Our Christmas day highlight was seeing the film “Invictus.” It tells the story of Nelson Mandela’s presidency using the role of rugby as a national unifying force. It was a powerful film. It is amazing how willing a nation is to accept the unacceptable when enough people agree it’s ok. This is a truth we can contemplate in our nation, I’m sure. And in our lives. What do I accept that I know is unacceptable to the human spirit? Racism? Sexism? Greed?
New Year is approaching. Our friend, Gina, is flying up from San Francisco to celebrate with us. She and Andy will be opening their millennium box which was sealed on New Year’s Eve 1999. Ten years on it will be very interesting to read the letters they wrote to themselves. What kind of feelings will the other mementos in the box bring up?
New Year is our favorite holiday and a very special time. It is a time of power wherein we can review our year and chart our new course. We can let go of the old, set new goals, and embrace the new. What worked well last year? What didn’t? What can we carry into this year that is working? What do we need to leave in 2009?
Our big project plans are really developing now. Next week we will post the details of our big project, what we are thinking and how we plan to do it. Maybe this will ignite some interest in you; your ideas and input will be appreciated.
……
“Seattle is a beautiful place, but in the 1980’s I was living in a beat up beach cabin. I had an old TV, a lumpy futon and one of those white plastic princess phones. I was basically broke, but my noisy old refrigerator was stuffed with fresh vegetables, eggs, fruit, beer and frozen pizza - and I had a spectacular view of Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains and the Seattle skyline.
That year, I volunteered to host a college exchange student from Guinea Bissau, Africa. When I picked him up at the airport, Salvatore was easy to spot. He was 23, tall and regal looking, with a huge smile and lustrous blue-black skin. He had lived his entire life as a barefoot fisherman in a small native village located on a big river deep in the jungle of Guinea Bissau- and now his village had raised the money to send him to study U.S. Fisheries on their behalf. He had traveled directly from his African village to Seattle, and I could see he was astonished at what he saw as we drove through the beautiful city.
When we arrived at my raggedy cabin, I worried that Salvatore might be disappointed with his new accommodations. He seemed somber as I showed him the little bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, TV and telephone. What was Salvatore thinking? I decided to take him out on the little deck to try to impress him with the view. The snow clad mountains were spread out against the sky that day, and one of Seattle’s majestic white ferries was gliding across the sparkling waters of Puget Sound. We stood there silently for a while, and then Salvatore turned to me with his brow deeply knit in thought.
‘You are a king?’ he asked. ‘No,’ I laughed, ‘I’m just an everyday person like you.’ Salvatore was silent for a moment, and then he turned again and said quite clear and emphatically, ‘You are a king.’ And it suddenly dawned on me that he was right. All these years I had been a king and not known it.” (Scott Sabol, PhD. (One, Zadra, D. and Yamada, K. 2009. Compendium, Inc.))
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Holiday
Our work and research towards next year’s plans continues and develops daily. We are excited about this project and looking forward to sharing it with you in the New Year!
We saw the much acclaimed film, ‘Precious,’ today. We found it honest and well acted. We are surprised, though, that people would find it shocking as so many have according to reviews and media reporting. In order to be shocked by this film, one would have to be rather unaware of the world we live in. There are Precious people living very difficult lives all over the world everyday. As one reviewer said, it would be self indulgent to sit in a movie theater crying about it. Do something about it, or do nothing about it, but let’s not pretend we don’t know it happens every day all over the world.
It’s nearly Christmas. As we walk this road less travelled, living outside many cultural norms such as 40 hour work weeks and media driven consumption, we find holidays less and less appealing. Not because we are opposed to merry-making and cheer, but because we now have more of these in our everyday lives. To designate very few and specific days for such activities seems inauthentic, contrived, really. Some food for thought – originally holidays (‘holy-days’) were, as well as being linked to spiritual practices (pagan or Christian (or both….)), really more often the times that the peasants of the manor were given a day off by their lord as a way of keeping these lower classes happy for a few more months ….. hmmmm …. has much changed? (Something to think about there…..!).
