Emilio & Gladys Padilla

T H E T R U T H!

2011-10-15T18:30:00.000-06:00

PART 1: Throughmy already long lasting 74 years of age (even if these thoughts were written 20years ago, without losing, until now, their reality) I have never stopped beingamazed by the elasticity of truth, and its acceptance of infinite variations,without ceasing, because of it, in being a valid truth for the individualsimmersed in this motivational exercise.

The cause for it, in my understanding, is the almost,also, infinite rationalizing capacity of men, who can, in exercising it,justify, and convince themselves of possessing it and being sure of theirrighteousness, in everything related to them, or in any particular scheme orcircumstance.

Even if is, really, an absolute contradiction ofwhat´s real, rational or logical, in terms of the adopted and defended stance ,up to the second before a forced need for change arises,

Consequently, I believe is better than talking “truth”in an abstract sense, what we should do is to talk about “our particulartruth”, our “personal realm”, “our internal motivations", being them whatdetermine and shape the basic justification of our actions.

It is unfortunate, in my judgment, not to have aconsistent and invariable, through the years, personal truth, because we wouldnot have, if we possess it so, to be subject to the, to and fro, of other people’sinterpretations.

Tainted interpretations, for not to say influenced orconditioned by what they consider “their truth”, a truth they want to impose onus, to be consonant with themselves and their material surroundingenvironments, social, political, financial, or whatever these could be.

This originates a ruthless game, an unmerciful one, ofmirrors hidden behind other mirrors, as carnival masked puppets, franticallyjumping without realizing that the music is over.

The most perfect similarity that could allow us tounderstand this, is our watching, sound off, the images, moving, jumping,gyrating, gesticulating, on the television screens, specially, when rapidlychanging channels with our remote controls.

Since then, since my early mature years, and now, whenmy age allows me to understand all this with a greater clarity, I got to seethat there is no point in blinding submission to any social system, because noone of them assures the permanent stability of their members.

This assurance and group acceptance is only providedas long we are useful or it is convenient to have us, to show us, or to takeadvantage from what we can offer for the furtherance of the particular interestof the group´s controllers.

Consequently, our loyalty is forced to shape itself tothe convenience of the group, and the commitments or compromises (especiallythose that violate the responsibilities and social rights in general) aredecided or carried out, by the convenience´s pressure.

We should always have in mind the predictableconsequences, in case of failing to count with the group´s protection, whateverthe social, financial or political reasons for this isolation, rejection orabandonment. It is only way to keep intact our mental, spiritual and emotionalsanity in times of defeat or adversity.

PART 2: IDEALS AND INTEGRITY VERSUS PRAGMATISM ANDOPORTUNISM.

We can give any name we prefer to the demands andconflicts, but the problem is always the same, even if we bury our heads underthe sands of convenience or disregard, unwilling to recognize where are we arefound lacking.

Lack of ideals! Lack of faith and hope! Lack ofmotivation to live because of the abundance of motivations to die as I heardone of my sons sharing in a conversation with a group of his adolescentfriends!

I, unpremeditatedly, heard him so while writing, onour dining room table, some of my reflections on our exiles´ life, while theywere animatedly conversing in the living room of our home. They were discussing what they considered thefundamental causes for the conflicts and alternatives they foresaw in the nearfuture.

I was not able to stop thinking that it was sounfortunate that at so early in their life they were already foreseeing such adisquieting and pessimistic, from the moral point of view, and so creativelyfrom the materialism they saw as the most pervading factor in their presentdays.

And this just because we have been neglectful in ourresponsibilities for fostering the selection and training of real leaders! Not the type of those who love and spendtheir nights conniving how to place themselves at the front rows of the masses.

I was considering at that time, and for the firsttime, the alternative that these types of leaders could present if they werealso truly committed Christian leaders and seekers, not of front line limelightbut of the following and serving theircommunities, because of Christ, not because of their charismatic personalityand presence in the podiums and pulpits.

I am thinking about the politicians, priests, pastors,union leaders, or of any other groups, and organizations, involved in aconstant proselytizing effort.

I am thinking about the businessmen, entrepreneurs,merchants and financial conglomerates and corporations. I am thinking about the military and allgovernment coercive institutions, the judiciary and the legislative.

I am thinking about the carpenters, the plumbers, themechanics, the technicians, the common workers, the professional, theactivists, knowing their personalworthiness and their honesty beyond any manipulating schemes, asking for therightful remuneration, nothing less but also nothing more than deserved.

While listening to the animated discussion I startedto visualize individuals, families, , communities and societies with positiveand real moral values, crystalized into their corresponding social ones.

This, insistently, more and more, was leading me tothe conviction of motivating, training and developing these types of leadersare the utmost need, even if it takes time and suffering before achievingit. Real, inevitable, not just dreamy,impossible or utopian need!

At this point in time I was already utterly consciousof an inevitable fact. If we do notradically but positively change our societies we will see ourselves facingtheir total destruction in not so far a future.

Maybe not through a paupering revolution, which isentirely possible, but more unfortunately, because it cannot be openlychallenged due to its mesmerizing appeal, through a frantically materialisticsociety.

An apparently progressive and plentiful one, where,despite the insurmountable social classes differences, deeper and deeper, astime passes. A totally encompassingsociety that encourages in us all type of moral and personal sacrifices for thesake of personal wellbeing and success!

Listening to them I began to be acutely aware that intheir training not their sacrifice resided the solution. Than more than convincing and shaping upintolerant and blind followers, what is needed is to educate, teach how towisely differentiate what is real and what is fake,

It is necessary to instill in them the need fordistinguishing fundamental from superfluous, understanding and flexibility fromegotistically convenient compromising, steadfastness and righteousness fromwickedness, disguised perversion, fatuous, ignorant and shameful intolerance.

All the mesmerizing and fashionable alternativespresented to them, nowadays, have failed. That of destroying to rebuild is not a feasible one. That of gathering chosen ones to pontificatebefore them as the sole possessor of truth and justice is the most unfathomableone.

Because following these paths there will be nothing torestore or rebuild. What we will haveare intolerant masses, indoctrinated into Fanatism and a nefarious proclivityto violence, turning into utopia the social need to wipe the tears, mend thehurts and protect the defenseless and the paupers, especially those among theyoungsters.

This is what we need to change… this innate tendency,in the immature societies… to admire, promote and blindly follow the caudillosof the day. We believe that venting outour frustrations, insecurity feelings, inefficiency and opportunism, throughthis insensate vulgarity, intolerance and violence, we will get our piece ofthe cake of the spreading out privileges and opportunistic enrichment.

PART 3: THE CONFLICTING SOCIAL PANDORA BOX OF OURTIMES.

Let´s become practical. Let´s put on the table the whole panoramicpuzzle of today conflicting issues. Whatis that we have to frontally define, confront, challenge and change?

In what segment of the puzzle are we? What can we expect from each segment ofindividuals and groups that are messing up and compromising the nations´future?

Check over, and decide. After deciding what, stop talking and startwalking and doing something worthy of leaving behind? And if you can´t doanything… bend under the yoke and don´t complain!

The panorama that has not changed! There is an undeniable fact. One system is being replaced by another one…more ruthless… more cynical… more outwardly violent and gross… one that do notcare to keep appearances anymore!

What´s the use of shouting and calling it is a worsecopy of the one you got rid of? Why isthe stubbornness of refusing to acknowledge that the newer system built up ablind following by way of giving it the spoils of the older one? And added to it the crass resolve to keep itspower and control at any cost?

If the solution lies in the future generations what isbeing done to prevent to gain them over with bribing crumbs, such as pettyscholarships and bicycles, openly given in exchange of their submission andsupport? Who should be doing what? Who are the players in this pitiful show?

The players… who are they and where are they? The defeated ones who have to resort to livein exile or subjugated under the political yoke and abuse… and silent? The silent survivors who have found a cozyplace to live in, even in exile, and prefer things as they are to quiet, andappease, their conscience for the actions, done or omitted in the past?

The clamoring ones who just do that, clamoring andshouting?

The ones who live precariously and keep on dreaming oftimes past?

The ones who have been able to get by and also keep ondreaming of times past?

The silent and opportunistic ones, who use the past tofatten up fake credentials, to be taken in consideration for the partition ofthe political cake?

The divided ones who shout and compromise, pretendingto be pragmatic when choosing the littlest and lesser of all evil, andevildoers of today?

The cynical manipulators who disguise themselves asthe saviors of today, conveniently forgetting of their crimes in the past?

The presently recipients of the crumbs of the day, alwaysimpatient and insatiable seekers of what others possessed?

WHO ARE YOU…? WHERE YOU ARE…?

WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO…?

REMEMBER… THISIS NOT JUST A NATION NIGHTMARE…!

IT IS BEING REPLICATED EVERYWHERE!

AND VIOLENTLY SUFFOCATED BY THE OPPRESSORS

OF TODAY!

REFLECTIONS FOR A SON

2011-10-09T13:38:00.000-06:00

I have been lately referring myself to my hope in the young people from my native country Nicaragua, which have been, unfortunately, so widely present in the news, not for the good things happening there but for the political uncertainty, abuse, violence, and confusion.

These circumstances are no solely reduced to one country. One way or another they are present in every society these days. They could vary in some details but the undercurrent is there, flowing stronger and weakening the societal structures.

The younger are specially targeted by this consumerism, incessant pounding of flashed out manipulating messages, because the forces of evil well know that they need to destroy or at least control the future that naturally lies in the hands of these younger peoples.

My hope is that they are going to find the way out of such a mess, in the future, near or otherwise, if they decide to do so, giving birth to a real change in the social structures, beginning with themselves, their family, community and the entire nation.

This does not imply, at all, that the task is only theirs. We, the adults, whatever the group, political or otherwise, we feel part of, or have placed ourselves into, have the primary responsibility of showing them what the fundamental values are. Those values that will rule and guide them through life!

Errors, abuses, mistakes, egotistically convenient compromising, have existed, exist, and keep on existing, unfortunately. But these harsh realities should not impede our corrective actions, not for the sake of self-justification, or keeping the fire of confrontation raging on.

It is necessary and unavoidable to show with factual actions that there is always room, not for keeping such compromising alive, and expanding more and more, but for the reconversion of the lost values, showing things as they really are and having in mind that only the truth will save us from this apparently unending chaos.

It is not a matter of giving up! On the contrary it is the matter of standing tall in the strength of our integrity and our realization, as I said before, that only the truth, and the resolve to abide by it, will bring peace to our conscience and consequently to our spirit.

The so chaotic, confusing, uncontrollably passionate situation, nowadays, in this country of my birth, to the extreme that impartial thinking has been replace by the inordinate insult and emotional violence, has brought back to my mind the reflections, that 34 years ago I shared with my sons, specifically my oldest one.

I want today to share them with anyone who could want, impartially and serenely, consider them. Here it is what 34 years ago, I wrote, for them to use them as a reference guide for the posterior behavior of my sons, of whom I am fully and satisfactorily proud of seeing how they grew up and faced life, raising their wonderful children.

“A few days ago, when my children came, as they usually do to our bedroom, I noticed one of them with an expression in his face, more of bewilderment than confusion.

After giving me the good morning kiss, following the pleasant usage that such a great influence has had in our family cohesion, and so rarely seen in the modern family relationships, my son, the one with the frowning face of that day, cozily dug a place in my bed and started telling me about some circumstances, asking me questions and expecting, as always, that my answers would adjust themselves to truth, that he in his innocence accepts as an incontrovertible fact coming from his father´s mouth.

Dad, we are in strike at the school. They say it is because of some imprisoned Sandinistas and because we have to save the nation, at the cost, if necessary of our blood and life.

Dad… why we have to go to the streets to fight if all I want is to study to be one man like you when older? This is what he asked me with his innocence shining in his still not totally awaken little face.

Dad… we have been already three days on strike and I am bored because they do not impart classes nor let us play sports as we usually do. Those who came to our school, told us not to let us be brainwashed by our reactionary parents, and that we were obliged to keep on strike.

Dad… the last time we were receiving classes a group came shouting and they forced us to leave the classrooms. All were happy because they were not going to have to study, and we all went to the school playgrounds, but a few went to the school gates to shout and make all kind of noises.

Listening to my son, frankly, his questions, and more than his questions his bewildered attitude startled my heart and thought at such an early hour of the day, even before leaving my bed. I was so grateful to the Lord in the bottom of my heart for allowing us such confidence and trust between my sons and me, their father.

I was grateful for seeing that there is still respect and my voice is still heard as an echo of the truth. Because it´s me, their father, who express it! But at the same time I felt a crunch in my heart for having to explain, hoping not to further confuse him by complicating that complex accumulation of things that distort the right understanding of the ongoing facts that will affect, somehow, the horizons of the intellectual and moral structure of our children.

Because… how to explain to my son that what he is being expose to is just an intentional distortion of facts, a generalized cowardice and a total claudication of the paternal authority, an unforgivable betrayal of the ideals and magisterial responsibility when wickedly molding the children and adolescents spirits of the students placed in their charge, so they jump into the streets trying to do and change what we, the adults, do not dare to do or change.

I tried to explain to him that society will always be unjust, despite who is at the helm, and that there will always be, discriminated against, social classes or peoples, due to or because of incapacity, lack of education, opportunity, lack of will power or laziness. I tried to explain that the pretended equality, so loudly demanded, is an enticing protest slogan, if does not affect the personal interest and convenience of the protesters.

Because in the case of the college students who incite the high schoolers to join them instead of all together prepare themselves to become qualified professionals, preferring to protest and demand equality, freedom of thought and speech, association and so many other mob attracting slogans, why?

And I emphasize why do they do not consent and accept in their groups those other students who do not agree with them? They also have the right to express themselves, to dissent, to study, to defend the government, or to simply be government people or their children or family.

The way out of this social mess and extortion must and will come out of the same students. Not believing this is to deny the resilience and the vital spirit that resides in each generation. Actions lead to reactions. Protests beget protests. Negative actions, one day will bring out positive ones. And in this case, the students will be the cradle of the re-born hopes for the country. And they are awakening. They have begun to protest and demand what is rightly theirs, a positive future.

PART 2. THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF ABUSES, CORRUPTON, PROTESTS AND DEMANDS! USUAL CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES!

Continuing with my comments, and referring to the consequences of living an adult life without a solid base of education, training, values and resolve to commit oneself, since early age, to personal integrity and hard work, I tried to explain to my son how the love to “live in an unending ballyhoo”, looking for the “stone” (excuse or means) to seek, to get, to keep and survive in a position or to obtain an unmerited privilege, originates the most vicious of the cycles.

I tried to explain to him that one fundamental cause for the excesses is the lack of academic proficiency and civic and political maturity of many students of yesterday and today, because even if they presently present themselves as graduated professionals they are really no more than perennial protesting student and failed and failing political opportunists.

This vicious approach to life worsens, and gives birth to the violent and out of control protests and demands, when failing to get the privileges sought, or losing them, irately or bombastically proclaim they quit because of their honesty and civism, deliberately omitting how many years they fought to keep themselves profiting from it.

Because it is too easy to shout and protest instead of studying when the academic authorities, which should guide, lead, orient, discipline and control the quality of the education, just happily tolerate, and navigate with the flow, to avoid the rising of opposition or antipathies against them.

Opposition or antipathies that could threaten their dubious popularity, or even worse, manipulate and incite the students to favor their personal interests and motivations, as the inflated budgets they control without any external supervision, or more wickedly use them to finance or promote subversive movements.

Much of this happens because they surely know that in a few years expanse they would get rid of these immaturely protesting students, graduating them even if unprepared and unqualified, sending them to the social and financial survival arena with an insufficient baggage of academic, intellectual and moral resources.

Because they care the least that when they confront the financial obligations required by a growing family of their own, that besides loves ask for bread, protection and decorous conditions for their development and support, these students would be forced to leave their families to continue the struggle for the social demands of their youthful years. Their mentors and distorters of their future care the least they have to do it, this time out of need and not of idealistic motivations, as before,

Meanwhile, my son, you will always see that the first in the long line of social manipulators, those including the magnificent rectors, the sapient intellectuals, the journalists, and politicians, self-proclaimed as committed to the welfare of the poorer, will keep on pontificating, leading, corrupting and navigating the waves of the juvenile concerns.

So, I tried to explain to my expectant son that corruption is a two ways´ road, as it needs both a corrupter as well as a corrupted one, and that the responsibility is an equal one on both cases, especially when the personal interests is what count, only, without any regard to the bloody future filled with misery clouding the horizons of the collectivity because of our willing blindness to the consequences of our decisions and actions.

I continued with the explanation why I personally supported the existing governing structures, despite being clearly conscious of its weakness and the ruler´s personality. Because it scared the hell out of me the easily foreseeable future in case of his disappearance or death, due to the almost absolute lack of real leaders committed to the nation’s future and the social welfare of all our fellow citizens. And sadly enough the situation has not changed at all until now. We could even say it has worsened beyond any reasonable limits to their nefarious behaviors.

Because the dissenters and revolutionaries, and even worse, their local and international patronizers and accomplices, and all those that will pop up through the coming years will, unfortunately, keep on caring only for their financial convenience leaving behind the ashes of what the hard working people have laboriously built up despite the imperfect scheme in what we have been, for decades, immersed. But a scheme where no one is forced to be corrupt because there is no need for it! More than abundant are the willing one to fatten the existing one!

PART 3. THE TWO SIDES OF CORRUPTION,

who is the more corrupt one, my son? The ones who bribe taking advantage of their social or financial means? or the bribed ones abusing of their positions of authority or power to coerce?

Because these ones accept the bribe and satisfy their real or imagined needs and greed.. And the others, who bribe, do so, hypocritically, even if later on shouts and complain about the impunity and prepotency of the regime, demanding its annihilation, without thinking or caring that more violence, impunity and abuse could and surely will be the logical consequences.

There is no desire at all, and at all levels of society, to accept the individual and collective responsibility that we all have within the social environment we are placed or seek to be placed in.

The transgressors who intimately know they are such a ones, and purposely bribe, or demand undue privileges, instead of honestly and civically accepting the consequences, and on top of all that, brag with senseless impudence about their slickness in getting out of trouble, do not have any moral standing or strength to, later on, indignantly protest because of the rampant social injustices, when the bribe they offered is considered insufficient by the bribed to be.

And the sorrowful circus show goes on and on... Transgressing, bribing, bragging, protesting, demanding, in the most vicious cycle because it has become a natural, clever, customary, necessary, or at least for the fewer ones, unavoidable way of modern living.

Try to understand that the present struggle is not about social liberation but of the clash of wretched and bastard financial interests, confronting one another, or juggling and conspiring for the best place at the table of the nations´ wealth. There will always be financial operators and callous politicians that will make the most unbelievable pacts, acting together for their own benefit.

And what about the people on the streets…? Running around, destroying what they can place their hands upon… Exposed to the violence of mob control operations… and sweating and bleeding while following the journalists harangues, while they, privately court those government forces they attack in public. I could tell you about it, but it would unnecessarily extend these reflections.

It is for all these chaotic and chameleonic manipulations so difficult but at the same time so easy to explain why the young and the ignorant are incited to leave their schools and their homes to take to the streets in violence, disrespect of the natural rights of the family and society, pretexting to defend those same rights.

And I repeat, my son… it is so difficult and easy to explain because the real cause for the easiness with which these social operators manipulate the masses, is the monumental blindness of the adults, we all, who should be guiding, leading, protecting, illuminating the darkness of the social environment you will have to live in.

This is why, my son, why the social alternatives will worsen as the times pass, because the governments are the reflection of the collective attitudes of the people they govern or control. And until we realize, accept and decide to change from inside out, we will only cede the place to the daring and the mesmerizers of this world.

Because the social maturity and responsible civism are not the result of shouting and protesting on the streets, but of the individual and collective resolve to build a logic better future, based upon the hard work, rightfulness, honesty and justice.

Because blood only begets ad spill more blood. Because what it took decades to build can be destroyed in a single day. Because the revolutionary of today will only be the aggressor and the tyrant of tomorrow!

I only hope, my son, that you close your ears, mind, emotions, to the fleeting harangues of today, and prepare yourself for the hard work of tomorrow, safely ensconced, within the safe and secure protection of your parents, and home.

