"Be Not to Overcome Evil with Evil, Overcome Evil with Good."

In Mexico City, criminal gangs are kidnapping rich people and their families for the lucrative ransom money.  On the advice of his lawyer, Mexican businessperson Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony), like other wealthy people, hires a bodyguard to protect his nine-year-old daughter Lupita "Pita" Ramos (Dakota Fanning), and to be able to renew the family's ransom insurance.  The head of an executive security firm, Paul Rayburn (Christopher Walken) suggests that Ramos hire Rayburn's old CIA friend John Creasy (Denzel Washington).

Ramos is impressed with Creasy's résumé, which includes a variety of counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism activities.  However, Creasy has since become uninterested in life.  He is burned out from all the deaths and horrors he has been involved in.  Creating alcoholism to ease Creasy's past burdens.  Creasy is not interested in bodyguard work and even less with the youngster, but he needs a job.  Creasy's initial impatience slowly fades as he finds himself opening up to the child.  He replaces her parents in their absence, giving her advice and coaching her in her swimming lessons and competitions.  He helps her overcome her fear of starting guns, turning it into an eagerness to move at the sound of one.  Pita gives Creasy an emblem of St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, saying she bought it for him with her own money.

Shortly after delivering her to a piano audition, Creasy notices a suspicious vehicle driving past and a pair of police cars blocking off the surrounding street.  As Pita emerges from the building and freezes, Creasy pulls out his gun and fires a shot into the air, similar to a starting gun, startling her to running away.  During the gun battle, four of the attackers are fatally shot, including two corrupt police officers.  The battle leaves Creasy seriously wounded and unconscious, allowing the surviving kidnappers to grab the child.  Shortly after the kidnapping, gang leader Daniel Sanchez demands a dead drop ransom of ten million dollars in exchange for Pita.  The drop goes badly, a corrupt police gang called “La Hermandad” ambushes the kidnappers, and the money is stolen.  "The brotherhood" exists within most all municipal police forces.  Sanchez notifies Pita's parents that the child will not be released, and everyone assumes she is dead.  It is during this time that the police chief while unconscious in his hospital bed, claiming he has murdered two judicial police officers, makes Creasy into public spectacle.  Rayburn shows up at the hospital after hearing the news and aids in helping Creasy escape to a safe house to further recover from his injuries.  After Creasy recovers from his wounds, he returns to Pita's home and promises her mother that he will kill everyone who was involved in, or profited from, the kidnapping.  Creasy kidnaps and tortures several "La Hermandad" members, forcing them to reveal the names of the people involved in the kidnapping ring.  In addition, Ramos admits setting the whole kidnapping up in order to get insurance money, as he was bankrupt.  He then commits suicide with a gun provided by Creasy.  With Rayburn's help, Creasy buys a variety of guns, explosives, and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.  He uses the weaponry to kill a number of corrupt Mexican police officers and high-ranking law enforcement officials who were involved in the kidnapping.  After Creasy learns where Sanchez lives, he fights his way into Sanchez's apartment.  Although Creasy is wounded in the gunfire, he gains the upper hand, and captures and tortures Sanchez's brother and ex-wife.

To save his brother, Sanchez admits that Pita is alive, and offers to exchange her for his brother and Creasy - A Life for a Life.  Creasy agrees, and travels with Pita's mother to a remote rural area to make the exchange.  After Pita runs to her mother, Creasy is hustled into a car, which speeds off.  As Creasy succumbs to his gunshot wounds, he drops the emblem of St. Jude that Pita gave him.  An epilogue reveals that Sanchez was killed during a police raid that same day, his location discovered by special operations police who were electronically following Creasy's movements and actions.

The movie was filmed in Mexico City in the 1980’s – they government of Mexico placed a ban on the movie for five years after its release.  The story is a true one.  There is a child that is kidnapped nearly every day.  Denzel’s character of Creasy is relevant to a man, which had done the very same actions and was from a similar background.

To this day, it’s my favorite movie as there was more within this movie and although it came out as labeled as fiction – yet after its release it was obvious that the character of Creasy had existed.  The areas of this movie that I truly love are the bond Creasy had with Pita – which ironically brought him back from his own plights.  As well as the indication of gangs which are within all areas and walks of life.  Most of all the conviction that Creasy had in doing justice within a country where there is no justice.  I don’t think he was the lamb that was lost.  I think that Creasy and the story were a true one - by the means of ethics of integrity & humility.

Again John Creasy was not a lost man he took care of a situation within Mexico that would have taken much more man power than one.

