November 23, 1999
Subject: The Positive News Files: Piercing The Gloom And Doom With Facts + PBS TV:
a 25-hour Millennium-Day exploration and celebration of the world + Benjamin Quinto
hope-filled message + Grassroot Good News (Green Computer Game in Russia) + Tales
worth telling + A funny and revealing tidbit + Big Rocks + A Reflection on Truth
Hello everyone
Before sending you more sobering facts about the now imminent Y2K global crisis, I
feel it would be most appropriate to first invite you to delve on some very positive
perspectives about our world and its future.
I started compiling this material after receiving a few weeks ago from Jane Taylor
<jane.positivenews@btinternet.com> in the UK some complimentary copies of the Positive
News journal (subtitled "Focussing on a Positive Future") - a journal which I highly
recommend it to anyone interested to see a positive side to what is going on in this
world. It makes for a very enlivening read and gives you hope that a positive future
is indeed possible, especially when you review the great number of groups and people
taking all kinds of amazing initiatives to assist in its co-creation.
There is a web site that you may wish to visit for more details and to find out how
you may subscribe to it: http://www.oneworld.org/positive_news
And their address is: No 5 Bicton Enterprise Centre, Clun, Shropshire. SY7 8NF, England
(Phone: 01588 640022 - Fax: 01588 640 033)
You'll find below an article that help us see a rosier and more hopeful picture of
our future - although I'm sure many could argue about some of the "facts" presented.
Still it compels us to accept the real possibility that, overall, things are steadily
improving - despite occasional drawbacks.
Then you'll find good news and wonderful gems you'll probably want to share with other
people.
Enjoy!
Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000
From: "Kerry" <successmachine@home.com>
Subject: Piercing The Gloom And Doom With Facts
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999
Piercing The Gloom And Doom With Facts
By Herbert London
The Hudson Institute
http://www.worldtribune.com/hu-3.html
10-15-99
Edmund Burke posited two major hypotheses about discussions of the future:
that the future cannot be determined from the past, and that the present is
pregnant with the future. These propositions may seem mutually exclusive,
but they are not. There are some matters, such as demographic profiles, that
can be predicted, and some, like the next technological breakthrough, that
cannot.
A poll regularly conducted of college freshman asks, "Do you think your
future will be filled with success?" More than 95 percent invariably say, "I
will be successful."
The second question is, "Do you think the country will be successful?" Some
55 percent of these students agree.
The third question is, "Do you think the world will be successful?" No more
than 25 percent think so.
These attitudes are like having a first-class ticket on the Titanic, but
expecting it to sink.
Examples of this cultural pessimism abound, as is clear from the following
discussion of recent media accounts. Each example is misguided, misleading,
or simply wrong.
Land of Pessimism
The first example of public gloom and doom is the notion that the U.S. is
running out of arable land. Vice President Al Gore said, "We are losing
fifty acres of farmland every hour." Let's take him at his word for a
moment. That is 430,000 acres per year, and at that rate, over the course of
a hundred years, all the farmland in the United States will disappear. But
Gore does not mention that we had 44 million acres of farmland in the 1930s
and we still have 44 million today. And thanks to vastly increased
productivity, that amount of land is more than sufficient to feed our
population and a significant portion of the globe. The U.S. currently gives
away enough food to provide every hungry person in the world with 2,500
British thermal units per day. (Around the world, mass starvation occurs
only where governments withhold food as an instrument of political
intimidation.)
Actually, land under cultivation and food production worldwide are
increasing. Between 1974 and 1995, rice production in China increased by 88
percent. Indonesia's food production increased by 69 percent, Bangladesh
raised its output by 100 percent, India by 117 percent, and the UK by 50
percent. Brazil has increased its corn production by 63 percent, China by
213 percent, and the U.S. by 118 percent. And these increases are occurring
even though the U.S. is still spending more than $24 billion per year on
farm subsidies, deliberately taking land out of cultivation. Clearly, we are
not running out of farmland, but the specter of farms disappearing into the
dust has a nostalgic and emotional appeal.
Population Pessimism
Overpopulation is another subject of unjustified pessimism. Some 44 percent
of the globe's population is now reproducing below replacement level (2.1
children per woman). Birth rates are declining everywhere. Demographer
Nicholas Eberstadt projects that by 2050 the world's population will begin
declining, for the first time in recorded history, after reaching a peak of
eight billion.
