For every woman that is sick of references of grown women jumping on a chair and screaming like a little school girl at the sight of a little mice, this short video is for you! (more…)

The one year anniversary of the Afghanistan Shi’ite Personal Status Law passed without even a whisper from the U.S. media. Apparently, daily stories of oiled-soiled pelicans are vastly more important and newsworthy to CNN and FOX, as well for the alphabet soup of “news” of organizations vying for the attention of the coveted U.S. population. (more…)

Jeremy Olshan / New York Post:

Oprah lied about poverty, sex abuse, tell-all book claims  —  Oprah Winfrey embellished her poor upbringing and made up stories about sexual abuse to boost her ratings, her relatives say in Kitty Kelley’s new biography.  —  Although Winfrey claims she never had any new dresses or dolls …

Bilin Village "Advatar" Protest

The Palestinian village of Bil’in reenacts the James Cameron film Avatar in their demonstration against the Israeli security barrier. (more…)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (UAE): The National, a UAE daily, on Thursday quoted Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim saying a probe into the slaying “reveal(s) that Mossad is involved in the murder” of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh (more…)

Carnaval in Rio

To parade in a beautiful exotic costume (or one just painted on you), to dance to the heart stumping beats of the Brazilian samba, and to do so on the biggest stage in the world is one unparalleled experience.  (more…)

Democratic Congressman Baron Hill of Indiana scolds one of his own constituents at a town hall meeting.  What is it about elected officials that compels them to shove their own foot in their mouths, or another part of their anatomy into someone else’s mouth?

George Papandreou (Greece PM)

Germany Finance Ministry rejects the idea of setting up a special fund to bail out eurozone countries, like Greece, that run into fiscal trouble resulting from domestic budgetary problems that remain at the root of the problem. (more…)

What advice would the material girl give on what not to do in a marriage?

I have come to a conclusion.

I want JOY even in the face of adversity.

Adversity has it’s own demonic seduction, pulling the participant down, down, down, further, which can be a dramatic experience.

To hold out for joy though, even while undergoing adversity, is to give adversity a kick in its backside, to say screw you, you don’t get to own all of me.

It is a commitment, a willingness, not to let the beautiful childlike parts of ourselves disappear.

It’s a snow angel on a stormy day.

It’s popping soap bubbles floating and casting rainbows, not to destroy them, but to be a part of a larger imagining.

There is no reason to ever disown the primordial elements of me.

How about you?

To judge connotes disregarding the flaws, the weakness, the humanity in others.

To not judge, may suggest, to those struggling to survive, allowing others to take advantage.

Is there a bright line rule?

Is it possible to live in the spirit of pure love, whose necessary components are a lack of judgment and forgiveness?

There are many, many organizations that help children. Many people silently helping children, whether it is a kind smile, a laugh, anonymous donations. The source of helping children is endless, and in so doing, we help ourselves.

Today, I want to feature one Organization, Hagar

Take some time and look at what they have achieved and the stories there are to be shared, through the misery came hope, courage and amazing, amazing heartfelt action.

Peace.

S.E.

Something that means more to you than anyone could understand. It’s value and worth can’t be defined and you’d do anything to keep it. Beautiful and delicate.

Now, I understand. Something, someone worth more than can be defined. And that is the courageous young woman protrayed in Sapphire’s novel, Push, and now converted for a major motion picture, “Precious”. Not sure I like the entire definition linked hereto, we here at surface earth don’t like the word “obese”, it seems like a silly definition for those that weigh more than some others.

Regardless, I read the N.Y. Times Magazine article, “The Audacity of Precious“. The article asked if America was ready to hear this story, why, because it is true in many different ways and a large percentage of us walk by with eyes closed? Also, to be noted, a play on President Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope“. (Don’t get us started, at least for the moment, when people, news organizations, refer to our President as “Mr”. Come on, bitter grapes? He holds the highest office, can’t be that hard to address the gentleman as President.).

Is America ready to wake up? That’s what I wonder. I also wonder at my own perpetual sleep. Where was I, when Precious (fictional, but please, so many like her), was battling such odds? Where am I today and where is she?

We can sit and blame, point fingers, watch Fox News and hear supposed intellectuals scream at each other, but what happens as a result? Not much.

Aren’t we all part of the same web, the same consciousness, the same universal heart?

Should not my heart have broken when Precious or a young lady like her character lived through these moments? Should I not have been unable to breath as I was otherwise engaged in my daily living? If so, that would be conscious living, an inability to ignore when others suffer.

I am rambling my friends, but what are we doing? As a society, we should be able to do better at the beginning levels, if we see a child on the outside, jump in. Doesn’t mean we have to have an overreaching arm, it means in our moments involved, we don’t let a child sit in the back, we don’t let other kids in “our group” dis another, we don’t subscribe to it, we don’t breath it, we don’t allow it. In doing so, can’t we weave a safety net and pick up more than we would if our eyes were closed and we sat on our hands?

I had a hard time reading this book, almost put it down several times, but you know what? I struggled with reading the truth, the truth, I was not the one that had to endure living it.

Don’t give me any gods, any religious institutions, any walls or parameters where I can sit and ignore this happens to children who become adults and are ignored by their fellow man. Well not by all, read the book, there are those that ultimately, were not asleep at the wheel, and continue to be awake and pull the load for the rest of us.

May God bless them, and my I someday evolve to have 1/100 of the heart and courage of the young lady portrayed.

I am the dove
Holding her sound
Against
The weight
Of the gray sky

I am the mountain
Beneath the sun
Holding the tendrils
Of winter
To not unleash
My power
Upon the plains

I am the air
You breath
Whether or not
You call me
She

*image credit: Adobe

Obviously, the world is chockful of books recommend to read, but today, I want to share two:

1. Half the Sky

Why? Because the book “is”.

How many times do you spend a moment asking what can I do? This book is replete with organizations we can help. The book is a must read, but as you go through, you can see what resonates, and choose what works for you. The only thing we ask is that you don’t think too much and you do jump in and act. Most of the time, we (me) are drawn to these stories because on some level, we know as we get ready for the day, wave at the yellow school bus, pack lunches, have meetings, have lunch, agree as to what is ever so important, there are things on invisible levels that are occurring and because we don’t see them does not mean they don’t exist. Again, jump in, this book provides more than enough avenues for us to help each other.

I reviewed the site for “Half the Sky”, I tried to capture the endorsements, Angelina Jolie, because we like her, despite society’s attempt to bring her down, I mean really, what’s the point? She’s real. George Clooney, and more importantly, sorry George, Greg Mortensen, the author of Three Cups of Tea, the story, the book that has rocked this nation and has made it REQUIRED reading in high schools. Short: the endorsements bear witness to the enormity of what they speak: EQUALITY, RESPECT, KINDNESS, COMPASSION, LOVE.

