Congress would do well to give a FECK

I’d just finished Chaz Ebert’s new book, “It’s Time to Give a FECK,” a couple of hours before I turned on CNN a while back, and there she was being interviewed by weekend anchor Fredricka Whitfield about the qualities of forgiveness, empathy, compassion and kindness — FECK — that she writes about so eloquently and so informatively to live a better life.

Chaz Ebert’s new book is trying to help make the world a better place.

I liked and appreciated the book very much. We all need to use those qualities day in and day out to acquire some common ground. I was really intrigued when she mentioned that she would like to send copies to each member of Congress. What a great idea! She later said she was hoping “that didn’t sound like a crazy idea.” Of course it didn’t; it sounds like a very sane one to me.

There’s no one in this country better to send the book to than our contentious elected representatives. They are the lawmakers in this country, and we are expected to abide by what they enact. They should help promote peace in the world. They should help set a reasoned and hopeful tone.

With their power and influence, who better to practice the FECK qualities of forgiveness, empathy, compassion and kindness on behalf of the people of this country and the world? Who best to lead by example?

But make no mistake, Ebert’s message about living those principles in daily life is aimed at and applies to us all from the rocking of the cradle to the rolling of the hearse to “make the world a better place.”

Throughout the book, she emphasizes the FECK qualities with examples about sharing time with South African archbishop Desmond Tutu, who “seemed to have made peace with himself and others” after what happened in his country under the apartheid regime, to how she and her husband, the late acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert, and others had dealt with his illness while still practicing the principles and striving to promote them through their work, including Ebertfest, the 25-year-old film festival here in Champaign.

So I hope she does send a copy of “It’s Time to Give a FECK” to every member of Congress for their own education about how to close the Great Divide in the country, appreciate one another, and come together for the good of us all.

She writes with a great deal of love and compassion about her partnership with Roger in the 21 years of their marriage (together 24 years), the way they lived and spoke, including the touching and kind exchanges during his extended illness and death — or his “transition,” as she calls it.

Every quality about the value of “elevating humanity through forgiveness, empathy, compassion and kindness” was covered in the book and exemplified through Roger: that forgiveness of one another, the empathy he valued so highly about the effect of movies that “is critical to our showcasing care for the human condition,” the compassion “to take intentional, loving action for another person or for a group of people” — when you give it, you get it — and the kindness to show that “another person’s situation can help bring about acts of kindness because we want to help alleviate suffering and be more compassionate.”

She even suggests exercises for readers to respond personally to their own lives to help them see the FECK principles in their own words and actions. In the kindness exercise, she asks readers to identify what people or groups in their lives are in need of additional support, what ways that could be done, what are simple acts of kindness and how to get more creative in showing them.

Working toward the FECK goals, Ebert believes, will lead to a better, more peaceful world without war, a healthier world, improved mental health and a happier world. Near the end of the book, she includes several opportunities to list one’s own FECK contributions.

This book is a good-feeling read about living a quality life. As Ebert reports Roger once said, “I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do.”

There’s no doubt that Ebert is doing her best with this book, and if Congressmen/women would read it and practice the FECK qualities, and we’d do the same, we’d all be a little happier.

No, it’s not a crazy idea at all, Chaz.