We support all kids from premature infant to older teens.
Today there are hundreds of Project Linus chapters across all 50 Unites States, providing a creative community service outlet to thousands of volunteers, and providing comfort to thousands of children.
To read more about our national organization check out http://www.projectlinus.org.
Nancy Kearns lives in Milton and is happy to be the contact for parts of Boston and towns south of Boston. In 2001 her son Chris & his wife Amy lost their infant daughter Olivia at birth. Becoming a part of Project Linus became a wonderful way of turning a devastating event into a way to cheer other families and meet some wonderful, generous people!
After the tragic loss of her niece, Stacey Lyn, Lucy Maiullari and her mother Edith wanted to remember her by donating their time and efforts to a worthy cause. Before her passing in 2006, Edie created hundreds of colorful afghans for Project Linus. She received much pleasure from knowing her time and talent was providing cheer and comfort to ill and traumatized children through her "handmade hugs".
Gloria Mozzicato's son was hospitalized on several occasions in his first three years, at a time when parents were not allowed to stay overnight nor bring blankets or toys from home. Always wishing to find a way to comfort children in that stressful situation, she found her answer in 1998 in Project Linus.
Dianne McAdam lives in Newton and has enjoyed knitting and crocheting since she was a little girl. She discovered Project Linus when she was looking for an organization that would distribute blankets to children of all ages. She has experienced the joy and comfort that blankets can bring to children in difficult situations.
Read, print or share the information in our latest brochure!
Recently Wakefield- Lynnfield United Methodist Church hosted the 3rd Annual Wakefield Girl Scouts and their Community Project Linus Blanket Making Day!
Over 25 caring volunteers including Girl Scouts and their families, Life Girl Scouts, Wakefield Arts and Crafts Society, Wakefield- Lynnfield United Methodist Church parishioners as well as other Community Members, all worked together to create 72 Project Linus Blankets which will be lovingly donated to "Mission of Deeds" in Reading as well as "A Bed for Every Child" program in Boston.
During this event, the Project Linus "blanketeers" worked together to cut and tie the fleece blankets, learned to use the sewing machine by sewing the Project Linus tags onto the finished blankets, learned to finger knit and even kept a completed blanket tally along with a bell to ring after each completed blanket!
Martha Stewart Living featured Project Linus in January 2019. Check it out!
Project Linus Accepts Your Handmade Blankets for Children in Need.
Buy your Project Linus products and supplies from joann.com.
Project Linus: Greater Boston Chapter shared a post.


text:
Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky is a standout return from Porridge Radio
"Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky"
17 May 2022, 17:19 | Written by Bella Fleming
(Porridge Radio)
A band who have been on the rise for a while, the new album Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky hears Porridge Radio really come into their own with a more developed sound.
A new emotional depth for the band, with its originating from the surrealism image denoting the peaks and troughs of life, it's not surprising the album carries a somewhat bittersweet tone. Lead single "Back To The Radio" moves like a poem: "We sit here together, laughing and talking / but I want to cry to you." Lyrics of a similar nature can be heard throughout, often pairing mundane everyday situations with the deeper emotional turmoil felt inside: "I got a splinter / the last time I visited you / but my body pushed it out."
Lead singer Dana Margolin's vocals dutifully carry emotion, often showing complete versatility. Whilst the overall sound of the band does feel more polished compared to earlier material, Margolin's raw and rough vocals add an edge to the overall sound – her voice somewhat akin to a PJ Harvey or Patti Smith. The anguish and raucousness in "The Rip" is a stark comparison to the tenderness on "Flowers", a slower, piano leading ballad with the lyrics painting a vividly raw image: "You cut tomatoes, they're soft to the touch / When will you punish me for what I have done?" Margolin asks desperately. Then, a softer, more defeated moment: "On monday she cleared all the gunk from my heart / shoveled it out to make room for the light." It's a definite standout track of the album.
Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky is a brilliantly crafted album. Stylistically, all 12 tracks feel brilliantly stitched together, and the album as a whole is a complete standout for Porridge Radio as a band.


text:
November 09, 2014, "Exploring Unitarian Universalism: Your Dogma Ate My Karma!"
(c) Doug Slagle, Minister to the Gathering, All Rights Reserved
To download and listen to the message, please click here. To read it, please see below.
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Galileo Galilei, as many people know, is famous for his multiple discoveries on the atomic nature of matter and our solar system. Using his own observations and mathematical models, as well as borrowing ideas from Copernicus's original observations, Galileo showed that the planet Venus revolves around the sun, that comets do the same and that moons circling Jupiter, which he discovered, prove his theories. But such facts that he observed by telescope and had shown to many others, they were immediately labeled as heresy by the Catholic Church. They contradicted several verses found in the Bible saying the earth is stationary and that the sun revolves around it. Centuries of Christian dogma holds that the Bible was and is the inerrant and infallible word of God. It is the source for all Truth and cannot be incorrect.