Is it really so hard to comprehend?

I throw down my hat, I am a litigation attorney in the U.S. that can only tell you this, aside from the ones we protect on humanitarian and civil liberty issues, the rest is garbage, the stuff we should be able to figure out ourselves, peaceably, without the use of middle-people. The day may come though, when enough voices raise, when we don’t need attorneys (including me) and we trust and care for one another.

2. Girl Mary, by Petru Popescu

…because he portrays Mary as a female, as a beating heart, as one heck of a contender.

Let’s take two different and yet somehow related issues:

1. Streaks of misfortune; and
2. Decision to maybe stop reading/watching any mainstream media.

You may ask, as I did, what could these two things possibly have in common? Well, it’s a long meandering discussion, not quite a conclusion.

Let’s say for instance you believe, on what basis doesn’t matter, that the space around us is becoming choked with negativity.

The TV signals, the cable signals, the phone signals, the texting, the twitting tweeters, the emails, the blogs, the constant pouring out of media, media, media and advertisement into the vortex which surrounds. Do we really think it is invisible and without effect?

The signals pass by us when we are awake and asleep, passing geographical boundaries drawn on an ever changing map, passing gender boundaries, cultural and religious boundaries also. Passing over, intersecting, overlapping belief systems centuries old. Yet, we only think of it as communication. (What we can’t see, can’t hurt us, right?)

Yet, as I drive down the street, how do I not know that someone’s email transmission is hurtling straight through me and altering my own energetic path?

Whether we agree or don’t agree as to the form of negative thought, emotions, intent, etc., the reality is, negativity exists. If I hurt, I know it is true, because I feel it. If I am angry, I know it is true, because I feel it. If I am negative, I know it is true because I feel it. Yet, I don’t look for proof of it, I don’t require a statistical analysis, I don’t require to hold it in my hand, because I know it to be true.

So also do I know that the information we send through invisible networks is true. It appears on my t.v., it appears on my phone, it appears on my computer. Where then, is the substance?

Where do the moments of grief, sadness, anger, frustration, loss, negativity, the sum total of the mass of those emotions, reside? Do they all get delivered into the inbox? Does only a fraction of the emotion get delivered and part remain with the sender and the other diffused particles scatter catching others unaware, an unintended and unexpected blue moment? (p.s. never understood why we insult the word blue in such a way).

I think we are choking the air around us. When CNN or FoxNews blares, Alert! Alert! Alert! and then you find it is just another piece on Dave Letterman, you have to wonder, what are we receiving? 1. The intention to create sensation; and 2. the hopes and dreams of the staff that created the piece, bringing in their own liFe stories, needs, desires and frustrations; and 3. a willingness to disregard where else we maybe should be heading as society. That is a short list, but I ask you, where does the essence, the energy, of numbers 1, 2 and 3 land?

If I have a day, when the oven starts to malfunction, the washer broke, the windows are leaking and walls disintegrating and then the microwave inexplicitaly begins to smoke, do I say: 1. hmm, guess they are all at their life expectancy; or 2. I’m receiving some bad energy and need to re-balance? (Do we dare mention buying the microwave, bringing it home, only to find out it is defective? No, let’s just skip that for now.)

At the expense of sounding mad, I’m going with #2. There’s too much bad energy being drawn in.

I believe the air around us is becoming dense, the emotions we are flinging into the invisible realm are starting to reflect back, after all, even if we can’t see it, our words are going somewhere, they are disrupting and altering space on their travels, how can we possibly believe otherwise?

At the end of the film, the “older”, (I say that gently, older compared to an adolescent), male character that has been battling the forces with the children, reaches out and touches the one brother on the shoulder, his younger, shadow self.

I wonder, is that what it would be like? A fun house mirror reflection looking upon itself?

I’m afraid you will have to watch it to see what I mean….(actually, it is a wonderful film, so I take that back, I’m not afraid to recommend that at all.)

This is $10,000 in $100 bills.

(more…)

I realized it would be a lottery ticket for the human race.

If we were to all adopt that mantra, breath and live it, we could re-balance the world.

I had been driving home from a meeting and was thinking of the state of the world. Thinking about the fact that ‘griping’ does little more than add more negativity (believe me, I can ‘gripe’) and I thought of the pure wisdom in the phrase ‘Do No Harm’. Instant winnings.

I of course digressed, suppose we strove to do the right thing only it turned out to be the wrong thing? Where would we go to find a point of reference? Again my mind turned to the phrase: ‘Do No Harm’.

I’m not trying to be redundant, it is occurring naturally. It is so very, very simple. We don’t have to worry about right or wrong if we follow those three little words.

I sometimes am dragged down, beyond my own bent for believing in the positive, and become saddened at the horrendous things that occur against humans, against animals, against the planet. How naive we can be to think we know much of anything. This whole limitless; yet, maybe self-repeating universe beyond us, what is it that we think we know? Can we truly believe we know anything as we sit and breath and live and laugh and love as even one human being, let alone, one child, goes harmed in the same moment?

I’m not much about division. I think that as I lift the fork to my mouth in celebration of a good meal, there is someone, somewhere, that cannot do the same, and to me, it makes no sense.

I find my comfort today in the words: Do No Harm.

If we all believed and lived this, I think, a lot of the ‘bad’ would take care of itself.

Now there are so many ways we could distort this, I don’t think you have the time or the patience for me to go through the variations, so I leave us with the simple import.

Blessings.

I wonder at that. In some ways, our nation has come a long way since Patricia ‘Pinky’ Johnson, in its day a very controversial film about a young black woman who passes for white.
“Pinky” was a slang term for light-skinned black Americans. We trust the term as used here is not offensive to anyone today as we are using same only as historical reference. (more…)

In regards to civil rights, health, and the economic well-being of the average American, few elected officials anywhere have accomplished as much. (more…)

What are words?

I used to believe words were comprised of language, letters, consonants, vowels, pronunciations.

Now I am not so sure.

Are not words pre-formed images, that sometime before adopting, we agree are to be transmitted?

Is not the unfinished painting above a compilation of words?

“Before she became ill, David’s mother would often tell him that stories were alive. They weren’t alive in the way that people were alive, or even dogs or cats. People were alive whether you chose to notice them or not, while dogs tended to make you notice them if they decided that you weren’t paying them enough attention. Cats, meanwhile, were very good at pretending people didn’t exist at all when it suited them, but that was another matter entirely.