This is my utmost desire. The dream, the objective, the task of your father who does not want to evade the responsibilities acquired when we brought you to life.

What do I want to be and do...

2011-08-02T21:25:00.024-06:00

Yesterday I found this message in my emails folder.

Hi again Emilio
I wanted to reach out to thank you again for helping to spread the word over the past few months about the Fresh Air Fund's need for host families. With your help, we've been able to find 650 of the 850 host families we need. Right now there is just one week left for us to place the remaining 200 children with a loving host family for a Fresh Air experience that can change lives. I was hoping you could post on Emilio & Gladys Padilla to keep the issue alive in the minds of your readers and followers. Even a Tweet or Facebook post could help.

Please feel free to use any of the images, graphics, banners, or copy from our microsite - or just share the link: http://freshairfundhost.org
If you are able to help, please let me know so I can share it with the team.
Thank you again, Sara

Sara Wilson, www.freshair.org facebook.com/freshairfund Twitter @freshairfund

This message reminded me of another one I received not long ago. I turned it into a video and a photo album. I want to share both messages with you all. May God bless you and light up your path, your home and your people!

What do you want to be?
As a child I was always asked… what will you be when older? And I always answered with another question… What does it mean a profession or trade? ...

Now, older enough, I have been what life and opportunities have allowed me to be, but… Was that all I was supposed to be?

And I asked myself… and now… what do I want to be? But right away experience made me change it to… and now… what can I be?

I can be a serene VOICE in the midst of uncontrolled passions…

I can be a LIGHT for those who walk in the shadows of gross ignorance.

I can be a SMILE for those who are sad, sorrowful, despised, put down and discriminated.

I can be encouragement WORDS, for those who are thinking about giving up.

Yes! I can be more HUMAN and more grateful for all that life has given me.

I can be the friendly HAND that lifts up again the fallen.

I can be the unselfish LOVE for those who have been deceived or abused.

But I can also do many things for other people as long as we can and decide to help those we meet while walking.

The key, the meaning, the essence, is not what we could actively do… but the unselfish gift of the wisdom borne out from our living experiences.

It´s not true that of solitude, nor loneliness, is the fruit of building walls instead of bridges.

What is left for us is to be faithful sentinels on the ramparts of truth and righteousness in these times of deafening noises and extremistically deviated tendencies and behaviors.

We can become not just listeners of THE WORD but doers of what it commands us to do… To love he others as we love our own…

We can become not just listeners of THE WORD but doers of what it commands us to do… To love he others as we love our own…

Dear friends… sharing your time and your home in the Fresh Air Fund activities you have a golden opportunity to bless and be blessed in return!

THE CARESSES OF LIFE

2011-05-14T14:19:00.016-06:00

Love is not to make grandiose statements! It is to say or do simple things without special purposes,

Such as… a cup of coffee? Are you tired? Can I do something for you?

A phone call or letter! A little surprise, a kind invitation or walking together!

Is to do things for one another without a reason or premeditation! Is to accept others like they are! To listen with affection, without pressuring!

Is to look the other with your heart´s eyes! with your soul eyes! Words can deceive but the way you look at never lies!

It is simply to be there, not just with your body but your soul! It is to say… I love you! Why wait until people are dead to say you love them?

It´s not to judge, nor criticize, nor condemn!

It is to be capable to say: if I have been in your place I could not have done it better! Is to be able to say without envy… it´s great what you have done!

It´s as simple as that: not at all complicated! But if we do not truly love, we miss everything in life!

When we have the privilege to love and be loved, life is extraordinary! The irradiating warmth, the soul´s invading light that makes eyes shine!

Share your living with the people you love! Those who have filled your life with happiness!

Those who made you smile when you needed it the most!

Those who make you see the beauty of things when you are feeling the blues!

Those you would like to tell them how much you appreciate their affection and love!

But if you do nothing… do not worry. Nothing bad will happen to you. You will only lose an opportunity to light up someone´s dark day!

Have a wonderful day!

SING! SING A SONG! PRAYING IS GOOD FOR US ALL!

2011-05-05T14:41:00.010-06:00

Sing and act! Sing of the good things, nor bad! Sing and place yourself as a willing partner for better futures! Encourage the fainting! Show them there are a brighter night and a shinier tomorrow!

These were the ending words of my second of this series of three sets of commentaries. And a logic questions arises. How could I sing if I can´t do it even when I am in the shower?

I mentioned before that the chanting of the spirit is the foremost expression of what of melodic sprouts in all of our actions down here on earth.

It is not a matter of mesmerizing the crowds in such an obsessing and psychedelic way as is the usage nowadays. It is not a matter of almost unbelievable athletic performance and mimic shows.

It is love and care in action, day by day. In the smaller things! In the untiring contrasting of what is balanced and real. In the showing and comparing of both sides of the coins of life!

In the insisting of the permanence and the need of survival of the familiar ties as the roots that will nourish the lives of the children of today, up to the time when they will be responsible to transmit the fundamental values of life to their descendants.

It is love and care in action that allows the smiles to flourish even in the midst of the harshest circumstances!
This is what every one of us should always do.

Sing, sing a song! Sing out loud! Sing out strong!
Sing of good things, not bad!
Sing of happy, not sad!

Sing, sing a song!
Make it simple to last your whole life long!
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear!
Just sing, sing a song!

Sing, sing a song! Let the world sing along!
Sing of love there could be!
Sing for you and for me!

Sing, sing a song!
Make it simple to last your whole life long!
Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear!
Just sing, sing a song!

This is especially important, if you are just a common person, immersed in the world environment and not fond of spiritual understanding or not a believer.

I have always said that there is ample space for good faith people, even if it is not based on a Christian spiritual foundation. Strong character and personality can carry you over the obstacles even if at the cost of a lot of suffering, stubbornness, stoicisms and even cynicisms, if you do not succumb to the circumstances.

It is just a harder walk. I did experience it myself. There were times when I believed that Christianism was just for the losers and the weaker. But, thankfully, I learnt the lesson of the futility of all my efforts. And I have lived better equipped to confront the maladies of life.

There is such strength in prayer! Not a dispirited one, but that that brings a daily contact and interaction with God. Believe me. Praying is good for us all!

In the good times! Out of gratitude and recognition of His Grace and; Mercy! In the bad times! As a resourceful way to confront the harsh realities and abuses of this world! In the worst times! Because this way, we can depart with peace in our spirit, leaving behind the temporal and the inconsequential!

I WILL SING! YOU WILL SING!

2011-05-03T10:49:00.028-06:00

The steadfastness and righteousness of our personal testimonies, before the impact of the changes in the circumstances and life itself, are the chanting of the spirit.

It is undeniable the abuse and the suffering, re-edited and augmented by the unceasing increment of the authoritarianism and cynicism of the ruling sectors, both the social and the financial in their compromising and connivance with the political.

It is undoubtable its existence and persistence, despite all the individual efforts in the pursuit of an authenticity able to survive and overcome all egotistical obstacles.

It is general and pervasive the always increasing influence of corruption over the pacific coexistence of all those who vigorously try to earn an honest living.

It is asphyxiating and discouraging, even if I still keep on thinking it is no inevitable, despite the continuing and unending abuse by the powerful and the suffering, as it were their only daily bread, of the immense majority of all those who see how their efforts and legitimate rights are subjugated.

But, and as the saying goes, hope is the last thing to be lost, and this because the inherent weakness of those who suffer without seeing any light rising in their horizons.

For all this, and as I said at the beginning of these writings, let´s never lose sight, of the validity of the statement of being the steadfastness and righteousness, of the personal testimonies, before the avatars of the circumstances, and life itself, the chanting of the spirit.

In this chanting resides the last effort to retain liberty and positivism in our lives. In our way and according to our possibilities and giftings received or acquired through our dreams and perseverance, let´s imitate the birds who sing in the midst of the raging and stormy weather.

Let´s, firmly, get hold of the branches of our integrity despite how strong the winds rock the tree of our life! The night is never darkest but when the sunrise of a newer and better day is looming in the horizon. Let´s remember that of the birds always finding their nourishment even if they never plant and cultivate.

How more nourishing can we hope for if we add our pinch of salt and the optimism of our will and efforts? When younger and while studying finances in the USA, we were presented with many examples of the dollar forgerers’ imagination. It seemed almost impossible to cope with them as they kept piling up one upon another, faster than the lapse of time until detected.

But we received a simple and astounding lesson. The most respected professor told us: do not be overwhelmed by the fakes and their shenanigans. Concentrate on the real bill and how it was acquired and is planned to be spent. If the forgerers realized how much effort it takes to forge they would dedicate their efforts to make an honest living.

Greed is the root of all financial and usually the social evils. People have forgotten that money is just a means of exchange and transformation of labor into wages and profit. The faster you realize it... the faster you will find that success is around the corner!

But remember… even this can be distorted if dedicated to evil purposes or when you forget the individual. So, be optimistic but not unrealistic. Know what happens and disperse your little grains of truth and righteousness all over the roads you walk along and the lands you enter.

Sing and act! Sing of the good things, nor bad! Sing and place yourself as a willing partner for better futures! Encourage the fainting! Show them there are brighter nights and shinier tomorrows!

I will sing! Will you?

With Julio Iglesias, Roberto Carlos, José Feliciano and others?

I want to be a port by the sea.
To be that compass that puts you back on route.
I want to be a place of peace,
and never allow the world to end for you.

Friend… friend! There is nothing to fear.
I am with you.
And after darkness… a new day is waiting.

I will sing. You will sing.
And that light at the end of the road will shine
as a sun lighting up the whole world.

We are more as times pass, and if we, finally,
join our hands, there will always,
be a place for every human being.

I want to walk, side by side, with you,
sharing the bread, the sorrow, the hope!
Finding out that in our hearts there is, always a corner
that does not forget the childhood.

Friend, friend! There is so much to do.
Count with me.

I will sing. You will sing.
And that light at the end of the road will shine
as a sun lighting up the whole world!

We are more as times pass, and if we, finally,
join our hands, there will always, be a place
for every human being!

I would like to have power to help and change your destiny.

I will give you as much as I can give…
All I know is to sing, and my song is for you.
And my voice, with the others, in the vastness is being heard.

I will sing. You will sing, and that light at the end of the road
will shine as sun lighting up the whole world!

We are more as times pass, and if we, finally, join our hands,
there will always, be a place for every human being.

I will sing, you will sing and a song will bring us together.
And our hopes and our prayers we will make them last forever.

I will sing. You will sing. And that light at the end of the road
will shine as sun lighting up the whole world!

We are more as times pass!

Now, it´s your turn to do something to achieve peace!

Have a good day! It is my desire for all of you!

Part 1. GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY!

2011-04-17T07:03:00.017-06:00

Unexpectedly all these past weeks I have been seeing ghost herds stampedes and ghost riders in the skies. I have been an unwilling witness as the old cowboy Dean Martin sings about. And this has made me go back to my music files to listen to that song and turn it into this opening video.

These past two weeks have been some exceptionally trying ones. I have been witness to some, at times, incomprehensible actions and circumstances that test, down to the innerest levels of my heart, my trust and confidence that truth and righteousness somehow would prevail over the hardness and abuses of this world.

I have heard a former soldier under my command, crying on the phone with despair, seeing how a dear friend of him was kidnapped and murdered because drug traffickers were pressuring his father to get involved in the transportation trade.

I had seen faithful employees of powerful corporations being fired, and their future destroyed,

for not going along with their financial shenanigans,

and just because its executives needed scapegoats if they could not get accomplices.

I had seen very young girls, in my neighborhood, scanty shorts dressed, boldly and daringly kissing boys, the chubbier ones inciting the slenderer ones to do so, probably because the warm and probably in their eyes boring afternoons did not let them find better ways to play.

Or maybe because in their immaturity they believe it’s the best and fastest way to popularity.

What I find more immature is that they do it in a provoking, as well as a defiantly challenging way towards us, the passerbys and bystanders.

It seems they do not understand that they are only provoking worser excesses by their also immature counterparts,

They do not realize that their playmates, the almost kids, because they are not even whole teenagers, or the older ones will only see an easy opportunity to convince them to enter in sexual relationships that surely end in unwanted pregnancies.

And every one of them will end up as a loser even before starting life in their own.

Is is more frequent nowadays to see young girls holding in their arms babies almost as big of them. I can only guess the whole messing up of their still not developed lives, as well as that of their parents, who have to take care of such unwanted family expansion.

And this, if they do not recur to the “who cares” attitude”, “it´s only youthful exuberances” or “that´s what life and new moral values and ways are today and we must accept or tolerate them”, that will only expose their young uproots to wider, and worser promiscuities.

This was just happening very close to a group of adults, as well as also older men, sitting on the benches of our little park, drinking liquor in disguised cardboard cups, noisily exchanging crude jokes about sex, and stupid things alike, spicing up their conversation with drunken laughs, that only showed their crass mediocrity, and bad behavior, before the youngsters!

And outside our place, the news kept ragging thunderously on the media and internet screens. Fighting and death all over the places! Libya, Ivory Coast, Middle East.

And just around the corner, in our city, surrounding places and our countryside. Extortion and death at the hands of what is seemingly uncontrollable by the security forces of our State!

And coming back to the roots of society, the perversion, destruction and the distortion of the roots of everything for good or bad, which is the family.

And in the family the origin of it, which is a man and a woman, getting together, living together, initiating the indissoluble links, whatever the religion or set of spiritual belief under its “auspices of” they do so, Catholic, Evangelical, Mayan, Buddhist, you name it, according your preferences or convenience.

To be specific about it, how could we accept that breaking such links, making they disappear for the sake of a so called love for the country, feeling called to rule it at the expense of the sacred vows, accepted and proclaimed one day?

How could we accept such a blasphemy, when we have sacrificed countries and places of birth, for the sake of the preservation of our families?

How could we accept such an act when we see these sacrifices occurring every day, every hour, and every place, whatever the culture we could refer to?

All of this has made me remember the lyrics of a song I have liked a lot, before, sung by Dean Martin: Ghost Riders in the sky.

An old cowboy went riding out one dark and windy day.
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way,

when all at once a mighty herd

of red eyed cows he saw

A-plowing through the ragged sky

and up the cloudy draw.

Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steel.

Their horns were black and shiny and their hot breath he could feel.

A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the sky,

for he saw the Riders coming hard,

and he heard their mournful cry:

Yippie yi Ohhhhh, Yippie yi yaaaaay,

Ghost Riders in the sky.

As the riders looped on by him he heard one call his name.

If you want to save your soul from hell a-riding on the range,

then cowboy change your ways today, or with us you will ride

a-trying to catch the devil's herd

across these endless skies.

Yippee-I-ay

yippee-I-o!

The ghost herd in the sky!

URGENT!

2011-03-16T19:22:00.017-06:00

A few days ago I received this email from my friends in the Fresh Air Fund ministry. I have decided to literally copy it so its freshness and urgency becomes clear as a trumpet sound in the ears of those who could read these lines and feel their heart inclined to “pitch in” in such worthy activities and opening of their homes´ generosity.

Hi, Emilio: I haven't reached out to you in a few months, but I wanted to let you know that The Fresh Air Fund is again in need of host families for this summer, to place these wonderful children into a loving host family for up to two weeks of a fresh air experience they will never forget.

I've put together a new social media release, so please feel free to use any of the images, graphics, banners,

or copy:

http://freshairfundhost.org

Your efforts can help a child have an experience that will change their life! Thank you so much, Sara

I decided so because, while reading the email, some words from Facundo Cabral, the Argentinean singer and composer, began to resound again in my ears.

It had been some time since I received the Powerpoint message that I transformed into a video, and from time to time I have watched meditating in the profundity of its words.

But now they seem so appropriate to these many children in need of something new and fresh in their lives as some fun time in hospitable homes among loving people could be.

Facundo Cabral, with his profound and grave voice that has been in so many scenarios of this world, tells us:

Urgently… is the poorest way to live in this world,
because, you know, the day we leave it,
we leave behind (pending) the things
that were really urgent.

Urgent is that you stop in your tiring Life´s pace;
to ask yourself what it really is
all these things that you do.

Urgent is for you to be a better friend,
a better human, a better brother.

Urgent, is for you to value the time a child, boy or girl,
are asking from you.

Could we have any doubt what a wonderful gift to ourselves

as well as to those children could be opening our homes

to as many of them we could accommodate?

If you find it so. Rush and check the link:

http://freshairfundhost.org

and enjoy a remarkable and unforgettable time this year!

Additionally, enjoy, too, the video I was telling you about, whose text is clearly impactant as well as the biography of this so universally known singer and composer of so many moving songs about life and need to overcome circumstances that I will summarize at the end.

Just think. How many undiscovered geniuses could be found among this presently dispossessed children? and what a joy could be ours if we were part of their awakening to their life´s potentials?

Let´s meditate on his words!

Urgent!

For you, who always live life at a vertiginous pace…
I want to remind you
that the most important thing you have in life,
is you and all those who surround you.
And remember…

Urgent, is a word we live with, day in and day out,
in our frenzied life,
but one we have lost, already,
all its significance of hurriedness
and priority.

Urgently, is the poorest way to live in this world,
because, you know, the day we leave it,
we leave behind (pending)
the things that were really urgent.

Urgent is that you stop in your tiring Life´s pace;
to ask yourself what it really is
all these things that you do.

Urgent is for you to be a better friend,
a better human, a better brother.

Urgent, is for you to value the time a child,
boy or girl, are asking from you.

Urgent, is for you to impregnate yourself with the sun´s warmth,

every morning you contemplate a sunrise,
and then give thanks to the Lord
for this magnificent gift.

Urgent, is for you to see your family,
your children, spouse, and everyone around you,
and value that marvelous treasure.

Urgent, is for you to tell the people you love, today,
not tomorrow, how much you love them.

Urgent, is for you to know you are a son of God,
and realize that He loves you and wants to see you
smiling, and full of energies.

Urgent, is for you that life does not flies away in a second,
and when you look back,
already an older person
who cannot make time retrace its tracks,
realize that you did everything
hurriedly urgently.

Being a great businessman, a great artist,
a great professional, who filled your agenda
with urgent dates, projects,
but after all, the most important,
forgot to LIVE!

BIOGRAPHY

Facundo Cabral is an Argentinean singer and composer,

born on May 22nd. 1937.

Almost blind and carrying a cane,

he summarized his life as follows:

I was able to speak until I was 9 years old,

illiterate until 14,

widowed when 40,

and met my father until I was 46.

The most pagan of preachers

is already 70 years old

and reviews his life from the hotel room

he has chosen as his last home.

His father abandoned his mother

leaving her with 7 children.

He was sent to a reformatory and escaped,

having found God in the words of Simeon, an old vagrant,

who recited to him the Sermon of the Mountain

on February 24th. 1934.

In 1970 recorded the unforgettable song

“I am not from here nor there”.

Inspired by Jesus, Gandhi and Mother Teresa of Calcuta,

as well as by Jorge Luis Borges and Walt Whitman,

he spiritually follows a social critic line in his songs

taking them to more than 159 nations.

Could you imagine what a joy could fill your life

if some Facundo

visits your home this Easter?

I am sure that many Facundos are out there

waiting for a friendly hand

and a loving heart to find a reason for their lives.

Go to: http://freshairfundhost.org

Two messages! Questions, concerns, considerations!

2011-03-15T14:15:00.018-06:00

The other day I received an email with a Powerpoint presentation with the phrases of the well known writer, the controversial but influential in many circles, the Jesuit priest, Anthony De Mello.

At first sight his thoughts did sound convincing and logical. But later on, in my mind and my spirit sprouted the question I am phrasing after each of this writer phrases.

Then, as a second part of the development of my own thoughts and concerns, came out the interrogation born out from the second presentation on the offenses and reactions and responses, the winds of time and the permanence of the rocks imbedded in our memories.

This has led me to the final conclusion that even if we do not have the answers nor have done always what was correct and consistent, something good can come out from our experiences, even if for the statement of having stumbled twenty years ago over the same obstacle or circumstance.

Questions for Anthony De Mello

STATEMENT: What is what it makes you react to? Reality? Or the fiction you believe is real?

QUESTIONS: Is it worthy to live like this, as leaves gyrating in the wind?

Or confronting rejections and loneliness for the sake of integrity and self being?

