always remember | never forget

The U.S. shares celebrations on this day along with Great Britain, France, Australia and Canada. All who also commemorate the veterans of WWI and WWII on or around Nov 11.

For Canada it is Remembrance Day, while Britain has Remembrance Sunday which is the second Sunday in November. In Europe, Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries it is common to observe two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. every November 11th.

Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries wear poppies to remember those who died in war. Wearing of the poppy actually started with an American school teacher, but became a symbol of WWI because of the poem "In Flanders Field" by Canadian, John McCrae.

Then and now our world has experienced the devastation and divisiveness wars can take on its people and our nature. For those born and raised in other places, moving to other countries, our loyalties are played upon, deeply wounding and affecting so much.

Let us all take this day to recognize the significance of those who serve. Their bravery won us our freedom and our lives. Peace to us all.

Why vote?

American politics has gotten so warped and deluded. In this Trumpian era it is positively surreal.

Being a rebel, relocated as I may be, I refuse to be stumped by disgruntled disillusion.

To float my cork, I make sure I get my weekly dose of Tea Leoni as Madame Secretary, Elizabeth McCord.

Yes. Why not?

soul identity

Love has no labels, no definitions.

It is what it is, pure and simple.

Love is the Water of Life.

And a Lover is a Soul of Fire.

The Universe turns differently when Fire Loves Water.

~ Rumi's Sun: The Teachings of Shams of Tabriz ~

Ram Dass speaks about the soul being like a step on the ladder that you are later going to throw away. Soul Identity is the process of realizing that you and I exist on more than one plane of awareness simultaneously. On one plane suffering stinks and on another plane suffering is grace.

We feel this in the loss and grief for a beloved, whether it is a person, thing or situation. However much love we invested affects how much we feel the absence when what is so loved is lost.

profane horrors

As New York City prepares for the 45th Annual Village Halloween Parade, we cannot help but draw parallels between this showy shindig and impending elections.

Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.

wishing on 1.6 billion stars

Photo Credit: Jack Fusco, Star Trails, New Jersey. 

The stars twinkled in the sky.

In space - billions of universes.

Silence.

Resting my forehead in my hand and thinking.

I do not dream.

A big Reality has awoken me,

A truth that strikes the eye,

The truth that is being, visible, unique,

Eternal:

I - under this huge starry dome,

I - perceiving its entirety with my brain,

I relish it, I become one with myself

And slowly - inside - I am restored to myself:

To profound joy and perfect rhythm.

All my thoughts, words and deeds

Were only bringing me closer

To universal embrace:

Here I am resting joyfully in myself,

Wrapped in deep silence on all sides,

And my heart beats in the rhythm of everything

Which surrounds me.

Enough. No need for words.

~ Julian Tuwim, translated by Adrian Thomas. http://tmblr.co/ZjYlFyVzI5BX

Image from "Your Shot," National Geographic. Taken on April 19, 2012, in Strathmere, New Jersey. These star trails show the Milky Way rising over the Atlantic Ocean.

risk & disaster

October 13 is International Day for Disaster Reduction. This was started in 1989 by the United Nations General Assembly. A day to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction.

The 2018 theme continues as part of the "Sendai Seven" campaign, centered on seven targets of the framework. This year focuses on reducing disaster economic losses in relation to global GDP by 2030.

liberty, justice, freedom

Any recipient of abuse lives with the consequence of their traumatic experience. Each individual manages their own personal experience - dealing with it through whatever means they have available and are capable of. 

Those who have not been abused live in a different world.  Touched or untouched by the abuse of another, some can relate and others cannot. But never in the exact same way the one abused is forever changed - for better or worse.