Monday, February 28, 2011

Questioning Those in Positions of Power

What a loss it is for so many to have been abused by their church, their parents and others in positions of power! This, and the presentation of God as a vindictive super-human who holds us hostage has actually given many a distrust of the term "God". These people are often also afraid of accepting assistance, believing that vulnerability automatically leads to abuse.

In my lifetime, the western church has changed the accepted face of God to a Loving Being who wants all to come home. This is not the historic interpretation of the involvement of The Almighty, who sought to smite all who made mistakes.

There must be sacred stories other than those we have seen in the Bible. There must be manifestations of The Infinite Almighty that we have not heard about from those in positions of power. Certainly there are alternative interpretations of sacred scripture.

A young woman I know who had very little religious training, upon reading Genesis for the first time as a young adult, declared that she thought many people had the Creation story wrong. She thought that God didn't banish Adam and Eve, but that God told them what they were doing wasn't allowed in the Garden of Eden. Her interpretation is that they then chose to leave, and that God, like the loving, hurting, and hopeful parent of a wayward teenager, continues to stand at the gate with open arms believing that they will one day return. I like to believe she saw this in the way she was parented, and that became her manifestation of The Almighty.

When we start with this premise, the whole story of humanity takes on a different light. Our willful desire for independence becomes the villain that leads us to continue making the same mistakes in every generation. Humankind blames much on God, as two-year-olds and teenagers blame their parents who are waiting in the wings to provide support when asked. Maybe we're doing these destructive things to ourselves and others. If we want help, all we have to do is humble ourselves enough to ask.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Pain of Losing a Partner with Final Plea

Who is there to hold our hands and let us wail in pain?
Who is there to pick us up until we can walk again?
Who will manage our friends in their attempts to take over?
Who will tell the world at large to take our grief a little slower?

We cannot all get over it when we have lost our mates,
In a true partnership, where there are so many states
Of our live's necessities, in which we shared the load.
How can we function alone when we, on two axles, rode?

If only we had wailing walls where we could place requests
For one to take the place of our mates in decisions about what is best,
For the future which we must continue to face without half of ourselves,
For a replacement for the arms that, by once, we were so tenderly held.

I was blessed by reprieves when I thought my loves would die;
I have often thanked My Maker, no matter the reason why.
I do know how desperately we hunger for human touch
When faced with losing a part of ourselves that we have loved so much.

How is it that we can continue to go on with our own lives
Without the earthly unity for which each of us strives?
When we've had it and lost it, how can we not long
For an end to our earthly brokenness. How can this be wrong?

Even those who believe that God waits for their return,
For the physical presence of their loved ones still burn.
Shouldn't there be a way for us to embrace Eternity
Without having to feel the pain of losing a part of me?

Some say we should give it to God;
Some say Jesus is the way.
But didn't Our Maker give us hands
To do something other than pray?

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Looking for Absolute Answers

I'm just started reading My Sister's Keeper, a novel by Jodi Picoult. The story addresses the issue of genetic engineering of a sibling to save the life of a another dying child. We live in such a complex society with all the advances of modern science, it is difficult to know what we each would do in some of our most scary situations. There seem to be too many choices, and not enough absolute answers to go around.

While we like to believe that we know where our free will would take us, do we ever really know where we'd go, given secrecy and an endless supply of options? When it is something we desperately want, we often go with our own emotion and expect forgiveness from Our Maker. But when it is the heart's desire of another, we like to believe that we would make more moral choices. Can I say with certainty that, faced with the slow, painful death of my small child, I'd not take advantage of every option know to medical miracles?

We like to say that we leave our destiny to God, and offer all our suffering up as a sacrifice. How many of us don't take an analgesic when we have a headache? Is this not interfering in the natural order of things, our way over God's will?

When it comes to procreation, we think we know where we'd draw the line, as another life is in the balance. If it's okay to block a headache, is it okay to block ovulation or fertilization? The lines get fuzzy when we speak about interfering with fertility for purposes that support procreation, when one wants a child of one's own genetic material. They get fuzzier still when we want to save or improve the quality of the lives of those we already love.