STATEMENT: What is wrong with the ideals is that if you live according to them all… it is impossible to live with you.

QUESTION: GIVING UP OR REJECTING THE UNCOMPROMISERS?

STATEMENT: People do not want the truth! They want appeasing promises!

STATEMENT: When your shoes fit you, you forget your feet;

QUESTION: SELFISHNESS?

STATEMENT: When the belt does not tighten you, you forget your waist;

QUESTION: Deceptive self-esteem?

STATEMENT: When all goes well, you forget your “ego”. Then, What´s the use of abstaining?

QUESTION: SELFISHNESS?

STATEMENTS: How could I be a great man… like you? And why to be a great man? Just to be a simple man is a great achievement!

QUESTIONS: ACEPTANCE OF FAILED LONGINGS? OR CONFORMISM?

COMMENTS: But… Why to give in to the lies and snares of this manipulating world?

We can overcome, even if only in our inner world!

Even if the price to pay for it may be so painful!

A friend of mine some days ago reflected on the problems faced when trying to stay honest and faithful to what he defined as the fundamental values of a genuine middle class people.

He defined them as being only about 5% of the societies where less than 1% controlled about 80% of all generated income, manipulating the overwhelming majority that struggles and unendingly compromises in order to survive while the middle class values sink under the pressure and the ruthless whims of the powerful.

The only answer I had for him was that everyone has its own breaking point. And everyone has to decide what to do when forced to make fundamental decisions such as following the crowds or standing tall for what he knows is right and fundamental.

It is inevitable to face the natural consequences. Surviving at the cost of our own conscience… or sinking under the pressure of abuse, dismissal or rejection.

What we can control in this case is our responses to these painful consequences, understanding that all reduced itself to a simple sharing between us and the people we interact with.

It is up to us to live with peace despite the hardship and the hurting, burying them under the sands of times and circumstances, without forgetting to be grateful when we receive good for good done in our part.

Gratefulness that we should chisel on the rocks of the remaining standing rocks after all the sand of the abuse and selfishness has flown away, spirited out by our resilience and integrity.

We should always remember that we can live a simpler life, enjoying the technological progress of today, without being anxiously seeking, to get and make our own, what it is incessantly presented to us as needed to have to satisfy our craziest cravings.

We must realize there is an ultimate need, that of avoiding to be absorbed by the artificially mesmerizing but addicting myriads of trinkets that saturate every second of our present lives.

COMMENTS: But… Why to give in to the lies and snares of this manipulating world?

We can overcome, even if only in our inner world! Even if the price to pay for it may be so painful!

Balance! Wisdom! Awareness of what is real, right and fundamental, are the keys for a life to be worth its while.

There is no need to recur to extreme examples of human resilience as the Japanese people are showing in the midst of their almost unbelievable crisis.

But, we have a lot to learn from them in moments like these.

No looting! No opportunistic speculation! Supermarkets selling first need goods at reduced prices! People gathering together for mutual support! Still being able to smile after losing everything while locked in in a car in the midst of the tsunami!

Gratefulness for being alive and still having hope to recover what was lost because we trust in humans capable of helping other humans, despite offenses incurred, despite circumstances endured, despite whatever wrong could have been inflicted on us!

This is the message of the following tale of THE SANDS AND THE ROCKS! Meditate on it and decide what way to go while living.

Two friends were crossing a desert… They started to discuss and one slapped the other…

Hurt, but silent, he wrote on the sand… MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME, TODAY.

They kept on walking until they reached an oasis, where they decided to bathe. The slapped friend began to drown but his friend saved him.

After recovering his breath, he chiseled on a stone… MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE TODAY!

The one who had slapped and later saved his friend, asked him: When I did hurt you, you wrote on the sand, and now you chisel it on a stone. Why?

The other friend answered: when someone hurts us we must write it on the sand where the winds of forgiveness can erase it.

But, when someone does some good for us, we must chisel it on stone so no wind can erase it.

We must learn to write our wounds on the sands of time and chisel our fortunes on the lasting stones of our deserts.

For these reasons I am sharing my life´s actions and experiences to chisel on the rocks of our memories, the friends, the journeys´ partners… and all those whose diverse actions and opinions did influence the routes of our life, and realistically showed us the encountered crossroads.

If somehow or some times we offended you, forgive us. If we did something good, keep us, alive, in the vaulty rocks of your memories. MAY GOD BLESS YOU!

SHOULD WE KEEP ON POSTING COMMENTS?

2011-02-06T10:22:00.050-06:00

Times flies by and we have already entered into the second month of this year. Last December I wanted to share a Christmas message full of optimisms and hope. It was a beautiful worship song, for our Little Child, and, Come unto us, Savior.

But the final slides of the presentation kept pounding on my spirit, making me remember how we have lost our innocence while riding the weirdest dreams, fads and fictions, so widely spread around by the manipulating voices and screens of the omnipresent multimedia.

The pounding words were the following: “Run, little horse” evokes all that innocence of our childhood, when a simple wooden stick changed itself unto a dashing horse, taking us into fantasy worlds.

And what a better moment than Christmas to ride into those papery hilly Bethlehem, with cardboard and cork little houses, mirror wells full of little ducks swimming to see Child Jesus, and when we went early to bed on the 24th. to wake up and see the gifts asked for in our whishes letters?

I wanted to end the message with the sincerest desire that flowed from the bottom of my heart, wishing peace and happiness to all in this coming year. But I could not spread it out as I so intensely desired.

Some commercials, using the cherubic faces of some children stopped me from doing, because they made me realize the crudest manipulation of the innocence of the children we still have hidden in the deepest corners of our human being.

The innocence proclaimed

as the inherent quest for peace and happiness inevitably ended promoting the lost of it,

while pursuing such undeniably worthy endeavors.

Because it made them rest in solely materialistic goals and motivations that are actually consuming our strength and imagination.

live in a "PLAY" state

What it irked my conscience most was the pounding exhortation to live in a make believe and play state of mind, immersed in a whirling and subliminally mesmerizing artificial world. Because life is not like that! In life we never get anything without paying the price or enduring the consequences of hasty, unrealistic or unreasonable decisions.

But nowadays everything is about rights, which is good, but not when responsibilities are ruled out, and replaced by what is being called tolerance to people´s choices, independently of how weird, unnatural or twisted they could be.

Consequently, everything becomes turned around and angry attitudes and fists up in the air take the place of ethics on both sides, the upper and the lower levels of society, turning everyone, the abusers and the abused, into the perpetuators of the social chaos, and “make believe” environment, that is asphyxiating societies.

Everyone expects life to keep on giving, even if undeserving, and without any impulse for mutual respect and gratefulness. And this is superbly shown in the trees and the one time child friend tale´s words, expressed as follows.

THE APPLE TREE! It was a big one and a little child loved to play around, and climb it to the top. They loved each other but the child grew up, stopped playing, and left.

One day he came back and the tree joyfully asked him… are you playing with me, again? But the boy said he was not a child any more, and he just wanted money to buy the toys he liked.

The tree then told him to take its apples to sell them and get the money he needed for his toys. The boy did so, sold the apples, got his toys and the tree was happy. But the boy left without looking back, and the tree was sad again.

The boy became a man. One day he passed by, and the tree asked him, again have you, this time, come to play? The man answered: I do not have time to play. I have to work to buy me a house for my children and wife.

I am sorry, said the tree. I do not have a house to give. But you can cut my branches and build the house you want. The man cut all its branches, and went away to build his house, and did not come back, as he had done before. The tree was left sad and alone, again!

One summer day, now a mature man, he came again. The tree then asked him… will you have now time to play? The man answered… I am sad and getting old, and would like to have a boat to navigate and rest. Can you give me one?

The tree told him… cut my trunk, and build one, so you can be happy and sail. The man did so, built his boat and sailed away a long time, without looking back to the tree, not even once.

After many years he finally came back and the tree told him…

I am truly sorry, but I do not have apples to give you, anymore. The man replied… I do not have teeth to bite, nor strength to climb. I am really old, now!

With tears falling down the tree then told the man: I do not have anything else to give you, but my roots. The man tiredly answered... I do not need much anymore, just a place to rest.

Apparently this tale ended here. With an old man seeking just a resting place after wasting all his life chasing rainbows, failure after failure, as his navigating years do not show any sign of happy family sharing.

Apparently, again, just the end of the road for the older ones who do not share these modern values or refused to be part of the excitement of getting places, without regard to anything else, people or circumstances.

Some exchanges of opinion with some of my closer friendship circles in relation to tolerance and acceptance of the modern moral deviations have, when expressing my differing concerns, have almost made me feel, at times, like an old doomsday soothsayer crying wolf in the midst of dried and dead dunes´ desert.

There have been moments when I have felt inclined to just live quietly, not peacefully at the price of letting get down the drain the things I find illogical or undesirable, such as seeing little children exacting things from their parents, or even worse, parents more than willing to spoil their children to show through them a wrongful attitude of living beyond their means or needs.

And so the days were coming and going, and I could not make a final decision on keep or leaving behind the messages. Thanks God, another message came, about the tree of life, and the usage we usually do of its fruits, branches, trunk, and finally, it´s enduring roots that serve as the resting place for the old ungrateful braggarts, that so abundantly populate this earth, I included.

The content of the message and the tree´s offering of what were left after giving all to an ungrateful or a least opportunistic friendship, made me realize three vital things, as real as life can be.

One is, that no matter how ungrateful we could have been God will always provide us with a resting place even if made of broken trunks and left over roots,

Another is that no matter what we have gone through, or how small, or apparently so, our leftover baggage could be, we will always have some advice to share for the good of the rest.

And the third, and the most important one, is that if we have lived with transparence and integrity as the parameters and rules of our behavior and beliefs, we will never be broken and wasted as the tree could have been, even if tried and temporarily overcome by the abuses of the strong… if we have generously given all.

Because we will regenerate from our broken pieces and become what He promises in Psalm 1:

1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seata of scoffers.

2. but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

3. and he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruits in its season, and its leaf does not wither.

The freshness and the optimism of the encouraging messages I usually receive became, again, like the invigorating breezes that refresh the spirit, and not the blizzard and the snowy storms that paralyze our usual way of living.

This tale of the generously giving tree is an interesting lesson about the ways of reaching our last stages of life. Let´s hope our life does not end as a wasted one and feeble and frustrated ways of being and spending our last days.

It shows us the last opportunities to profit from our errors to tell the younger how to avoid the mistakes that we have made. Tree roots, our experiences, are the best place to go back, for the older to rest, and then to pass them to the younger ones.

So, Come! Sit with me, laugh or cry when listening to my tales, but… take notice, you the younger and while resting, you the older ones: let´s hope that the experiences shared are learnt, and the values of love, integrity, work ethics up and down, gratitude and respect… enter once again into the awareness and recognition of humankind.

now... Enjoy the video with the tale I was talking about it!

IF SOMEONE COMES TO YOU…DO NOT MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE YOUR BLESSINGS!

2010-12-17T10:55:00.018-06:00

As the end of the year has come knocking at the door, our friends have filled our solitudes with encouraging messages, showing what the real way of being worthwile should be, if we want to leave behind lasting remembrances.

I have had delightful moments reading and adapting the messages texting and images to turn them into videos to keep on sharing them with friends and readers of my blog pages.

I have wondered about the timing for it, and in doing so they were accumulating in my files. Some of them appealed the most to my feelings. Some others to my imagination! Some to my spiritual awareness!

Usually Christmas time brings me a subtle feeling of wanting something more than the already overwhelming merchandised mood of today. It is not that I do not enjoy the merriment of the season, especially those songs like “it´s beginning to look like Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer”. And "Silent Night" never sounded so quiet and soothing as when my wife and I spent Christmas night in the company of an old rural pastor and his wife in a small chapel lost in the cold wilderness of rural Arkansas.

I have never been extremely fond of the fatty red dressed guy because his laugh kind of sounds to me too artificial and hollow, as a sample of some not so real situation or at least one reserved for a few lucky ones.

I have come to this conclusion when comparing the advertised joy that comes from the overextended spending in gifts of all types, that do not assure real enjoyment, as I have always seen more natural smiles with so little to be grateful for, among the humbler ranks of people I have met during my journeys through, the entire world around.

And then came the message from my friend Sarah Wilson, from “The Fresh Air Fund” that relates to Christmas, their funding needs and their search for the fundamental pillars of their ministry, their supporters and volunteers, people like you and me, dispersed all around the varied ways of life and places.

One of the messages I received adapted so aptly to the spiritual environment that I believe is necessary to exist in order to be sensitive to the needs and the plies of, specially, the children of this world.

Consequently, I did not resist blending it with the images of the children they care for.

Enjoy it here, as well as the original message posted at the end. IF SOMEONE COMES TO YOU…!

If someone comes to you…
and if you have the opportunity
to share your blessings with…

it is because you are
one special human being!

If someone, freezing, approaches you...
It´s because you can offer warmth and comfort.

If someone comes to you when crying...
It is because expects from you, consolation.

If your are offered their verses...
it is because you have the music.

If they share with you their sorrows... it is because they wait you will hand over the remedy.

If they come sharing their feelings...
it is because you understand and listen.

If they come to you when hungry...
it is because they know you can feed them.

If they come with kisses...
it is because you have the sweetness.

If you are trusted with their doubts...
it is because you can show them the way out.

If with orchestras.. it is because you have the music.

If downhearted...
because you know how to encourage them.

If with fantasies...
because you see their realities.

if with desperation...
because they find in you
support and stability.

If with enthusiasm... because they do not doubt you will vibrate with their hopes and expectations!

When they share with you their secrets...
It is because they are sure about
your silence and discretion.

When someone, restlessly,
comes to you...
it is because you infuse
serenity in their life.

When they place in you their trust... it is because they find strenght while you help them.

When you are told their fears...

it is because of your poise and stability.

No one, ramdomly, comes to you.

Every encounter is one of God´s projects.

The world is in the hands of those who have the courage to dream and the dariness to live up to their dreams.

Dreams of believing a loving world is possible, and the dariness to make the difference by sharing our dearest blessings with the ones who need them.

If you feel called to be one of these special people, support the ones and the ministries whose call is also to care for and to provide for those children who need it.

Check http://freshairfundseason.com

And also enjoy the original message I was telling you about it.

THOUGHTS, FLOWERS AND FRIENDS, ARE THE PRICELESS GIFTS FROM GOD!

2010-10-17T15:27:00.006-06:00

Some time ago, and it´s incredible how fast time passes by, we were getting our things ready to come back to this country of Guatemala, that has been like our real back home, the resting place, the nourishing, and rehabilitating, place for our broken hopes of seeing a better world for everyone around.

We were getting back from our birthplace country, after six years of experiencing, as if they were our own, the hardships and pain that young children suffer when abused and abandoned, and on top of that, subjected to what well intentioned people, but with different perspective and culture, think it is the best for them.

It was a hard earned and assimilated lesson, seeing that the most we were able to do was to offer to these children a short period of love received, care given, and real concern for their well being.

Sometimes I wonder if we do not do more harm by temporary allowing these disadvantaged children to taste something good, or better than what already they have gone through, when changes of perspectives, influenced by other culture and environment sets of belief about what we want to give, as a gift of charity or compassion, dominate the scene, and make things change, even if not for the better.

And I keep on wondering if these children will not become more hardened with those glassy eyes, that I see so often when I ride the buses of our hardship filled, and bloated with despair, lower classes.

One thing for sure permeates the awareness and judgment of even the best intentioned people, Christians included. It is seeing things from our personal perspectives, instead of placing ourselves in the mind and the emotions of the people we want to help, so our efforts become imbedded in their spirit, so they can change, really change for the better in their lives.

It is easy to give out of what abounds, especially if we ask others to do the giving so we can appear as the great people of mercy. It is a laudable position, that of being intermediaries in the transfer of generosity and compassion, no doubt about it.

But what is really required is our full and comprehensive commitment to taking our efforts to the end, not for a while, avoiding setting up rules and parameters that are only meaningful to us.

Undoubtedly there will be children, and even adults, who will analyze us and find the way to please us, purposely, so they can benefit, as much as they can, from what we have to offer.

But even if we only change one soul, one person, one child, one abused, one abandoned, and set him or her on the right track of life, lived as it should be lived, all spent efforts will be worthy to have been done.

But in order to make possible for them to be a positive, and committed, individual, the chain of support must be consistent and be carried with the same purposeful will by all those who become part of the process.

It is necessary that the highest level of spiritual commitment is carried all through without personal interest or conveniences. It is well known that any chain is as strong as its weakest link, and if a subsequent link is added to the strong initial ones, or if the motivation is influenced by personal likings or disliking, then, the responsible one for debilitating, or modifying, the effort, will see unnecessary failures coming into the pictures, no matter what the amount of justifications are invoked for self-appeasement.

It is then when we should pray for divine guidance, because it could be easy to disrupt the already healing process, sending it back to worse than before circumstances.

It can be argued that this is an inevitable fact of life, but the Lord knows what it really went on and what responsibility everyone involved will carry upon their shoulders.

The ones who did well can rest assured that the consequences will be like an unstoppable avalanche of life changing actions. The ones who did not do so, someday, sooner or later will have to face the consequences of their actions and decisions.

Fortunately, everyone of us, besides of our share of successes or losing, in the course of our life find solace in our inner thoughts, relax at the sight of the beautiful flowers that bloom even in the midst of the deepest piles of waste, and get comforted by the assurance and stability, instilled into our weaknesses, doubts and misfortunes, brought by those special friends, like Ivonne and Richard, among the ones who have a special place in our hearts.

Ivonne has already gone to rest in the loving arms of our Creator, but she left a legacy of rightfulness, generosity, loving acceptance of our weaknesses, encouraging appreciation of our best characteristics, that makes her become a living presence all the while we keep on walking until we also reach our final departure date.

To both of them, she, Ivonne, and he, Richard, I want to dedicate the following thoughts and videos, in humble recognition of their being the strongest links in every chain of life events they became part, and we were lucky to be one of them, from time to time.

To them, because so fittingly relate to them, those verses from Isaiah 52:7. “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who announce peace and bring good news of happiness”.

The good news that there are friends like them, who bring peace and happiness to all who were fortunate to share their friendship!

HOMAGE TO FRIENDSHIP!

2010-10-17T14:34:00.005-06:00

Richard, my dear friend, and in you, all those whom I met and shared my life with…

In life there are transcendental changes that indelibly seal the phases we go through. It could be a change of fortunes, social status, or living environment, forced or voluntary ones.

Changes in our vision of how to live our life! Different alternatives sought for or forced… again! So many things! So many incidents, fierily branding our emotions and spirits!

Wisdom and experience are not the instruments to accumulate possessions at the expense of the Inner Peace, our own, or that of our own ones.

They are not anything else but the consequences of our adapting to and our positive acceptance of what have been popping up all along our walking paths.

A fundamental premise is the recognition of the fact of, having been given free will by our Creator… our decisions will inevitably bring logical consequences. Sometimes well deserved, other times clearly unjust! But not capable, just for it, to destroy us, if we do not allow it! Or even worst, to lead us to spiritual suicide, which is the worst of all of them!

God, in His infinite generosity, is always ready to give us what we need to walk through life. Enjoying what of good nature offers us! Learning from the failures that confront us, to take us apart from what is harmful or negative.

It is for all this that we are able to walk unharmed, through the different phases that make up the framework of our lives. Making, if we decide so, whatever possible to change our surroundings!

One by one, not in the midst of multitudes, who most of the times hide themselves, in the anonymity of the masses, to bring up all that´s twisted, and malignant, in the human personality!

I am already at the top of my occurrences´ plentiful 73 well and fully lived years. Years of sharing with “all types of people” of “all social standing levels”!

I, still enjoy the blissfulness of going, joined and supported by my wife, contrary to you, who already saw her, departing for her eternal blissful resting! I don´t know if I will be the first to go, or if she will precede me, in this final and decisive change.

But we have the joy of knowing that, in our pilgrimage, we always found friends, friends like you all, eternal friends, temporary ones, generous and understanding friends, as well as those who erroneously judged us, enriching, contradictorily, and incomprehensively, our existence.

Thanks God, I have always been like a stubborn child, refusing to be depressed no matter how traumatic my experiences. My love for reading, my awareness of others´ points of views, and its analysis, my fondness for picture taking… augmenting my emotional reserves for the times of need of encouragement, as well as any bouts of doubt, uncertainty, tiredness or discouragement!

