Dear Phil Robertson and everyone else interested in this public scandal,
There will be disagreements, contentions and frequent temptation to act and speak in an unbecoming manner – especially in a multicultural society and that includes online communities. In this context, idle talk and memes can be a divisive device which begs caution, scrutiny and wisdom.
How shall we live, work and relate with each other in our diversity? How shall we enthusiastically collaborate toward the common good and our own separate, individual, nobel ambitions?
However our opinions may differ, each of us will find it challenging (more or less) to live in a world that includes those whose actions, opinion and political will contradict our identity and, perhaps, even challenge the living out of our intimate hopes and aspirations.
That is a challenge we must accept with several virtues. I speak of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
If each of us do not accept to meet this challenge with these several virtues, then we are not worthy of democracy, freedom, peace and/or happiness.
If we cannot agree these virtues are necessary or exercise these virtues with an enduring devotion, then communities and nations are doomed. For we will walk in darkness.
That is a bleak future that reminds me of the Prince’s warning and lament in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Help others unlock wisdom, self-understanding and the potential to live well, to be true, to love and to shine.
That is the secret to writing a potentially epic blog post. It is also the secret of friendship. Love. AND leadership – among other things.
It’s that simple. Oh – yes – it is also that difficult.
Such honesty, of course, means turning down the dial on your expectations of what will make you (or me) happy.
Because happiness is not the measure of a person or perfection. On occasion, happiness may coincide.
The pursuit of happiness without reference to the true, the good and the beautiful can and often is a self-defeating and self-destructive preoccupation – however natural, compulsive and self-evident.
Think this over, my friend.
Understanding this may save you from undue misery, desperate and regrettable decisions, and, most of all, doorways and well-worn paths to darkness – where hope is reluctant to follow.
Insufficient funds – it’s not a real problem
by Stan Faryna
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Play the soundcloud player to hear the podcast. Or download it here. The podcast sounds awesome with earphones or played on hi-fi speakers. Try it and tell me what you think.
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Money, they say, can’t buy you happiness.
Because happiness is not something a thing can give to you. Nor can you take happiness from a thing. It cannot be extracted like gold from the earth. Because happiness is not in things. For it is not material. It is feeling, it is knowing, and it is love.
It is feeling that reflects our presence in the world. It is feeling that reflects oneness, harmony and beauty. It is feeling that resounds with what is true and good. And the promises of a thousand kisses, falling stars that you speak wishes to, rainbows…
And the hope that glimmers in a thousand tears. That cries out from a sigh. The ache in the aching. Because what is missed and missing is what is true. Read the rest of this entry »
Because happiness is not something a thing can give to you. Nor can you take happiness from a thing. It cannot be extracted like gold from the earth. Because happiness is not in things. For it is not material. It is feeling, it is knowing, and it is love.
It is feeling that reflects our presence in the world. It is feeling that reflects oneness, harmony and beauty. It is feeling that resounds with what is true and good. And the promises of a thousand kisses, falling stars that you speak wishes to, rainbows…
And the hope that glimmers in a thousand tears. That cries out from a sigh. The ache in the aching. Because what is missed and missing is what is true.
Times are changingby Bob Dylan ………………………………………………..
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The Inaugural Speech of President Barack Obama
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
My fellow citizens,
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
As I reflect on the meaning of Independence Day, I cannot help but to see the stark contrast between the freedoms which we as Americans have come to take for granted and the situation in Romania, where the Romanian people struggle to live day by day under the capricious and self-serving will of oligarchs and authoritarians and a corrupt and impetuous government.
Never you mind that the 2008 NATO Summit was held in Bucharest.
.
We the people of the United States, in order to form a
more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity…
United States Constitution
.
The purpose of human government is to enable the people to obtain, individually, for themselves every good and moral opportunity to pursue and enjoy the common good.
Regardless of geographical differences, the purpose is everywhere the same. This, the human spirit has taught us in its longings, triumphs, and struggles through human history. And this wisdom is made more compelling by our own tears, hopes and prayers.
George Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr. understood themselves as instruments of human destiny. They saw that the implications of their efforts, sacrifices and triumphs were not limited to their time; they understood that the things for which they struggled for must also belong in a wider sense to humanity and the future.
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