The merit within this movie was of merit and how this man found himself while he was a bodyguard for a sweet angel. As the quotation up above indiates,

 "Be Not to Overcome Evil with Evil, Overcome Evil with Good."

 

 

 

Of that of which life Becomes

Of that of which Life Becomes

 

We may not always realize

Within all which we do

Affects not only our own lives

But touches others as well

That single happy smile

Can always brighten up the day

For anyone who passes by

Or while you’re on your own way

That simple minute of thoughtfulness

Verifies that commodity of care

Creating the radiance of sunshine

Of which both come to share

Every time you offer

Someone a helping hand

Every time you have a kind

Word to give

Beauty illustrates

Within validness of life

Happiness brings happiness

Loving ways brings love

Giving is the treasure

Of which life becomes

Render that commodity of care

Within a simple minute of thoughtfulness

Where treasure are within Spirit

Gestures are the Creation

Assistance is the Offer

An infinite karma

Within the life streams

Thoughtful – Spirited – Gestures

Are of what life Announces

Of that of which life does Become

 

 

~ JGS ~

 

 

RETAINING AN ATTITUDE OF ALLOWING

Kevin I came to know some time ago by way of a fellow architect which had Kevin living room and board in his basement apartment.  Kevin was within the army reserves - then something went wrong.  He fell into a situation where he required hospitalization as he fell into deep depressions which lead into a psychosis.  It was all due to the loss of a relationship combined with hitting the bottle.  There were a few of us which kept in touch with him and then lost it. There is a good side to this story…

He was hospitalized for six months and then there after he was overseen by a professional.  He was in the reserves for many years and was always that of the nature of being very smart, intelligent, and tremendously witty.  During his recovery, he stopped everything within his life as well he could not work nor could he do most things and was had to go on welfare.

I never have been into this control element, nor am I now. I find over the years there are those which do want help – and those that don’t want help.  But there is something to be said in doing something for another – Kevin was one of those types.  He was on that verge of living on the street – as he had been drastically impacted by it all and I knew he was that type of person that would so quickly turn to drinking.  Yet there was duration where I saw someone which was brilliant yet in hard trying times and during that time to drop in without calling was probably something which kept him level headed.  After a little bit of time I made arrangements for him to see this security agency only if he would make a few promises.  He had hardly any clothes and I went out and bought him the needs that would get him back into the workplace as.  As the saying goes one thing does lead to another.  I knew the head of the security company as it was one that my father ran while he was in retirement.

I went to the head of this security force and told him the story.  He understood and was open to giving Kevin a try.  Mind you from that point on it was up to Kevin as to if he succeeded or failed.  Kevin ended up doing very well.  He stayed with the security force for a period of five years and then went to South Korea to teach English at the same time he had met a lady which became his wife.  The two of them lived in South Korea and did tremendously.

He came back after three years of teaching English and now works within the local airport here within customs. I ran into him the other day when I was at the airport.  There after we caught up with all that he was doing.  He and his wife separated and are on good terms.  Kevin reinvented his life.  From being hospitalized with a diagnosis after a prolonged period of depression he has come a long ways.  If he didn’t he would not be working within customs.  Now here is one person of the likes of many that had a situation.  Through it all he is no different than anyone else and literally he was in a rut.  There are more than we know that do go through the likes of Kevin.  I would assume during the time that we had together that he and his wife shall be getting back together but the merit of this story is that many I can’t even begin to tell you the trail that this chap went through – but many did walk on by.  There is something to be said for those that do take the time and help out someone when they are in need. Yet he is living proof of the will to achieve.

So often there are people that pass people like Kevin by.  Yet what I have learned is that it merely starts with the aid – not the control of someone that looks beyond and takes things into account.  Kevin lives a full life. Now I did help him out and with no intentions of a need for him return anything back.  But most of all Kevin is one that once given a chance and opportunity he blossomed.  I find more often than not there are many people of this kind which never do get that second chance.  There still is something to be said with for people like Kevin.  There are organizations but I tend to see so many placed into an institutionalized situation and some do get out of it and carry on with life – when they are given that second chance.  I have no problem with indicating the how I helped this person.  Yet at the same time I merely just opened the door and the rest was up to him.

The door opened and Kevin not only walked through them.  He went on to make life work rather than become of the likes of many which have what it takes but some do fall through the cracks and all they need is merely a little help and then they are off encountering life and living it.  The credit isn’t mine as really the credit all goes to one whom decidedly made good choices and turned the page within his life.