My reckoning of everything I have encountered while walking… The musical and the thought full moments that this material world as let me enjoy… For the good in them, because not everything is wrong in this world…

And, finally, my recurrences to my God, who has always been there, present… protecting us, individually, as well as, we, as a family… through all kinds of changes, experiences, sorrows and blissful times.

All of this has allowed me to understand what it really is the reality of our earthly living. In them, often, I take refuge. I hope them also useful for any of you. Even if, and only as a benevolent remembrance from a friend who cares for you.

TO MY FRIENDS, and everyone else! With my pictures of our Guatemalan gardens and scenery!

2010-10-17T12:19:00.012-06:00

There are people, in our lives, who make us happier,

just for the simple fact of having crossed our path.

Some walk alongside us, seeing together many moons go by.
Others, we, fleetingly see them in the lapse
between one of our steps and the following…
We call them, all, friends!

But there are many types among them.

Every leaf in a tree or a plant symbolizes one of them.
The first ones sprouted from our parents.

They show us what life is.
Afterwards… the brothers, the children, the friends,

with whom we share our space, so they are able to bloom
as we have bloomed before!

Our fate introduces to us other types of friends
we did not know were going to cross our paths.
We call some of them… soul mates,
because they are sincere and true.
They brighten our eyes,

are music in our lips
and agility in our feet...

There are also those who are our friends

for just some time,

maybe during vacations, some days, some hours…
They also, make smiles shine in our faces
while they and we spend time together.

The time passes by, the summer goes away,
and our autums get nearer every day.
then, we lose some of our leaves...
some re-birth in other summers,
others remain alive almost forever.

But what bring us happiness is those leaves,
that, even fallen, stay with us,

feeding our roots with gladness,

and marvelous remembrances
of the time we were together,

simply because each person
that enters into our life is unique.

They always leave something of them behind,
and take a bit of us with them, when leaving...
Evident proof that souls

do not meet each other just by chances!

YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE!

2010-10-17T11:13:00.009-06:00

There are people, who, by saying just one word,

turn on the lights,
and light up the roses!

And by just smiling with their eyes,
invite us to travel to other places,

and make us walk
through a world that is wholesome

and righteous!

People who, by just extending their hand,

erase away the loneliness,

set up the table, serve the punch,

hang, on the walls, the garlands!

There are people who,
by just holding a guitar, play a celestial symphony!

Who, by just saying a word, reach the souls´ innerness,
make a flower bloom; make dreams come true,

make the wine sing,
making the soul smile,

and then just stay as if nothing had happened!

And we walk along, as fiancées, with Life,

chasing away a lonely death,

because we know that just around the corner
there are people like those… so needed!

You are one of those people. Let´s be merry!
Someday we will rest in His loving arms!
Let´s be assured! God is in control!

THAT´S LIFE!

2010-10-17T10:16:00.007-06:00

I do want to close this homage to friendship with some references to what life is in the eyes of many ones, who have lived it, even if not from, probably, a Christian perspective, but full of braveness, optimism, and openness to the fact that every circumstance adds an additional bit of flavor to a life that, otherwise, would be so limited and dreary.

Some will find the way back to God´s friendship, the most desired for in times of troubles, and of blessings and solitudes, too.

By doing so, they, me included, have been able to close the loop and tie up the loose strings of a life that would have been, again, otherwise, so dreadfully wasted.

O.C. Smith, one of my favorite singers of decades past, was one of them. He was able to turn his life into one of service to God, with the example, his dreams, his voice and his experience.

For all this, is why his song about life is so fitting to close my comments on this wonderful gift from God, life and friendship, with him with ourselves, with the rest of the people, even those who antagonize our way of thinking, believing and doing.

For all this, again, let´s sing with him, from the bottom of our hearts and feelings!

That´s life! That´s what people say. Riding high in April, shot down in May. But I know I´m gonna change that tune when I´m back on top on June.

That´s life! Funny as it seems… some people get their kicks stepping on dreams. I won´t let it get me down. This old world keeps spinning around.

I´ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a paw and a king. I´ve been up and down, and over and out, and I know one thing: every time I find myself flat on my face, I pick myself up and get me back in the race.

That´s life, I can´t deny it. Oh, I thought of quitting buy my heart won´t buy. If I didn´t think it was worth a try, you know I’d would roll up in a big ball and die.

One morning I´d would roll up in a big ball and I would die!

Some basic understanding about our present way of living and what the new generations can expect or hope to change for the better!

2010-10-02T13:28:00.016-06:00

It has been already a month since I received this forwarded message from George Carlin. I have been going through its content, once and once again, and every time its concepts sink deeper in my mind.

I have chatted with some retired friends, cozily sitting by the fountain in our residential compound´s little park, and we have all agreed that times have changed, faster and vastly more complicated, but in no way better than the ones we have enjoyed so far.

Even in here we see the sad consequences of the hurried way of living of the newer generations. Just the other day, while chatting, some children, not older than eight years old, were playing around the next to us bench in our park.

They were wearing brand name tennis shoes, baggy short pants, sport teams T-shirts, and earrings in their ear lobules, thanks God, not in their noses. And their parents, as usual were absent. Working hard but leaving alone their children at home. No surprise that we also have become used to see nice looking young girls, parading around with young boys, similarly sloppily dressed, and even some already carrying little babies in their arms.

Supposedly this is a middle class neighborhood. Abundant cars noisily cruising along our main street, driven by the older boys and girls. If this is what happens here, you can easily guess what is going on in the crowder and more dilapidated living areas where younger people have adopted the gang style way of living so popular nowadays in the more advance countries, mesmerized by the expelled ones who have been forced to return.

Add to this the broken moral ways of the older, who, justified, they say, by the rampant social injustices of today, dedicate themselves only to shout and claim their right to be subsidized by the government in turn, while they, busily and irresponsibly, contribute to the growing population explosions, bringing more babies to this more than sagging and hurting world.

It is not my purpose to keep on painting so bleak images of the social maladies that are affecting our countries. Similar images are found everywhere, over here as well as in the slums of the more advanced and so called first world cities of this world.

It is for this reasons that the message of doom and despair joins the choiring circus of the media but get lost in the noise and the flashing and the repetitive clowning of the masters, for their financial gain, of such a kaleidoscopic shows that inundate us, every time we turn on the radios or television sets that have taken such a grasp of our homes.

Let´s hope that sanity and change for the better soon arrives. The time is coming on! We are almost reaching the bottommost level of the social moral decay.

There will be no other way but to reach up again, if we do not want to stay crushed to death upon the filthy floors of what I have already defined as the bleakest moral decay of this century that has just begun.

A MESSAGE FROM GEORGE CARLIN:

His wife died, recently. It is not surprising that George Carlin, a comedian from the 70s and 80s, could write so eloquently.

Our time´s paradox is that we have taller buildings but much reduced temperaments. Wider roads but narrower points of views! We spend more but we have less!.

We buy more but we enjoy less!. We have bigger houses but smaller families! More comfort but less time in our hands!.

More academic titles but less Common Sense!. Greater knowledge but less judging capacities! More experts but more problems!.

Better medical care but less well being!. We drink too much!. We smoke excessively!. We waste too much!. We laugh too little!. We drive too fast!. We get mad too easily!.

We do not sleep enough, and we wake up tired!. We scarcely read, we watch TV too long!. And we rarely pray!.

We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values!. We talk too much!. We love too little!. And hate too frequently!.

We have learnt to earn our living, but not to live!. We add years to our lives, not life to our years!.

We have achieved going “to and back” to the moon, but find so difficult to cross the street to meet a new neighbor!. We conquered the outer space, but not our inner one!

We have achieved great things, but not better ones!. We have cleaned the air but polluted our soul!. We conquered the atom but no tour prejudices!. We write more but learn less!.

We plan more but achieve less!. We have learnt to hurry up, but not to wait!.

We have produced computers capable of more Information processing and distribution, but we communicate, every time, less and less!.

These are the fast food times and the slower digestion ones!. The times of taller sizes and shorter characters!.

The times of unbelievable financial profits and shallower human interrelationships!.

Two home incomes are usual today, but more divorces!.

Luxury houses, but broken homes!. Times of faster trips!. Throw away diapers!. Discarding Morals!. One night sexual shacking ups!. Obese bodies!. And pills for everything! From getting high and calming down, even to kill!.

These are times where there is so much in the stores windows, and so little in our hands!.

Times when technology makes possible for this letter to reach you, so you can choose to share these reflections! Or simply decide to erase them!.

At this point in time, let´s stop and meditate on the words of wisdom, by a remarkable woman.

“If we assume a catastrophic vision of the human being, we are done, life becomes a useless endeavor. I do also feel, internally, incapable of being optimistic… but we have to be, whatever the costs!.

We must keep alive our trust in the future!. These are the timely words of Rita Levi –Montalcini, Italian neurologist, 22/04/1909. Medicine Nobel Prize in 1986.

Once agreed upon on this, let´s go back to Carlin message!.

Remember to spend some time with your dearest ones, because they will not be here, forever!. Remember to be kind with the child who admires you, because that little one will grow up and leave you behind!.

Remember to hug those who are near, because this is the only treasure you can give with your heart, without costing you a penny!.

Remember to say “I love you” to your spouse and your dear ones, but, above all, say it with all your soul!. A kiss and a hug can heal a wound when are given with all you have in you!.

Remember to hold hands with your dearest one, and to treasure this moment, because someday that person will not be with you anymore!.

Give yourself time to love and talk to people, and this way to share your most precious ideas!. And remember always!.

Life is not measured by the number of times we take a breath, but by the extraordinary moments that take our breath away!.

George Carlin

1. FOR SOME VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE ALL SPREAD AROUND, SOMEWHERE!

2010-09-01T14:21:00.007-06:00

It has been some time since I posted my thoughts and feelings about what is going on all around us.

It is not that I have missed events. On the contrary, there has been a deluge of news, comments, TV watching and wondering.

Wondering about the whys and hows of the incessant and repetitive pounding on our emotions!

I have, even, had discussions with some friends, who have been subject to the consequences of their straight even if somehow naively dealings with the uncaring factors and actors of greed, power and control.

And consequently, unwittingly and adversely paying the negative consequences!

It is a sad, but a logical reality that their lives have been changed, and bitterness and distrust have become a seemingly unavoidable stain in the fabrics of their life.

I truly hope that time and willingness to learn from failures and injustices received will heal them and make them better than they were before, because of the wisdom acquired through such painful incidents and times.

But I cannot but wonder, as they do, and ask with painful awareness in my heart… ARE WE MISSING SOMETHING VITAL IN THE FABRICS OF THIS LIFE?
Friends send me a lot of messages and reflections. I will not be as prolific with my personal thoughts as I have been before. There is no need to reinvent the iced water or the wheel, nor ride over the prairies of sorrows like the lone ranger of our childhood days.

Instead, I will try to put together in an orderly way, the abundant messages that are floating on the air, somewhere, everywhere, exchanged back and forth through the internet waves.

I had turn the ones that have touched deeper the raw fibers of my spirit, my emotions and my mind.

Enjoy them; meditate on them, starting with what I said before… ARE WE MISSING SOMETHING VITAL IN THE FABRICS OF THIS LIFE?

ARE WE MISSING SOMETHING VITAL IN THE FABRICS OF THIS LIFE?

Now, the question is… Why can we not live in peace with other people?
Could it be just because they are different?

Or because we, rightfully, know they have chosen the wrong paths of life itself,
just because they confuse freedom, and equality,
with deviate, perverse or wicked ways?

Could it be that we are missing something vital in the fabrics of life?

My personal answer is. Yes! With loving righteousness!

This does not mean unrighteous justifications!
Because love does not preclude Knowledge and Discernment!

1a. EVEN IF IT SOUNDS CORNY, IT IS REALLY ABOUT LOVE, OR LACK OF IT, WHAT IS ALL ABOUT!

2010-09-01T13:58:00.005-06:00

One of my sons, the other day, commented that I paid too much attention, and got at times dispirited, at times concerned, agitated, mad as hell when seeing in action the puppeteers of the political world, and the sycophants of the media, while the manipulators of the greed and wealth, callously take advantage of the, in my book, unending and artificial crisis, and convoluted financial schemes of today.

He was of the opinion that the present generations widely differ from ours in that they live in a fast and furious pace, but are conscious that almost everything presented to them is just entertainment or doomed to failure in their efforts to convince them, as the books of the past and the words of our elders, did so well when we were younger.

I cannot but disagree, because I daily see the outbursts of the wicked, or the uncontrollably violent upsurges of the masses, in every realm of societal life. And the fire is incessantly fed and stimulated with all types of wiles and ruses.

What I see, all around, is the widespread lack of integrity, the numbing selfishness and the callousness that kills all sensitivity and awareness, immersed as we are in the ruthless pressure of the consumism that devours and destroy every sense of decency, decorum and priorities.

If we could stop believing that hedonism and crass sexuality and greed is all about, and that love, the real one, the real McCoy, as the early publicists used to say, is what it really matters.

And it matters because it enforces our strongest inner-hood potential, and this way we could, maybe be able to turn things about, and make the difference for the good, the real good and the better in this world.

Everybody talks about love, professes love, and defines love as the expression of the uncontrolled freedom to live if in the most deviated and perverted ways, but do we really understand what love can be?

AND WHAT IS LOVE REALLY ABOUT?

Love shows itself in the art of caring,
in generous giving, in unselfish sharing.

In just being there, when it means very much,
with a comforting smile, an affectionate touch.

Love has its own way of looking and seeing,
its own gentle manner, its own special being.

It lasts and supports us through problems and sorrows.
It´s something we know we can count with

in our tomorrows.

How rich we are, how safe, how secure,
when we have love that will endure.

1b. Love and Un-love are the two sides of the coin of life, gyrating out of control these days!

2010-09-01T13:09:00.015-06:00

Let´s meditate on the shaking testimonies of the children, as well as that of the elders who really care, and see the disastrous effects of the abuse inflicted by the lack of love.

LET´S MEDITATE ON THE REASONS FOR THE SHORTENED LIFE OF SARAH, THE LITTLE GIRL.

I must be stupid! I must be bad! Because, what other reason my mom could have, to be angry with me?

I would like to be a better one! I would like not to be ugly anymore! Maybe, then, my mom would like to hug me as I would like to be!

I must not talk! I must not misbehave! If I do so I would be locked in the closet all day long!

When I wake up I am always alone! The house is dark for hours and hours!
When mami comes back I will try to be a good girl, even if she does not love me nor hugs me because she feels sorry to do so.

Do not make the slightest noise! I just heard the door is opening;
my dad has come back, drunk, from a bar.
I hear him angry, shouting my name,
and against a wall I tried to push myself.

I try to hide from his horrible stare.
I cannot hold my crying. I am scared.
He finds me, crying. He insults me.
He tells me I am the cause of his problems.
That all of them are my fault!

He starts hitting me! Keeps on shouting at me!

I escape from his grip, and run away, still crying.
I fall down, my bones hurting.
My dad tells me words that I do not understand.

Please forgive me, I shout at him. But it is too late.
His angry face looks like it is burning.
The punches and the words do really hurt.

I ask Father God for mercy,
but my dad does not seem to hear or care

Finally he ends and walks out the door,
while I lie almost dead, on the floor.

My name was Sarah.
I was only three years old.
Today, my father killed me
without mercy and remorse.

1c. and now, let´s meditate about the nobody´s children!

2010-08-31T12:00:00.020-06:00

The nobody´s boys and girls are one year old or less.
Some do not know their father, and what´s more like him
Is that man who terrorizes them with his voice and hands,
and who makes them believe that the fairy tales monsters

and villains, exist.

They do not know a mother´s hug, nor an “I love you”.

They do not listen to lullabies and get to sleep through violence and shouts, and do not know if they are awake or are living in a nightmare.

They are those who, the only contact received is that of the punishing hand, the whip that hurts, and the indifference that kills. They are the sons and daughters of life, who must to learn to fend for themselves, even if they haven’t yet learnt to walk.

1d. LIVING IN A VIRTUAL WORLD! A FICTION AND A MESMERIZING DECEPTION!

2010-08-31T10:18:00.016-06:00

I am very grateful for the technological advances that allow us to get in touch with many unknown friends, as I consider all of those who by chance, curiosity, or benevolent understanding, get to read, and hopefully consider, what I humbly place on these pages.

I also really enjoy all the attractive features that the publicity industry provides to all those who, being at the same time monetary targets for the tourist, luxury and entertainment.

My TV set and my laptop are my windows to everything that is going on all around. In this virtual world, and through these already indispensable devices, we are able to share the enthusiasm of those, who, by their rightful choice and alternative consideration, decides to enjoy what this world has to offer.

We also have the opportunity, if we desire so, to get acquainted with the hard realities of those less privileged, who only have their imagination to fill the ragged voids in their almost, if not completely so, lives.

Virtualism has come! It is already here to stay! It is neither good nor bad! It depends how we visualize it and how we use it! It can be a good thing if we learn to avoid its dangers of isolating ourselves from what should be always important to us.

What´s virtual?

A man was checking internet on his laptop

while waiting to be served at a restaurant…

While doing so a little child came to his side

tugging at his pants and begging him for some coins.

When asked why he wanted them the child answered…

to buy a bread to feed his hunger.

The man asked the waiter to give the child a bread,

and kept on checking the internet on his laptop.

Distracted by the emails and their content the man was laughing,

and forgot about the child,

until he heard him asking if cheese and butter

could be added to the bread he had received.

The man agreed but told the child to stay put

so he could enjoy what he was reading.

The child then asked him what he was reading,

and the man answered:

Emails!

The child kept on asking… What emails are?

The man answered: Letters on the internet! Internet?

Then the man explained it was a place in the computer

where you could share everything in a virtual way.

Virtual? The man kept on trying to explain,

saying it was an imaginary place

that can´t be touched or reached,

but it seemed tangible and real.

That´s good! The child said.

Now I know I live in a virtual world!

How is that? Do you have a computer? Asked the man.

The child said: No, but my life is like that, a virtual one!

My mother is almost always absent and I rarely see her!

I care for my little crying brother, and give him water,

and he believes is soup, what I am giving him.

My older sister goes out, everyday, to sell her body,

but I don´t understand, because she always comes back home,

and she still has her body.

My father is in jail, but I imagine we are all together at home,

as a family, a lot of food, many toys,

and me going to school to become a doctor, some day.

In that moment, that man understood,

and in him, every one of us should,

what a nonsensical virtualism is this we are living in…

the cruel reality we daily see, personally or in the media,

that we watch as if were just a virtual occurrence,

to be forgotten after the next entertaining

or publicity commercial.

There are two decisions to make.
To keep on doing what we do,

everyone for him or her!

Or aspire to inspire before we die,
doing something to change things,
one at a time!

2. for some very special persons!

2010-08-30T22:27:00.006-06:00

As I said at the beginning of these series of postings, there is no need to reinvent the iced water or the wheel, in order to tackle with the struggles of today.

I have read, lately, that people are not only trying to wreck all types of social systems, just or unjust, on behalf of a pretended socialized understanding of equality and rights of the oppressed minorities of the world.

There is oppression, there is injustice, there is widespread abuse… there is not the slightest doubt! But trying to pin it on God, with a hypocritical, malicious, and the most cowardly attitude of not placing the responsibility where it lies, which is in ourselves, is the most aberrant thing to do.

Nowadays, there is an also universal cry for the latest climatological changes that are affecting, in the millions, the lives of the people, in all nations, the richer and the poorer, as well.

It is, and only some timorous voices have raised the question, like the earth, as the nature as a whole as well, is also raising its protest and reacting against the unrepentant abusers of the generosity it has received through the millenniums up to day.

It is the ultimate dilemma of human kind. We cannot keep on abusing and hurting and then blaming God or any other instance for the hurting back that we receive.

It is not a matter of material actions, but of a moral change in us. If the core of the tree trunk of our lives is rotten, its branches, leaves, flowers and fruits will also spiritually rot and materially fall into the deadliest decay.

It is up to us to change. There is no lack of knowledge or warnings, exhortations, or illuminating messages to let us understand the direst need to change if we want to preserve a decent way of living and inheriting a hopeful world to the generations to come.