I was born back in the day when all babies were created the old-fashioned way. I remember the philosophical furor over the first test tube baby's birth. Who knew we'd one day be storing what some say is already human life in freezers? How could we have predicted that medicine would be afforded the ability to "create" life?

An Activist's Prayer by Jack Riemer

I found this prayer online. It is written by Rabbi Jack Riemer. I thought it should be shared.

An Activist's Prayer

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end war;
For we know that You have made the world in a way
That we must find our own path to peace
Within ourselves and with our neighbours.

We cannot merely pray to You, O Lord, to end starvation;
For you have already given us the resources
With which to feed the entire world
If we would only use them wisely.

We cannot merely pray to you, O God,
To root out prejudice,
For You have already given us eyes
With which to see the good in all people
If we would only use them rightly.

We cannot merely pray to You O God, to end despair,
For You have already given us the power
To clear away slums and to give hope
If we would only use our power justly.

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end disease,
For you have already given us great minds with which
To seek out cures and healing,
If we would only use them constructively.

Therefore we pray to You instead, O God,
For strength, determination, and willpower,
To do instead of just pray,
To become instead of merely to wish.

Friday, February 25, 2011

This Little Light of Mine, I'm Gonna Let It Shine

There is a huge difference between feelings and actions of guilt and those precipitated by shame. Admission of guilt is the beginning of healing; it presupposes trust in the other and in the relationship. Shame seeks to hide one's actions, predicting that the other will be duped by the performance. This leads to further alienation, rather than to reconciliation. It seems to me that the sin of Adam and of Cain was the refusal to admit guilt and to ask for guidance in how to avoid the same sin.

We, as a people, seem to continue getting it wrong, attempting to hide our weaknesses from each other because so many still believe that all illness and loss is punishment for some sin of an ancestor or of oneself. There seems to be a legalistic understanding of Grace and God that we carry forward into our personal relationships and hand down from generation to generation. A system of rewards and punishments, ridicule and retribution. Life in the Light should help us get past these issues, but we continue to project our own limitations onto our beliefs about The Almighty. Babies are all born beautiful; only through the shame of our ancestors are we made to feel less than gifts of Grace.

My mother spent her life feeling ashamed of her birth status as a child born to a mother who had married a divorced non-(Roman)Catholic. Further "evidence" of God's displeasure with her mother was the fact that my mother's father had died when my mother was only three, her brother five, and her sister an infant. There were also two half-brothers that my grandmother had been bringing up as her own.

Like more "proof" of sin was needed, as my grandmother was in the process of moving her little ones to be closer to her mother and crippled sister for support, her mother died. This left her with the burden of her widowed father and crippled sister added to the burdens of her widowhood and child-rearing. In those days, there were no protections for a widow supporting her family. My grandmother spent the rest of her life atoning for her "sins" by attending daily mass, never again marrying, and shunning shows of love.

My grandmother seemed to buy into the notion that the sins of the father (and presumably the mother) are passed on to their children. She never expressed any joy in the value of herself, her children, or her grandchildren, as this would lead to pridefulness, another sin. My mother seemingly, couldn't get past this sense of shame. She followed suit in attempting to atone for the sins of her parents, of which she felt herself to be tangible evidence.

Our religion, in that time, insisted on earthly penance for our transgressions, rather than throwing ourselves on the mercy of Our Just Creator. It also never asked us to make amends to those we helped to move away from feelings of grace, only to offer ourselves and our pain as human sacrifices to assuage the sins of ourselves and our ancestors. The only way out of this unending trap was to deny any wrongdoing and/or to do eternal penance. There was really no "Joy in Jesus" when I was coming up. And forget the idea of the Light of Holiness in an average individual.

It was heart-breaking to watch my mother deny herself joy in her children's use of their God-given gifts. All pride in her progeny was turned by her shame into pain. This was, presumably, her penance and her protection from the continuation of what she referred to as "arrogance". Thankfully, she seemed to see some light in her grandchildren's lives. It is now up to us, who are still living our earthly existence, to continue to honor and nurture the Life-In-The-Light affirming use of all the talents that our family members were given.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine."