 

Martin Luther King - A Legacy of Hope within a Dream

I find that this writing that is regarded highly international what with regards to a man that had a vision. I don't think many come close to his convictions of what he did. As well, I think that he was a man that dared to challenge something within societies that did make an impact back in the 60's.

I think probably people will always make some judgment on people with regards to their color. Not all but some.

Some things change and some things never do. But as time goes by and during these days of recent and especially today marks something very different. Something very significant.

I find that this is one holiday that is celebrated by some and honored by others. What this man stood for was an effort and a basis that would resonate through out not only the United States but as well for many of countries. As well as many cultures. To all that hail from the United States of America this man was more about mankind and society that color. Look at how far we have come! And yet how far we need to go. If Dr. Martin L. King was alive today - I wonder what he would think with regards to everything that we have seen in the last ten years...

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity." But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that a black person is still languishing in the corners of  society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was adhere too.

This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as citizens of color are concerned. America historically gave people of black color a bad check --- a cheque that came back marked "insufficient funds". We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check --- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand’s of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the people of black decent. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. There is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold, which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, and rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the south. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must come true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California. But not only that let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!"

Today that "Bell of Freedom" rang…in a new way 48 years ago.

 

In Honour of Japan - Little did I know. Video.avi

I went to the university and went to my own dorm to do some work by way of laptop.While leaving I thought I would leave and take a look within my this small little chapel that most all of us would study in.

Today I was surprised to find that there was a service for the Japanese by this smallchapel. It took me way by surprise and I never would have thought that I ran into the people that I did but this is a small video and I thought I would share it as I was very surprised as I never thought that there was catholics and this one gentleman came to this land several years ago.

What I did find that while I had a date time line. That there were rituals of a variety of faiths praying three days a week for Japan. It's remarkable and I shall return. As this was a surprise. Yet there is so much more to say with regards to this. Yet what I felt was that this was something of worth. As I left there were more and more students coming in and it was not something I was prepared for to say the least yet it was something of faith and
good wish.

And yes it's rather short. Yet worthwhile. Much more that worthwhile really.
I had no intention of this and I would have never thought that upon leaving this past residence of mine where I do sometimes have a place from which to write. I was truly amazed. I am not united but it really didn't matter.

I loaded this wirelessly and I was taken by all this. And I shall write on more with regards to it and perhaps then some. There is a differentiation between what is happening within Japan and in those other parts of the world.

This authentically was amazing and I was the last to think I would find this taking place. So again while I was leaving, I thought I would leave out the chapel doors and then this happened and it's rare that I will pass by something of this kind especially.

What has happened since Nuremberg?

There is no rational explanation for the madness of the Final Solution. At the time of the Holocaust, the Jews were stripped of their possessions, walled in ghettos, powerless and docile. They had no power, no land, nothing. The Jews were not a danger to Hitler's rule.

On the contrary, the destruction of the Jewelry, affected negatively the German war effort, destroyed valuable industrial manpower, strained the transportation system, eliminated 25 percent of the medical professions and crippled the German research institutions, especially in the field of atomic physics. In addition, the racial discrimination laws excluded from military service about 300,000 Jews and those whom were even partially Jewish. World War II was decided not only within the battlefields. It was going on in the many rooms of scientific laboratories. The invention of radar, breaking of the secret codes, building of superior air crafts and tanks, decided the outcome of the war. Killing of Jewish scientists, Jewish doctors and other valuable manpower of this sort was the ABSOLUTE.  The Final Solution was against the interest of the German people and the Nazi party, and there was only one explanation for this lunacy.