It is for this reason that I celebrate and encourage those special people, friends or just awareners of what really is going on, who raise their voices to allow us to spread their concerns into the wider circles of our societal groups.

To them, I want to dedicate the words and the music
of a friendly song I received through the internet.

FOR SOME VERY SPECIAL PERSONS!

A friendly son with the flowers of our gardens
that still flourish on our earth!

Hello! Have you been told that your messages
are full of laughter, reflections and encouragement?

Thanks for sharing the presentations you find and receive. Because you help us to face life with joy and hopes!
Because you always keep us in your mind!

We send you all our love and our sincere friendship.
In other words… our best for you!

Friendship is not to be defined!
It simply exists!
Thanks for sharing the good things of life!

2a. the four seasons of life!

2010-08-30T21:57:00.008-06:00

Here is another lesson on how to look at life. The actual frenzied pace that has been imposed on people of all social levels, prevent from having the barest enough time to sit back, think and decide what the right priorities should be.

People tends to see life, interpret their needs in accord with the latest publicity pitch, buy, buy, call, call, get, get, the latest gadget, without caring for costs; you will be billed and paid later on!

Consequently, we see only the season of life that the world wants us to be in, the “consumist per excellence” one, becoming aged and faded, jaded, Peter Pans, always chasing mirages and artificial rainbows.

Life must be lived, seen, appreciated, challenged, overcome, enjoyed, balanced, one step at a time, but always keeping in mind its whole spectrum, so we do not lose the right perspectives and priorities.

If we do so, we will be able to navigate through the four seasons that will constitute the treasured mementos and heritage that the present generations have the opportunity to store for the benefit of the future. Let´s meditate about it!

There was a man who had four sons.
He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly.
So, he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go, and look at a tree,
that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter,
The second in the spring,
The third in summer,
And the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and returned,
he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said it was covered with green buds
and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms
that smelled so sweet, and looked so beautiful.
it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them;
he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit,
full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they all were right,

because they had each seen only one season in the trees' life.

He told them that you cannot judge a person or a tree
by only one season.

And that the essences of who they are,
and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life,
can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring,
the beauty of your summer, and the fulfillment of your fall.

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult times,
and better ones are sure to come.

Aspire to Inspire…. before you Expire!

Live Simply. Love generously.
Care deeply. Speak Kindly.
And leave the rest to God.

Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,
Pains and sorrows keep you Human.
Failures keep you Humble.
Success keeps you growing,
But only God keeps you going on.

Take care and be safe for me.
THANK YOU FOR BEING A VERY IMPORTANT PART
OF THE SEASONS OF MY LIFE!

God bless you and keep you in his care
through all the seasons of your life!

2b. to be poor or rich, today!

2010-08-30T21:22:00.009-06:00

What are we really, today? Are we on the right path to happiness and fulfillment, breaking our backs by seeking to possess all the trinkets we are being offered, for a price, today?

Can we close our eyes to what surrounds us, forgetting or blatantly erasing all the suffering and needs, unless it directly affect us or rock our complacent compulsions?

Do we really know or understand what is to be rich or poor? Do we have the right to exact from others what we have not earned ourselves, through hard labor, saving efforts, imagination and self control?

Is being poor, according to the standards of today,
such a tragedy and a curse?

What does it mean to be poor, today?

A rich man, wanting that his son could learn
what it is to be poor,
took him to spend some days with a farmer´s family.
The boy spent three days and nights
living in the countryside.

Going back to the city, still in the car,
the father asked him: how was it?
Good! Answered the son, kind of aloof and distracted.

The father insisted: did you learn something?
Yes! We have a dog. They have four.
We have a pool, with treated water, covering half of our patio!
They have a river with crystal clear water,
myriads of fishes and other beautiful things!

We have electric lights in our garden,
but they have the stars and the moon to illuminate their nights!

Our garden ends at a wall. Theirs reaches the horizon.
We buy food. They cook it.

We listen to CDs. They listen to a perpetual symphony of birds,
crickets, and other small animals!
All that, at times, together with a neighbor´s song
while he works his land!

We use microwaves.
What they eat has the “slow fire” flavor.

We live caged by walls, alarms on.
They live, almost always, with open doors,
protected by their neighbors´ friendship!

We live connected to the mobile phones,
the computer, the TV!
They live connected to the sun, the water,
the sky, the green of the countryside,
the animals, their shadows, their families!

The father was impressed by the wisdom of his son.
Finally, the son concluded:
Thanks for showing me how poor we are!

We are becoming poorer as the days pass.
Poorer in the Nature´s observation,
which is the greatest making of God!

We worry a lot about HAVING, HAVING AND HAVING MORE,
instead of being concerned, ONLY, with “BEING”.
And being better every day, more!

May God bless you, today, and always, Amen!

2c. the son of the planet!

2010-08-30T17:46:00.027-06:00

One of the peculiar characteristics of humankind is that we think that we are the privileged, and without any restraint, species on this earth.

We feel like we own it and we are entitled to everything it offers, without caring for preserving what will naturally be affected by our indiscriminate usage, up to the point of their final extinction from this earth.

If we placed ourselves in their place, as a cohabiting species with plants and animals as a whole, we would not be surprised when finding out that we are visualized, by a mounting up many, as the most dangerous virus and predators on this earth.

We, actually, are extremely concerned with the mounting changes that are taking place. Hurricanes! Floodings! Famines! Desertification! Earthquakes! Tsunamis! And we can go on, and on!

Could it be that we have never known what is to be a living entity in this world? Could it be that we have forgotten how to be, or become, a real son of this earth?

It is not so. It is that we have conveniently forgotten what we have already known. It is that we do not want to listen to the wisely thinking people, who keep on telling that in order to survive, we need to know, and practice, what it takes to be a son of this planet that we call our home. Because…

When you find yourself serene and contented
everywhere in the world…

When every place is your country...

When, having anything, you feel you have it all…

When in riches you can look
as the humblest of all…

When you can extend kindness back
to your offenders,
whoever they could be…
And you see your brother in everyone…

When you realize that love
is just and only giving and giving,
without regard to nothing else but giving…

When, indifferent, you move forwards
among those insulting…
And silently you tell them you forgive...

When no one could hurt you,
and nothing brings you sorrows…

When you give back love to those who hate you...

When you consciously act innocently....

When you pursue knowing as much
as your nourishing bread…

When you love everything
without passion nor possession…

When reality finally overcomes illusions…

When you learn to alleviate
the sorrows of the suffering,
without regard to who they are…

And only truth flows from your talking…

When you turn duty into a pleasure,
And pleasure is no more a duty…

When you live your present
as the only thing that´s urgent...

When kindness is your willing…
When selfishness cedes the way to altruism…
When impurity cedes the way to virtue and purity…

Then, you will be a man, you will be a woman!
You will be someone who has reached
the real level of humanity…

You will be a son of the planet, someone
who has finally become a real human being!

2d. between you and God!

2010-08-30T13:50:00.011-06:00

We have found how to become a real human being through the words of Mother Teresa, in the posting above. But now a question remains.

Why should I do what I am being told to do, if I know, by experience, personal or from every other source available, that this is the surest way to be taken advantage of?

Why would I choose becoming the fool every one of the smarter ones, loves to trample upon, using it as a carpet to clean dirty shoes, mud, and whatever you could think of?

Why should I believe that my efforts would be reckoned with, if everything done according to these rules is usually doomed to ridicule, mockery and failure?

Why should I behave always with integrity in everything I have to do, if this is the surest way to be chosen as a scapegoat by the slickers of this world?

Why I would be such an easy prey for those who will love to pin their shenanigans on my lap, as I would not know how to deal with things the way they do, nor I would have the resources and contacts to defend myself?

Why should I choose not being another wolf and member of the predating packs of this world, who prey upon the weaker ones that cross their paths?

Let me tell you my friends. There is a wise saying that says that there is no evil that last a hundred years, nor a body that can resist it.

In other words, we will finally overcome the injustice and find a better way to keep on living, with our inner peace of mind and our integrity, intact.

Or we will die, standing tall and consequent with our rightful beliefs, without having to compromise or getting under the yoke of the spiteful and shameful moral procrastination or defeat?

IN BOTH WAYS, ANYWAY,
WE COME OUT AS WINNERS!

Because in the end…
it is not between the world oppressors
and us, and you!
Everything, my friend,
is between God and you!
SO…!

Always give the best of you…
And the BEST will come!
Sometimes people are egotistical,
illogic and senseless.
Even so, forgive them!

If you are amiable, people can accuse you
of egotistical and ulterior motives.
Even then, be kind!

If you are a winner, you will have
some false friends and some enemies.
Even so, keep on winning!

If you are honest and frank, people can deceive you.
Even then, be frank and honest!

What you spent years building up,
someone can destroy it in an hour.
Even so, keep on building!

If you have peace and you are happy,
people can be envious.
Even so, be happy!

The good you do today,
may be forgotten tomorrow.
Even then, do good!

If you give the world your best,
that may never be enough.
Even so, give your best!

For all that counts,
everything is, and will be,
between you and God!

It never was between you and them!

Teresa de Calcutta.

3. A poem for my friends!

2010-08-30T12:45:00.010-06:00

At this moment in time, and as the series of posting seem to be stretching along, a logical question arises. Who is this guy who is placing these types of thoughts on the table? What credentials does he claims to have so we feel prone to pay attention to whatever he says? What is his supposed expertise to address these societal incidents? And why he feels he is entitled to discuss them as if he had personal knowledge of what is going on?

For people like me, in other words, those who have reached the golden years of our autumn seasons, the lived and left behind experiences give us the authority to say, hey boys, if you keep on going where you are going, you will hit, head front, the walls I did hit many years ago.

You could probably say, what do you care for? It is my life and I can live it however I choose to live it! Mind your own business, you, prehistoric as you are, because you will never be able to understand the vitality of our present generations.

Some time ago I received an email with what I feel it was a somewhat grossly expressed joke about the generational clashes of today. An arrogant young fellow was precisely saying to an elder one what I referred to two paragraphs above, bragging about all the technological devices they are so apt in using, while we, the older ones, are barely able to deal with the simplest models of the computer world and phones, to mention some of them.

And the elder guy answered the disrespectful brat, that we had been part of the beginning of such a technological progress, if not the actual inventors, or developers, of the devices they are so proud about. And continued asking the brat what was what he was doing for the generations he would beget, and the rest of generations to come.

I do not want to react like the guy I am referring to, because his reaction was born out of hurt feelings and a defensive mood. I want to address these issues, as I have been addressing all along, out of love and caring for the ones who are still unborn, and will have to live with the consequences of our selfishness and mistakes.

Because of this, I want to convey to all of you the poem, and its message, that I transcribe below. Because I consider you my friends, known or unknown yet, already met or soon to meet. You all, fellow travelers in this wonderful journey that life is for every one!

A Poem to my friends!

I cannot give you solutions for all the problems in this life,
nor I have all the answers to your doubts or fears,
but I can listen and share my past experiences with you!

I cannot change your past or your future.
But I will be there when you need me, if you need me at all.

I cannot prevent you from stumbling.
I can only offer you my hand for you to hold it,
and not falling down!

Your joyfulness, your triumphs and accomplishments
are not mine.
But I sincerely enjoy it when I see you happy.

I do not judge the decisions you make in life.
I limit myself to support you, to encourage you,
and to help you, if you ask me to do so.

I cannot force on you the parameters
for you to act within them, but, yes,
but I can offer you the necessary space
for you to grow in within.

I cannot prevent your suffering
when some sorrow breaks your heart.
But I can cry with you and pick up the fragments
to piece it back together.

I cannot tell you who you are,
nor who, you should be.
I can only love you as you are
and be your friend!

These past days I was thinking about my friends.
You were neither on top nor down,
nor in the middle of the list.

You did not start nor ended the list!
You were neither the number one
nor the final one on that list!

To sleep blissfully!
To spread out love vibrations!
To know we are just passers-by down here!

To improve our relationships!
To profitably use the opportunities!
To listen to our hearts!
To do credit to our lives!

I do not, at all, pretend to be the first,
the second or the third on your list.
For me is enough that you want me to be your friend.

Jorge Luis Borges.

4. I still stand!

2010-08-30T11:30:00.010-06:00

There is something intangible but fundamental when you live a lot, not only in years but in experiences, pains, joys, love given and received, shared and given again.

It is intangible and fundamental because it blends, indissolubly with you, becoming part of your intrinsic being, and giving you the fortitude and stamina to face the remaining days of your life with a peaceful attitude and desires to leave behind the best of what you have gathered along.

It is so comforting seeing all your family gathering around you when the feasts, the holidays, the anniversaries, the birthdays, especially yours, and knowing that life is going on and you have been able to give the best that is being reproduced in their lives.

There is always the opportunity to keep on giving. Giving out of what is dearest to you. It could be a framed picture that you have taken yourself. It could be a memento or an electronic game or toy that you gathered a long time before.

It could be one of the dolls collected by my wife through the years or some pieces of your treasured silverware that will continue gracing the tables of the homes of your children, as a joyful repetition of the grace they showed in your own.

The same thing happens with your memories, your readings, your reflections, the comments shared when cozily seated in your living room or your dining table, you are able to bring back, alive as if they just happening today, the remembrances that will serve as a reference parameter to their younger lives.

Because, as the celebrated writer, whose thoughts I transcribe below, the greatest occurrence in life is that we can still stand tall, and say with a well earned pride tingling in our voice, even if it is not as strong as before: I still stand, and will stand tall until the last day of my life.

I still stand!
Excerpts from a great man words!
Jorge Luis Borges

I feel, at this moment in life, almost the same
as when I was much younger.
I'm far from placing my happiness on material things,
still enjoying what I have without despair
because of what I have not!

I´m fortunate in knowing how to appreciate
and correctly define what surrounds me,
and I live in harmony with what
I generate through my daily efforts.

I keep on, daily, gaining the love and respect
of my family, friends and fellows,
because Love stays and grow in the light of devotion
and care they are given,
and it´s good to frequently water them
with water from the heart.

I keep my loves alive… the past and present ones,
because they keep me walking.
I treasure my friends´ affection
in the inner refuge I built up,
for each one of them, through the years,
and protect it as a space that, rightfully,
and perpetually, belongs to them.

I am especially grateful to all those
who generously gave me
a piece of their soul and heart,
contributing to make me what I am today
and who I will be tomorrow.

I use, as the purest energy, the confidence on me,
had, and being had, by those who helped me to become
what I have become;

Those who were beside me
in my childhood, teenhood and adulthood,
And, together, prepared me, I hope, to fully live
the, already coming, or arrived, golden years.

The ones before me are always present
and alive in my heart and mind.
Those who raised and shouldered me
so my feet could start walking,
and cared for my legs to be strong enough
to support the ones I have begotten.

I do my best to keep my feet, firm and grounded,
even if, frequently my imagination gives herself
the luxury of flying and dreaming
with an harmonious today,
and a much better tomorrow.

When I am cold, because of my remoteness,
disagreements and conflicts with my fellows,
I call on the heart´s fires to strengthen me,
and be given the courage to assume my faults and
ask to be forgiven.

And when I receive, in any circumstance, an apology
I try to be ready to forgive and forget the offenses.
Penance enough pays the one who assumes his fault,
and is abusive to commit the excess of making forgiveness
more difficult to be received.

I try lo live in peace with myself

because I know we cannot offer it
when we do not have it ourselves.

I know that flying only requires giving strength
to our imagination to enroute itself
towards the horizons where still nothing exists.

I dream with and old age where my wife´s hand is my guide
and my hand is her comfort and support.

I want to repeat myself in every action of those
who seek a dignified way of living,
and in their efforts to impregnate my soul ,
for me to keep striving ahead,
and living as God wants us to live.

I want to have, someday, the privilege to reach the highest,
where the spirit has its fortress and our faith its reason.

This is a message to be shared, and in its flight may reach
wherever it should reach.

LET´S HOPE IT REACHES THE SPIRITS AND MINDS,

OF THOSE WILLING TO OPEN THEMSELVES,

TO THE CHALLENGE OF SEEKING

TRUTH AND DISCERNMENT!

The Summer of 2010 is almost over, but The Fresh Air Fund still needs loving host families!

2010-08-06T15:09:00.009-06:00

I have received news from my dear friend Sara Wilson

and the Fresh Air Fund summer activities

that I want to share with you all.

If you have friends and families in the places mentioned below,

share with them this wonderful opportunity to extend God´s blessings,

to all these children, from New York and surrounding communities!

May God bless you, my friends!

For more information check:
http://weneedfreshairfundhosts.com

Fresh Air News

We are looking for families in the following areas to host THIS summer Red Hook, Columbia County, Saugerties, Delmar, Guilderland & Altamont, Latham and Rensselaer, NY.

If you or someone you know is able to host, please sign up now.
In 2009, The Fresh Air Fund's Volunteer Host Family program, called Friendly Town, gave close to 5,000 New York City boys and girls, ages six to 18, free summer experiences in the country and the suburbs.

Volunteer host families shared their friendship and homes up to two weeks or more in 13 Northeastern states from Virginia to Maine and Canada.

The Fresh Air Fund relies on donations to provide memorable summers to NYC children.

The Fresh Air Fund still needs hosts for the summer of 2010.

Thanks to host families who open up their homes for a few weeks each summer,

children growing up in New York City’s toughest neighborhoods

have experienced the joys of Fresh Air experiences.

Fresh Air Fund Host Families

"It is rewarding to see the smile on our Fresh Air child's face as she enjoys the simple things we take for granted..."

Friendly Town host families are volunteers who live in the suburbs or small town communities.

Host families range in size, ethnicity and background, but share the desire to open their hearts and homes to give city children an experience they will never forget.

Hosts say the Fresh Air experience is as enriching for their own families, as it is for the inner-city children.

There are no financial requirements for hosting a child.

Volunteers may request the age-group and gender of the Fresh Air youngster they would like to host.

Stories about real Fresh Air host families and their New York City visitors

are just a click away!

Fresh Air Children

"We made smokes and hot dogs over the fire. I've never cooked outside before!"

Fresh Air children are boys and girls, six to 18 years old, who live in New York City. Children on first-time visits are six to 12 years old and stay for either one or two weeks.

Youngsters who are re-invited by the same family may continue with The Fund through age 18, and many enjoy longer summertime visits, year after year.

A visit to the home of a warm and loving volunteer host family can make all the difference in the world to an inner-city child. All it takes to create lifelong memories is laughing in the sunshine and making new friends.

The majority of Fresh Air children are from low-income communities. These are often families without the resources to send their children on summer vacations.

Most inner-city youngsters grow up in towering apartment buildings without large, open, outdoor play spaces.

Concrete playgrounds cannot replace the freedom of running barefoot through the grass or riding bikes down country lanes.

How can we know what´s the measure of failure or success? The Ws, Xs, Ys and Zs of Life and Death!

2010-08-05T16:07:00.011-06:00

This afternoon I was walking back home, having gone out to walk my six months female dog, when I crossed paths, on our corner sidewalk with a very small girl, no more than four or five years old, holding the hand of her mother, who was carrying a backpack, bigger than the little girl.

I had been wondering, for weeks, what I should do with my writings and “video made” Powerpoint presentations.

My dilemma has been, if posting them in my Facebook page for the benefit and information of my friends, or posting them in my blog webpage, opening myself to the scrutiny of anyone who cared to read and see them.

The little girl was repeating, once and then again, and in a loud voice, the letters, w, x, y, and z!

The melodic sound of her childish voice struck the innerest cords of my mind, my heart, and my spirit, and made me wonder what I said at the beginning of these words…

How can we know what´s the measure of failure or success?

In life? In what really counts?

In what you can´t deny when you are alone with yourself?

In what rises up when you are seeing around,
as I am in this right moment, a bunch of skiers
jumping up and down the coldest snowy hills of this world?

Or when you become exasperated,
watching the politicians and the manipulators.
excuse me…
should I have said states-men?, states-women?, international personalities?, investors and big money makers of this world?

Do you see it?
There is ample room to choose your circus spectacle role playing!

You can choose whoever you want to be!

A trapeze flier! A clown!

A lion or panther handler placing your head inside their jaws!

A bombastic and grandiloquent announcer, commentator, analyst, or pharisaical spreader of the most scandalous the better, news, scandals, crimes or human perversions!