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Peace for Our Progeny

My recently deceased mother spent the last years of her life petitioning heaven for the healing of ancestral wounds. She seemed to think that it was enough to ask for the general healing without naming the wounds or those who suffered from these afflictions. Perhaps she didn't know the specifics, or she was too ashamed of her part in them to be able to name them. So many times we hide from our own sins in shame, which forever precludes the healing of their wounds. The sins of the ancestors are only passed down to subsequent generations because we refuse to recognize and repent of our wrong actions.

When we live in a society of fear, ridicule, and reprisal, where do we find words of guidance for our children and their children as they embark upon the waters of adult life and love in this fragmented world. Who will sit with them and listen to their anguish without attempting to interject their own weaknesses and those of their ancestors as justification for further wrongdoing? Tradition seems to trump careful consideration of what is right for individual relationship issues. Do young families have to resort to divorce court in order to be heard?

When two become one, we, as a society, should take their union seriously. We witness their vows, then do nothing to strengthen the union. Even in involved families, the norm seems to be holding onto our own children and insisting on the superiority of our family's ways, rather than releasing them to form their own families. When they ask for guidance, we seldom seek the wisdom of the elders of our communities in guiding our answers. We tend to be too busy protecting our own turfs, traditions, and reputations.

All growth is created in stress. Stress causes a seed to break open and become a tree. A marriage cannot produce offspring without breaking open. When children are born to a union, the young family is in crisis. With the work, wisdom, and wit of the elders, the new tree will flourish. But in the absence of the solid ground for growing and much nurturing, the new tree will either wither and die or splinter into several weakened branches.

It takes courage to carry the burdens of the young on our weary and stooped shoulders, but we must be brave if we are to help to create peace in the new lives of our progeny.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Love and Litigation

I'm in the process of a property dispute in which the seller is threatening litigation. I've read the prescription for settling disputes written in Matthew 18:15-17 "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." This passage begs the questions of who are our brothers and who are our church?

Lawyers were involved from the beginning of the relationship, as no contract on property can be written or enforced without them. I don't know anything about the lawyers involved with the writing of the original contract; neither do I have knowledge of the values of the closing attorney. I certainly have no idea as to whether the litigator has any sense of justice.

As soon as the subject of litigation came up, I consulted a lawyer to explain to me what the original legal documents meant. I was very careful in my choice of legal counsel to hire someone who is known to me to be a Jewish woman who embraces justice and peace.

Until proven otherwise, I choose to believe that the seller is a just person who has hired an equally moral attorney. I hope this is the case because my attorney doesn't do litigation. If this goes to court, who will be "the church"? Does it mean anything to swear on a Bible when you have no knowledge or belief in what the Bible says?

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Lives in Holy Light

I'm so excited about this blog. I already have three folks commenting on the entries. One is a devout Jewish mom and soon-to-be grandma; the other is a long-time male pastor and preacher in a Pentecostal church who spent twenty years in Africa, where many to whom he ministered were Muslims. This is what I want to hear, how walking a walk of holiness enriches lives, of the writers and of those around them. Talk about different perspectives!

I'm hoping to hear from atheists, agnostics, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and anyone else who can tell their stories of walking in the Light of the Spirit of Oneness with all the good in creation. I want to know where and how they found this Holy Light in their lives, and how they apply it to achieving unity in our universe.

What are the manifestations of Holy Oneness in your life? What do you call this Light of Life? Where do you find support for your vision of Holiness? How do you share your Light with the rest of creation?

Monday, February 21, 2011

Children and Church

I was taught that it was a sin not to sit on Sunday with God, and that the only place to find Our Father was in a church. It didn't much matter where I was, I had to find a church to attend. This had nothing to do with having a church family; it had to do with the rituals of religion. I was also taught that we were not meant to read our own Bibles because we weren't enlightened enough to understand what the words meant. Only the priests had that privilege.

Our parents doled out severe punishment for skipping the sacred services, so Sunday became a day of penance rather than a day of prayer. As I grew older, I began to search for something more in spiritual living. I began to read sacred scriptures from many religious perspectives, but still hadn't been introduced to the idea that I may be able to obtain enlightenment. Because I had children, I began looking for a church home, but I never found a good fit.