Only a sick, compulsive mind, living within his distorted world, conceived such a terror with other human beings. Hitler had such a mind. Despite outward appearance of strength, he was a sick, paranoid man, full of delusions. He believed that within his own world that he was the greatest German who ever lived since the dawn of time. For he was the greatest master builder, the greatest military leader, the greatest philosopher, for he thought he was a liberator of the human race. His paranoia, delusions, detachment from reality, brutality, lack of moral scruples were signs of a twisted one whom lead all caused by the disease of syphilis. It can be proved, that Hitler was infected with syphilis. In1908, and thirty years later, the dormant illness entered the third stage, causing inflammation of the brain. The fact that Hitler was in his youth infected with syphilis, is mentioned in the memoirs of many Nazi dignitaries. Hitler was by no mean a healthy man as he was treated for several diseases. Hitler ordered the killing, because he believed that the Jews were his powerful enemies, bent on destroying him. The best proof of Hitler's sickness is his behavior at the end of the war. When the Russians were only miles away, he lived his life within a bunker shuffling about. He lost completely the touch with reality. His outward appearance was pitiful. Hands that trembled, coupled in the end by several physical difficulties. It looked like that he suffered from Parkinson's disease. Which doesn't cause detachment from reality. The insanity of one man was superimposed on a whole nation. The Holocaust is not the only indication of Hitler's derangement. Nazi Germany was full of the bizarre. Germany had human breeding farms, where volunteer blond, blue eyed SS men produced children for the Fuhrer. By was of impregnated young girls. Hitler considered the creation of a new religion, where he would play the role of a redeemer of mankind, while he himself was of Jewish decent, and all future generation of Germans would pray to him. What a bent mind this man was. In Auschwitz there where the experiments on twins. Attempting to find ways of improving the breeding methods for the German women. An uneducated corporal, was commanding an army of 5 million people, slowly grinding it down, while the propaganda Minister, fled the country. God created man in his image and Hitler tried to create a new man in his own brutal image. His vision of a new world is outlined in the "Table Talks" a book based on Hitler's own monologues. It is a chilling picture of a world order based on slavery, brutality. There is no doubt that the Hitler was a charismatic leader, who was able to infect with his paranoia a whole generation the German people. The Holocaust was the first stage of the new world order and a few of Hitler's admirers in this country would be surprised to learn, that they would have been the next victims. It is tragic, that for the satisfaction of the whim of one man, a whole nation was crucified as well the entire world, conditioned by two thousand years of anti semitism, they looked the other way yes it was INDIFFERENCE.  Not one thing, or would anyone take a courageous attempt to stop one of histories largest tragedies.

~ Since the Nuremberg Trials, it is estimated that close to 100 million people have died as a result of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The trials were supposed to serve, as a lesson to those might believe that they could engage in these acts of horror with consequence. ~ 

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Featured_Videos/1555003082/ID=1656370227

~ G R E E D ~

Temptations seemingly can provoke the worst within some. It can cause people who normally are honest to do something so outlandish and dishonest. A good example of this is a recent situation within the Lottery system.  As well, within the province of Ontario some Lottery retailers have deceitfully cheated to claim millions in lottery prize money.  Within Canada there’s a lottery system that spans right across all of the country and if you’re a winner, you don’t have to pay out any taxes on your winnings. The biggest story lately within Canada has to do with the police accusing a Toronto convenience store employee and his two children with the stealing of a ticket worth $12.5 million. ~ Pause Period ~

Lets see maybe a better car for that matter maybe two, head out on a jet to whereever one wishes and beaches and vacations Yeah 12.5 million is still big money. Ok I am over it...

To make matters worse, now that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation is searching for the rightful winner. Of course they’ve been swamped with dozens and dozens of callers claiming ownership of the ticket. I guess we’re supposed to believe that all these people bought a lottery ticket for the draw in question at that store but never bothered to really check their numbers until they learned there was $12.5 million up for grabs. It kind of gives new meaning to nothing ventured, nothing gained I suppose. Since the first cases of retailer fraud surfaced a while back I noticed that within most all convenient stores here there have been signs within instructions on how to write our names on the back of tickets we hand in for redemption of any winnings. I never much have worried lotteries or lottery tickets, or anything of that sort as I have never gambled or played the lottery literally within my life. Yet it is something when greed comes into play rather than just honestly playing the game and who know one might just win. But still there is something to be said for this word called greed. It does bring out some of the worst things within SOME.

Certainly we do wish to have things perhaps more is worth saying however, the means by which we obtain what we have might be something to consider. As within this case it certainly isn't a first nor is it a last. There is something to be said for what people will do and what tempts us - which I would think money is right up there.

 

Oh No - That Word called Lying :)

If we could wave a magic wand or make a birthday wish like in the movie “Liar, Liar”. After which everyone everywhere had to always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, what a wonderful world it would be…just bliss.

~ Yeah ~ OR WOULD IT BE?

What about when she asks, “Do I look fat in these clothes?” As humans have evolved mentally, we seem to have become better and enhanced at being “economical with the truth”. We “contextualize”, yep I made my own word there Contextualize, meaning we shave the truth just a ……a little, so we can’t accuse ourselves, nor feel guilty of out and out lying.

“Liar” is such a negative word really isn’t it – then when one sees the word there is an automatic thought much like a yield sign if not worse as it really does have bad vibes to most all of us as we have been raised to have ideals and this word lying just was not apart of the diction or we were taught that it should not be apart of how we conduct ourselves as we were always to be accountable as well as tell the truth. 