Stories were different, though: they came alive in the telling. Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a pair of wide eyes following them by flashlight beneath a blanket, they had no read existence in our world. They were like seeds in the beak of a bird, waiting to fall to earth, or the notes of a song laid out on a sheet, yearning for an instrument to bring their music into being. They lay dormant, hoping for the chance to emerge. Once someone started to read them, they could begin to change. They could take root in the imagination, and transform the reader. Stories wanted to be read, David’s mother would whisper. They needed it. It was the reason they forced themselves from their world into ours. They wanted us to give them life.”

The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly, copyright 2006, p. 3.

Read more:

Some other site we never saw before worth reading

*btw: don’t even get us going on those of you out there that call President Obama, “Mr. Obama”, he achieves the highest office of the land and we can’t consistently give him the accolade of PRESIDENT? Please, we are asking all of you, stop calling him Mr. and stop calling the beautiful Michelle Mrs., it is time, call them what they achived: PRESIDENT AND FIRST LADY.

NAMASTE.

What absolute beauty.

It’s a lot for some of us.

Suppose some of us could come together and sponsor a child?

We owe it to each other and to the future, to help the young ones. $1200 a year is much too much for many of us, suppose we had a network where 12 of us could come together and give $100 a year? Is it possible?

Sponsor a child

Imagine how you, I, we, could feel waking up each day knowing we have helped a child that maybe believed they were beyond hope?

Please, leave your comments and thoughts to help the innocent.

Our blessings to you.

It’s my word, I guess.

What it encompasses is trying to find a way to buy what we need from each other.

I have asked Shelley Seale, the author, for links to foundations/groups that we can help. She has supplied me with a link to her site: See Shelley’s Resources.

I am also attempting to amass links to individuals, women, families, children, trying to make a living. I will start small but ask all of you to stop in, share some links, and we will update accordingly.

Blessings.

Start Small:

Women and Fair Trade

Etsy and Fair Trade

Global Girlfriend

NonProfit Shopping

CRS Voices

We are at the beginning of amassing sites/references/resources to help one another. Please help us.

Namaste.

Now observe this photo of two little girls standing on the balcony of their home in Rafah, Gaza Strip – their observable world.
(more…)

New York Times: Green China Rising

Imagine for a moment, that you had a chance to be all who you are, not just all you could be and you seized that moment and never let it go. Perhaps then, you would know, what it is to step into not just Ms. Seale’s shoes, but the children, who continue to benefit from her love. Take a moment and reflect on this piece, a short quote from Ms. Seale’s book:

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
–Martin Luther King, Jr.

When have you become silent?

Can you even recall?

I wish I could, I wish I knew that moment so I could reverse it, I just know now, that it did occur and it stayed within me, my human being, but not within my soul. I read the words, the quote, Ms. Seale hand selected, Mr. King’s words: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent…”.

Begin to end?

Did we always have ourselves slated to end, is that how we became numb?

I can’t be numb any longer. I found Ms. Seale and her work by accident. I then stopped onto her site and was gifted with such charity of spirit, I will remain a fan from that day on.
Ms. Seale is a courageous humanitarian and author. She maintains a website: The Weight of Silence

She has been unrelenting in her efforts to spread the word on the plight of children in India who are homeless or orphaned for a variety of reasons. Her efforts are not exclusive to the children in Indian, her resume details her vast experience and efforts advocating for children also in the United States.

While we could extol her virtues for countless pages, we instead invite you to click on some of the links, read her works, read her blog, see the comments that are posted as she travelled on her journey and continues her journey.

Without further ado, Ms. Seale:

S.E.: How did you begin?

READ AN EXCERPT OF MS. SHELLEY SEALE’S BOOK: EXCERPT

JOIN THE VIRTUAL TOUR AND PASS ON AND ON AND ON, LET’S KEEP THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN HOMELESS AND ORPHANED FROM GROWING: PASS ON THE LIGHT

JOIN THE GROWING MOVEMENT, BE A PARTICIPANT WITH MS. SEALE ON FACEBOOK

Then, we become frustrated with the person speaking to us that we sought out to begin with, the unwitting victim.

Next time you seek advice, seek counsel from yourself first, ask:

what is it I’m hoping to hear?
what are the chances I will hear what it is I want?
Would it be better if I just recorded my own voice to play back the words as often as I desire?

-S.E.

Stop in for the Q & A with author and humanitarian Shelley Seale…..June 22nd; for further updates, check S.E. homepage & humanitarian updates.

How do we move forward?

Many of us don’t know where to turn.

Where do we go with the degrees we have earned and are paying on still? How do we counsel children, turned teenagers, soon to be adults, to make a living in the future?

The map is open.

Today, we turn you toward micro-loans. Many of you that often visit here are not immune to that term, it is people helping people, for instance: Kiva

Here at SurfaceEarth, it is our goal, to start an exchange by country/state/zip codes where we can help each other, it may be slow, reminiscent of snail mail, but suppose, we could achieve a web to truly help each other and catch each other before we fall?

Stay tuned, we intend to start that web and ask you to be a part of same.

Blessings.

Why must we be surprised?

Are we truly that narrow minded?

Were we born with blinders?

FoxNews: Russia says UFO saved Earth, ok, 100 years ago

In the news, at least for some of us that still troll negative publicity, is the story of a Florida priest, sharing love with a woman.

Not a problem right?

Except that he made a ‘promise’ to not engage in certain types of love.

I wish I could condemn him, or his partner, but I can’t. I can say, it is easier that if you can’t uphold a promise you previously made that you graciously excuse yourself from same and explain accordingly. But life as we know it is not conducive to forgiveness.

Let’s pretend for a moment that this young priest came out, went public and said I’m struggling here, I took a vow of celibacy but I have found myself grappling with a whole different dimension of God’s love that I never knew I would need to grapple with, despite same, I’m grappling with it and ask your forgiveness, your understanding, your assistance to learn in which way to progress.

No.

Not possible, because social media really doesn’t allow for this does it?

I could go on and on, but I won’t, I would rather hear from you and ask that you pray for the priest and his loved one to find their way.

Blessings,

S.E.

Bravo! I think we should all send her kisses! She has graced us.

Blessings,

S.E.

*See also: CNN

I thought, this is it – its about what we do with the shopping cart and how it affects those that follow.

Life can be just one shopping cart passing hands in good moments or bad but effecting the whole.

Justice, in simplistic terms, has been described as getting to the root of truth, both sides moving toward uncovering the light. Yet, that is not what occurs, rather, we have individuals, forgetting they have a shared mission, and we wind up with bi-partisan justice.