Much of my inability to feel at home in church had to do with the one-sidedness of the services. I often found nothing enriching or enlightening in the impersonal explanations of what the Bible supposedly said. All the ritual made me very nervous because it allowed for no variation and no questions. But the straw that broke my camel's back was the insistence on separating me from my children during the service because my children were thought to be either too young to understand the adult service or too distracting to other adults by virtue of their activity. I had one day a week to be with the greatest blessings in my life, and I was supposed to spend that day listening to lifeless lessons with people in whom I had no investment. I thought not. I didn't need any family that didn't want my children to be with me.

My way of worship was to celebrate every moment that I could be with my babies, preferably enjoying the bountiful beauty of nature. Where was that part of Sacred Scripture? Why wasn't I hearing about the absolutely divine grace that comes from watching love in action in families and friendships?

This blog is about finding those voices that experience the divine in everyday life. This is what I want in a faith family, not dogma and disrespect for the families of other faiths. Sacred Scripture, in my opinion, is every word written (or spoken) celebrating the gifts of Creation, including the gift of turning our pain into passion for a more Holy and just people.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Competition and Killing

It is so sad when even families can't find a way to peaceful relationships other than through mutual rejection of others because of jealousy or fear of competition. From the beginning of recorded history, the story is the same. People want whatever it is that they don't have, even if they have no use for it. They destroy relationships to get what their greed dictates, then wonder why they still aren't happy. Humans wanted to control The Infinite and destroyed their relationship to get it. Cain wanted what his brother had, and killed his brother to get it.

Why is it that we seem to be so hard-wired for jealousy and greed. Competition for the most or the best seems to be the rot that ruins relationships with The Infinite Good of The Genesis of Creation and with all creatures. Two-year-old toddlers often attempt to crawl into a sibling's crib and exterminate the competition. Is it that we are born no more compassionate than any other animal, and that it is the responsibility of our families and society to envelop us with enough sense of security that we grow out of the fear of starvation? Where are we failing each other in this regard?

When will we understand that killing the competition doesn't necessarily mean more for us? Whatever another's gifts, conquering or killing the other doesn't automatically make the gifts of the conquered mine. Even eating the competition doesn't imbue me with the strength of my enemy, any more than eating iron-rich foods makes me a muscle man.

We even fight over The Infinite. What is it about Infinity that we don't understand?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Crazy Cajun Catholic

It’s very important to folks around here that people profess their faith, and they distrust anyone not attending a church. They’re not particular which church you attend (as a ninety-plus-year-old friend says, “It’s all the same Bible,”) as long as it’s a Christian church. I’m not sure how they’d feel about attendance at a synagogue or mosque because we don’t have any in these parts.

The importance of their religion was made very clear to me when I offered my (and by extension my husband’s) services to a recently widowed woman. When she seemed reluctant to take me up on my offer, I told her that, since my husband and I don’t attend church, she could help us to salvation -- not that I think that simply through good works will I be saved. I was just trying to get past the natural reluctance of the independent mountain people to ask for help from outsiders.

She rather quizzically replied, “I don’t know that that’s how it works.” Without stopping to think, I answered, “I’d rather try to live like a follower of Christ than to sit in church and listen to somebody talk about Christianity. But the real truth is I just can’t sit quietly that long. If there was a Black Baptist church with all the shouting of ‘Alleluias’ and ‘Amens’, I might be able to attend that church.” I didn’t mean to imply that all the people sitting in churches weren’t walking the walk of Christianity; I hope she didn’t take it that way. I meant that I'd prefer to celebrate than to sit in silence. It did leave her speechless -- but much that I say and do leaves a lot of people speechless.

I was driving to a doctor's appointment when I found my faith again. I began laughing so hard I had to stop the car and call my most spiritual Roman Catholic soul sister, who wasn’t home – but her husband was. I can’t remember what I said to him, but I knew he wouldn’t “get” my elation. I had been a catholic all along – I wasn’t Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Catholic; I am what catholic by what is the true meaning of the word “catholic,” which is to say, “universal.”

At first I thought it was a Cajun thing, so I labeled myself Cajun Catholic. I wasn’t brought up on the bayou, even though I spent summers there, but I’ve always felt that my nature is very molded by my Cajun family. They are very “live and let live” people.