So we rationalize some things just by telling a little bit or a piece of the truth at times in, which we don’t wish to tell the whole truth. I know there have been times within my life that I told a half truths and I am sure that you have as well. Or we just remain as silent as we can be. By telling a bit of the truth but not the whole truth in some areas we do make way, a police officer may pull us over when we are slightly going over the speed limit, and when he or she asks those first questions, we may just ever so gently rationalize or just say a little bit with regards to the entire truth - but we shall keep this all here ok - ok deal.

We’ll say we can’t make it when asked if attending something, giving the impression we’re committed elsewhere or at least there’s a good reason not to go when the truth is that we just don’t want to go, plain and simple. Or we will tell a “fib”, which is theoretically a little lie about something trivial, fooling ourselves into believing that it’s not really a lie, it’s just a fib.

Unfortunately, the triviality of something is a subjective judgment. Then there are what we call, “little white lies”, called that because, in the mind of the person telling it, it can’t possibly cause any real harm; it’s only a teeny little white lie. But, we can’t change human nature and we can’t just wish it so…so, everybody does it. Everybody knows everybody does it.

Nobody can do anything about it because the fact is that it is socially accepted, as against acceptable, to misrepresent the facts as we see fit. And, don’t you just hate it when someone talking to you begins a sentence with, “To tell you the truth”, or, “To be perfectly honest with you”?

Sure we all have and shall within various times within our lives.

The Power of Association Part 2

A friend is someone who has your best interests in mind, in case you didn’t know. Be sure that they really do have your best interests in mind. If they are better off than you and still choose to hang with you, that’s always good sign. In other words, seek out the friend that chooses you even though they could choose someone else.
They don’t have to be an old friend. In fact, if they are a new friend, it’s even better.

Here is the point. Your friends see you differently than you see yourself. They really don’t know you but there is this think in which we call respect and of value. New friends, especially, wear different glasses. New glasses. They’re not all stretched out or scratched up, and the prescription is still just right.

So before you start thinking about yourself negatively, borrow your friend’s glasses. Really hear the encouraging words and let them sink in. Claim them. And then thank God for another day. I thought that this was a good write from a friend as during writing over the weekend just when you are offline. I was taken out of this group that I belong to and I forget what the message said but it was a very intelligent one that was basically just looking to blemish me – yet really when it comes down to this – this is for enjoyment and expression. Hopefully the postures back and forth now do come to end as this was an area that in no manner do I have any hate within the friends that I have but at the same time it’s rather unfortunate that things happen this way. I borrowed this write from a friend that when I read it and was silent with the whole ordeal, I thought to myself that there shall be friends on here that leave off and if they do so be it as I my intention was not for the devalue, rather the value within all of this.

I look towards the good things within all of this it’s just as easy as that. So for those of you that are a member of a group that are a friend of mine I hope that there still is that reciprocating effect. I am not on here for the games that people do play, and never shall be I enjoy this and I do have to thank a friend from Singapore whom knows who she is, as her writing was one that literally did catch my eye yesterday.

So it's been a decent day and just like you I am wishing to just write and do what I always enjoy doing. For those that wish to play games please leave my blog out of the cycle.

Onwards I go.....

 

 

Ambitious Sensationalism

The effects of sensationalism are damaging the public and the integrity of journalism.
There is a clear dilemma for all good journalists. Although sensationalism sells, and we are within an era now where there is more sensationalism than previous as journalists are breaking the ethical values that their profession was founded on. A responsible journalist is less partisan, less attached, and more accurate. They value
the difference between opinion and the truth. If this defines a responsible journalist,
why is an irresponsible journalist irresponsible? Is it because they are more concerned with promoting themselves rather than the story? Have they sold out for the all mighty dollar? Is it the audience s fault because they expect less? Maybe journalism students are being taught in college to get the sensationalized story because it sells you will make it big. Whether labeled ethics, values, or morals, they are declining rapidly in the United States. What would make anyone believe that journalism is exempt from this infectious downfall in American society? Objectivity, although hardly perfect, seems to be the less of two evils. Winston Churchill once said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other forms. The same can be said about objective journalism. As long as journalists are willing to work hard and be honest about its limitations, it will remain our least bad source of information.
It amazes me how sensationalism literally has such an impact on society and yet there
are good reporting and I feel that if one wishes to speak to and have the power to speak to the media at large facts coupled within unbiased reporting surpasses sensationalized certainly sells, but credibility is lost as one has to decipher between facts and fictions and what the reports ambitions are. In conclusion, it is evident that sensationalism has become deeply entrenched in the media, leaving the public paying a high price through their loss of credible sources of information.