…
“Take a stand for something worthwhile, raise a banner in behalf of truth, health, justice, beauty, or morality. Each will inevitably be joined by others, so that truth shall prevail, so that health shall be abundant, so that justice shall be established, so that beauty shall dominate over ugliness, so that morality shall thrive among our people.” (Conard B. Rheiner)
We saw the much acclaimed film, ‘Precious,’ today. We found it honest and well acted. We are surprised, though, that people would find it shocking as so many have according to reviews and media reporting. In order to be shocked by this film, one would have to be rather unaware of the world we live in. There are Precious people living very difficult lives all over the world everyday. As one reviewer said, it would be self indulgent to sit in a movie theater crying about it. Do something about it, or do nothing about it, but let’s not pretend we don’t know it happens every day all over the world.
It’s nearly Christmas. As we walk this road less travelled, living outside many cultural norms such as 40 hour work weeks and media driven consumption, we find holidays less and less appealing. Not because we are opposed to merry-making and cheer, but because we now have more of these in our everyday lives. To designate very few and specific days for such activities seems inauthentic, contrived, really. Some food for thought – originally holidays (‘holy-days’) were, as well as being linked to spiritual practices (pagan or Christian (or both….)), really more often the times that the peasants of the manor were given a day off by their lord as a way of keeping these lower classes happy for a few more months ….. hmmmm …. has much changed? (Something to think about there…..!).
…
“Take a stand for something worthwhile, raise a banner in behalf of truth, health, justice, beauty, or morality. Each will inevitably be joined by others, so that truth shall prevail, so that health shall be abundant, so that justice shall be established, so that beauty shall dominate over ugliness, so that morality shall thrive among our people.” (Conard B. Rheiner)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Disparity and humility
We’ve spent a lot of time this week defining and planning for our big plans for next year. It is coming along really well, and so we will post details about what it all is about the beginning of the New Year. Our thoughts and ideas have been around how we can make a bigger impact on the disparity between developing countries and ourselves. Some interesting facts;
- 1.2 billion people live on less than $110 PER YEAR. Half of these people have stunted growth or mental retardation from insufficient nutrition.
- 60% of humanity live on less than $520 PER YEAR.
- 1/3 of all the children in the world suffer from malnutrition.
- Only 30% of the wealthiest 1 billion people report being happy!
- A poll in the USA of people earning more than $270 (about £200) a day, 27% said they could not afford to buy all they needed!
- Each person worldwide has up to 4.7 acres of land for yearly resources (although 3 acres is more of a sustainable amount of use) – the average American uses 24 acres a year, the average Indian uses less than 3 acres a year.
(Source ‘Radical Simplicity’ Jim Merkel)
With our background in healthcare and therapy, we are especially interested in the disabled and disadvantaged in the third world. This, of course, was only made more so by our work this year with Seeing Hands Nepal. Many of the students there were blind because of either malnutrition or lack of adequate healthcare. However, they were quite humbling and inspirational. Each of the students lived and travelled independently on local transport and through difficult terrain. Each of the students were pursuing not only an intensive (5-6 x week, 4-5 hours a day) massage therapy training, they also were all completing bachelor’s degrees at the same time – by attending university classes that began at 6am! They also seemed to live full lives – playing blind cricket, singing, dancing, socializing, and participating in the Blind Association. They live on very small allowances while doing all this. It certainly made us think, and still does. It makes it much harder for us to complain about anything when we think of them – and we are much happier than most Americans (it would seem)…
………
“You will never understand violence and non-violence until l you understand the violence to the spirit that happens from watching your children die of malnutrition” (A Salvadoran peasant in Radical Simplicity)
- 1.2 billion people live on less than $110 PER YEAR. Half of these people have stunted growth or mental retardation from insufficient nutrition.
- 60% of humanity live on less than $520 PER YEAR.
- 1/3 of all the children in the world suffer from malnutrition.
- Only 30% of the wealthiest 1 billion people report being happy!
