Compassion for Our Enemies

"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility." -

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

*thanx to Janette Paragon for the quote inspiration--

:)

ride to entheos

im looking for a ride to Entheos... any leads out there?

UPDATE: Pandemic Outbreak Swine Flu - 2 Canadians in Quarantine now

Heres today's (sat 25th) update about the current outbreak. The United Nation's World Health Organization -WHO- is holding an emergency meeting today in Geneva...
heres the CBC news video clip from today:

www.cbc.ca/video/popup_nlp.html

CBC Newsworld***************************

The World Health Organization began an emergency meeting in Geneva on Saturday amid fears that Mexico's outbreak of swine flu may become a worldwide pandemic.

WHO director general Margaret Chan, who broke off a visit to Washington to return to the organization's headquarters in Switzerland, said the outbreak involves "an animal strain of the H1N1 virus, and it has pandemic potential."

Chan said it's too early to say whether a pandemic will actually occur, but she referred to the outbreak as a "serious situation" that needed to be followed closely.

The new flu strain — combining genetic material typical of avian, swine and human viruses — has killed as many as 68 people among 1,004 suspected cases reported countrywide in Mexico.

***************** CTV News

The World Health Organization is holding an emergency meeting on a swine flu outbreak that may have killed dozens of people. Doctors in Montreal have placed two people in quarantine, but it's unclear whether they have the virus.

The two Canadian patients vacationed in Mexico two weeks ago.

quarantine info:
watch.ctv.ca/news/latest.../#clip165437

Swine flu outbreak update:
watch.ctv.ca/news/latest.../#clip165431
watch.ctv.ca/news/latest.../#clip165428
watch.ctv.ca/news/latest.../#clip165418
watch.ctv.ca/news/latest.../#clip165391
watch.ctv.ca/news/latest.../#clip165293

info on SWINE FLU OUTBREAK (pandemic)

watch this CNN report www.youtube.com/watch
best to be informed. 1000 cases in mexico - since mar 18th = 70 dead, and now 15 cases in USA confirmed with hundreds being tested... as far north as new york city.
google for more info --

upset after Religious conversation

i am just gonna express mysElf...

i had a conversation with a guy i know who listens to Rush Limbagh on the internet radio and is a conservative Christain...
i find that i have gotten very upset with him and i dont want to be..

how can i get riled up about his views on the world? why am i still able to be affected this way?

i had hoped that i would be able to accept others' views in an unattached way and be tolerant...

and yet his views expressed make me slowly get annoyed, as the weeks have rolled by (5 weeks now)...

for the second time ever, i have decided to engage with him - discussing the environment last time, today we discussed God...

why do i care to converse? why do i care if i think his views are nuts? why do i care if i think he has been brainwashed? why do i wish for him to have a new perspective? why do i feel offended by some of his views?

its like when i used to live in Kansas years ago and i heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio for the first time... i would get so upset to hear what he said and think that others out there listening were believing what Rush said, that they were already in agreement before Rush spoke?

why did i even listen to the radio show. i eventually stopped listening for the annoyance was getting to me...

now i have this guy in my life as an aquaintance of sorts, that plays Rush Limbaugh and i can hear it sometimes... i get the same annoyance and frustration again.

today i decided to ask him about his religious views since he mentioned his church... that was a big mistake! i could question his far-out views on God for a while (he is a Morman) and i learned a lot about some of the ideas his church has, which i have to say are pretty crazy in my judgement (which i realize i should not have judgement! - but i am sorry to say that i do!)... but it didnt bother me so much as at the end of our conversation when he said some things about Jesus that triggered me...

i dont even consider myself a Christian at all, but i am socialized in a Christian culture, and i do have a degree in Religion and have studied the Bible (and all the "Great Religions" they call them)... and personally i have always liked Jesus and what he "represents" even if the mythology is untrue historically...

but i was triggered because i didnt like how he percieved Jesus... maybe cuz i want Jesus to have a good image in others' eyes cuz i do offer him up as an example of a great Master with wisdom to share...

so somehow i am attached to how Jesus is seen by others if i am to "offer him up" as an example of someone whose "teachings or wisdom" i actually deeply respect...

i guess what got me at the end of our talk was that he saw Jesus to be a God that encouraged the killing of people who Jesus saw as "morally unacceptable" or "iniquitous"... that triggered me somehow and i said i didnt agree that Jesus would encourage killing... i felt my heart beating hard and my tension rising... i felt i had to defend Jesus' reputation or something... i felt i needed to clear up his misperception... i wouldnt let someone say such things about my buddy Jesus! lol! i said i disagreed that it seemed to be the opposite of what Jesus said while he walked the earth (like we really know what he said?)... that i felt that saying that Jesus would encourage humans he "liked" to kill the humans Jesus "didnt like" seemed nuts! and yet i felt i had to say something while visions of why Holy Wars are fought seemed to become all the more clearer to me...

we decided to end the conversation there as it was becoming "contentious",,, now i see why there are people who say they never discuss "religion or politics" with people and i always thought that was a superficial way to be with people, and agreed more with Gloria Steinem with her quote that "the Personal is Political"... you ARE your beliefs and actions...

but perhaps i should be more infulenced by the Buddha who said we are NOT our thoughts... to be "unattached" and dissolve the "Ego"... or even Jesus taught not to judge "lest ye be judged"... and there i was judging someone to be wrong about Jesus!

i realize i dont need to defend Jesus or his reputation... i should not be attached to his image or what people think of him, nor should i be concerned with what this guy thinks or Rush Limbaugh thinks...

but i wonder if that is how i really want to be in the world...????

should i care if people are intolerant or bigoted or racist or hateful? should i ignore them? love them? be unattached and unaffected by them? would the world have evolved the way it has if we all didnt try to challenge injustice and hate?

am i intolerant? should i tolerate ignorance? bigotry? should i tolerate intolerance?

am i being intolerant myself of the intolerant people?

if i was the Buddha (anad apparently i am) i would just smile and Be. But if i am the Buddha and i did not do that, am i still the Buddha? is Rush Limbaugh the Buddha?

would the real Buddha and Jesus please stand up??

A Poem for My Broken Heart

a poem for my Broken Heart
**********************************

not long after broken
feeling deep into my heart
deep deep the tunnels swirl down

sadness so long long low
cant feel the bottom of this barrel
endlessly endless broken ends

cascading down icy cold cracks
impossible to numb out this feeling
no escape no words no-thing

just heartaching empty space
sadness stillness without words
inescapable silence of depth

no willpower can end this longing
electric love frozen hollow shut
exhausted of feeling hope

only my remembrance
~of you~

I Lost my Voice for 3 days!

i had the worst sore throat of my life this week and lost my voice for 3 days! i just started speaking yesterday and my voice was still not 100% back. It was like being in Silent retreat only i couldnt cheat! lol! It was quite an ordeal of frustration, patience, pain, and learning to communicate by gestures and writing notes. I carried paper with me and noticed how much slower my hand was compared to my mind! I learned to appreciate swallowing, eating, painlessness, and speaking! Its so amazing what i take for granted everyday!! i am grateful for the constant reminders and teachings i recieve each day... I am in the mend now and feel way better today - almost totally healed! Im grateful for the patience of others to read my notes and help me get healthy! i must learn to appreciate all the gifts of my body and mind each day! I hope one day to fully understand "never" taking anything for granted!