In turn, journalists are also paying a high price by sacrificing their ethical standards and succumbing to the temptations of sensationalism for the sake of profit and or other reasons, which would include politics now. It’s a blatantly disregard to the very standards of objectivity and credibility.

It’s a no brainer to understand and see the difference between what the missions and ethics were with Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather in comparison to Jeff Beck, Bill O'Reilly.

Two words sums it all up:

 Ambitious Sensationalism

A Rebirth within New Orleans

If you recall five years ago, Hurricane Katrina pounded the Gulf Coast, the fragile recovery of New Orleans has become an abundant field of study a study is fine but we all know that this was something that literally took much too long with the response, the fatalities, the government within office, for a area within America to be in such a frenzy for more than one year really didn't say much for a due diligence. The storm caused nearly $81 billion dollars worth of damage within New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast. In New Orleans, 70 per cent of all occupied housing units were damaged by the hurricane. The number of people killed in the storm totaled 1,833 across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Ohio. Most of the deaths occurred in Louisiana, with drowning being the major cause of death (40 per cent), followed by injury and trauma (25 per cent) and heart conditions (11 per cent), according to the Greater New Orleans Data Center. After Katrina an estimated 1.5 million people in Mississippi and Louisiana were displaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
In very slow response to housing after the hurricane, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, made 120,000 trailers available to families in need. In 2007, there were about 45,000 families still living in FEMA trailers. As of June 2010, the number had dropped to 860 families. In March 2010, FEMA sold 100,000 of the trailers at auction. How there was so much wastage. FEMA noted the units were not to be used for long term housing and cautioned the trailers posed a potential health hazard because of high formaldehyde levels.

In 2009, New Orleans had an estimated 519,000 jobs about 16 per cent less than was counted before Hurricane Katrina. Reconstruction within the greater New Orleans Community has regained over half the population of the city's 73 neighborhoods, which is great. Optimism seemingly is high that the rebuilding process finally on track. Seventy per cent of New Orleans residents said they were confident that the rebuilding process is on track and two in three residents said their lives had returned to normal.Many thought that the city would never rebuild. I have never been to New Orleans but you would have thought that this would take only two years but yet it’s good that there finally is a rebirth within a very unique place where the food and culture of New Orleans is not comparable to any other state. Although there is still much to do and the recent oil spill has not helped matters, New Orleans has seemingly for the most part rallied together and truly rebuilt a tremendous place. However, I still maintain that there was so much waste of tax payers monies and the time that it took with the response was something that I have never seen. I almost felt that the government at the time was going to just sit on the fence...

Well actually for a good two years they did. But finally there is a rebirth due to several factors, one of which was truly done by citizens and alternative organizations. And New Orleans certainly can stand proud as they really rallied and rebuilt on there very own to a large extent. As far as FEMA goes, if you recall the original head of FEMA was best friends with George Bush. Thereafter he admitted that he had no qualifications to run the organization. Such a pity of what happened within the first few years, but now the city is alive and seemingly returning back to norm and then some.

George Clooney brought a lighthearted touch while accepting a special Emmy Award for a rather serious subject:

"It's important to remember how much good can get done, because we live in such strange times where bad behavior sucks up all the attention and press. And the people who really need the spotlight: the Haitians, the Sudanese, people in the Gulf Coast.. Pakistan, they can't get any.

I thought maybe there was a way to combine the two. I have offered to go to the south Sudan and have a wardrobe malfunction, but it was pointed out to me that I'm 49 and the consensus was that it would just be upsetting and kind of sad. When the disaster happens, everybody wants to help, everybody in this room wants to help, everybody at home wants to help. The hard part is seven months later, five years later, when we're on to a new story. Honestly, we fail at that, most of the time. That's the facts. I fail at that. So here's hoping that some very bright person right here in the room or at home watching can help find a way to keep the spotlight burning on these heartbreaking situations that continue to be heartbreaking long after the cameras go away. That would be an impressive accomplishment.

Thank you."

 

~ Mahatma Gandhi Quote and Question ~

As like Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi was a man that did as well sacrifice for his own ideas I watched a movie on him last week and certainly he had many people much like other people that are activists in some sort but was he an idealists? Did he do what he had done in vain?

I thought I would place on a few of his quotes.