This projection firmly refutes population-control advocate Paul Ehrlich's
widely quoted 1960s prediction that the world's population will double every
thirty-five years. (No serious demographer believes this any longer.) Yet
the popular press and the philanthropic community continue to make these
claims, to convince us that we are facing an imminent apocalypse and must
take drastic measures to avert it.
Energetic Pessimism
Environmental degradation is another source of apocalyptic rhetoric, but the
facts belie the hysteria. Since 1970, air quality in every major American
city has improved. The percentages of carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide
have declined precipitously. Moreover, as the United States moves further
into the information age, we increasingly disengage from the "smokestack"
industries. The United States will remain a manufacturing nation, but much
of this manufacturing will be far cleaner than it was thirty years ago. In
this light, the Kyoto Accord is not primarily a means of controlling
environmental pollution but a way of extending international government
control over the economy.
Scaremongers have also written much about nuclear energy, particularly the
Three Mile Island incident. But no one really suffered any measurable harm
from the accident - the expiration of radiation was no greater than at French
and Dutch installations during the same period, none of which caused a
public panic. U.S. media analysts, however, largely ignored the question of
risks and benefits.
Another popular subject of dire forecasts is energy and minerals. Here
again, the facts belie the scare stories. With the exception of tungsten
(and even then only for a period of five years in the 1970s) the price of
every major mineral relative to wages has decreased in recent decades. The
reason for this is clear: market conditions affect price. Buckminster
Fuller's popular notion of a "spaceship earth" is decidedly inappropriate.
The earth is much more fungible than a spaceship. Copper provides a classic
example. The price of copper increased dramatically when Chile nationalized
its copper mines in the 1960s. Since then, however, it has consistently
decreased. Customers switched to less-expensive alloys, and providers of
transcontinental communications switched from coaxial cables to satellites.
This is the paradigm for almost any mineral of value to humans. A 1979 New
York Times editorial declared, "We are running out of energy," referring to
predictions that oil would soon cost $100 a barrel. Today, oil futures are
at $5 a barrel. The increase in supply has been quite staggering, and it
occurred because of innovations introduced in the last twenty years after
the initial OPEC price increases.
Economic Pessimism
Many people have argued that there is a widening gap between the rich and
poor. These arguments, however, tend to ignore the context. One of the great
achievements of the twentieth century has been the creation of a large
middle class, a condition relatively unknown in the previous century.
Worldwide, per capita income in the year 1800 was $100; in 1900 it was $500;
in 2000 it will be $5,000, and in 2100, using the most conservative
extrapolation, it will be something like $30,000 in current dollars. This
trend has applied to almost every country in the world, despite the glib
assertion that the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer.
There is data to support the latter claim, however, and here is where
context becomes crucial. For illustration, compare a nation that has a
$1,000 per capita income with one that has income of $10,000 per capita.
Suppose that the first nation achieves 100 percent growth (going from $1,000
to $2,000) and the second's per capita income increases by 15 percent (to
$11,500). The numerical spread between them widens, but the relative numbers
tell the more compelling story. The rich are growing richer, the poor are
growing richer, and the poor are doing so more rapidly than the rich.
In this era of remarkable pharmaceuticals, biogens, robotics, prosthetic
devices, and carbon 14 products more powerful than steel with the properties
of plastic, technological wonders once only dreamed of are within our grasp.
The Internet has changed the manner and speed of communication. Fiber optics
and high-definition TV are changing the way we live and even see and think.
Of course, such rapid technological changes can engender spiritual malaise
and cultural degradation, but the people who needlessly fear that we are
going to run out of land, energy, and food usually ignore that possibility.
Almost everywhere in the world, people live longer, healthier, and wealthier
lives than their forebears, yet the stories about world conditions as the
new millennium nears are usually negative.
Technological Pessimism
Clearly, the only news that's newsworthy is negative news.
Attention-grabbing reports of impending doom, such as the famous 1960s Club
of Rome report on Limits to Growth, indicate that if the world continues to
use resources at the present rate, life as we know it will cease to exist in
a hundred years. But will we use resources at the present rate? People are
not lemmings. When we have a problem, we examine our options and change.
The culture of pessimism is not only a dead end; it is patently false, as
the following true story illustrates.