The earth was made by God as the center of the universe, such dogma claimed. The sun, stars, planets and other celestial bodies revolve around it. This geocentric universe was crucial to theological belief in God's creation and his establishment of humans as the purpose for all existence. A heliocentric or sun oriented planetary system, as Galileo observed and proved with his math, was a direct threat to that viewpoint. If the earth and humans were not central to God's creative plan to have all things worship him, if the Bible was somehow wrong in its geocentric verses, the whole structure of belief in God and the Bible could be questioned. And, of course, that was a dagger at the heart of ecclesiastic control over human affairs. Despite irrefutable evidence that even Church astronomers of the time had observed, the Church told Galileo he was wrong. His observations, science and math were false. The Bible is Truth no matter what.
At an advanced age, Galileo was put on trial for heresy. A unanimous Inquisition verdict was rendered against him on June 23, 1633. It stated, "The idea that the Sun is stationary is foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture…" Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment. Because of his fame and age, the sentence was commuted the next day to house arrest for life. Galileo was then confined to his home, under guard, until he died in 1641.
It was not until 1758 that the Church ended its ban on Galileo's books and teachings. Nevertheless, the Church has continually held that it was correct in putting him on trial because, it says, the science at the time was imperfect and Galileo's ideas threatened social order. As recently as 1990, Cardinal Ratzinger, the future and current retired Pope Benedict, stated in a speech about the Galileo affair, "The Church at the time of Galileo kept much more closely to reason than did Galileo himself, and she took into consideration the ethical and social consequences of Galileo's teaching too. Her verdict against Galileo was rational and just." Such a statement is breathtaking in its refusal to admit error. And that points to a major problem with religious dogma. Once a religious creed or dogma is stated as fact, once Scripture is determined to be infallible and inerrant – as fundamentalists say about the Bible and Koran – there can be no subsequent admission of error. To do so brings the entire creed, doctrine and Scripture into doubt. If one part can be wrong then the entire whole can be wrong.
My shortened history of Galileo's persecution, therefore, offers us a reason why religious dogma and creeds, like the Christian Apostle's and Nicene Creeds, are not only impractical but dangerous. They are inflexible and give rise to irrational thinking that refuses to accept new understanding, revelation and discovery. As I have set out this month to review Unitarian Universalism, the primary hallmark of that denomination is its refusal to accept, enforce or state any religious creeds. As we saw last Sunday in my message on the history of Unitarianism, it has used human reason to logically evolve its understanding of spirituality. Humans, Unitarians believe, have yet to discover absolute Truth. Even science continues in its quest to understand existence and the cosmos. As rational humans, therefore, we must open ourselves to many streams of spirituality, philosophy and science all to be used as tools to question, search and understand what is true for us individually. Unitarians are radically tolerant in that regard. Instead of insisting on one set of beliefs or Scripture, persons have the freedom and responsibility to determine their own spirituality and then to freely believe it. All are welcome within UU churches as long as each respects all other persons and their beliefs. Ultimately, Unitarian Universalists believe there are many paths that lead toward Truth and all are valid.
Since there are many viewpoints within Unitarian Universalism, members nevertheless unite in a common understanding of life from a humanist perspective. Human ethics and rights are the common focus – instead of dogmatic theological beliefs. In that regard, it is our duty and purpose to continually work to improve life for ourselves and others – to be change agents who work to create a better earth right here, right now, for everyone.
Such Unitarian principles have been arrived at by logic and experience. And that is why Unitarians refuse to proclaim any form of a religious creed. While people have the freedom to believe in them, creeds are not based on empirical evidence that all people accept. Creeds exist within the realm of religious faith, and such faith is a matter of the heart and soul, not of the mind as confirmed by observation and experience. While all beliefs are respected in the UU, none are stated as absolute Truth precisely because they cannot be proven. In other words, humans cannot know creeds, they can only believe them – and that is a very important distinction.
And therein lies a problem, as we see in the Galileo affair. Religions assert that they know their doctrines and dogmas as facts when they are, instead, beliefs. For instance, I can believe pigs fly – and forgive me if that sounds condescending toward religion. But I and others cannot know that pigs fly as a fact because reason and experience do not prove it. If, however, I am respectful to you in my beliefs about flying pigs, and I'm willing to listen to your counter arguments about them, you will hopefully accept me within your congregation. We each have the freedom to believe as we wish. And that is precisely what Unitarian Universalists do – all are welcome but nobody's religious beliefs are stated as creedal fact. Unitarians further ask that each person remain humble enough in what they personally believe such that they are open to accept new knowledge – something the Catholic Church refused to do for Galileo.