We offer tonight a quote, and will give you reference to the article, and invite you to not only share this with others, but to share with us your reactions. We hesitate at this moment to pontificate as to our views on this quote, before we hear from you…………….

Justice Texas style: make it end

We point you to a particular quote in the article, as follows:

“In 1998, Judge Keller wrote the opinion rejecting a new trial for Roy Criner, a mentally retarded man convicted of rape and murder, even though DNA tests after his trial showed that it was not his semen in the victim.

“We can’t give new trials to everyone who establishes, after conviction, that they might be innocent,” she later told the television news program “Frontline.” “We would have no finality in the criminal justice system, and finality is important.”

Gov. George W. Bush eventually pardoned Mr. Criner.”

NO FINALITY. I’M SORRY, I MAY JUST BE A BIT CONFUSED, WHY WOULD YOU WANT FALSE FINALITY OF ALLEGED GUILT? DO WE NOT LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY? HOW THEN DOES THE ABOVE QUOTE MAKE SENSE:

“We can’t give new trials to everyone who establishes, after conviction, that they might be innocent,”

No, of course not judge, we wouldn’t want to give the benefit of the doubt to innocence would we? Much tidier to just lock up the might be guilty.

Additionally, the article notes the judge is a devout Roman Catholic. Now I ask you, why not make some multi-level comments? Does not the Catholic church decry the protection of innocence?

It is the “net”, no?

Nets contain, don’t they?

I search for news and find myself circling myself. Whether by the words I use to start the queries or by my inept attempts to hunt, I find myself circular.

The crazy thing about remaining circular is that you may not always realize you are hitting walls, because the walls are soft and bend and seemingly appear to give flexibility to movement.

With that said, I ask you, how often do you step out of the box, out of the circle?

Now I realize, I may not hit the right tags for this post, often I do not tag just to antagonize the Gods, but I may not hit the right ones to hear from a big enough cross-section of YOU.

I wonder how long we will remain as we are, willing participants in someone else’s mode of being?

What does that mean to you?

Suppose it was so simple, that we could help each other?

Suppose you had a necklace for sale, and your blogging community joined around you, to get it sold?

Suppose you had a business you wanted to start, a venture, and we all joined around you and passed the word on and so on and so on?

If I was the beggar on the street, and collected one dollar from 250,000 people in the space of three days, they would have saved me, no?

Why can’t we all be the beggars on the corner and the ones stopping to drop a dollar? It starts now.

Suppose we picked up our own strength and helped one another?

What then?

Could it be the dawning of a new age?

AcrossThe Universe – I Want To Hold Your Hand
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQfRdn8wqi4]

Across The Universe – Strawberry Fields Forever (Movie Ver)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziToC3371NE]

Enjoy.

Peace

To start again?

To be the master, or would it be, the mistress, of the past?

How many times, do we long to stand atop the tallest point, and scream, from our hearts, I meant well?

The snow allows us to begin again,

in unexpected ways.

It blankets our paths,

daring us to set foot again,

and to watch also,

where we step.

Today, the snow has blessed us.

Now maybe you may take a moment and watch her video on these utterly beautiful innocent souls, and if you do, maybe you will pass it on and on, and stop at her site and buy her book.

It starts now.

Shelly & her kids

Listen, I have always found it ludicrous that we are the only beings in the vast space of whatever we want to call it, the universe, the galactic collection of galaxies, etc.

Really, if we are the only race here, and ha, we don’t even recognize ourselves as a whole race, but fighting, disparate, screeching wolves in the night, then, isn’t that a sad state of affairs for the rest of the dark matter hanging out there?

I’m no scientist, in case you didn’t catch on yet, but what I know, or SUSPECT, is that it cannot be true.

Here are some facts hard to dispute about humans:

1. we have enslaved our brothers and sisters
2. we continue to enslave our brothers and sisters
3. we believe one life is greater than another and excuse ourselves in the name of religion, security, politics, medical protocol, to sacrifice others
4. I’m sorry, I can’t continue, I suspect I’m on a rant.

Just tell me, in lots or little words, why is it that the idea of other life forms is something we don’t accept as probably more true than not?

If I can’t do that
Feel that
Does it mean
I or would it be,
the
Rainbow,
have failed
Or ceased to exist?

It is a historic day.

It is a day, when as those in my family say,

we cry happy tears.

Here, how we everyday Americans witness and welcome this most blessed day:

PRESIDENT OBAMA, we salute you and send blessings to you and yours.

With no further introduction…

“The plane started its final descent, and my heart began to race. It was March of 2005, and I had been traveling halfway around the world for nearly two days to volunteer in an orphanage in northeast India, with the Austin-based nonprofit The Miracle Foundation. I had been sponsoring a child who lived there but had never visited the country before, and my stomach tightened as the plane touched down and I waited impatiently for the exit doors to open.

Home is a fragile concept – far more delicate than those of us who have always had one can imagine. When a person no longer has a home, when his family is taken from him and he is deprived of everything that was home, then after a while wherever he is becomes home. Slowly, the pieces of memory fade, until this strange new place is not strange anymore; it becomes harder to recall the past life, a long ago family, until one day he realizes he is home.

Post Script: Excerpts provided by Ms. Seal

What to know:
More than 25 million Indian children currently live without homes or families – in orphanages or on the streets, where they are extremely vulnerable to abuse, disease, and being trafficked into labor or the sex trade.
Another 4 million children join their ranks each year.
India is home to the most AIDS orphans of any country in the world – approaching 2 million, and expected to double over the next five years.
By some estimates, as many as 100 million child laborers work in India.
Hundreds of thousands of Indian children go missing each year, kidnapped or trafficked – and three out of four of those are never found.
A poor child in India is three times as likely to die before his fifth birthday as a rich child.
More than two million children themselves die every year from preventable infections for which education and medicine are lacking.
One of every three of the world’s malnourished children lives in India.
Fifty percent of childhood deaths there are attributable to malnutrition or starvation.

How you can help:
The first step is awareness – thank you for reading this article and for caring. You can sponsor a child at Miracle Foundation.
You can make a donation at UNICEF, the leading champion for children worldwide. Be a conscious shopper. Is it really worth getting something a few dollars cheaper if it is made by slave labor or children? Check out The Better World Shopping Guide. You can take action by signing petitions and/or financially supporting organizations that are working worldwide to end child labor. Some of them are: globalmarch.org | endchildlabor.org | earthaction.org

I stumble on this path
sometimes realizing
after
what it is
what I have said
what I have done
to hurt you.

i think sometimes
out loud
but on paper
or would that be
the blank canvas of this page?