In 1903 in a small Ohio town, Milton Wright, a minister in the Church of
Christ, was looking for an appropriate sermon topic. He found his theme in a
very unlikely place: a U.S. Patent Office report on the future. The report
said that everything that could conceivably be invented had already been
discovered. There are strict limits to human ingenuity, the report argued,
and no major advances were likely to occur in the twentieth century.
Wright delivered a sermon based on that notion. At the end, a young man
raised his hand and said, "You know something, sir, I believe that one day
people will fly."
"Fly?" responded Minister Wright, "If God wanted us to fly, He would have
given us wings; He would have made us angels; He would have made us birds.
Let me assure you, you will not see people fly." The young man, however, got
the last laugh. Three months later, Wright's two sons, Orville and Wilbur,
flew the first airplane, from Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Fooling the Experts
The future is not predetermined, far from it. Although clues in the present
can help us anticipate the future, the human factor often makes fools of
those who too confidently make predictions. The following are just a few
examples of experts who were sure about their pessimistic predictions.
In 1927, film producer Harry Warner said, "Who the hell wants to hear actors
talk?"
In 1905, Grover Cleveland said, "Sensible and responsible women do not want
to vote."
In the 1830s, Dionysius Lardner, author of The Steam Engine Explained and
Illustrated, said, "Rail travel at high speeds is not possible because
passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia."
When told of Robert Fulton's steamboat, Napoleon said, "What, sir, would you
make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under
her deck? I pray you, excuse me, I have not the time to listen to such
nonsense."
On the eve of World War II, Admiral Clark Woodward said, "As far as sinking
a ship with a bomb is concerned, it can never be done."
Thomas Edison said, "Just as certain as death, George Westinghouse will kill
a customer within six months after he puts in an electric system of any
size," and "the phonograph has no commercial value at all."
"This telephone has too many shortcomings to be considered as a means of
communication," said the president of Western Union in 1876. "The device is
of inherently no value to us."
The president of Michigan Savings Banks advised Henry Ford's lawyer not to
invest in the Ford Motor Company because, he said, "The horse is here to
stay, the automobile is a novelty."
In 1921, radio pioneer David Sarnoff said, "The wireless music box has no
imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in
particular?"
In 1926, Lee DeForest, inventor of the vacuum tube, said, "While
theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and
financially I consider it an impossibility."
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," said Lord Kelvin,
president of the British Royal Society and one of the nineteenth century's
greatest experts on thermodynamics.
"A rocket will never be able to leave the earth's atmosphere," stated the
New York Times in 1936.
"Space travel is utter bilge," said a British astronomer in 1956.
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom," said Nobel
Prize-winning physicist Robert Milliken in 1923.
"Taking the best left-handed pitcher in baseball and converting him into a
right fielder is one of the dumbest things I ever heard," said Tris Speaker
in 1919. He was talking about Babe Ruth.
In 1929, Yale economist Irving Fisher said, "Stock prices have reached what
looks like a permanently high plateau." Two weeks later, the stock market
crashed.
MGM executive Irving Thalberg had this for Louis B. Mayer regarding Gone
With the Wind: "Forget it, Louie, no Civil War picture ever made a nickel."
The director of Blue Book Modeling Agency advised Marilyn Monroe in 1944,
"You better learn secretarial work or else get married."
"You ain't going nowhere, son. You ought to go back to driving a truck,"
said Jim Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, in firing Elvis Presley after
a performance in 1954.
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out anyway," said
the president of Decca Records, rejecting the Beatles in 1962.
Darryl Zanuck observed, in 1946, "Television won't last because people will
soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."
The chairman of IBM said, "I think there is a world market for about five
computers," in 1943.
"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home," said
the president of Digital Electronic Corporation in 1977.
"We will bury you," predicted Nikita Kruschev in 1958.
Visionary designer Buckminster Fuller said, in 1966, "By 2000, politics will
simply fade away. We will not see any political parties."
Social scientist David Riesman declared, in 1967, "If anything remains more
or less unchanged, it will be the role of women."
And here's one for those who worry that the world will end in the year 2000:
Henry Adams said, in 1903, "My fingers coincide in fixing 1950 as the year
when the world must go smash. The world is coming to an end in 1950."
As Fats Waller, one of the great philosophers of the twentieth century,
observed, "One never knows, do one?" That is an excellent adage for
futurists.
Herbert I. London is President of the Hudson Institute and publisher of
American Outlook.