Now, this isn’t to say that they allow you to do whatever you want in their homes. My Cajun grandma used to make the rules for her home, and then say, “If you don’t like it, there’s the door.” My aunt (my Cajun grandma’s daughter) is much the same way, but much more soft spoken about it. Her husband is the one who shows you the door if you break the house rules.

It’s just that, on some basic level, they have always understood that the church is there to support them in their journey through life, not the other way around. They’ve always had a healthy skepticism for anybody’s teachings that came from books without any life experience to back it up – much like mountain folk. Somehow, I can’t imagine my grandma or aunt going to the parish priest for marriage advice, or advice on raising their children.

I live by words; the words spoken to me affect every aspect of my being. I’m a firm believer in the saying popular with psychiatrists and social workers in the seventies, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can make me crazy.” The words of the creed, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church” are said in many Christian churches. By the commonly held definition of catholic in Christian churches, catholic means universally Christian. So I looked up the definition and the origins of the word catholic. This is what I found:
catholic adj
1. universal; relating to all men; all-inclusive
2. comprehensive in interests, tastes, etc.; broad-minded; liberal
[from Latin catholicus, from Greek katholikos universal, from katholou in general, from kata- according to + holos whole]

Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/catholic

This may not be earth-shaking to most people, but to me it was life-changing. Why did it take me so long to read the dictionary?

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Ask Other Mothers

I’d like to meet some Muslim moms
Because I'm so confused.
I was taught that Christians should kill non-Christians,
And that then included Jews.

We were taught about the Crusades;
We sang homages to war.
We seemed to forget the teachings of the man
Born under the Far Eastern Star.

It seems that even he had a temper
When the temples were selling blessings.
Once throwing out the falsehoods,
He left us with many lessons.

Of how to be good people
And create harmony on this earth,
Listening and speaking carefully
To all who had been given birth.

We want our “just” rewards in a hurry,
And we really don’t want to share.
We spend a lot of time in worry
That there are limits to Almighty care.

Jesus was a Jew traveling in Palestine's land.
He did not ask anyone’s faith;
He held out his loving hands,
And asked us to continue to wait.

He never condemned those considered “other.”
He fed and spoke to all in sight;
Encouraging all to act as brothers --
As a loving family might.

We are frightened and impatient;
Instead of walking in love,
We shout at and curse the others
Though they, too, come from above.

Are we to believe that our Creator
Continues to create others
Who will never also meet their Maker?
I’d like to ask other mothers.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Lunch and the Light

A bit of my beliefs for which I'll probably be burned at the stake,
But I'm sure it's not the biggest risk that I'll ever take.
I don't think Jesus was made to die by his dad;
I think people demanded his death to prove the commitment that he had.

He walked along the earth preaching joy and elation,
Instead of concentrating on the negativity in creation.
Many did not like this brash, young Jewish man
Messing with their version of earth's domination plan.

What made his words so scary to those who live in fear,
Is he changed the focus of what we should hold most dear.
He said that we are equal in the glory we were created to be.
And that after death we cease to be counted as he or she.

I believe The Light of Creation shimmered until it broke apart,
And that this Holy Light gave to all creation its start.
I believe we are destined to, once again, become
Part of the Light of Love that we were spun off from.

I believe we destroy this earth and each other with our greed,
Thinking that The Infinite Light and Love won't fill our need.
Like there is only a limited amount of Light and Love to go around,
So we, even in Eternity, want to grab a piece of ground.

Good parents aren't happy as long as one of their children has not;
They seek to distribute evenly every good thing that they've got.
Is our Infinite Creator any less loving than we?
Why would there be more for you and nothing left for me?

Some Christians think that salvation isn't for Muslim or Jew.
Did Our Creator not know what family each life was sent to?
Do we think there's need for more kindling for the fires of hell,
So Our Creator continues creating those who can never in Heaven dwell?

Aren't we all spun off the same Creator's energy,
The final destination, back with Our Creator to be.
If Jesus is my brother and has returned to his roots,
Won't everyone become one again in our glory suits?