• The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
  Mahatma Gandhi
• We must be the change we wish to see.
  Mahatma Gandhi
• Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
  Mahatma Gandhi
• The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
  Mahatma Gandhi
• An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
  Mahatma Gandhi
• When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall - think of it, ALWAYS.
  Mahatma Gandhi
• Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
  Mahatma Gandhi
• What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?
  Mahatma Gandhi
• The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. He frees himself and shows the way to others. Freedom and slavery are mental states.
  Mahatma Gandhi
• Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.
  Mahatma Gandhi

What he just an idealist?

 

 

~ 47 Years Ago ~ Martin Luther King

I find that this writing that is regarded highly international what with regards to a man that had a vision. I don't think many come close to his convictions of what he did. As well, I think that he was a man that dared to challenge something within societies that did make an impact back in the 60's.

I think probably people will always make some judgment on people with regards to their color. Not all but some.

Some things change and some things never do. But as time goes by and during these days of recent and especially today marks something very different. Something very significant.

I find that this is one holiday that is celebrated by some and honored by others. What this man stood for was an effort and a basis that would resonate through out not only the United States but as well for many of countries. As well as many cultures. To all that hail from the United States of America this man was more about mankind and society that color. Look at how far we have come! And yet how far we need to go. If Dr. Martin L. King was alive today - I wonder what he would think with regards to everything that we have seen in the last ten years...

"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity." But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that a black person is still languishing in the corners of  society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was adhere too.

This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as citizens of color are concerned. America historically gave people of black color a bad check --- a cheque that came back marked "insufficient funds". We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check --- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand’s of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the people of black decent. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. There is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold, which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, and rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the south. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must come true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California. But not only that let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and mole hill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!"

Today that "Bell of Freedom" rang…in a new way 47 years ago.

http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/08/28/

How Is it So Part, II

A great day here with much that was accomplished and it's nearly time to prepare for supper. Gene Simmons : ) is coming here with some car races next weekend with his wife or long time girl friend of 25 years.  Ironically he is kind of like some Donald Trump now and seems to be all over the place with this rock bank KISS as well as his own reality television series. The guy gets around - at the age of 60. I was there and back to see how far it was and I never realized how far that was! : )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With all the responses with regards the previous post, before I headed off to bed I thought of where this thread of thought was leading. And I thought about money, and whom we choose to "chum" with in our lives. Do we all live in a system or society that is based on a casting system? Within India, there was a casting system that was in place for thousands of years.

Have we changed at all from that or do base things about people regarding whom they are or what they are?  I am giving this a shot, as it's something that is of interest. And I do think it has some worthiness.  Yeah perhaps, I might be pushing it with asking these questions, but why not? Do we thrive to just include ourselves by way of typecasting? That is to say, do we decide whom we merge with and make friends with by way of how much money they have, or otherwise? 

*  I know when I have pushed it with these questions. I hope that this one is something that does have worthiness enough that Part 1 and Part 2 show something and come to some conclusion. A small goal on here but it's something that is very authentic. This is one of those once in a "blue moon" hopes for a gathering of thoughts.

Contentment is a High Aim

If you ask a lot of people what they want in life the fitst thing that will come to mind is to be happy. Happiness is something that I find that older people have figure out. I am not sure why. It could be due to the fact that they have endure the good and bad within life.

Today I headed out and I had a few things to do, but I got out of my routine and I went out and headed to church. Sounds kind of nerdy maybe to some, however I have never been a practicing church goer for a long time. I have my own thoughts on how I feel with regards to that.

I had a talk with my father today and that all went well. He is doing well and he was asking when I would be coming home. I think he is anxious to see me and from being a very powerful man if there is anything as such - we had a great talk. There after I headed out went to the airport and then I went to about a 45 minute drive back into the downtown which is far from here.

While I was at mass, I was given the right from security and I took pictures towards the end of mass. And then there were these very cute, old people taking picture with an old camera. I was busy taking some pictures of this place and talking to a few people. Then I went over to these old people and asked them how long they had been married and if I could take a picture of them ( I never push it if you know what I mean ). Over 50 years. And it was obvious to see they were content. There was nothing boring to them, nor was there anything that was anything but something I really can't describe. Then they asked me whom I was. I told them and the older man and showed him and his wife the picture I had taken along with the rest and their eyes opened so wide.

Thereafter the older man asked me what heritage I was and after that he grabbed my hand and said "God Bless you". His wife followed and did the same and thanked me and then there was an entire Filipino group of younger people and they all said good bye to me as I left. I am not preacher, I am just myself and that made for a great Sunday. Seems to me it was a very worthwhile in deciding to go to church on this Easter. And no fiction I have been in a Hindi temple and invited back two months ago.  I had pictures of it from the outside but they didn’t come out right so I deleted them.