A flashy puppet! Or just a mesmerized spectator!

I do not want to be seen or considered a puritanical soothsayer.
I have never been such a personage.
I have always tried to find the inherent logic and the beauty in the most dissimilar circumstances.
I have enjoyed life, even if, at times, in a kind of sinful,
but enticing, and not imposing on others, abusing ways.

Because I have always respected the boundaries of self determination, steadfastness, rightfulness and truth, in everything I have tackled with.

This has been my invariable conviction, even if a costly one, most of the time, in my already forgotten projects planning and management, as well as the personally living and lived, challenges, along my already long lasting, and never boring, life.

I have lived through a lot! I have wandered from the top to the abysses of these changing circumstances that have constituted and given flavor to my life!

I have, as my favorite song says, sometimes chewed more than I could eat, even after spitting it out! I have had more than I would have desired, share of losing, as the years have passed and I have been part of the unending struggle of the world I have been immersed in.

But, even if I cried, at times, when hardships have hit my own people, I have always kept my faith in an ever loving father, who is my God, but more than God my faithfullest friend!

I know my time is almost at its end! I know my feet are not as fast and sure as they were before! My knees falter at times, but my spirit soars above the clouds of my imagination, my feelings and my dreams, as in Isaiah 40:31,

And this, along with the remembrances I have treasured along the way, is what I want to softly say to the younger ones, who are beginning to face life and walk through their own dreams hoping to turn them into pleasant realities.

I wanted to tell this little girl, and in her to the little child still hidden within me, that yes, it is a comforting and encouraging truth, that, “yet, those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary”.
May the Lord bless my children, my grandchildren, as well as all the older and the younger of this world, who as the little girl, loaded with the bigger size than hers, backpack of her first words learning task, while they loudly and determined repeat in louder voices, their w, x, y, and z, of the lessons of life.

I still do not know if I will use my blog or my Facebook pages to give myself out for all to see, wonder, criticize, laugh at, or find some hints on how to avoid unnecessary pains and failures, but, meanwhile, keep on saying as I will also say to myself, that we still need to learn our w, x, y, and z!

But I want, first of all, and before going on my way, to give thanks to all those friends, who, faithfully, send me what they find interesting in the waves of the internet, or the newspapers of their world, because they become the material source of my comments, and the progression of my thoughts and understanding of this life.

Part One: REFLECTIONS FOR THE YOUNG AND THE OLDER

2010-07-17T10:58:00.011-06:00

Today, one of my granddaughters reaches one of her early life milestones, the age of 10 innocent and happy years, lived in the comforting haven of a loving home.

All the girls in the family, from grandma to the three little ones, plus her closest friends, are celebrating this morning with an orphanage children, giving a little of the lot of love, care and protection our omnipotent, and omnipresent, God has lavished upon us all, throughout all our lives.

Yesterday afternoon, as a dutiful grandfather, I enjoyed up to the hilt of my emotions, her pre-day celebration in the company of 5 of her closest little young friends.

I videotaped them dancing, laughing, prancing around, joking, running all over the gardens of the place we live in, and all of this made me recall some thoughts, that I shared during a blissful time, spent in the company of another one of my granddaughters, less than two years ago.

These thoughts came into existence while sharing my understanding about life, while I was conversing with my third grandchild, Andrea, who had to write an essay on this subject, last year, almost at the completion of her senior High School.

It did also happen she just had arrived to her seventeen year of blissful living, and was dreaming with following her father, my oldest son, steps, in college.

She got an “A” grade, and was rightfully elated, and in the following months it was so delightful to see how without any spectacular outward symptom she became the wonderfully poised gal, who is now, outstandingly getting excellent grades in her “Industrial Engineering” college courses.

With an expanding love for her classmates and friends, who are fond of getting together at my sons home, to study and rejoice as the exuberant teenagers they are, I now want to extend these thoughts to all those, young or older, who, by chance, read them.

Because we want the best of all, the real best of all, not the masquerades and the illusions and faked contraptions of this accelerated world where you, the younger ones than us, live and will have to live.

As one of my dearest friends shared with me, just a few days ago, quote, “I am happy that you find enjoyment in study, writing, and applying the lessons of life to thoughts on paper.

It will be a wonderful legacy for you to leave to your children and grandchildren. We have to pass it on...be a mentor to the generations that succeed us.

We are blessed to know the joys that only older warriors know...those who have earned their ribbons and their rank, not on the parade field but in the trenches of life, unquote.

So, and getting to the point and from the core of my feelings that spread out as a spring from the pond of my experiences, enjoy the thoughts that I offer you now.

Reflections for the teenagers and young adults,

who are just starting life in these tumultuous days!

An elderly woman asked some youngsters

why they were so electrified by the deeds of people

who would never know they existed,

and why they were so anxious to get,

at any cost,

the newest trinkets and gadgets in the market.

This should made us, all, wonder that…

as strong as we could be or think we are we cannot evade,

or run away, from the storms in our lives!

The disappointments, the losses, or to say it simply,

our non reciprocated expectations,

are the things that, independently from our age,

state of mind, or social standing,

make us feel at times, as defenseless oldsters,

or little ones, in need of caring for, and protection.

And this is not always an easy thing to admit,

because of our need to have, and keep alive,

our own identity,

thus, assuring our authenticity and independency.

In these my olden days, I do want to share with you,

what my understanding Is, about these concepts,

and what I would desire for you,

to have a meaningful, and transcending Life,

despite all adverse circumstances.

To you all, who deal with an uncertain future,

I would like to remind you,

so these thoughts become our permanent companions

and parameters throughout your whole lives,

and what you, today, so happily enjoy

as your rightful, and venturesome, time in life,

turn into the firm and everlasting foundations and ambience,

where the concepts turn themselves

into, solidly based, realities in your lives.

The authentic!

The righteous and truthful!

The fundamental!

By their own nature are intimately, and indissolubly,

linked with the self assurance and reliance

in relation to you.

If you are sure about what you really are,

and what you want to be,

undoubtedly you are authentic!

But, if by any chance, a personal insecurity

is present in your life…

it is possible that you cannot overcome,

or even, maybe will try to cover up

through the easy way of posturing as you are not,

because you visualize yourself otherwise, very deep inside.

And in these circumstances is where

it is, so easy, to confuse

authenticity with eccentricity or superficiality.

The real problem is not to be emotive

or loving the good things of life,

such as clothing, music, socializing,

or admiring the fads or fashion figures of this world.

The problem is the “conscious or unconscious” imitation.

The problem is to subordinate yourself to the group´s pressures,

or to the fashions´ whims.

The problem is to, constantly desire to have

more than what you already have,

just because someone else has more than you.

Enjoy life!

But within your own and authentic identity parameters!

Your potential!

Your abilities!

Your perseverance!

And your enthusiasm,

without allowing yourself to be carried away

by the collective pressure

for posturing and behaving as the rest of the gang!

Be, always, as you are in within yourself!

At home!

Among your relatives, and those who love you,

as if you were their own,

because they will be, at any time,

and in every circumstance, your refuge and comfort

along the walking paths of life!

From your walking the paths of life beginnings,

until your sundown, sedately,

dips itself,

at the far limits of your horizons!

Part two: FATE! HOPES! AND FEARS!

2010-07-17T09:58:00.007-06:00

To complete these reflections, I want to extend my thoughts to the young and older alike, as we all are part of the living fabric that make this world to be what it is.

I do not want to avoid or close the eyes to the hard realities that afflict all societies, and individuals, today.

But, also, and to be faithful to the moral values I learnt since my early childhood, I need to state that they are not strong enough to crush your will or destroy your integrity.

To all I tell, believe me, that it is worthy trying to be real and standing tall before life´s contrivances, temptations and fateful pressures.

We must really understand that fate can be overcome, hopes are an indispensable ingredient of a plentiful life, and fears will sprout, sooner or later.

They will do so wherever and whenever, we hesitate, doubt or claudicate before the subtle or gross and forceful threats to our rightful understanding of life and our consequent behavior.

SO, LET´S UNDERSTAND WHAT FATE, HOPES AND FEARS

ARE ALL ABOUT!

The Fear of Life, the Fear of Man, and the Fear of Peers´ pressure!

Everything comes down to the basic question of
TO BE OR NOT TO BE,
and then, facing the consequences.

Consciously determining who you are and who you want to be!

Deciding, foremost, who you want to be when there are no witnesses around!

Accepting as a fact that God has a plan and its timing for your life!

Usually, people fear death, whether in its natural form,
or in that of loneliness, and rejection by peers, acquaintances or friends!

And, because of it, allow the “fear to live” to enter in their lives,
avoiding taking risks and standing firm
in their rightful beliefs and convictions.

Giving up to the pressure and the manipulation
of the natural impulse to become accepted
by the peers and companions in their walking through life.

One thing should be learnt along the way.
Not to have fear of the world,
nor of death or life!

Nor of compulsory compliance with any “group demanding”
exigency or behavior.

And as we walk along the way, we cannot but be,
at the same time,
Vertical and uncompromising in our belief,
tolerantly understanding the reality of ours and other people´s weaknesses
without appeasing the unrighteousness,
just because it is simply convenient!

Part three: IN PEACE !

2010-07-17T08:44:00.012-06:00

If we keep ourselves faithful, resilient, and persistent, it will come a day when we will, exultantly, and accurately, be able to proclaim, for all to hear, that we are in peace!

Since my High School years I have always liked poetry. I even wrote and won some minor prizes under a pseudonym while I was a military cadet.

One of the poems that I liked most, even if, at that time, the least I could think was that it would apply some day to my life, was, and still is, with real cause today, the poem written by the Mexican poet and diplomat Amado Nervo, IN PEACE.

I have come to learn that living life to its fullest extent is not to climb and desperately stick ourselves to the top of the mountains, at any cost, despite the snow, freezing winds and emptiness that usually come as a collateral to the worldly prize of recognition and success.

Worst of all is to synthesize success as just the mere acquisition of social standing and financial abundance or excess, at the expense of inner peace, and the blissful solitude and enjoyment of the memories that tell you, once and then again, that you overcame with honors the uproar of the compromising storms that attacked your integrity and self-esteem.

Being in peace, while we live through our golden years is not the end of the road. It is, instead, the fundamental phase in life where the meaning and transcendence reside in the passing out the baton of the accumulated experiences.

By doing so, the new generations, at least, will not conveniently say that they did not know where the fateful detours and mistakes were waiting to deviate them from the straightforward path that would lead them to the higher levels of fulfillment in what it really matters in this life.

I truly hope, that someday, every one of you, those who, even if for a fleeting moment pay attention to these words, will be able to say, as I say today: Life, you owe me nothing! Life, we are both in peace!

BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT IT REALLY LIFE IS WORTHY TO BE LIVED.

TO FINALLY BE ABLE TO SAY WE ARE FINALLY IN PEACE!

AND INDIVIDUALLY SAY…

I bless you life as I get ready to leave you,

because you never gave me failed hopes,

unjust labors or unmerited sorrows.

Because at the end of my rough life´s walking,

I see I was the architect of my own fate and destiny.

And if I extracted honey or bile from occurrences,

it was because I had, firstly, placed in them bile or tasty honey:

when I planted rosebushes I always harvested roses.

Certainly my springs will be replaced by winter:

but you never told me May would last forever!

No doubt that I felt unending the nights of my sorrows;

but you never promised I would only have good ones;

and in exchange I had some of them saintly unruffled.

I loved. I was loved. The sun caressed my face.
Life, you owe me nothing!
Life, we are both in peace!

RELAX! GOD IS IN CONTROL!

50th. ANNIVERSARY´S LIFE´S REMEMBRANCES

2010-07-04T05:29:00.005-06:00

Some months ago my oldest son in an email told me that wisdom is to know, and agree with the phase of life we are in, and living it, accordingly.

It was his core comment on how biological rhythms and behavioral priorities change in what is circumstantial, but when integrity, at all costs, is sought and preserved, convictions and fundamental beliefs mature, stronger than ever before, even if becoming mellower and seasoned, as very special crops wines.

This is only possible when we are consequent and consistent in the way we understand and face life, and live it to its fullest extent, without compromising the fundamental values that made us what we were and continue to be.

This is the only existing way, in these tumultuous, seedy, corrupting and manipulating times, that allows us to rightly define what our hopes and our fate should be.

This is the only way to have inner peace despite any outside and conveniently luring, lurid or corrupting pressures, or the oppression that prey on our natural fears and desire to feel accepted by the collectivities that surround us.

We should never fear those who can materially oppress, and kill for all purposes, and by all means, our body life.

On the contrary, we should never, consequently, allow these predators to corrupt the essence of our spirit´s life, and our behavioral accomplishment accumulated through the years, rain or shine, storm or lightning.

Today, this 4th. of July 2010, is a special day to be grateful for and rejoice! 50 years of having reached adulthood, by way of getting the professional tools to make the fundamental decisions to live independently, and be ready to marry and start a family, and build a future.

Circumstances, 50 years ago may have been different. They inevitably have varied. As life went on circumstances may have been negative, and way of living changing.

But who we were, who we are, and who we will be until placed to rest in our graves, will remain as the fruit of our willingness to face life, so we can leave, a valuable for its consistency, legacy to our families, friends and foes, and life journeys partners and companions.

In my personal life there has always been a favorite song marking the essence of the successive life periods. When younger, “The Impossible Dream”! then as the years passed they took turns, back and forth, from sentimental to pop, to soul and country!

But always present, there has been one that has marked the way I was, and I intend to be until my last day on this planet. MY WAY! NOT A WHIMSICAL OR EGOTISTICAL WAY, BUT THE FOUNDATION FOR AN EVER GROWING SPIRITUAL, AND MATURER, WAY OF LIVING!

Listen to it, enjoy it, and think about its message about standing tall, while you see the phases of my live displayed in my following video.

The “Fresh Air Fund Friendly Town trips for the summer” have already come!

2010-07-03T09:33:00.010-06:00

A few days ago I received from my dear friend Sarah from the Fresh Air Fund organization, the great news that just this just past June 30th they started the first departure of the Fresh Air Fund Friendly Town trips for the summer.
She excitedly shared that they are all thrilled that this day is here and that all of the families are so excited that the children are coming into their homes and towns as this is the first day visiting for summer 2010.
This made me realize that what God desires from each one of us is that we all, as those who have been chosen of Him, holy and beloved,

Put on a heart of compassion (love)

And kindness (generosity),

Humility (not feeling superior nor rejecting those in scarcer circumstances),

Gentleness (treating them as if they were our own flesh and blood) and patience (accepting the disruption of our complacency, set ways, and egotistical comfort) Colossians 3:12
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:17

If you want to join the joy and the excitement, just check, for information the link…. http://freshairfundhost.com

It´s that time of the year, again!

2010-05-14T10:01:00.030-06:00

Time to sow so we later abundantly reap, and fill our remaining life with happy memories of good things well done and done on due time for the needed!

We tend to lose sight of the most simple, pure and significant facts of our daily lives, immersed as we usually are in the maelstrom of the news incitation´s to change our convictions and beliefs. It is undeniable. it´s strong and pervasive influence, as they so relentlessly root for the most debased social excesses of today, virtualized and rationalized to the most ridiculous extremes.

It is a mesmerizing experience, as we become more and more addicted to our gluing to the screens when all scandals, hidden agendas, and whatever is intended to be carried on, are so grandiloquently presented by so many sprouting, well paid and unremorsefully self appointed gurus of the media.

As time has gone by we, as a couple have been privileged to be able to sow and then to abundantly reap, filling our lives with fond and happy memories. As I have always be fond of taking pictures, since my early childhood and my first camera a small squared Brownie Kodak, I have grown accustomed to attach remembrances and memories to the photos I take, so, to the amusement of my closer ones, I can quietly sit and smile, and remember the past at the oddest times of my days.

My dear friends from the Fresh Air Fund ministry tell me that only 2 weeks remain available to host children in their homes in order to give them a precious happy time in this fleeting moment of the year. It is time to sow, believe me. It is worth the try and the reaping magnificent when our autumn years whiten our hair and our hearts.

I leave with you the words of the song, which are the background of the video-memories I want to share, today. Because it is that time of the year, again! The time to plant good deeds in the path of our lives, so we cultivate the most effective vaccine for the prevention of the Alzheimer of the golden years.

TRY TO REMEMBER

Everybody talks about the good old days.

The good old days!
Well, let's talk about the good old days.

Come to think about it…
As bad as we think they are,
These present days will become
the good old days of our children.

Why don't we try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow.

Try to remember! And if you remember
Then follow… why does it always seem the past is better?

We look back and think the winters were warmer,
The grass was greener, The skies were bluer,
The smiles were brighter.

Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time rewritten every line?

And if we had the chance to do it all again… Tell me…
Would we? Could we?

Memories like the corners of my mind.
Memories! Misty watercolor memories of the way we were.

Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind!
Smiles we gave to one another for the way we were.

Oh can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time rewritten every line?
And if we had the chance to do it all again…
Tell me… Would we? Could we?

Memories may be beautiful and yet…
What's too painful to remember we simply choose to forget!

So it's the laughter we'll remember we’ll remember,
Whenever we remember the way we were!

Check the links to the ministry in the web.

http://freshairfundhost.com/

If there is no time left to be a host, donating your time by opening your home to all these children, then open your pockets and donate funds

so they can cover the costs that this wonderful work of love require to be made into a fact of happiness for the needed when they need it most!

Do it, my friends! There is no worthier cause as it is the foundation of what will remain with us when the time to rest and enjoy the peacefulness of the older age comes knocking at our doors.

You will see it by yourselves as I see it today while walking around our peaceful residential place.

Blessed be the Lord for the children

who play outside, on the street, secure of being loved and cared for!

Blessed be the Lord for the brisk and cooler mornings,

Blessed be the Lord for the doggy friend

that watches us passing by, wondering if we would also take him in,

bought, or free given, he could cared less what way,

while we pull the chain of the puppy that jumps and frolics,
joyfully biting the legs of our pants!

Blessed be the Lord for the purity

of the aroma and the beauty of the flowers

that prompt us to recall the good and happy memories of our yesterdays!

A THREE PARTS REFLECTION ON LIFE! Part one: What the World is going through, nowadays!

2010-04-09T09:15:00.006-06:00

The statement, because of its repetitiveness, it sounds almost like a scratched or broken record, going over, and over, the same site description! Manipulation! Confusion! Suffering! Despair!

Friends keep on telling what, apparently, is usually overlooked today, as we go along, trying to keep up with the frantic pace, that is being imposed on us all. That “The Common Sense” has died!

We cannot but, otherwise, agree on the fact
that many people cry today,
because that long standing friend
has gone away!

No one knows how old he was,
because his birthday certificate
has been long lost
in the world´ bureaucracies drawers!

He will be remembered for having taught
such valuable lessons,
as that of having to,
diligently, work to build a home
out of just a house.

As well as learning why the birds
sing so early in the mornings,
and that life is not always fair,
and that, most probably,
we are responsible for it!

“Common Sense” lived
under simple and efficient rules
such as not spending more than what we earn;
or not paying more than what we buy is really worth;

As well as following parental
trustworthy strategies such as…
the adults, not the children,
being the ones in charge!

His health rapidly deteriorated
when society applied,
well intentioned but unreliable rules,
of, collective protection, enforcement.

Instead of promoting healthier,
family and individual values and behavior,
taking away parental rights
under the pretense of children rights protection,
but also their responsibilities!

Allowing some media to,
irresponsibly, meddle, everywhere,
with the inevitable outcome of not solving the problems,
but compounding them,
because the unwise publicity
fosters the scandal,
and the families’ disintegration!

Common sense lost ground
when the parents cave in,
and left the schools in charge
of disciplining their children.

And even more when the schools
also cave in, to social activists forcing God out,
but decided they had the right
to provide contraceptives,
and even abortions
without notifying the parents.

“Common Sense” lost his desire to live,
when the Ten Commandments
became a laughingstock material,
some churches, and preachers
became big businesses, and bigger businessmen;
and criminals started to receive
better treatment than their victims.

The “common sense´s death”
was preceded by that of his parents,
Truth and Trust,
and that of his wife,
Discretion,
his daughter,
Responsibility,
and his son,
Discernment!

