Archive for the ‘Nationality’ Category

What you put out into the world is precisely what you get back

What you put out into the world is precisely what you get back. Not even “kinda, you might get it back”– no, it’s exactly what you get back. 

Using his guitar and a simple song that repeated the Arabic word for “sweetheart,” Michael Franti created a bridge between cultures that overcame language barriers and mistrust. Before long, he was followed by throngs of children wherever he went, and local people brought him into their homes, introduced him to their families and shared stories of their daily struggles amid violence, blackouts and shortages that most Americans never get to hear.

Michael took on this journey with no bodyguards, no weapons and no agenda other than listening to what both the Iraqi people and U.S. soldiers had to say. Later, he repeated the experience in Israel and Palestine, a process featured in the documentary I Know I’m Not Alone.

 

The full article can be read here …..

Be Inspired…by the human possibilities coming out of Earthly disasters – it gives hope and the promise of transformation for the future

This email arrived ‘from a friend of a friend’ – it may well be one of those urban legends that does the rounds – however, no matter.  Upon reading it I was struck by the intensity of promise that exists in what we currently regard as ‘disasters’.  The possibility for human connection and transformation of how we relate to each other following the times of change that are surely likely to come is an inspiration to me…and I hope to you too.

 

Date: 3/15/2011 9:40:51 AM
Subject: A personal  glimpse

Dear Everyone:
Here is an e-mail from the  friend of a friend presently in Japan. She very movingly describes the  way people are coming together in the course of this disaster. This sort  of personal report is worth so much more than what the msm puts out ….  love Rosie

Hello My Lovely Family and Friends,

First I  want to thank you so very much for your concern for me. I am very  touched. I also wish to apologize for a generic message to you all. But  it seems the best way at the moment to get my message to  you.

Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am  very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since  my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a  friend’s home. We share
supplies like water, food and a kerosene  heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share  stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

During the day we  help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their  cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get  drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in  their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs  and buckets.

Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no  looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it  is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, “Oh, this is  how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one  another.”

Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every  15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead  often.

We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and  now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has  not yet come on.

But all of this is by area. Some people have  these things, others do not.
No one has washed for several days. We  feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for  us now. I love this peeling away of
non-essentials. Living fully on  the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for  survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.

There are  strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet  then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun.

People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out  walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.

Other  unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars.  No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with  stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled.

The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can  see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently.

And the  Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check  on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and  I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from
whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door  checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers  asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear.
Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.

They tell us we can  expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or  more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I  am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is
a bit elevated,  a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off  than others. Last night my friend’s husband came in from the country,  bringing food and water. Blessed again.

Somehow at this time I  realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic  evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this  moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now
in  Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I  felt so small because of all that is happening. I don’t. Rather, I feel  as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave  of
birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.

Thank  you again for your care and Love of me,

With Love in return, to  you  all,

 

Hans Rosling’s 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes

A fascinating statistical graphical mindbending journey through history…and how we really are evolving to getting better.  One for the good news at macro level when the micro level bad news gets you down.

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