I don’t have a $2000.00 camera, I just have one that is not that expensive. So all in all I am content with the day.

Leading back into > http://initiativestain.multiply.com/journal/item/83/Ramblings_and_Thoughts

~ A Considerate Write ~

What Easter means to me...

It is very easy in the hurly burly modern day life that we all live in as complex as it can be. But to deal in life with human beings and not just someone that we bounce around with but we do give regard and respect is something that takes us far. To go back to square one and be courteous in perhaps an old fashioned way may equate to what faith is about.

I don't have children and I do have a family that has gone through much - I think that are entire family has - and I recall the days that we all did go to church together as one. I don't write much with regards to religion as I think that to stand rigidly with religion. I believe that each person regardless of where they are from has the right to believe in what they believe in.

I recall when I was a child when I asked my father if he believed in God. My mother was catholic and we were all raised that way - BUT - what always impacted me was that he said "if you treat your fellow man good perhaps there is a place up there in with God.  I never forgot that. And I do believe in the thoughts of what people say as well as write.  Some play it for all it's worth and some are authentic. You can pick that up so quickly when you meet a person.

I was going to drive down to go to church for the first time in a long time tomorrow morning but I am going to take some time. However I am not lazy I have many things I have to prepare for for this upcoming week. So with all that said, I believe in God - I think that I have matured into it as I know that I have taken on challenges that only by way of determination and faith could one do. Yet in no manner am I evangelical. It's just not my way.

Most of my friends are agnostic or at least so it seems they are. This is all fine with me as I believe in an ethic of good intentions and consideration to people I come to know as well as to those out there on the internet that I have come to know by way of writing.

Going back to the foundation of how we were raised sometimes comes to give way to an understanding that some things are worthy and do prevail. I think that indicates my values in a moderately personal manner here on this blog.  I so often think of the substance. As within the write is something that is of value. 

Being kind is one element of our characteristic.  And I think that to do as such does enforce what the meaning of life is. As well during a time in which most people are spending with family.

However I know that some are alone and to take consideration of those that are out there and that do have some manner of exceedingly having an intention for good things. Is what this is about during this weekend. Going back to square one does not mean anything more than giving some understanding to the act of being a human being.

Being nice during certain times is worthwhile. As it's a faithfull act perhaps. The words that come to mind are sincere, kind, understanding. And that all said it's a time in which communities are becoming more rare as we live in that "fast lane".

So as I have wrote so often before - it's not about where your from, it's not about where your your born. What it's about is then genuine that gives what to some structure of faith. It may sound intense - but I really find the value of authenticy to be the one marvelous thing.

Ramblings and Thoughts

There are many similarities in the religions and yet wars are fought over their supremacy of one over another; prejudices are formed; bloodlines protected and marriages denied based on religion. I think in some areas of the world and even within our own countries we have come to understand moderation of faith and life.

A few years ago I found with organized religion is the hate generated by something designed to uplift and inspire. And, it isn't the religion itself it's the individuals who twist it to become what they need it to be and influence others with their manipulations.

You can always detect those individuals who are truly spiritual and it's inspiring to witness their peace, acceptance, and understanding. These individuals are the ones who impact you and make you wish to emulate them and strive to perfect your own personal connection.

As for myself, when I sit quietly and take in all that exists within this world of ours and can appreciate the smallest item to the infinite wonder of it all, I become grounded, peaceful, and awed at the same time. The logical part of me says that it is possible that all of this started with the first splitting of an atom. .

It comes down to a matter of belief. What we choose to believe and where we take it. It is more comforting for us as humans to believe that this is not all there is. We can choose to believe in a heaven, reincarnation, and a never-ending revolving door of energy...but it comes down to what works for us as individuals striving to make it from one day to the next.

 

We can say that organized religion was created to control the masses. Perhaps that is correct, or maybe better yet we all have the same structures of faith. Where would we be but in chaos if some guidelines for acceptable behavior were not established? But then again, legal guidelines perform the same function.

 

Could we easily be a policed state totally separate from religion and be the same?

I read once that religion was created because man needed hope and without hope mankind could not go forward. Yet I do have a belief value. 

But the freedom in which we utilize it might be the manner of what we deem as being righteous. Everyone has there own passion in life and seemingly I don't think we have become an agnostic society.

As faith is so many things...