Left behind are his three stepbrothers:
“I know my rights”!
“it´s somebody else responsibility”!
and
“I am a victim of society!

Very few went to his funeral,
because everybody was too busy
minding their own business!

And the end result has been living
in a more chaotic world,
plentiful in technological progress,

but void of peace, trust, truth,
responsibility and discernment!
because they have been killed
by the greed, lack of love and solidarity!

Four generations, today,
populate this earth!

One that believed, and took for granted,
and swallowed, what they heard in the radio,
and read, in the books and the newspapers!

The one we told them Superman only flew in the movies
and batman fantasies were good but unreal!

Then the younger, who, I am told,
do not believe what the news try to make them believe,
preferring to live in their own, made believe, virtual world,
their pleasures, and, at any cost… fun!

Affecting the fourth generation of all the children
with callously inflicted abuse,
infant weddings, pedophilia,
unfathomable poverty
and earliest deaths!

The fundamental question and challenge,
has always been, and will always be…
unbelief? Unending violence and chaos?

But I hope that the pendulum of life
will swing to the other end, again!
And some better common sense days
will come to pass again!

The world has not yet come to an end!
The future is of the younger!
And of The Lord, who rescued us all at the cross!

SECOND PART. The sublimest Love Story of them all!

2010-04-09T08:53:00.004-06:00

Love above and through suffering, ending on redemption, and mutual need between Creatures and Creator!

Among the many things we overlook or take for granted, is God´s care and loving relationship with the whole of His Creation, not only those for humankind.

Nature follows the rules under they were create, live, flourish and renew itself in an unending harmonious and mesmerizing cycle.

What it could look as a disaster in the eyes of men, it is only the sequence of causes and effects that reign and dictates the living pulse of the Universe.

It is men, lost in, their at times senseless, bragging as the superior entity in the universe, who try, and keep on trying, how to define, manipulate and control, what it is unknown or unexplainable to them.

Scientifically they say, but really and always empirically, as they depend on the error and trial efforts to understand and explain themselves before the expectant audiences.

They try to do it in the material realm, and they are lately bragging about what, childishly, is being labeled as the particle of God, in an effort already lasting many years,

They are, these days, bragging about, inventing a name to define the infinitesimal lapse of the occurrence, while infinite superior clashes, in strength and number, happen every second, as a daily occurrence in the living cycle of what God created.

But more than that, they abuse the freedom to believe, to choose and to decide by challenging all the spiritual parameters, in their frantic effort to rationalize and justify all types of spiritual and sexual deviations.

What men end up doing is setting up contradictory and superimposing moral decrees, taking the stance of judges in relation to what they consider a deviation while justifying others, as wicked and perverse as the ones they attack and holler about.

In doing so, and in the most hypocritical fashion, clothing are torn to pieces, fake indignation gestures and exalted and exaggerating wording are spread over the communication waves of the media.

There is no measure of straightforwardness anymore, as the objectives is to lead the masses into hysterical responses the masses as they well understand the ongoing tendency of being so prone to scandal aggrandizing for the scandal sake.

What is sought for, not because of a concerted, and healthy, effort to straighten up, what has become twisted, perverse and evil, is the promotion of the scandals.

This has become the rule of the game, as an easy, but irresponsible way to climb the ladders of the immaterial ratings of today.

The results are visible everywhere! Copycat violence! Imitated perversity! Apparent righteous and irascible posturing, invalidated by the slightest digging into the inner personalities and behavior, of those who point their accusing fingers on the ones found astray!

Probably and because God loves His Creation and His creatures, is why mankind needed redemption, obtained by the most outrageous suffering of the most innocent of all, God Himself.

And He did what no man even dared to dream to do. To die, being innocent, in the stead of the guiltiest, the wiliest and perverse.

Because we all have been so, one way or another! But as I said at the beginning of this posting, Love is a two people’s dance! It is a dancing together!

It is a needed share of the inner beauty of the spirits! The Spirit of God Himself, and the spirit of the many times, unremorseful man!

What a joy it is to find Him in this way while we wander lost in the rough tracks of life! What a miracle to be grateful for, being redeemed despite our sins and stubbornness of our spirits.

What a blessing to be needed by Him, to complete His everlasting love for His precious prodigal creatures! And what a wonderful fact that we cannot escape needing Him to become, full, wholesome, and sane, for the time being, while on earth, and then, forever!

You needed me! I needed You!

I cried a tear, You wiped it dry!
I was confused, You cleared my mind!
I sold my soul; you bought it back for me,
and held me up, and gave me dignity!

Somehow, You needed me!

You gave me strength to stand alone again,
to face the world, out on my own again.

You put me high upon a pedestal.
So high that I could almost see eternity.

You needed me. You needed me.

And I can't believe it's you.
I can't believe it's true.
I needed you and you were there.

And I'll never leave, why should I leave?
I´d be a fool!
´Cause I´ve finally found someone who really cares!

You held my hand when it was cold.
When I was lost you took me home.

You gave me hope when I was at the end,
and turned my lies back into truth again!

You even called me friend!

Third Part. IT´S SPRING AGAIN, IN OUR LIVES!

2010-04-09T08:28:00.005-06:00

Easter has come and gone!
Many filled the streets

in remembrance
of the suffering, death

and resurrection of our Lord!

Others went to the beaches,
in a pagan celebration

of a long weekend!

Some went back to their birth places

and their roots,
and then went back to the cities,
where they constitute

the bulk of the masses.

Blessed those who saw Him

come one day into their lives,
and rejoice in that He has stayed

and never left,
walking alongside them
through the dark paths of life.

Because they have regained hope
and keep on working

to control the human greed
so love and solidarity bloom
and lighten up
all our and our brothers

and sisters’ lives!

BECAUSE OF HIM IT´S SPRING AGAIN, IN OUR LIVES!

It’s almost spring, again!!
Life, surely, has its dark periods.

But there is always a brighter morning
after the most difficult periods in our life.

Sometimes we feel a great deal inside
but have so little to say….

The past exists no more,
the future cannot be predicted,
today is a God given gift!
This we can´t deny!

No one can make the wind change its course,
but we can always change the sails.

Only through Him we are able to understand

That the most precious, are the things,
that do not have a price to it!

And blessings are like a bouquet of flowers, given us through life.

Happiness is small and temporary, but enough to keep on striving for it!

Life is a garden filled with flowers
of contentment,
opportunity and blessings!

And we should not forget to appreciate it!

Love is a precious gift!

The grace given by God,
to be loved, is priceless!

Let´s not forget that each blessed day
is like an eternity of happiness!

And that when the heart fails in belief and hope,
then love is the only way to keep on living!
Because the most beautiful things in your life
must be felt in our hearts.

Let´s store nice memories in our thoughts.
Contemplating them in our sleepless nights,
So we will experience unknown new strengths!

If the only place where I could see you, Lord
were in my dreams, I would sleep forever,
until I reach the blessed eternity!

You, the blessed, have a wonderful and blessed day!

I was watching TV while recording this video, as I usually do with the sound off. A movie about a confused girl and an old man conversation about an almost discarded love was unfolding.

A piece of the conversation rendered my spirit. When departing he told her: I wish you a life story with a happy ending, and the wisdom to look for it!

I changed the channel, and another movie conversation between two young men, was going on with a question arising: where does it lie the line between “for real” and “delusional”?

I asked myself that question in terms of ife changing decisions leading to happy endings with the enrichment of wisdom and discernment, so we grasp what is “for real” and not “delusional” and deceptive.

And my spirit quietly whispered, telling me to share it: “The line lies, precisely, at the point where you surrender yourself, give your ego up, and start to believe, to trust, to submit to he Higher One, the only Real One, not the substitutes we are so fond of, and addicted to.

Have a blessed day, you all,
and may the blessings of God outpurs itself upon you,
as a shower of Grace, a river of Healing,
a pond of Peace and the wholeness of the Holy Spirit!

WHAT THIS WORLD, OF CRAZIED HUMAN BEINGS, SO DESPERATELY NEEDS IS “DISCERNMENT AND RESOLVE”, BUT GOD´S, NOT HUMAN´S STYLE ONES!

2010-03-25T10:24:00.035-06:00

As you all, the benevolent readers of these digressions already well know, I am an avid reader and watcher, of electronic messages and newspapers and television news, through the truly amazing, internet waves and devices.

When young, it was my daily duty to read newspapers, and analyze articles, to prepare a daily summary of collective tendencies, that could threaten the status quo, and the government I served.

I never believed in indiscriminate violence, as it only begets more violence, and if not controlled and wiped out, by way of cleverer psychological maneuvering, chaos is the only result, and the consequent way of living, for our desperately confused societies. This was my reasoning at that time.

But time does not go by inadvertently. Time does not go by without leaving behind a lesson. Better said, myriads of lessons that we stubbornly refuse to pay attention to and draw the logical consequences.

Men, usually, only perceive the external signs in our human behavior. Even when we try to open ourselves to scrutiny and guidance! They only see the grey, white and black hair mixed and messed up by circumstances.

They only see our deep eyebrows, our no longer fresh face and our sagging bellies, and so try to, honestly, but only humanly, even if spiritually motivated, discern and advice what they, again, honestly believe is what is most needed by us at the time.

There is an almost universally misunderstood or apprehended concept in the Bible. That of “eternity placed in the hearts of men”.

Sometimes this is visualized as a longing for paradisiacal blessings and enjoyment. Other times as the rightful claim for them, to be enjoyed while we are on this earth in a very prodigal son fashion!

This happens so because we usually confuse the trimmings, and the overflowing, with the purity of the essence of inner peace, and discernment.

God talks, shares, soothes, guides, caress, wakens us up, call to our door, through dreams, melancholic longings and awareness, as those that come to us, while wandering in the solitude of the spiritual deserts.

He usually does not speak while we are immersed, anonymously shouting and jumping, amongst the excitement, and the behavioral pull and push, of the crowds and the masses.

He doesn´t, either, while we are subjugated by the guilt hollering prophets and psychological gurus, of all types and kinds, so highly popular in these days of chaos and confusion.

Last Monday, I had one of those experiential longings and I went out to seek understanding, advice and guidance, because of one of these melancholy bouts.

Because these days I do not drive anymore, I used public transportation, which passes just at the entrance gate of our residential compound. And it was quite an experience.

Our usual busy surroundings this morning was a chaos. Buses were being used to block the road to the city by their drivers forced by the owners of the businesses to violently claim for more financial incentives and subsidies from the government.

And old lady, waiting at the bus stop, highly distressed, asked me to make change so she could call her daughter to come and pick her up to take her safely home.

Two drivers were ostensibly aggressive, sitting on the sidewalk, watching a policeman trying to ease the traffic and letting us, the walkers, crossed, again, safely, to the other side of the street, to be able to take the circulating busses.

And people patiently, as used as they are to the abuse and lousy behavior of the bus drivers, piled on in the center of the bus, filled to the hilt, as we all were sardines in a can, or matches in a box, while slowly going up hill towards the city.

Surprisingly, it only took half an hour to reach the city. I was more than an hour early for my appointment. So, I leisure walked around, killing time and gathering my thoughts and feelings.

It was a very cool morning.

The cars and buses were just that, buzzing through the streets

as if they were streaks of lightning.

And then, just two blocks away, I found a quiet place on a corner, beautified as a garden access to a crossing over footbridge.

It was then that I felt the presence of God.

And old man was sitting, reading a book under a cluster of flowers, his stockinged feet, free from his well worn shoes.

I could not resist taking a picture, as I felt something was knocking at the door of my conscience. I FELT IT AS A GLIMPSE OF HUMAN DISCERNMENT AND RESOLVE, SEEING THEMSELVES DISCARDED BY THE RUNNING AWAY, AND THE CHASING RAINBOWS, PEOPLES.

Then, I kept on walking on a circle around the blocks to get back to the place I was to visit.

I passed by the installations of one of the largest radio corporations of the city. The street was quiet, cars parked in an unending row, security guards silently watching us passing through. Another example of busyness of the unresting world!

A block away two girls were giggledly asking, another old guy behind bars, to sell them lollipops. One more block, and I passed by the closed doors of a pastor I used to deal with, many years ago, when placing his sermons in the airways of the Christian TV station I used to manage. And no cars passing by, noising the quietness of the surroundings.

Then, after almost two hours of chatting and sharing, I went back home, still looking for a glimpse of orientation and guidance, and assurance that the melancholic longing had a purpose of its own, and a confirmation message would come to my spirit.

And it surely came! I bought a bag of a fresh fruit I love, to enjoy it with my wife and son, back home. I took another bus for the trip back and, surprisingly, I found a seat beside a young woman and her “months old” child.

The little girl kept on smiling at me, taking hold of one of my fingers and playing with it, with such a peaceful and smiling face as she felt cozy, safe and secure. And this lasted the whole one hour drive until they got out almost at the same time as I had to, just a few bus stops before my destination.

And then, after I got home, having lunch, hugging my wife and listening a little while to the instrumental music, she so loves to listen, I went upstairs to check my emails, and I found this message waiting, sent by son of one of my former fellow officers in the army.

THAT´S GOD!

Is all this coincidence or a message from our loving God?
I leave it to you to decide it.

For me, it is the message I titled, this morning,

after waking up with such a peace in my spirit,

as:

WHAT THIS WORLD, OF CRAZIED HUMAN BEINGS,

SO DESPERATELY NEED IS “DISCERNMENT AND RESOLVE”,

BUT GOD´S, NOT HUMAN´S STYLE ONES!

And the assurance that He loves us and blesses us

in the midst of little pleasant things and gestures,

the laughter of the children,

and the messages from the people

who love us, and keep us in their hearts.

And the exhortation to become like children,

and sing His praises in gratitude and wonderment.

Because He has already paid the price for our salvation,

forgiveness, reconciliation, and inner peace

despite any adverse circumstances!

THE CUP OF LIFE… THE CYCLE OF LIFE!

2010-03-17T21:48:00.003-06:00

Life is a time running cycle!
Birthing! Growing! Blooming! Dying!
Re-birthing! Growing! Blooming! Dying again!

So is the Cup of Life!

Life is a cup filled with happiness, but is never given full!
We are given just a sip, from time to time,
having to fill the cup drop by drop, everyday,
to keep on living!

Let´s not spend our time wailing because of our misfortunes,
predicting imaginary tragedies,
or scared by maladies that probably will never hurt us… !

We are born to fight for happiness! To create it! To build it!
despite the sorrows and disenchantments,
the mistakes, trickeries and the irremediably unforeseeable!

Happiness is not found in possessions and pleasures…
We act correctly and she, alone, by itself, comes into the picture!

Happiness is… Not longing for what we are missing…
But balancing… everything we have with what we haven´t!

Let´s not sell our happiness! Let´s, freely… give it!

We should never look for cheap or simple recipes
to reach what we believe is happiness!

HAPPINESS INGREDIENTS…
SHARING! UNCONDITIONAL LOVING!
GRATEFULNESS! NON SCARRED FORGIVING!
ACCEPTANCE WITHOUT CONDITIONS!
AND NOT GIVING UP, EVER!

Everything has to be harmonious!
From the beehives… a little honey!
From the seas… a speck of saltiness!
From life… a touch of optimism!
From imagination… sweet dreaming!
From pain… the roots strongest!
And from Faith… the rocks solidest!

We are not happy because we don´t know
how to fill our cup of happiness!
Because we do not give to life all that we can give her!
And naively wait for life to give us, without having
to pay the price for it!

Let´s not forget that the best way to be happy
is to see for others to be happy; serving them!
Let´s give a lot from us and happiness will come on its own.
Let´s fill our cup, and delight ourselves being so…
HAPPY!

INTELLIGENCE VERSUS MANIPULATION, THE CHALLENGE OF TODAY!

2010-03-17T15:42:00.008-06:00

Some days ago I was discussing with a friend, who was preparing a summary for one of her college presentation essays, the influence on educational processes, of the theories on multiple intelligences presented by Howard Gardner theories in his book “Frames of Mind”.

I have to recognize that I had not been in contact with his work until now, nor I have been familiar with the modern educational theories, as a product of past, but in my own experience, solid approaches, based on the scarcer sources of innovative motivators and influencers of our sensations and emotions.

After reading the booklet she was using, in Spanish, for his work, I realized the appropriateness of the concepts and definitions of such multiple intelligences or abilities, as described by Gardner, when applied to the analysis of the manipulation of the behavioral attitudes, actions of the present generations.

It became clearer the astute and clever usage of the perceptional abilities that all humans possess, as stated by Gardner when he says: People have a unique blend of intelligences. The big challenge facing the deployment of human resources 'is how to best take advantage of the uniqueness conferred on us as a species exhibiting several intelligences' (ibid.: 45).

While he relates the “Linguistic” and the “Logical-Mathematical” intelligences, to the educational spectrum, leaving the rest to the arts and finally to the personal realm… it seems to me that every one of them, gyrate around the individual and collective!

It has become overwhelmingly present and absorbing the already blatant and pervasive task of proselytism, and the push for change to adapt to, and accept new mores and beliefs, reducing to the minimal expression the capacity for analysis, questioning and discrimination by the individual, and consequently, by the collective structures of societies and nations, especially in the political and the financial.

Let´s analyze the definitions focusing on this approach of visualization and involvement of them all in a coordinated effort to break the individual perception of the real nature of things presented for consideration.

According to Gardner, Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize (the listener) and compose (the emitter) musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. It runs in an almost structural parallel to the linguistic intelligence.

Nowadays it almost replaces the written language by way of emphasizing the spoken repetitive, high pitched staccato verbal message, at the same time that encompass, surround and permeates the bodily-kinesthetic and spatial, abilities or receptive intelligences of the audiences and receptors of its messages.

In other words, it transmits, influences and dominates its audience through the Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence that entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems, because of its capacity to use our mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements.

And due to the present technological proliferation of techniques, instruments, process and special effects makes the most mesmerizing manipulation of our Spatial intelligence that involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas.

It is in such a way that our sensations and emotions are saturated, motivated, led, and for all practical purposes manipulated into subconscious, subliminal, and automatic control, by way of deception and absorption of the message addressed to the individual and the social collectivity that are the focus and the target of the messages.

This is the moment when the powerful impulse to become a member at all costs of the generational social conglomerate, influenced by the intervention in our minds, and emotions, in a concerted effort to dominate our spirits, is almost coerced into passivity, if not massive, indiscriminate, or lost into and carried away by the force of the masses, action and participation.

This is the field of influence of what Gardner defines as the Interpersonal intelligence which is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people.

And because of the push for acceptance of the peer pressure as the only acceptable way of living to be considered a club member, clashes with the self-controlling and self-discriminating capacity that human beings should always keep intact at all costs.

This is what Gardner defines as the Intrapersonal intelligence or capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner's view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.

The effort to reinforce the existence and positive action gives place to a “Questioning phase” where what is defined as the Logical-mathematical intelligence, or the capacity to analyze problems logically, investigate issues to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically.

This type of intelligence or ability tries to join efforts with the Intrapersonal intelligence that entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner's view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.

Unfortunately this questioning sees itself challenged by the complacency of the different inputs identified as derived from the limbic system identified by this author as the intelligences related to the frames of minds, or mind perceptions as the central motivating and justifying factor.

Those derivations receive the name of “Affective”, “Motivational! And “Emotional” intelligences, which are not evil per se, but open themselves to complacency, undue and unrightfully acceptance of what internally raises an alarm ring in our conscience.

This clash is ending with an increasingly usual result of failure and consequently isolation and rejection of the dissenters and questioners, by the already subjugated individual and its influencing social partners.

We all should always have in mind, and pay the corresponding consideration to the statement by Gardner that “these intelligences, are amoral - they can be put to constructive or destructive use”.

The challenge is then, to turn the coin over, and instead of accepting that success, leadership, consist, as is the rule nowadays, in the manipulation of the individual and collective sensations and emotions, which is the negative and destructive use of the intelligences endowed to men by our Creator.
There are other abilities that have been defined as such in order to justify the human acceptance of the free-fall behavior of mankind, in order to deny the, in their eyes, unjustified and unnatural acceptance of the superior ruling and control of who I call the Creator.

Almost all of them concur in the denying or degrading as an unnatural submission of man, whom they consider the master and controller of all Nature, despite any abuse, neglect or lack of concern for its care, permanence and protection.