- A poll in the USA of people earning more than $270 (about £200) a day, 27% said they could not afford to buy all they needed!
- Each person worldwide has up to 4.7 acres of land for yearly resources (although 3 acres is more of a sustainable amount of use) – the average American uses 24 acres a year, the average Indian uses less than 3 acres a year.
(Source ‘Radical Simplicity’ Jim Merkel)
With our background in healthcare and therapy, we are especially interested in the disabled and disadvantaged in the third world. This, of course, was only made more so by our work this year with Seeing Hands Nepal. Many of the students there were blind because of either malnutrition or lack of adequate healthcare. However, they were quite humbling and inspirational. Each of the students lived and travelled independently on local transport and through difficult terrain. Each of the students were pursuing not only an intensive (5-6 x week, 4-5 hours a day) massage therapy training, they also were all completing bachelor’s degrees at the same time – by attending university classes that began at 6am! They also seemed to live full lives – playing blind cricket, singing, dancing, socializing, and participating in the Blind Association. They live on very small allowances while doing all this. It certainly made us think, and still does. It makes it much harder for us to complain about anything when we think of them – and we are much happier than most Americans (it would seem)…
………
“You will never understand violence and non-violence until l you understand the violence to the spirit that happens from watching your children die of malnutrition” (A Salvadoran peasant in Radical Simplicity)
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Letter writing and the holidays
As the holiday season draws closer, we find ourselves retreating further and further away from the all-round craziness. To us, it seems, people are less friendly, more unhappy, quicker to get stressed or snap. For what? A pagan holiday wrapped up in a Christian one? It seems that the more one buys into the media/big business driven holiday BS, the unhappier one is because the promised paradise land of “Christmas” is in reality anything but. Do we celebrate Christmas? No, not really. Andy sarcastically answered a work colleague this week that the reason we don’t celebrate it is because everyday is a holiday! Just a joke in a sense, but not really. Shouldn’t every day be special? Every day is a once in a lifetime day, one we will never get to experience again, one that when it is gone we are one step closer to having this magical experience of our life end. Every day should be celebrated. Let’s not wade through misery and unhappiness every day to live for the one or two holidays a year that we pretend mean something ……
On a different note (if not a lighter one) Andy has spent a lot of time this week participating in the annual Amnesty International Write-a-thon. The Write-a-thon is the world’s largest letter-writing event. Each year in the weeks around International Human Rights Day (December 10), tens of thousands of Write-a-thon participants in more than 30 countries bring concentrated pressure to help key human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, and other victims of human rights abuses (www.amnestyusa.org/writeathon). Today, we sent out 40 letters, including cases about a Chinese journalist, human rights lawyers in Vietnam, and trade union leaders in Uzbekistan, as well as the high profile case of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in Myanmar (Burma). We sent letters to the Iranian Ayatollah, Hillary Clinton, the Prime Minister of Vietnam and the Chief of Police in Nepal, as well as letters of support to each of the individuals. One case that was particularly upsetting for us was that of the human rights defender and health adviser Rita Mahato, who has been threatened with death, rape and kidnapping as a result of her work at the Women’s Rehabilitation Center in Nepal, where she helps women in who have suffered acts of violence.
And talking of Nepal, our friends and the clinic are all doing well – Evan spoke to them today. The clinic is now very busy after the recommendation in the newest Lonely Planet guidebook. We are beginning to firm up our plans for our return trip. We’ve also heard from the spinal cord injuries counselor from the hospital, so our friends and colleagues there are still thinking of us.
And we’re still at work on our bigger plans for next year and beyond…. In fact, that’s what we’re doing next!
