Something to Think About

"Please be responsible for the energy you bring into this room." (quoted from Jill Bolte Taylor)

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Just do it. Let in the thought. Observe others when they enter your room.Be aware of yourself when you encounter others in their space. Just "noticing" will make a huge difference in your day.

30 Years Ago Today

Give Peace a chance. Lennon said he thought of himself as someone passing a torch to the next generation. His peaceful message was nothing new.

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Sad that he was taken from us in such a violent way. I'd like to say things have gotten better, but they really haven't. Society is as violent as ever. And it seems more so because of the echo chamber of the internet, TV, radio, newspapers, etc. and the way that local tragedies become instantly part of the nation's news cycle.

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Thinking of John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people....
Living for today.

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Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

Happy Christmas!

So this is Christmas

And what have you done

Another year over

And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas I hope you have fun

The near and the dear one

The old and the young

A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year

Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear

And so this is Christmas

For weak and for strong

For rich and the poor ones

The world is so wrong

And so happy Christmas

For black and for white

For yellow and red ones

Let's stop all the fight

New World Coming - Cass Eliot

Timely!

Tired of Politics for Today, Reflecting on Peace

"It is isolation that is critical to war. You can't be abusive when you realize your connectedness."

-David Kadlec

Imagine Whirled Peace

No better way to cool off than eating my new favorite ice cream....

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Caramel and sweet cream ice creams...swirled with fudge Peace signs and Toffee Cookie pieces!

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Yum...

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Give Peace a Chance.

Happy Earth Day

The Sunday Morning Muse, April 6, 2008

The Peace sign turned 50 years old this week. I wondered why more people don't wear peace symbols than those flag lapel pins that somehow have been perverted into a symbol of who is patriotic and who is not in political races. (see prior rant, or this one)

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We all want peace, right? (Unless you work for Halliburton... where there is money to be made during wars....)

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Snarkiness aside, the best advice I ever got to keep peace in your own

life, (which is all you can really affect anyway) is, that whenever you have the choice to be Right or to be Kind, always pick Kind. Something to muse about today. I'm not advocating a Pollyanna approach to life. Go ahead, pick your battles if you must, but as a rule, keeping your ego at bay is a surer path to a more peaceful life. And it is better for your blood pressure.

May the Darkness Illuminate the Light

It is still the longest night as I write this missive. Today is the first day of Winter and the days will slowly get longer.

I was privledged to get a chance to walk a meditative labyrinth at dusk. Labyrinths have been around for over 4000 years, and take various forms.

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I was struck by the complexity, as I had never seen one. Some people don't know the difference between a labyrinth and a maze. You actually walk into and out of a labyrinth through the pattern. I immediately wanted to know more about the origins of this particular one I walked which was based on the one at the Cathedral on Chartres, France:

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link

One of the most famous aspects of the cathedral in Chartres is the spectacular rose window over the great west doors. It has the same dimensions as the labyrinth and is exactly the same distance up the west wall as the labyrinth is laterally from the cathedral's main entrance below the window. An imaginary cosmic hinge located where the doors and floor intersect would, if closed, place the rose window directly on top of the labyrinth, thus the sparkling, colored light of the window and the darkness of the labyrinthine pilgrimage are combined.

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Walking a labyrinth is a deeply personal experience. You can clear your mind completely, or recite a mantra to yourself, or go into the walk thinking about a problem that troubles you. I used my walk to reflect on the need for Peace in my life. The War, the partisanship, the religious conflicts going on.... I wanted to keep myself open to anything that would guide me to a more peaceful way of dealing with life in the coming year.

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It takes about 10 minutes to walk at a casual pace to the center of the labyrinth. At the center is a special place that you may want to spend time reflecting or praying or doing whatever you feel compelled to do at the moment. A change occurs after that. Whereas going into the labyrinth you meditate on the problem.... on the way out you open yourself up to receiving a solution.

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At some point during my walk back out, the words of St. Francis of Assisi entered my head. A poem I had read again and again in my life, but it had been a long time since I read it. I didn't quite remember much of it other than the first few lines.... Lord, make me an instrument of thy Peace.

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Be a peacemaker, in other words. That's what I got out of my 20 minute walk in and out of the labyrinth. Don't go looking for peace. Help create it.

Let there be Peace on Earth...

If someone arrived here from another planet and watched the news yesterday, they would think we are all really screwed up. First they would see the tables full of hundreds of needy folks being served up helpings of turkey and mashed potatoes, then cut to the story about the crazy people waiting in line for several hours in freezing cold temperatures to fight their way into a store for the purpose of saving a few bucks off of the latest toy, TV or gadget. Then the "on the street" interviews of shoppers. I heard one lady, a 20-something mother, saying that her kids have a 1700 hundred dollar list of things they want, and she knows that this year she can't get everything.

What? Oh, what a bad mother.

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Didn't those pictures of the people at the Food Bank, at the Salvation Army, or in those church halls, mean ANYTHING?

Yesterday there was also a disturbing story about a group of kids at a school in Florida that started a Peace Club. They wore a Peace Shirt once a week on the same day. It sounds so sweet and innocent. But not in this society. The political partisanship that dominates our culture has gotten to the younger generation and now these kids are harrassed and called names by other kids, being accused of being "against the Troops.." Sounds like Little Rush Limbaughs doesn't it?

From the Article

But what started out as a light-hearted gesture soon started to be taken out of context. Students started approaching the group members, yelling obscene things at them, said Lauren. "People just turned on us like that," she said. "At least 10 boys stood up and yelled things at me at once, and we couldn't even walk through the halls without a harsh comment being made."

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Soon, a second group started to wear Confederate flag shirts to oppose the peace group, Skylar said. She saw shirts with sayings such as "This is America, get used to it," and "If peace is the answer; it must be a stupid question." "Now there are even 'support our troops' kids who don't like us because I guess they think you can't say peace and support the troops at the same time," Lauren said.

How does this happen? That the whole concept of PEACE.... something so beautiful and innocent... a message gangbangers need to hear, a message that fighting families with all the domestic violence we have in this country... really need to hear. And the word itself has been perverted by shrill voices on the right, so determined to promote the President and his war. So to Rush, and to all the others out their spewing hate and constantly pounding their pro- war message: Hey, the children are listening. The fruit of your message is intolerance, which is what tends to lead to war in the first place.

Peace really IS the answer. At least that's what you say in church. Remember Peace Be With You?

The Sunday Morning Muse, October 14, 2007

Wearing a flag pin on your jacket, or slapping a magnetic yellow ribbon on your 13 mpg SUV, is really the least anyone can do to show their patriotism. Seriously, it's the LEAST you can do.- Jeremy, Orlando, FL

Amen.

I found this quote in the comments section in response to a New Hampshire newspaper editorial criticizing Barack Obama for NOT wearing a flag lapel pin.

To Flag Pinners, I ask.... do you think sporting jewelry makes you oh so much more patriotic than the next guy? Perhaps it's my bias, but I figured the flag pinners to be in one of three classes:

1. A Bush supporter no matter what he does or doesn't do. So there.

2. A politician who doesn't want to be seen as someone who is not patriotic. It's like not wearing underwear.

3. And-- here I give benefit of the doubt--a bona fide supporter of the US military wearing the flag because a loved one is in harm's way, and the symbol somehow gives them comfort and a feeling of solidarity.

I don't run into many of #3--- but if you are out there, you know who you are. But it's about time someone called down this self-serving ridiculous practice by the politicians. Way to go Obama!