Contact World Tribune.com at <worldtri@worldtribune.com>
From: EdElkin@aol.com
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999
Subject: PBS TV: a 25-hour Millennium-Day exploration and celebration of the world
--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
DRUDGE REPORT
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1999
PBS is set to announce the "largest live event in the history of television," the
DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
On Friday, December 31, 1999, Public Broadcasting Service stations across
America will begin airing a 25-hour Millennium-Day exploration and
celebration of the world -- a special that has been in the planning stages
for 3 years.
The network says it plans to broadcast to and from virtually every region
of the planet on New Year's Eve.
PBS MILLENNIUM 2000 is the most ambitious live television event in history, claims
the network.
A total of 60 satellite paths, several thousand miles of fiber optic cable, and more
than 2000 cameras will be employed for the show, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
The unprecedented undertaking is the brainchild of WGBH's executive producer, Zvi
Dor-Ner. The program is co-produced by WGBH Boston, the BBC and a consortium of 56
countries.
The show will be a "momentous celebration and a reflection on the meaning
of this once-in-a-thousand-years transition," says PBS.
- On a holy mountain top of New Zealand's East Cape, Maori warriors dance
to prepare themselves for the challenges of a new age;
- From Robben Prison Island off Cape Town, Nelson Mandela hosts a joyous
celebration of freedom and equality;
- From the South Pole, an observation on the beginning of the universe;
- An acrobatic ballet on the sails of Sydney Opera House;
- Love songs from the symbol of love, the Taj Mahal;
- The Royal opening of the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, England;
- A lot of joie de vivre from the Champs Elysees, lined with dozens of huge Ferris
wheels;
- A ritual of the sun from Macchu Pichu;
- In Europe, nineteen countries will cross into the new millennium together in a vibrant
sequence that will combine contributions from Paris, Rome, Berlin, Warsaw and Madrid,
among others.
According to the network, a sample hour -- for instance, 11 p.m. to
midnight ET -- might consist of:
11:00 Link up: Caribbean Venezuela, Nova Scotia Canada.
11:10 Caracas, Venezuela, Downtown party.
11:15 Special ice skating, dance and acrobatic extravaganza in Montreal.
11:21 El Tajin night ceremony in downtown Mexico City.
11:30 Jordan, a Bedouin welcome ceremony in Petra.
11:39 Israel, Bethlehem ecumenical moment.
11:47 Link-up: Times Square, Toronto, Quebec, Montreal, Miami, Niagara
Falls, Panama, Easter Island, and Lima, Peru.
On and on it will go, until there is no Moet left...
The Alhambra in Spain and the French Quarter in New Orleans; an ice ballet
on a Christmas-lights festooned Tivoli Lake in Denmark and sunrise over the
White Cliffs of Dover; French doctors working in war-devastated Kosovo and
the transformation of Vienna into a city-wide, open-air ballroom...
Hot air balloon festivals, sky diving, native songs and dance, fireworks,
prayers and ritual chants, building dedications, boat races, Las Vegas and
Hollywood entertainment extravaganzas.
Producers expect to record the "lasts" and "firsts" of the old and new
millenniums: the last and first babies - every one of the 70 maternity
hospitals in New Zealand, the initial major country to celebrate 2000,will
have a "PBS MILLENNIUM 2000" camera on site - the last and first weddings; the final
sunset and inaugural sunrise; perhaps even the first reports of a Y2K "disaster."
When asked if the network plans to cover The Rapture, if it were to occur,
a network spokesman said on Thursday: "Sure, if the satellites are still beaming."
"All truth passes through three stages.
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
-- Arthur Schopenhauer
Read also about the Pyramid Party at:
http://www.millenngroup.com/repository/hal/800899/h881.html
Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999
From: Benjamin Quinto <benjamin@oneday.org>
Subject: [oneday] pre-newsletter briefing
Hello -
In the past 4 months, I have attended events in 7 different states,
speaking, organizing meetings, spreading the message and making incredible
connections with incredible people. But, I have barely had time to keep up
with everything! Here's my chance to let you know a little of what has
been going on.
The youth are ready. We are here,there and everywhere now, but coming
together, joining forces and ready to stop the madness, increase the peace
and make a difference in this world. There is a growing collaboration among youth
organizations around the world, uniting for the common purpose
of giving a voice to young people and empowering them to implement their
solutions and ideas.