So often
i let the words
dribble
and run
into my
my moments
not seizing them
not taking them hostage
making them
account for themselves.

Then,
without reason,
i grab a pen
or a keyboard
and make them
make themselves known
to stop
the cycle of words
without
known
consequence.

they now
commit
to ask,
why would I want
to be them?
Heads bowed
backs bent,
against and under
the weight
of
stares
arms draped down
in
anguished leather
of fingers pricked
and worn
under a machine
within dark enclosed space
the only sky
the sound
of
someone counting,
again
and again,
the worth
of
their
breath.

Against the sky
I breath
watching you take flight
I don’t count
how many you are
I see only
one
until later,
much later,
when I print you,
against,
time.

Is it when we speak them out out loud?

Does it require a certain number to hear or see them to remove the status of secret?

Highlight: postsecrets

Let me ask a question.

Actually, I am not asking permission.

I am here to say, what is wrong with us?

Let’s pretend for a moment, there is a lovely woman.

The woman has made her living for some years as an “adult entertainer”. Whatever that means. If she is over 18 and TRULY exercises free will, economy, or pimps or whatever, have not forced her in the role, then………

So let’s pretend, one of the three:

a) she did so with free will; or
b) she did so without choice; or
c) she was forced into same.

Ok.

Now, we meet a woman, a woman, wanting to be who she is in this moment, someone who wants to work at a school, for, forgive me, less than $5,800.00 a year, and now, parents want her out?

Did I miss something?

Is she accused, convicted beyond a reasonable doubt of doing something to innocent children? (btw: all children are innocent).

Is there anyone out here that has spent a moment in Suburbia? How it is always others and not the inhabitants, that have skeletons?

I fear a projection of misconceived issues may be afoot.

I don’t know this woman portrayed in this Fox News article and now being publicly lambasted, but what I don’t see is any allegations as to how this woman treated children.

Really people, can we grow up and give our children a better model for the future?

This is a witch hunt, Salem circa 2008.

Don’t be a part of it.

Looks like we aren’t sitting quiet with the peace offering of civil unions.

Check it out, there may be movement afoot, allowing others to love as others love.

(yes, I meant to say it that way.  why are only alleged heterosexuals “us” and a-hem, “gays”, “homosexuals” or “those that love others of the same ‘sex’”, others?)

Can we just evolve?

Check it out:  Reuters………………

EXCERPT………………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Full marriage is the only way to meet a state constitutional requirement for equality, said the 13-member panel of public officials, clergy, lawyers and same-sex marriage advocates.”

Let’s do the math and perhaps put it out to a poll. I’ll focus on GM, you can do the same for Ford and Chrysler. GM employs about 252,000 people globally. The company website totals its US work force at 97,624 across some 87 US zip codes.

The pitch made by the Big Three last week puts the GM term loan “request” at least $12 billion they said was needed to bridge a funding gap in their global operations through just 2009. Unless you think that by the end of 2009 mobs of Americans will be buying enough GM cars to make a difference, by this time next year these same three will be asking for more tax payer money. They will site then, as they do now, a vast US unemployment amongst a plethora of other dire consequences should they be “allowed” to fail.

Now here is the math: if we consider only the US based employees of GM, that “term loan” works out to over $122,920 per current employee – including the over two dozen lucky top earners at the company that make well over $1 million per year. If we were to poll those same US employees of GM, asking simply, should GM management be handed $12 Billion IN CASH or instead should each US based employee given a severance package that includes nearly $123,000 IN CASH and then seek employment at the several other US based (but foreign) car manufacturers who for some reason are NOT asking for a bailout. By the way, these other car companies will most assuredly be delighted to increase their own US car production output to make up for the void should the “big three” go under. Now back to the math, what would those tax paying US based employees choose? Would they trust $12 Billion in the hands of a few pigeon headed multi-millionaires that drove their company, an icon of American manufacturing competence and power the world over, into total obsolescence or would they take a chance on themselves with that $122,920?

Now that $122,920 may seem like a paltry amount for some, and certainly that is so for the GM CEO who earns over $10 MILLION IN ADDITION TO his annual salary of $1.5 million (source WSJ) that he is now willing to “sacrifice”, for one year, for the sake of getting this bailout…presumingly because its good for the nation. What a patriot. Take note however, he is offering to giving up just over one tenth of his total compensation and this “sacrifice” does not include his use of the company’s air force (yes, we talking about a car company), fleet of chauffeured cars, personnel/family allowances and that all important multi-million dollar corporate expense account amongst the plethora of other perks.

Do we really need to debate this?

See also:

CNN:  auto plea passes the House

but first

color themselves in the light

of Fall colors.

The edges began to creep,

creep,

and creep further in,

and every time they did,

the Faeries,

would curl up their toes,

closer to their immortal legs,

and hide.

The ledges of time

became smaller,

the space

to hide,

smaller yet,

and the Faeries knew,

there were not too many daylight hours

left to hide.

They unfurled in the night,

becoming themselves,

unbent from the leaves,

from human eyes.

Oh,

how they thanked the darkness for the need

of most,

humans,

to sleep.

They slipped from the leaves,

stretching their limbs,

nimbly alighting hundreds of feet to the ground,

to start the next day’s work

on the century’s task.

they had agreed to.

(more later) (copyright, The Faeries, S.E.)

I think not.

Unless we only evaluate in the space of frozen time.

My girl, my prior header on my previous design blog, she shines; yet, I changed her time and time again. I have photos of her change, all of which I have not posted.  it was an expose of moments and I dared to paint and repaint the canvas.

The point is, none of us are ever just one thing, and when we judge others, we freeze them in time.  We see an encapsulated moment, while still, perhaps, allowing ourselves evolution.

Ah, so now what, my friends, now what?  Shall we move on?

the Earth fell from beneath my feet

but it was not

an unusual occurrence

because yesterday

the same occurred.

I woke,

I stood,

I put my feet upon the ground,

I lifted my arms,

stretched,

and looked to the windows,

where recently,

i hung scraps of cloth,

to obscure the view.

of them,

or me?

It does not matter.

I know there are times,

we belong to no one

but ourselves and God in our heart,

and those moments are

simple

pure

real.

they are the moments,

God willing,

when the rest of the world

stands back

and does

not come through our door uninvited

and we have moments

just for thanks and gratitude

that we are

in those moments ok.

It will be the harrowing moments after

of self realization

CNN or Fox News

where we may doubt our own

definition.

So long as we hold

strong

in the moments in between

we can gather courage

like beans

or seeds

kernals

in a pocket

promising a different now.

