Just another day or Is it?

 

Photo Courtesy of Bruce Thomas Witzel

Love was definitely in the air yesterday. There was the look of love in people’s eyes. Men carrying a bouquet of flowers. Cars are running in slow motion giving pedestrians a chance to cross the street.  I can’t believe that they are actually yielding to us. In turn, I gave them the peace sign instead of giving them the bird.

Valentine’s Day is now over. Yesterday’s red roses are dead. Some are feeling the effect of sugar crash from eating chocolates. I have none of these, but I still feel giddy about meeting people on the road and striking a conversation.

I meet a man on the street who lives two blocks away from me at The Poppy, a residential home for older folks. Still walking with the aid of a walker. I tell you, those walkers are the most significant invention for elderly as a means of their independence just to get around. He is so proud to say that he is 99 years old and can’t wait to reach his centennial year. He has two children. One of them came to visit him to celebrate her 73rd birthday. He proceeded to tell me that his wife died five years ago and they were married for 77 years. He’s happy having his children, grand, and great-great-grandchildren. He doesn’t appear to be that ancient. He seems to be in his 70’s.

We parted and wished me Happy St. Valentine’s Day.

It must be love that keeps him going.

To a disciple who was forever complaining about others the master said, “If  it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people.  It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth.”  ~ Anthony de Mello, SJ

MORSEL:    The paradox of control is simple. The more we try to control life, the less control we have.  ~ Joan Borysenko, Ph.D.

 

Photo via TWIST – Picasso, Merton, and Pathways to Peace.

 

For the future generation

This gallery contains 1 photo.

Joshua came into her dream. In a grocery store, I was trying to reach a 2 litter Dr. Pepper from the top shelf. A hand came from behind me and said “I gotcha mum”. It was Josh. He told me … Continue reading →

Daily Treat

This gallery contains 4 photos.

I know a place, where no one ever goes, There’s peace and quiet, beauty and repose. It’s hidden in a valley, beside a mountain stream, And lying there beside the stream I find that I can dream. Only a place … Continue reading →

Pick One

This gallery contains 1 photo.

“Knowing that my emotions are only partially in my control, I reflect on what emotions I want to have If I could choose only one, what would it be: joy? peace? loving-kindness? courage? gratitude? I pick one of these imagine … Continue reading →

The Real Meaning of Peace

This gallery contains 1 photo.

The real meaning of peace is a calendar that has no Mondays! You wish! Peace out. Read all about it at: Morning story and Dilbert: the-real-meaning-of-peace  

Last Minute Changes

This list is precious and does not cost anything.

Source: Stolen from Santa‘s List: (I can’t remember.)

The Peace Of Wild Things

The Peace of Wild Things

BY WENDELL BERRY

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

via: Poetry Foundation

 

 

In the Spirit of Peace and Harmony

Please Read Important Notice

I posted “Extra Ordinary Bonds“ (EOB), the photo of a Sadhu and Monkey, taken by Sirish BC for National Geographic assignment “The Animals that We Love” recently.  Subsequent to this, I posted “Is it love or we just see what we want to see?” another photo of a Sadhu  taken by VJ Photography with his comments to EOB.

Note that both of these posts no longer exist in this site.

What made me do it, you asked?  I did it out of respect for Sirish BC and because words get in the way.  Sirish did not ask me to delete my post but he deleted his assignment at National Geographic.  I want to support him.

It was based on his in reply to VJPhotograpy at EOB:

Sirish B.C. Jul 8, 9:50 am  “Nanda, This was your observation as a tourist…but I don’t want to debate as I am not a very very very wise, intellectual and big shot like you, so deleted my picture on NG…”

I am aware that the photo of the Sadhu and the Monkey was shared to another form of social media and it was reblogged thousand times over, not enough to have gone viral.

By deleting the source, Sirish and mine, I am hoping the that we can maintain a spirit of peace and harmony in this celluloid word.  I am asking you all who have shared this if you all can support Sirish BC by deleting it from your site.

Thank you.
Perpetua aka The Seeker

Diversity: A whole new world

Differences including our abilities, appearance, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, colour, creed, ancestry, religion, physically challenge and mental faculty make each us unique and the world more interesting.

Sex and Gender is a bit confusing for me.  These are the words I learnt at the school level:

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Transvestite, Transsexual, Two-Spirit, Homosexual, Heterosexual, Straight, Heterosexism, Homophobia, Genderism, Sexual Orientation, Gender, Identity,  Queer.

Working as a public servant, it is vital to accept people for what they are especially when children are involve and are in the process of self-discovery of their sexual orientation.  Be respectful.

It’s not an easy topic for most people to discuss.  I have no problem discussing it but I have to be mindful of other’s that are uncomfortable about this issue. Be sensitive.

It’s a different culture. Be tolerant.

One thing I find offensive is when young ones use derogatory remarks.  Children are more prone to voicing it out because they have a little understanding. It’s just a matter of educating the children.  Guide them.

They are humans, too, just like me. They have human needs.  Be a friend.

To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that ,,,,, “

We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.

Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair.

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder.

Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

“In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite.”

Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!” ― Charles Chaplin

Source