Unitarian Universalists do, however, believe in the ability of human reason and experience to determine what is universally good and ethical. Toward that end, they put forth a set of visions or principles which are based on human logic and thus the foundation for their denomination. The seven UU principles are: (show slide)
1) The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
2) Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
3) Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritually grow;
4) A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
5) The use of the democratic process within congregations and in society at large;
6) The goal of world community to promote peace, liberty, and justice for all;
7) Respect for the interdependent web of all existence.
Other religions demean these principles saying they are so all encompassing that they do not form the basis of a distinctive spiritual community. They are wrong. The principles assert a belief in universal values to which almost nobody, no matter their religious beliefs, could disagree. In other words, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others can all agree with them, and most importantly – and this is a key idea – all can BELIEVE in them because reason and experience tell us each principle is true. The UU denomination is one of the few places (the Gathering being another) in which true religious cooperation and acceptance are goals that members, however imperfectly, attempt to meet. Is this not a vision of a society to which all aspire – a place of coexistence between persons of every color, gender, sexuality, religion and ethnicity? Is this not a vision of an earthly heaven, a kind of kingdom of God that Jesus and other prophets advocated? I assert that it is. (Next slide)
If you recall from my review of Unitarianism last week, in 1819 William Ellery Channing delivered a sermon which quickly led to the establishment of the American Unitarian Association. In it, he stated his desire to establish a church that was purposefully non-sectarian – one that members of all faiths could find fellowship in a joint effort to practice the ethics of the human Jesus. This church would not claim to be the one true church, as Catholics assert, but instead be the one human church in which all people, of all religions, find freedom, acceptance and respect. The only way this could be achieved, Channing said, was to abolish all creeds. He foresaw the problem that was revealed in Galileo's heresy trial. Creeds divide. They are factual assertions that are implicitly non-factual because they cannot be proven. But religions say they are fact and that very claim creates divisions because other people make similar claims about their own creeds. Hate, conflict and violence follow. Unitarianism, on the other hand, was founded on the very same ideals which we hold at the Gathering: we welcome everyone but, in order to promote peace, we will not assert a particular religious creed or dogma.
After my message last Sunday, Mary Anne Berry shared with me her insight that belonging to a Unitarian church is more challenging than belonging to a traditional church. One has the responsibility to determine one's own beliefs – to search, study and think one's way through multiple theologies and philosophies to arrive at a spiritual path that is personally meaningful. That is not easy, she said, because one is not told what to believe.
And that echoes a Reformed Jewish understanding of God. If you recall the Biblical Exodus story of Moses encountering God at a burning bush, Moses is startled when the bush speaks to him. "Who are you?" Moses asks. "I am who I am," God, in the form of a burning bush, replies. That translation from ancient Hebrew has been shown to be incorrect by several Reformed Rabbis. The Hebrew, "Ehyeh asher ehyeh" is more appropriately translated as "I am becoming whatever I am yet to be." And that is a totally different statement of God's self-identity than "I am who I am." In the original Hebrew, he is not claiming to be unchangeable. Instead, the updated translation has him saying he will change, he will evolve, he will continue to become whatever he will finally be – a truth yet to be finalized. He's not locked into being, as the Christian dogma asserts, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He might become god the gay drag queen, god the impulse to love and be loved, god the dirty homeless woman crying on a street corner. Who knows? But let us endeavor to find out!
Whatever it is that people believe defines ultimate Truth, or god, this has yet to be finalized according to Unitarian Universalism. We say the same here at the Gathering. And that is uncomfortable. We must live with uncertainty about an afterlife; uncertainty about the existence or non-existence of God, about if there is a supernatural creative force, about a reason for life. As much as we can believe certain things about a creator, existence and an afterlife, we are nevertheless uncertain. Nobody has the evidence to claim their religious or non-religious beliefs are facts. And that ought to fill everyone with profound humility in what we do or don't believe. We could all be terribly wrong!
What I find attractive about Unitarian Universalism is that it offers a spiritual identity within the confines of a historic church. It has a long history of rigorous philosophical thought and struggle behind it. I like that the UU church emerged from western and Christian roots – of which I am familiar by tradition – and it has now also embraced eastern and other streams of spirituality which I find attractive. I can worship the transcendent and the ineffable, I can personally pray or meditate, without needing to fully understand what I am experiencing. I can rest in uncertainty and still find spiritual beauty, wonder and awe. For me, Unitarian Universalism embodies three short phrases: Open minds. Open beliefs. Open hearts.
Too often I find that dogmatic religious beliefs become arcane discussions much like the debate Thomas Aquinas is said to have had over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Ultimately, what is the point? We at the Gathering and our UU friends say much the same. There are starving kids outside these doors. There are people who hurt and grieve. There are the defeated and forlorn who have given up on life. There are millions of oppressed who are denied rights of dignity, freedom and justice. These are things that really matter. People everywhere ask the very same question: how can this life and this earth be improved for the one human family? No matter what any of us believe spiritually, that is an eternally true creed ALL people can accept.