Peace to you. We send such loving thoughts your way.

Surface Earth

Silly,

innocent question,

but it begs an answer.

bless you,

you grant us miracles,

by your existence and your courage in stopping in,

to say hello,

and give strength.

Welcome CNN Hereos………….I cannot begin to give words to what you do……………for now, I start with this John Legend video.……..spectacular.

It starts, I believe, with the ability to see others as less than ourselves and it morphs to such grand proportions that it becomes something that hits the news and strikes us again and again, in headlines.

None of this should be true, but I have always been one to not spend a lot of time on should, or at least try not to, because should connotes lost time in the past.

I ask tonight for the only thing I can think of:  prayer.  Ask everyone you know to pray and pray and pray………at least until we can figure out something more swift.

I am probably not unlike you, I see this and say, where is God?  where is love?

I could struggle with an intellectual debate on the issues, but that is not helping all of those hurting, shocked, damaged people.

Rights, I want to say, trampled, but how can they be trampled when such rights have not yet arisen?

There is a lot of coverage as to “equal” marriage or “gay” marriage.  I’m not sure the word matters, I know as a lover of words it should, but I find the essence of the issue is one more pure, it is the right to love, so I don’t know what to call the right to love and marry, regardless of sexual orientation.

On a related note, from Vannessa’s corner of the world, she brought up the issue of the right to adopt and how it is curtailed due to sexual orientation.

Dear Ronnie, from Work Coach Cafe, just left an inspiring comment in regard to same and the illustrious words of at least one judge in Florida!  See Ronnie’s comment and prior thread.

Onward!

hanging on to the hue,

of purple,

or blue,

the gradation,

may not matter.

When you live on the edge of the rainbow,

it is moments,

seconds,

that define,

you,

your life.

When you live on the edge of the rainbow,

you hold on,

by nail,

by a thread,

by a handful,

if you like the color,

you have grasped.

When you live on the edge of the rainbow,

yours,

hang with you.

I hold

the promise of today

which was the breath,

the blink,

of yesterday,

unrealized.

In my hand,

I hold,

the courage,

of a moment,

fingers curled,

ready,

palms warm.

In my hands,

I hold,

the tempo,

of a new tomorrow,

watch my fingers spread,

reaching to the horizon,

refusing to meet,

a dividing line.

In my hands,

I hold,

the spark of hope,

so tiny,

I dare not look,

to see,

if it exists,

but close my eyes,

against the

sand of time,

willing granules

to become affixed,

within my eyelashes,

so short these days.

I will,

the space of time,

to exist,

as I hold it,

in my heart,

and send to you.

Peace.

Surface Earth

of one heart,

sighing?

One heart,

crying,

ripping,

tearing?

What is the sound,

can there be,

when no one outside of yourself

can hear it?

Or is sound,

an image,

something transfixed,

transported,

into gesture and face?

Can we hear the sound

of a heart breaking

in visual imagery?

Imagine this,

if you will,

falling,

through a moment in time,

when life becomes reversed,

when the difference,

between what is and what isn’t,

is no difference at all,

where there are no lines.

Imagine if you will,

having,

in fact,

the wrong look,

the wrong intonation,

the wrong laugh,

and imagine,

that is all it takes

to make you into

the other.

What is the sound,

of a heart breaking?

What does it mean,

to be the other?

Who must you be first,

where must you stand,

to call

another

of your brothers

or sisters,

the other?

May peace be with you.

Surface Earth

It just so happens that after reading Amber’s post, I stopped in at the land of Gyspsy Heart, and found a piece on tactile art that she had done and the photos of the children that were blessed by her art.  Absolutely amazing.  If that is not kindness, than I don’t know how to define the word.

I feel blessed today to have read these posts, to turn around my direction of thinking.  Often, as Amber said, the sheer enormity of the things to fix in the world could make us feel there is nothing we can do….ah, how misdirected that is and how empowering to hold on to the belief, that change can be made with each small moment.

Peace & blessings.

and I know this,

because I think, I breath, I feel.

I feel.

What is feeling?

What is it to walk through life,

wondering if anyone else knows what you and yours are going through?

Does it matter to daily existence?

I think not, because if it did, there could never be human unkindness.

Peace.

The Resolution, Jack’s Mannequin

Surface Earth store

Peace, light & blessings.

Surface Earth

I was over wandering at Sanity’s Place and aside from artful conversation I found a lead on a new, fresh author!

Go check out this book

Peace, blessings & light to you.

I personally am ecstatic with America and the world’s choice for Obama.

Yes, we have woken up from this deep sleep.

Yet, in many states in this country, we have been awake and still asleep, voting to ban “gay” marriage.  What is “gay” marriage?

Marriage is a willing union of hearts.  It must not be defined by gender or sexual orientation.

I am sorry, I cannot write more as I am deeply saddened by this, this seemingly ignorant action on the behalf of human beings in 2008.

“Hope” is a universal word.  It is not intended and not defined for the few.  How dare we, how dare we, crush good people’s dreams?  Is it easier to do so when it is not black and white?  Is it easier to do so when it is approved unions vs. those that are not?

By whose laws do we take such actions to deprive our brothers and sisters of what we so willingly take as ours?

Raise Up!  Vote to ban hetersexual marriage, let’s see what kind of reaction that gets.

Again, I’m sorry, but this is a sad, sad state of affairs that we would, as enlightened human beings, vote down love.

I could make out one star that seemed to glow, shine,

more brightly,

to me than any other.

I wondered at its size.

Then I thought,

can it see me?

I consider it a far off pinpoint of light,

yet,

it is a light that I can see.

Can it see me?

A piece of a pinpoint,

on this planet we call Earth,

not shining,

not giving any glow,

to light the vision of the night,

can it see me?

most times,

between the spaces,

when we have,

I believe,

moments of gratitude,

singing,

in the open spaces

of amphitheaters

designed and built

both long before and after our time.

There are times,

I think,

perhaps,

within the moments,

yes, not in the spaces in between,

when our hearts swell,

and we know,

if we could only bag up and box,

the love before us,

there would not be one more thing we need to accomplish.

Have I shared with you,

the smile,

on a child’s face,

when they turn at you,

unexpectedly?

Have I shared with you,

the millions of times,

within my home,

we say,

I love you?

not to get something back,

but because it is.

Have I shared with you,

my mortal fears?

the understanding,

that our rights to love,

as humans

are fragile.

They are…..

parceled,

not by our decree, but by,

the whims,

ambitions,

egos of others.

I do not blame them.

Because to do so,

is to blame them,

for not having been loved,

this way,

the way that is beyond denial,

for those within its circle of warmth.