Now, there is a way. I have desperately been searching for the true
meaning of cooperation and the true potential of cooperative youth-adult
partnership. We are now walking into the new paradigm, painfully leaving
the old ways behind.
The power of this partnership is bringing into the realm of possibility an
effective new youth movement. An uprising for justice, equality and peace.
A week ago, I sat in the office with 13 amazing other young people from
around the country to discuss youth violence. We talked for 2 hours with
President Bill Clinton and he has fully endorsed and offered his support
for the Youth In Action Campaign we are helping to promote, develop and
coordinate.
Next September, the United Nations' Millennium Assembly will bring together every
head of state for 3 days. I have had meetings with numerous groups who are planning
events around the event, concurrent to it or as part of it. Furthermore, a meeting
with the Coordinator of the event revealed that they hope to make young people the focus.
In the past 7 weeks, I have talked and interacted with amazing young people from over
120 countries. All of us feel the madness and feel the pain. And we *will not*
let it happen again. And again.
Very soon, there will be a way for every young person to add their voice, feel empowered
and make an observable difference. Change is upon us my friends, and so is the the
millennium. Our network now includes youth activists in over 120 countries who are ready to stand up. Watch us rise.
If we do not act
who will act?
If we do not care
WHO will care
If not NOW
then when?
Peace!
Benjamin Quinto
*********
Benjamin Quinto, 21
Director, Global Youth Assembly
Youth Development Director, ONE DAY Foundation
P.O. Box 1052 * Sedona, AZ 86339 * U.S.A.
http://www.oneday.org * news@oneday.org - get our virtual newsletter!
~ ~ ONE DAY In Peace, January 1, 2000 ~ ~
"It's hard to change the world, but easy to make a difference in it" bq
From: B.LUBER@BIONIC.zerberus.de (Burkhard Luber)
Subject: November 99 Edition of Grassroot Good News
Date: Tue, 02 Nov 1999
Grassroot Good News / November 1999 Edition
Contents:
1. Green Computer Game
2. Books for Russian Orphans
3. Alternative Money - alternative economy?
4. Ecological bicycle action in Russia
5. Eco-Tourism in Azerbaijan
6. Peace Training Program in Austria
1. Green Computer Game
The ancient forest of Greenwood in under threat of destruction by Hawk
Enterprises. It`s up to the story`s heroine, Crinkle, with a little help
from the players, to save the forest and all the folk who live there.
Crinkle is a plucky young girl from a small village called Rhymers Hatch.
Armed only with her grandfather`s map, she explores the forest, helping
woodland creatures and learning about nature along the way. As she travels
about the forest, Crinkle uncovers many secrets and acquires the objects
she will need to complete her mission. The pace of this CD is slower than
many children may be used to, and the tasks they are required to complete
are difficult. Younger kids may need adult help to stop them from becoming
frustrated and, ultimately, fed up. Each scene is made up of a still photo
of a real place, with animation providing all the action. Children are
encouraged to explore each photograph, learning about native English
woodland as they go. This CD-ROM doesn`t preach. It helps children learn
for themselves the impact that human may have, both good and bad, on the
environment.
(abridged from a review by Lynley Oram in Personal Computer World, June
1997, page 103, the game producer, VCI Software, can be contacted via
phone +44-171-470-6666)
(clip)
Grassroot Good News come to you from The Threshold Foundation
Editor: Dr Burkhard Luber
E-Mail: B.Luber@Bionic.Zerberus.De
Web: www.homestead.com/ggn/nov99.html
Grassroot Good News is a monthly electronic mailing list which presents
alternative news and contributes to the on-line networking of NGOs. It
contains counter-censor news on human rights monitoring and citizens'
diplomacy and stimulating work examples for environment commitment and non-
violent conflict management. Persons can subscribe to GGN via sending an e-
mail to B.Luber@Bionic.Zerberus.De.
Tales worth telling
"Cheryl A. Magill" <102111.1407@compuserve.com> in a recent email to the LFAS list
recommended this...
The site is one I created quite some time ago. It is called "Remember - the
preferred version of tales worth telling." The site shares two stories
which each have more than one version. While acknowledging there is
another version to each, we will remember the version that makes the story
of greatest worth to begin with. If you go there, you will see a nice
version of Chief Joseph's speech. And you will also see a story called
"Snake Hill of the Seneca." I find it to be an incredibly powerful story
and one which completely assures me that one should never feed a two-headed
snake.