………
“We already have enough darkness! Adding more has no effect …. to light a candle … let this be your life” (K. Viswanathan, founder of Mitraniketan, a center for rural self-reliance, Kerala, India)
On a different note (if not a lighter one) Andy has spent a lot of time this week participating in the annual Amnesty International Write-a-thon. The Write-a-thon is the world’s largest letter-writing event. Each year in the weeks around International Human Rights Day (December 10), tens of thousands of Write-a-thon participants in more than 30 countries bring concentrated pressure to help key human rights defenders, prisoners of conscience, and other victims of human rights abuses (www.amnestyusa.org/writeathon). Today, we sent out 40 letters, including cases about a Chinese journalist, human rights lawyers in Vietnam, and trade union leaders in Uzbekistan, as well as the high profile case of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in Myanmar (Burma). We sent letters to the Iranian Ayatollah, Hillary Clinton, the Prime Minister of Vietnam and the Chief of Police in Nepal, as well as letters of support to each of the individuals. One case that was particularly upsetting for us was that of the human rights defender and health adviser Rita Mahato, who has been threatened with death, rape and kidnapping as a result of her work at the Women’s Rehabilitation Center in Nepal, where she helps women in who have suffered acts of violence.
And talking of Nepal, our friends and the clinic are all doing well – Evan spoke to them today. The clinic is now very busy after the recommendation in the newest Lonely Planet guidebook. We are beginning to firm up our plans for our return trip. We’ve also heard from the spinal cord injuries counselor from the hospital, so our friends and colleagues there are still thinking of us.
And we’re still at work on our bigger plans for next year and beyond…. In fact, that’s what we’re doing next!
………
“We already have enough darkness! Adding more has no effect …. to light a candle … let this be your life” (K. Viswanathan, founder of Mitraniketan, a center for rural self-reliance, Kerala, India)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Odds and Ends
Well, with the Nepal presentation behind us, this week has been all about getting things done to make way for our as yet unrevealed plans for next year. It has felt really good to be able to finish so many things we’ve wanted to for some time.
As we are staying in the house, we have some pretty big garden landscaping projects underway; we’ve planted some more shrubs and have mulch being delivered tomorrow. This will replace a lot of the grass to make maintenance easier. This also means less worry when we leave for longer periods.
We finished many little odds and ends around the house such as the curtain rod that needed to be fixed. We’ve done many other little things such as that but won’t bore you with the details. They were important, though, because they had gotten in the way of doing bigger, more exciting things.
Our biggest task this week was beginning a new car search. With the trusty old Honda beginning to play up a bit, and with our top secret plans for next year, it’s time. We write this, in fact, still needing to shower off the moral dirtiness of the creepy dealerships (we had to test drive somewhere but plan to buy online). Even though we are buying a car, we are applying frugality principles such as checking consumer reports, online deals/specials, considering used versus new (it’s a good time for new cars because the dealerships aren’t doing very well), and paying close attention to reliability and fuel economy. The biggest application of frugality comes in using websites such as carsdirect.com to get the lowest price.
Expect a few more entries such as this one… but bear with us because we will reveal the secret plan… stay tuned.
…
“Life is too short to be small.” (Benjamin Disrali)
As we are staying in the house, we have some pretty big garden landscaping projects underway; we’ve planted some more shrubs and have mulch being delivered tomorrow. This will replace a lot of the grass to make maintenance easier. This also means less worry when we leave for longer periods.
We finished many little odds and ends around the house such as the curtain rod that needed to be fixed. We’ve done many other little things such as that but won’t bore you with the details. They were important, though, because they had gotten in the way of doing bigger, more exciting things.
Our biggest task this week was beginning a new car search. With the trusty old Honda beginning to play up a bit, and with our top secret plans for next year, it’s time. We write this, in fact, still needing to shower off the moral dirtiness of the creepy dealerships (we had to test drive somewhere but plan to buy online). Even though we are buying a car, we are applying frugality principles such as checking consumer reports, online deals/specials, considering used versus new (it’s a good time for new cars because the dealerships aren’t doing very well), and paying close attention to reliability and fuel economy. The biggest application of frugality comes in using websites such as carsdirect.com to get the lowest price.
Expect a few more entries such as this one… but bear with us because we will reveal the secret plan… stay tuned.
…
“Life is too short to be small.” (Benjamin Disrali)
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