I wish for you today,

a better moment,

a better today, to build,

an even better tomorrow.

I wish that we,

as humanity,

would not let,

our brothers and sisters fail,

not now,

not ever,

but lift them up,

within our arms of collective consciousness.

Every child gone wrong,

every adult,

with a finger pointed at him or her,

is still the child,

no I don’t mean,

we excuse behavior that hurts one another,

i mean,

we raise a village,

we stop it before it begins,

Ubuntu.

Peace to you today.

let us know what we can do,

if you don’t,

well,

we will wish you had.

Sanity Found gave us a remarkable tribute, and within same, Amber Moon, made reference to the guide written on her blog, simple thoughts on Ubuntu.

Perhaps the only fair way to begin is to show you, our introduction to the word Ubuntu did not begin that  long ago.  In June of 2007, Surface Earth posted a piece on Ubuntu. It was an introduction, a recognition, that this word was new to us.

Back to the present, we were asked to share our vision, our experience of Ubuntu:

We would like to extend our congratulations to Surface Earth.  Thank you for your beautiful words and spirit.  You will be a fine addition to our Ubuntu team.  With this nomination you can choose or not to post our Ubuntu badge on your blog, but we do ask that you post a blog post article about what Ubuntu means to you in return.

First, Ubuntu to us means an all encompassing love.  It means love which has no division, no boundaries, it is the recognition that as the water feeds through the channels of the land, it is not divided, but of the same whole.

Stop.

Ubuntu means exactly what what was given and shared today, an expression of humanity, a lack of being afraid to stand on Humanity’s Team, to recognize ourselves in another or others.  And that is what occurred today.  I stand now, in the distant light, rays, of pure love that have come from people I don’t know, people that have no agenda other than to raise up their fellow man or woman or human or whatever we want to call ourselves.  This purity of spirit reached into my day, humbling me, asking, what more, what more, what more can be done?  Done, I mean, to keep this up, to keep up this compassionate web of caring, for all of you to feel as I do right now, full of belief in the love and goodness of my fellow people.

This is first draft gang, i’m sure I’ll be back to write some more, but I can only write from the heart, the editing skills come from my very loud ego, and I’m ok with silencing that loud partner.

Namaste.  May you be good to others.

How could they possibly be related?

Well, maybe falling through the Rabbit Hole.

For now, I say, because I saw Flash of Genius today and cried.  I cried for so many reasons.  I cried because I am an attorney and I know I have advocated to settle because litigation costs would be insurmountable for my client.  I cry because i witnessed how a good man, watched his marriage and family get destroyed, because others refused to acknowledge truth.

But before I cried watching Flash of Genius i cried because I saw previews for The Changeling.  Am I confused?  Because I posted some time ago about a book, The Stolen Child, and because of my love for Irish history, my love of the lore of the Faeries, I felt The Stolen Child was important.  But the book itself humbled me to believe I knew what was important and what was not.

So I sat, waiting for Flash of Genius to begin, and had a preview to The Changeling which, if you have read, the Stolen Child, or perhaps other works, it would not be a bizarre topic for you.  If you have lived untruths forced upon you by what you believed to be law abiding, good people of society, and have been harmed because of it, then you also know what i mean.

What it means is the disillusion of truth.  Those in power preying over the good that live in truth.  And it bothers me on deeper levels because my Grandfather was an executive of Ford.  But i can only pray, he would not have done this to that man and his family. He is passed now, so I may have to wait to ask.  On another level it bothered me deeply because I am an attorney and was disgusted by what I saw in regard to the attorneys on behalf of Ford.  I spoke to Mary during that film and said please, please don’t let me be them.  But I’m judging now, aren’t I?  Ugh.

I cried. Just in the previews, I cried.  And they also had to slam us with The Soloist, let’s save that discussion for another day.

All I can say is, truth resides within, if you cannot follow your own good heart, there is no sense looking to others.

Man is distorted, I don’t know why, it makes no sense to me individually, I’d rather let the guy who cuts me of pass safely than curse him out.  But, I’m going to suffer myself, and watch The Changeling, knowing it is true and it exists today, knowing that to speak out, is often to condemn ourselves and those we love.

But, what, I ask you, because I no longer know, is,what is the point of silence?

May God and your heart guide you.  May God not be what institutions teach you, rather, may God only be what resonates when the soul and heart meet.

I pray for you.

Surface Earth

Here it is, I need to share this with you,

we live in the year,

2008.

(You sure this is not 1978????)

Did you know that?

And in 2008 it sometimes seems we have learned nothing.

We have become the arbiter of what is acceptable within the beds of consenting adults.  We have chosen to focus on a very small area:  whether people of the same sex are allowed to love each other.

Yes, you heard that right.  What we are talking about is ability of people to be allowed to FREELY EXPRESS LOVE TO ONE ANOTHER.

Let’s repeat that:  FREEDOM TO LOVE.

Now I’m not patronizing you, I repeat this to drill it into my own head that it could actually be true that God loving heterosexual human beings think they have the right to determine the course of love for the rest of the world.  (Oh, did I mention?  I’m God Loving and a monogamous, loving heterosexual.  Aren’t I lucky?  Arent’ I special?  Guess God must have chosen me.)

The point is, educated, allegedly loving individuals, citizens of the most free of societies, or so they herald, are actually, yes, seriously, contemplating to amend the Florida constitution to tell people, to mandate, to enact into law a prohibition against love.

Yes, that is what we are talking about, prohibiting love.

No God I have ever believed in ever considered that a possibility, two rules, remember, the essence?  Love God and Love your neighbor.

Whew.  Sorry, I’m pretty upset.

I want to know where the exit door is from this Society gone mad.  No, I don’t mean checking out, I mean escaping from the collective illusion.

Here, let me tell you what’s going on.  Received, via another, yes, my allowed and legal love, an email, copied below for you to read and digest:

“Dear all – yes this is a direct appeal for money to help a worthy cause.  It is sad that we have to spend good resources to fight for basic human rights in the US in 2008.

A worthy cause – run by a good friend I’ve known for several years.  Please help!

Kind regards,”

*****

Begin forwarded message:

From: ******

Date: 1 October 2008 9:15:31 AM

To: ********

Subject: Hello from Florida

Dear Friends,

I’ll be right up-front about this - this is an appeal for $$$.  (No, not for me.)

I hope you know I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important.  Please read on and I will explain why.

There is a poisonous amendment to the Florida Constitution on the ballot this November known as Amendment 2 – the so-called “Marriage Protection” Amendment.