That site is located at this URL:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/CMagill/remember.htm
Here is an interesting tidbit...
Note: This is an exact replication of National Public Radio (NPR) interview
between a female broadcaster, and US Army General Reinwald who was about to
sponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military installation.
INTERVIEWER: "So, General Reinwald, what things are you going to teach these
young boys when they visit your base?"
GENERAL REINWALD: 'We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery,
and shooting."
INTERVIEWER: "Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?"
GENERAL REINWALD: "I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the
rifle range."
INTERVIEWER: "Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to
be teaching children?"
GENERAL REINWALD: "I don't see how, ....we will be teaching them proper
rifle range discipline before they even touch a firearm."
INTERVIEWER: "But you're equipping them to become violent killers."
GENERAL REINWALD: "Well, you're equipped to be a prostitute, but you're not
one, are you?"
The radio went silent and the interview ended.
Big Rocks
One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business
students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students
will never forget.
As he stood in front of the group of high powered overachievers he said,
"Okay, time for a quiz." Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed
Mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. Next he produced about
a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the
jar.
When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he
asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class said, "Yes." "Really" he
said? He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then
he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work
themselves down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once
more, "Is the jar full?"
By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered.
"Good!" he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket
of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of
the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question,
"Is this jar full?" No!" the class shouted.
Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began
to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the
class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?"One eager beaver
raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule
is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!"
"No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this
illustration teaches us is: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll
never get them in at all." What are the 'big rocks' in your life? Your
children; Your loved ones; Your education; Your dreams; A worthy cause;
Teaching or mentoring others; Doing things that you love; Time for
yourself; Your health; Your significant other. Remember to put these
BIG ROCKS in first or you'll never get them in at all. If you sweat the
little stuff (the gravel, the sand) then you'll fill your life with little
things you worry about that don't really matter,and you'll never have the
real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff (the big
rocks).
So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself
this question: What are the 'big rocks' in my life?
Then, put those in your jar first.
A Reflection on Truth
by Tish Van Camp
Truth Saves Energy
Directs energy
Honors ourselves and honors all others
Truth speaking is also how we can engage with all people at all levels.
Truth speaking is the essence of ourselves walking and working in the world through
a universal compassion and connection to others that is mind filtered through the
heart, through our very essential and spiritual being.
Truth speaking is you and I distilling ourselves to our essence. When we speak with
others, our words are like nectar, sweet through self-honesty, self-love and joy
of self.
It is nectar because the other person hears our self being loved. We take this example,
this felt sense, this nourishment from that person. It is a gift that keeps giving.
It is also respecting humanity enough to hold our own container (our personal emotional
reactions) lightly but purely enough so the recipient, the other person, can feel
better their own self and where and who they are.
It is a blessing that we can share with others.
It is saying you can be and talk from who you are and I can be with you and I won't
interfere.
In fact, I ask that you do your best to be as honest and truthful and speak from your
essential being.
I honor you as you do, and you trust me as I contain myself so you can.
That is how I can love you, even not knowing you, and that is how you can love me,
not knowing me.
Tish Van Camp
Co-founder, Fund for Global Awakening
LAST MINUTE ADDITION - EXTREMELY IMPORTANT WARNING!!!
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999
From: Palden Jenkins <palden@globalnet.co.uk>
Subject: GWell: Virus warning
HEALTH WARNING
BBC REPORTS A NEW VIRUS HAS BEEN DISCOVERED RECENTLY.
ONE PERSON CAN PASS IT ON TO MILLIONS, WITHOUT KNOWING.
IT IS VERY CONTAGIOUS.
THE CENTRE FOR DISEASE CONTROL HAS REPORTED THIS WEEK
THAT THE VIRUS SPREADS VERY RAPIDLY.
THE VERY INTERESTING NAME FOR THIS VIRUS IS .........
A SMILE
- -
o o
-
\__/
OH ! TOO LATE !
I SEE IT ON YOUR FACE ALREADY !
YOU'VE GOT THE VIRUS !
AAAARGH!
With that, the history of a thousand years came to a close, and everything
was different from then on....
Oh no! Spray it, quick!
***
"When I see that I am nothing, this is wisdom.
When I see that I am everything, this is love.
Between those two my life moves."
- Nisargaddata Maharaj
"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced... Live your life so
that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice."
- Cherokee saying
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