All who seek Love and Kindness, it seems to me,
Are parts of salvation as it was meant to be.
Some of us see Our Creator in one manifestation,
While others see The Spirit in many parts of Creation.

So let us stop the argument of which is the true God;
All was created as part of the path to Infinity that we trod.
I'd love to see what you see, and share my vision of God with you
Eye-to-eye we'll sit, rather than sitting in a pew.

I'd like to have a lunch with you that I lovingly prepare;
It's hard to remain angry as we, our blessings, share.
So, come one and come all to my very large dining table;
Let's celebrate our visions of The Light with all that we are able.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Sad, Mad, and Glad

I have long known that the way to impart one's values is at the table; didn't Jesus feed people before speaking the sermon on the mount? I figured that I was a good cook, but I wasn't so sure that my values were worth sharing. This is what I had been taught be my teachers, mother, and other mothers, especially my grandmas. Consequently, I've spent my life providing the feasts, but not otherwise participating in the parties. I'm too old to keep up all the labor, and I'm now faced with the next generation, in the course of casual conversation, asking me what I believe. Dare I impart the impressions I have from my experience with life, love and The Light of The Spirit of Wholeness?

One of my best friends recently insisted the I believe in "God". Whether or not I believe in "God" is a question that hes been posed to me since my children were small. You'd think that I'd have a simple "yes" or "no" answer, but that has never been the case with any questions posed to me. My stock answer then was "Yes, but I don't believe everything people say about God." I've amended that to, "I believe in The Spirit of Wholeness (Holiness): my definition of The Holy Spirit."

I believe that man has, over the ages, described "God" as resembling too closely what man is, the good and the bad of humankind. I believe that The Spirit of Light and Love (Positive Energy) is both the male and the female Energy of Life which manifests Itself in many ways to many people. Naming The Almighty limits the scope of The Entity and discredits the many manifestations of The Infinite Light that have been experienced over the ages. Maybe the Native Americans had it right when they spoke of the Great Spirit. Perhaps the Jews are right in pronouncing this spirit as the breath of life (Yah-weh). Maybe the Muslims are correct in pointing toward the goodness in all of us as being manifestations of The Holy Spirit when they refer to the Almighty as "We".

What I believe is that all of creation that comes from The Almighty is part of the plan for Eternal Life. I believe that all of creation is spun from The Almighty Energy and that all of creation will eventually come back into oneness with The Source. I believe that time and space exist only in our minds, and that in The Eternal's scheme of things all energy will be purified and return to the Infinite Power of the Positive.

I feel blessed to have been exposed to the Judeo-Christian path to Eternity; I think it makes my journey on earth more bearable as, through this value system, I have a sense of the peace that comes with embracing The Positive in this life. It is easy for me to see a way toward The Eternally Peaceful Positive in looking at the the many manifestations of the Positive Power in this history that led to the life, and the life of, Jesus. I believe that this quest to come back to oneness with The Spirit of Wholeness continues today, and that each of us is tasked with using our bits of this Positive Energy to help in the process.

While it seems true that some are blessed with more gifts than others, it is my belief that the greater the gifts, the greater the responsibility to share them wisely. To connect with this wisdom, we must pull back and open ourselves to the inflowing of The Spirit. This Spirit will lead us on the path to Perfection in all we do. There is no end to the Positive Energy into which we can tap. This Energy is absent in all jealousy and hatred. We will be led by this Spirit to understand that which we fear instead of destroying the sources of our fears.

The Prayer of Francis of Assisi states this very well: "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

I didn't know until very recently that the Spirit of Holiness was available to me. Being with my loved ones who have known me through all the thrills and tribulations of my life has renewed me. It is true that I can cuss like a sailor, but those words aren't all of me. I don't curse people, simply situations that seem negative to me.If someone is torturing a dog, most of us would step in to save the animal, but we allow the most brutal treatment of human beings without even a word of protest.There are, after all, some things that shouldn't be silently endured, and we can't always walk away.

I was taught that I had it all wrong, so I simply went away sad. I may not always be glad, and sometimes the meanness of people makes me feel quite mad, but knowing that I can sit at the table of The Almighty and be fed whenever I'm hungry for The Light has made me feel quite glad.