Yes, they’re at it again.  The right wing is using fear of gay people to try to win another election.  But they may have over reached this time.  They claim it’s about “gay marriage” but Florida already has multiple laws banning same-sex marriage.  What they’re really after is engraving discrimination into the Florida Constitution and the elimination of domestic partnership rights and benefits which are offered by several counties (e.g. Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach), municipalities and employers (think Disney) here in Florida.

The good news is that to amend the Florida Constitution the proponents need a vote of 60% + 1 to win and we need 40% +1 to send it to the trash bin where it belongs.  Polls show both sides are within 2% of the magic number.  We have seen that once we explain the negative consequences to all Florida unmarried couples, especially seniors who would be forced to choose between sharing health care and receiving government benefits, our numbers go up.  The key to our victory will be in getting the word out to as many people as possible.  That’s where you come in.

Florida Red and Blue, the group I have been working for since July, was formed solely to defeat this amendment.  As many of you know I have worked on a few campaigns in the past and I must say I am impressed with the sophistication of Florida Red and Blue.  We are using all the latest tools to fight this battle.  Included in our arsenal are TV ads which are already “in the can” and have been tested with focus groups with off-the-charts positive results.  The reason the ads are so effective is they tell real stories of real people and how they would be affected if Amendment 2 passes.  The TV time has been booked and all that remains is the money to run the ads.  All our other expenses and overhead are covered from now until Nov. 4 so every dime we raise from now on will go directly to getting these ads on the air.

Please help with a contribution of whatever you can afford,  It’s easy; just go to our web site www.SayNo2.com or send a check to Florida Red and Blue  12864 Biscayne Blvd., Suite 314 North Miami, FL  33181.  There are just 5 weeks left until the election so the need is urgent and immediate.

If this amendment is defeated here in Florida it will send shock waves across the country.  The Republicans have used this tool in the past (remember Ohio 2004) and they will keep using it until it no longer works.  If we can stop them here it will be a real turning point.  But most importantly we will preserve the limited rights and benefits available under domestic partnerships for all unmarried Florida couples and keep the government out of the private lives of individuals and families.  When government tries to make these kinds of decisions we end up with travesties like the Terry Schiavo case.

Thanks for your help.  I know there are many demands on us all these days so it’s important to choose where our dollars will have the most impact and do the most good.  Beating Amendment 2 in Florida is one of those places.  [-------] And for more information on the amendment, go to www.SayNo2.com. There you can read articles,view videos, make a contribution and find a list of our supporters like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Patricia Ireland, NOW, the NAACP, AFL-CIO, etc.

Thank you most sincerely for your support,

******

PS – if you have any friends in Florida make sure they know to vote No on Amendment 2.  You’d be surprised how many people don’t know about this with all the attention going to the presidential race.”

UPDATE:  WE HAVE RECEIVD PERMISSION TO POST THE AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE ABOVE QUOTED EMAIL:

dougsternyc@netscape.com

(954) 734-0171

SO THAT’S IT FOLKS.

A CHANCE TO ACT FROM THE SOUL, TO ACT FROM OUR HEARTS.

DOESN’T SEEM THAT DIFFICULT, DOES IT?

PEACE AND NAMASTE.

surface earth photos, copyright – 2008

A rose by any other name…………………………………

-surface earth, copyright 2008

GRRRRR, OUR SURFACE EARTH DESIGN, SHE IS READY, BOOTS ON………………….

YOURS,

SURFACE EARTH

my night ended, looking at flowers still opened,

just one above,

how funny,

it looks of the day.

My day started,

early,

and in one point

of that early transition,

i had a moment of grace,

i saw for some reason,

a small fleck of color,

perhaps,

i would have thought a weed,

in another given moment,

but i stopped,

crouched down and looked

at the color curled into itself,

i asked my child,

with me,

at the time,

come here,

see this color,

and the flower opened,

seen as I did,

below,

perhaps the camera quality cannot give you the sensation,

we saw,

in the early hours.

Seems like she made a stop in Springfield. M.A.

****Hey CordieB’s comment just made me update this, almost included it to begin with but didn’t, Mother Mary Come to Me………………..

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQNpEET9WqQ&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=0]

The Labryrinth Shop

Is it my camera or is it my hand? takes blurry photos….but I needed to share, this is a woman, an artist, that shares and shares and shares.

The above is a one of a kind begging bowl.  You must see it to believe it.  You must feel it to sense the energetic love.  The card in the photo reads:

“The begging bowl is a visual reminder, it can be worn, hung on a {rearview} mirror, or anywhere it can be seen to remind you.  Remind you that every day Life brings things to you, it places these moments in the bowl of your day.  It is up to You to use these moments to nourish your heart, your mind, your spirit.”

I’m not sure how to convince you to jump to her shop, but please do, she gives back, constantly, without a thought.  Pass this on.  Let’s show what the power of kindness can do….pass it on, to ten, then ten more then ten more again.  Let’s do it, let’s see if we can pass this on to at least hit the million mark.

And Sorrow, when you stop in, feel free to tell us more, and please, do not be  humble, share with us the stories of the works on your site, the homeless that have been given a space to try to earn money, the free gifts you send your fellow bloggers, shout it from the mountain girl, I know you will only take the profits and give them away, even though I pray you keep a tiny bit for yourself.

Peace.  I never tell you to do anything, I am telling you now, pass this on to as many as you can, link it to your blogs, go to the shop, you will be rewarding the kind and gentle and unselfish heart of the artist, Sorrow11.

Surface Earth

What is he thinking?  Saying?  Rather unnerving, when I go outside he (she?) turns her head and watches my movement.

Photos are a bit blurry…but you get the picture.

I looked in this article for a contact to reach out and could not find one.  Perhaps one of you will see what I could not.  Maybe it’s as simple as writing to the reporter who covered the story.

Another thought came to me, she reportedly lives in Vista, California.  There must be a family near there that can donate clothes an older boy has grown out of or a group that can share meals.  There must be ways we can still reach out and help one another, even when most of us no longer have enough money, let alone “extra” money.

***UPDATE:  AS OF 10/4/08, WE ARE TRYING TO OBTAIN THE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR THE CNN REPORTER, WE CALLED A FEW DIFFERENT NUMBERS TO TRACK HIM, WE HOPE DURING REGULAR OPERATING HOURS BEGINNING MONDAY, WE CAN TRACK HIM DOWN AND HE CAN HELP US FACILITATE WAYS TO DONATE TO THE FAMILY HE HIGHLIGHTED IN NEED.

STAY TUNED.  WE WILL APPRISE AS SOON AS WE KNOW.  PEACE TO YOU.