They have been labeled as the Naturalist intelligence which enables human beings to recognize, categorize and draw upon certain features of the environment, 'combining a description of the core ability with a characterization of the role that many cultures value' (ibid.: 48).

Or the “Existential intelligence”, opposing them to the “Moral” and “Spiritual” intelligences, discarding them as “far more complex, with manifest and problematic connotations”, and preferring to replace them with the euphemistically called, human concern with the ultimate issues!

LIFE AND ROSES!

2010-03-09T16:17:00.014-06:00

As I have stated from time to time, I have become part of a movement of caring people who are really and deeply concerned about raising up their voices to state what they believe in relation to the ongoing accelerated progression of collective moral values in our societies.

My little seed has been to turn these thoughts into the English version in order to comply with the desires of distribution expressed by their original authors. Felipe de Urca is one of them, and I feel privileged in doing so, after I got to know about him through some of my dearest friends.

I was pleasantly surprised in finding out he has been planting his little seeds and spreading them on the winds for already a thousand times. And with an additional blog, too! I am translating here two of his last ones, making mine his words.

There is a need to be persistent in our efforts, even if rational minds tell us we could be wasting our time. I hope that by translating the messages we get to reach more sea stars in the maelstrom of the present times, taking them back to safer places to become witnesses of the real possibility of a better future for mankind. Enjoy them!

MY LITTLE SEEDS! One thousand ones! March 1st. 2010.

One day, walking on the beach I saw an old man, picking up something from time to time, and throwing it into the sea. He was doing this time and time again! As soon as I got nearer I realized he was picking up sea stars, thrown upon the shores by the tides, to throw them back into the waves!

Intrigued, I asked him why he was doing that, and he answered me: I am throwing them back to the ocean. As you see the tide is low and they have been left behind, and if they do not go back to the water they will die for lack of oxygen!

I understand, I told him. But there must be thousands of sea stars on the beach. You can´t throw them all back! There are too many! And you don´t realize this probably is happening over hundred of beaches along the shores.
Aren´t you doing something meaningless?

The old man smiled, he bent down and picked another sea star, and while he throw it back, he answered me… For this one it had it!

Every message I send in my “LITTLE SEEDS” is a little sea star I throw back into the ocean! I know that, in this complicated and accelerated world, a single gesture of tenderness and solidarity maybe is not enough! I can´t do anything to solve the maladies and sorrows of the whole world, but I can do a lot generously trying to help
within the small circle where I have been placed to live in.

If just once and if through these messages I make you stop and meditate, be emotionally moved, convicted,
laugh or even cry… then, you are one of those sea stars, gone back to tell the others that kindness does indeed exist, and is worthy to be kind, and that there are, still, peoples who believe in the good inside
of the other peoples!

I desire the best for you, with all my heart, and may God allow my “LITTLE SEEDS” to keep on bringing Light, Hope and Love to those who receive them and resend them. Thanks, my Lord, for the 1000 daily bulletins already published and the more than a million visits to the internet blog! FELIPE DE URCA. March 1st. 2010.

THE GREEN STAR OF HOPE!

THERE WAS A TIME IN HEAVENS

WHEN THERE WERE MIRIADS OF ALL COLORS...

SILVERY, GREEN, GOLDEN, RED, BLUE.

One day they asked God to live on earth among the peoples.

He agreed but told them He would keep them as small

as they were seen from down earth.

That night there was a beautiful rain of stars falling down.

Some lightened up the churches towers.

Some ran around and played with butterflies and fireflies.

Some mixed with the children toys…

And the earth was wonderfully illuminated!

But the time came when they decided to go back home to heavens.

And the Lord told them He understood why.

Their place was in heavens.

Where everything is perfect, immutable, eternal, imperishable!

While earth is the place of the transient, the fleeting, the falling,

the mistaken, the dying!

In other words, the imperfect and the trying!

After counting them all, God found one was missing.

An angel told him… No, Lord, one star decided to stay back and live among the peoples!

She discovered her place was where imperfections are omnipresent,

all around are limits, things go usually wrong,

and all is hard, tough and trying!

What star is that? The Lord asked, again.

The star of hope! The green star!

The only one with that color!

And when they looked down, again, they saw the star was not alone.

The earth was illuminated again

because there was a little star in everyone´s heart!

Because the only thing that man has and God does not need, is hope!

God already knows the future

and hope is for the one who does not know it!

Receive that little star, hope, in your heart! YOUR STAR!

DO NOT LET HER LEAVE! DO NOT ALLOW HER

TO EXTINGUISH HERSELF AND DIE!

Be assured she will always light up your path!

Be positive always and be grateful to God for it

and the star He has given you!

God is good. He gives us the desires of our hearts. For many years, while being involved in a very satisfactory life filled with planning, and setting into operation, projects of the most diverse nature, I always longed to have time to relax, rest, and being a witness to so many past experiences of many as well as mine.

He has allowed me to spend my days in a very safe and cozy neighborhood where garden roses and beautiful scenery abound. I have been specially blessed to be able to witness, in a daily basis, the birthing, growing, maturing, seeing their petals gracefully split away and nurture the ground from where new roses will sprout in due time.

One of the greatest pleasure I have had is to be able to walk around taking pictures of the rivulets of beauty that are there, for us to enjoy, if we take the time and we open our minds to it. They are part of my life, today, and of the message on “Life and Roses” that I dedicate to all those workaholics of today, as I was for years, thankfully, already past, over, and gone, but leaving me time still to enjoy the rest of my living cycle.

These flowers and other pictures now adorn the screen of my laptop, for my enjoyment, relaxation and leisure. They have become part of my life. I hope they do the same for you, at least the few ones I included in my following video. They teach us a lot, in a quiet way, spreading out their beauty in a silent but immensely powerful way.

They have taught me a life lesson that eluded my mind and my spirit for such a long a time. Birthing, living and dying are just the chain links of an unending circle both for Nature and mankind. In this, Nature is way ahead than men, despite our self proclaimed superiority and intelligence, that so many times is blatantly controversial and destructive.

If we could really listen, pay attention, consider the logic of their living cycles, and act accordingly… how different our life could be! How more pleasant! How less intent on abusing and oppressing, knowing that we are just pages being flipped over by the winds of time and circumstances! And how worthier lessons of wisdom and experience could be our legacy and inheritance to our children and mankind!

LIFE AND ROSES!

LIFE IS LIFE. AND ROSES KNOW WELL,
AND MUCH BETTER THAN ALL OF US,
HOW TO LIVE IT!

Life it seems that is and it has always been

full of pain and sorrows!

Should it be like this?

While we go on living full of sap and energies…
we never pay attention to the real facts of life!

We are always busy complaining about thorns,
and trampling over roses,
conveniently forgetting they were made

by God to protect them.

We become from time to time so overwhelmed

by the natural disasters,

as if they were indispensable, for us to waken up

to the fact, of their cyclical occurrence and inevitability,

and the need for human compassion and solidarity.

And we also forget about the beauty of Nature,

and the need to be grateful

for the opportunity to enjoy it,

once we understand that natural phenomena

are just that… natural!

And only become disasters

because of the carelessness or abuse of man

A series of video reflections on life, lived and still to live!

2010-02-27T13:53:00.026-06:00

It has been said that images are worth a thousand words.

Images and words together how worthy could they be?

Life is a chain of concepts and events.

Man is subject and object at the same time!

Wisdom resides in getting to know how to smoothly blend both ends,

and learn from it,

leaving a positive legacy, of concepts and experiences,

to the ones who have yet to come and live!

WE, THE OLD BARNS...

because we have already been through

so much!

We can recommend to the newer ones

how pertinent is to ask

WHAT´S GOING ON?

And why there is so much suffering around?

It would be so easy to live

if we abided

by righter and rightful values

and simpler rules of life.

And if living so it hurts... let´s whistle!

And keep on going the right way!

On the right paths of living!

Bless them, Lord!

You know, My Lord, that the people reading this,

are very special to me!

Let´s give thanks

to all those, who care enough

to keep on thinking positive, and sharing

their feelings, best desires and wishes,

for us, and all who stop and read,

meditating on all this,

and hopefully making it part of our lives,

in order to change it for the better,

for the sake of ourselves,

our family and friends,

and the whole lot of the rest of the world!

CHILDREN, FLOWERS AND SMILES, WHAT A LESSON OF LIFE!

2010-02-17T18:23:00.016-06:00

Yesterday, while I was recording and posting, at their request, some comments about the Fresh Air Fund ministry, a friend of mine, an already retired Mechanical and Maintenance Engineer, or in other words, a very practical oriented individual, came to my studio, to ask me some questions, as he is helping us with some repairs at home.

He is also an enthusiastic user, as I am, of the technological marvels that allow us to get in touch with all friends and foes, in the purest expression of the freedom of speech, but this time used to promote worthier and more positive life values, polished and made to shine through the experiences of our lives.

He read the core message and watched the video I was recording at the time. We discussed, and wondered, how these types of feelings and sentiments endure the worst attacks of the gross materialism, and values distortion and deviations, that permeate our societies today.

He is, as I am, a firm believer of the direst need to stand together, as sentinels on the ramparts, joining efforts, encouraging the weaker, as well as the creative ones who extend their hands, and their spirit, to help them overcome their weaknesses and despair.

I was sharing with him that sometimes I miss the immediate contact with people I know and love, while through the internet waves I keep in touch with known and unknown friends who open their hearts and their time to my messages.

I did also share how I love to receive and then comment the messages by enriching them with the lessons from my past experiences of hopes, failures and success.

He said to me that the most valuable gift we can give and share, is to communicate unceasingly what it lies in the depths of our hearts, through the myriads of variations that nature offers.

For example, in the flower that grows, bloom, die, and then re-grow, re-bloom, and re-die in a single flower plant in our gardens, for our amazement, meditation and delight.

He liked the video and the posted comments about the activities of my ministerial friends, but he also asked me to recover the essence of my personal as well as the shared and received messages for a general but concise apprehension and comprehension by all.

I agree with him in that the purer expressions of love, hope, music, words, must not and should never be copyrighted, because they belong to the spirit and the heart, they belong to the world and those who need to find peace, solace, affirmation, healing, tenderness and comfort.

I welcomed his comments, and I here comply with his request. What it follows summarize the feelings of my heart and my hopes, prayers and desires for the generations to come.

Children, flowers and smiles, what a lesson of life!

Smiles, a gift from God!

The joyful heart beautifies the face, Proverbs 15:13.

A smile is a light on the window of the soul
saying a heart is at home!

Almost every smile is the end result from another one!
Even if there are more than a hundred languages
The smiles speak them all!

A smile is worthier than a thousand words!
No one needs a smile as much as the one
who does not have any to offer!

The wrinkle lines should only be
the trace marks of the smiles. Mark Twain.

The smiles have the same effect on the human beings
as the sun has it on the flowers. Joseph Addison.

Smile! It´s a free therapy
for the souls’ well being! Doug Horton.

There are more than enough sad children
in this world!

The newly come are entitled to

and deserve much brighter days,
because the children are the children of God!

What a smile is worth…?

The children do not have a past and, not yet, a future.
It is for this that they enjoy so much their present,
a thing we have forgotten.

If we make them smile and help them today
in their hope and search for their future,

we will recover the joy and innocence,
they have begun to lose, through
hardships and abandonment!

What they receive in their very early years…
will stay with them,
even beyond their final departure.

May no word nor obscene look…
Never pollute the house where a child is dwelling!

I offer you the flowers of my garden,
my open and extended hand,
my prayers and my heart!

Children, flowers and smiles, what a lesson of life!

SMILES, CHILDREN AND SUPPORT! IT IS AMAZING WHAT LOVE AND CARE CAN DO TO CHANGE LIVES AND BUILD UP FUTURES!

2010-02-16T21:25:00.008-06:00

I have recently received news about the Fresh Air ongoing activities in the coming weeks and months of this year. As any ministry surely well knows, there is always an unending flow of opportunities to match donors and recipients, in this case, children from the inner-city environments.

I feel humbled and honored by being asked to pitch in these ministry efforts through spreading out the word about them.

At the same time this has made me meditate about the convergence of thoughts and feelings that abound among the Christians and well intentioned people around the world.

Some by doing, others by talking about it, some more by spreading the good news, me included, form the mighty army of the Lord that has been sent out to fight the battle against pain and hardships.

SOME, by encouraging more and more volunteers to beautify their lives by making possible the changes in lives and the building up of futures.

OTHERS, like me, by spreading the good news of the existence of dedicated souls, adding to them my time, the photos of the flowers of the garden my wife tends so tenderly, and of the children who cross my path showing to me their innocence, their resilience, and their trust that we, adults, will somehow care for them to have a future.

This is the theme and the concept of this video. Enjoy it to the fullness of its content. And then… check what this Fresh Air Fund ministry is all about it, and then, even if repeating myself… do something about it.

Sarah Wilson is telling us WHAT WE CAN DO AND HOW:

Even though it's winter out there we're already counting down to “Summer 2010” and The Fresh Air Fund is always in need of host families. There is always a way in helping to place these inner-city children into a loving host family home for a fresh air experience they will never forget.

I've put together a new social media release to make it simple to repost, so please feel free to use any of the images, graphics, banners, or copy:

http://freshairfundhosts.com/ .

What do Fresh Air children enjoy?
• Playing in the backyard.
• Laughing in the sunshine.
• Catching fireflies.
• Riding bicycles.
• Learning to swim.
• Running barefoot through the grass.
• Gazing at the stars on moonlit nights.
• Building sandcastles.
• Making new friends.
Simple pleasures of life away from the inner-city.

On March 21st, the Fresh Air Fund-Racers will take to the streets at the NYC Half-Marathon! Thank you to the Fresh Air Fund-Racers and their supporters for participating in this world class event. You are making a huge difference in the lives of thousands of Fresh Air children
We have limited availability for this amazing race. If you would like to run, please register here right away.

Fresh Air Fund Programs.
Since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund, a not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer experiences in the country to more than 1.7 million New York City children from disadvantaged communities. Each year, thousands of children visit volunteer host families in 13 states and Canada through the Friendly Town Program or attend one of five Fresh Air Fund camps.

The Friendly Town Program.
Through The Fund’s Friendly Town program, close to 5,000 children visit volunteer host families each summer in rural and suburban communities. Learn More and check:
http://freshairfundhosts.com/ .

Summer Camping for New York City Children.
Each summer, 3,000 children enjoy themselves at one of the five Fresh Air camps in upstate New York. Learn More.

Year Round Programs & Off Season Camping.
Throughout the year, The Fresh Air Fund utilizes its facilities at Sharpe Reservation to offer camping and educational opportunities to a variety of organizations and associations. Learn More.

Career Awareness Program.
The Career Awareness Program focuses on expanding the educational and career options of New York City adolescents. Learn More.

Our History.
The Fresh Air Fund has been serving children from New York City’s

toughest neighborhoods for more than 130 years. Learn More.

Alumni Network.
The Fresh Air Fund is looking for anyone who has participated in our Friendly Town or Summer Camping programs to join our newly created Alumni Network. Learn More.

WHAT IS IT? WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

2010-02-01T14:14:00.005-06:00

During the last weeks I have been deluged by a flood of emails, as well as myriads of news, and televised comments on the world crisis, demises, miseries, and efforts to alleviate the victims.

At the same time I have been analyzing the claims of many, who disagree with their nations´ rulers’ motivations and actions. I see their points, as I myself have mine and very personal ones that make me, passionately, disagree with some of them.

But, not always all the fault and responsibility fall upon their shoulders. I kind of remember a statement of a presidential candidate when he affirmed: “it´s the economy”, as he tried to point out what was it the central and paramount point of all issues.

I kind of agree with this statement, with a little digression on it. It is not really the economy, the money, the wealth, per se, but the way we see it, we seek it, we pursue it, we compromise to get it, we abuse it, what is bringing down the world into this voráginal chaos.

In the course of my life I have seen people creating wealth the honest way, with daring, vision and resolve.

I have also seen people, crushed and destroyed by the insensitivity of other people, colluded with, and accomplice to, the most cynical and corrupted schemes. I have seen them acting without any care, fear or remorse, in their search for wealth and gain at any cost, and without any consideration for those they trample upon, destroying hopes and futures.

But most pitiful than anything else, is the friends and acquaintances faked indifference, and their subtle distancing themselves from those unfortunate, who fatten the ranks of the victimized and dispossessed, fearing to be counted among those masses. So, I can understand the victims grievances, their pain, their anger and resentment, their violent responses. but. is this the only way out? the only way to challenge the injustice and abuses? is this what will be the way of living in the future?

All this, and as an emotional response to those, who try to finger point the whys and hows that cause the present overwhelming confusion, hate, violence and unending crisis, all this has made me wonder, and ponder, what is going on, what is causing it, what is what we have to do to face it, to challenge it, and to overcome it, for the sake of our peace, present and future.

I tried to record my thoughts in the most secluded and silent environment, to, in my mind, be able to address the issues, at the deepest possible way, but life taught me that this would be an sterile intellectual exercise if isolated from the recurring noises of the crisis.

Cars accelerating while passing by the windows of my studio, taught me better. So, I stopped and let their noise become part of the background of my inner thinking, when pondering what it is that is going on, all around.

WHAT IS IT!

Not hearing, nor seeing and being silent
When the powerful abuse….
What is it?

Pure and simple!
Hypocrisy, cowardice and complicity!

Same with finding excuses to close our eyes
And do not act against all the voracious predators!

What is it?
To purposely dismiss
The rulers and speculators´ responsibility
For transgressions resulting in the stealing of life,
Potential wealth and freedom,
Under false premises of the indispensable
And imperative need to preserve…
The Leaders? Privileges? And Status Quo?

To do so is to become
The willing and co-responsible
Witnesses and partners
Of the dark night of the disguised
Slavery and oppression!

Running in a proboscidian stampede
In support of the menaced
Abusing rulers
And influential manipulators!

Trampling over those they are supposed
To protect from institutional abuse,
Without shame or remorse for
The blatant manipulation of the
Rights they are supposed to defend and preserve
For the well fare of their societies and nations!

Why the so called international outcry
When one abuser is removed
By the exasperation and rebellion
Of the otherwise timorous and resigned?

Beware!
Times may come
When the caged and the handled
May devour their abusive
And merciless cagers and handlers,
Bringing down the betrayers
Of their duty to preserve
Their nations and peoples´ justice, peace,
And social understanding,
Support and cooperation.

We must not forget that the nations
Are like companies
And the peoples, as a whole,
Are the shareholders
With the right to replace their corrupt
Or inefficient rulers, managers
And administrators!

The challenge is to do it civically,
Collectively, consciously and not violently!
Even at the cost of facing off
The institutional bureaucracies
And foreign and selfish
Interests and conveniences!

To not fall into the abyss
Of the societies that live subjugated
By the violence of the masses,
Ignorant and manipulated
By these callous and remorseless
Manipulators and leaders!

There is a fact that seems
To be ignored, unseen or forgotten!

We all navigate in the same boat,
Small or big as you prefer,
But the same one,
Even if we don´t like it.

We will arrive to port
Or irremediably sink into the abyss
Of the turbulent seas of human stupidity!

No name calling, finger pointing,
Blame adjudication, responsibility dismissal,
Or violent reaction
Will alleviate the already compounded crisis,
But our honest appraisal,
Righteousness and integrity restitution,
And real change
For the positive and the better!

We have made the world what the world is today!
By our action or inaction!
By our activism or our procrastination!
By our greed or let it be-ing!
By our Pharisee-ism or radicalism!

The time has come to stop and do something about it!
We the righteous or indifferent bystanders!
We can be the destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
Or the repentant Nineveh!

The already crushed and destroyed,
The suffering and the oppressed,
The jailed with no hope of redemption or freedom,
The innocent to come to face the chaos
We are leaving behind,
Demand it so!
We owe them!

Change is always possible, if desired.
It us up to us what type of change is wanted!
For the worse or the better!
And consequently, depending on
What types of actions are taken!

Let´s start changing ourselves,
And work influencing others
By example and deeds,
In a widening and restoring circle!

And if we are ignored,
Dismissed, attacked or rejected,
Let´s rest in peace
Knowing that we did
What we were supposed to do,
Despite any outcome or circumstance!