Legacy

I wrote the story of a woman I met last week, when she was holding a talk in Munich.  Her picture is annexed - Raniah Salloum
Photo: Renate Winter copyright Special Court of Sierra Leone

A judge from Austria assists child soldiers in Sierra Leone – against all odds.

Renate Winter knows what confronting obstacles means. “Twice they tried to shoot me. Then I got six bodyguards.” Winter is a judge for the United Nations. The shootings happened when she was an international judge on the Supreme Court of Kosovo. Since 2003, Winter heads the Special Court for Sierra Leone. There, she only has one bodyguard and says she wouldn’t need him. The obstacles are of a different kind.

“In a court room, you can’t accomplish reconciliation”, Winter says. Yet, this is precisely what Sierra Leone needs after a decade-long civil war that left ten thousands dead or badly mutilated – many of them women and children. Winter adds: “If I were to describe the things that happened in Sierra Leone, you would not be able to sleep or to eat for three days”.

And how does she deal with the accounts of horror? She brushes off the question. “I’m a judge – if I couldn’t do that, I would have had to choose a different profession.” But it is not that simple. The question of how to heal Sierra Leone’s society has not left Winter’s mind.

Sierra Leone is a small country. Eleven years of civil war mean: eventually, everybody was implicated. Victims and perpetrators encounter each other on a daily basis. Add 90 percent unemployment – and reintegration becomes impossible. At the same time, Renate Winter never gives up hope.

She can’t make undone the brutality that almost 3,000 child soldiers unleashed – and experienced – in the civil war. “My youngest [defendant] was so small, he couldn’t even carry a Kalashnikov”, Winter remembers. But she can try to prevent it ever happening again.

“Legacy” is what she calls the most important accomplishment of her court. It set standards for the entire world.

Child soldiers are perpetrators and victims at the same time. They are enslaved by warlords who give them with weapons - and often drugs. It was after the warlords Renate Winter wanted to go, not after the children. With a bit of judicial creativity, her tribunal sanctioned the enlistment of child soldiers as a war crime. It also considered enforced marriages, through which warlords enslaved women, a crime against humanity – a first in the history of international law.

Renate Winter calls these achievements the tribunal’s legacy. So what about her own? Winter set up an NGO that supports former child soldiers – “female ones because nobody cared for them.” Her NGO teaches them to stitch and sow traditional garments. It also provides them with basic education - and a home. “Maybe this is my legacy”, Renate Winter says.

Legion of Extraordinary Dancers

http://www.rickey.org/

 "Legion of Extraordinary Dancers".  Their website is at http://www.thelxd.com

Try to do :)

A story about a big squirrel and a baby squirrel

As drops in the ocean

by Anastasia Poushkareva

Water is the most powerful thing in the world. I, of course, have heard this before - so much has been said and written, felt and imagined. When you stand near the shoreline or even advance to a knee-deep area, with nothing but the salty breast of the Atlantic lying before you - you subconsiously step further, as the water caresses your legs and the wind inebriates you. Only caution that is still somehow present holds you from giving yourself to the ocean, sacrificing yourself with a smile, dissipating into miniscule drops. And you walk back disappointed as the wind calls you back, but you move on.

Then you stand on a boat having distanced yourself from the seductiveness of water, watching it run headlong into the wall of civilization and retreat angrily preparing for a retaliation. The wind is teasing as ever. It playfully pulls up your shirt, and you can feel its light hands on your skin, filled with the most insane of desires.

When you step towards the nose of the boat, the wind becomes more demanding, brutal. Its hands, previously gentle, tear and slap; the mass of air, salt and bitterness crashes into you from the side of Northern Maine and plants a thousand sharp kisses. Later that night you go on a date with the ocean, and as soon as your toes touch the sand, the wind blows you away in its joyful welcome. The waves roll on excitedly as you fall on your knees and try to catch them with your hands. The water breaks away, leaving foam and a couple of polished pebbles at your feet.

There are so many shores in Massachusetts where water treats you differently like every unique lover. In some places it crashes at your feet angrily, invading your territory; but in spite of its pride, it wants to be conquered like a fearful virgin. In other, the sea puts its treasures before you like a lusty rich seducer, and you smile and let it fondle your body. In Yarmouth the ocean greets you with a roar on the very first date, but then it, charmed, finds itself timidly kissing your toes, for it has nothing to offer you except a profusion of seaweed and broken seashells. This morning, when you walked the sand trail for the last time, the water was calm and crystal clear. It still gave you a plethora of its gifts, but it had ceased asking, pleading, caressing. It lay indifferently around your ankles, brought in motion only by the movement of your feet. And you knelt beside it, trying to stir its apathy with your hands just to feel its salty love on your lips one more time. And you laughed at your human clinginess and walked away, and for a second it seemed that the ocean smiled back, but you weren't sure.

The accordionist's night

by T. Brenna.


I woke up trembling, sweating cold. The sickness, whatever it is, has taken refuge in every living cell that my beaten body has to offer. Not much of a luxury stay if I may confess. I haven’t eaten a full meal since I left home, what is it, six weeks ago? Now I find myself in this constricted gap between two buildings, where I set camp for the night. My hands shake from hunger and the scent of my sick perspiration, plus the weeks gone unwashed, prickles my nose as I write. Oh gosh, it is lonely here. I am lonely and alone. I wish it wasn’t so. Wish I could keep denying how alone and miserable and isolated I feel. At least I had been deceiving myself pretty successfully until now.


...And this? This is not exactly how I thought it would be when I left. However, I still don’t regret leaving. High school is not for me. Not for me. No. This is me. This is my life. Mine is the traveler’s life, the rolling stone. Mine is the world and I am ready to tackle anything. As long as I have my accordion and my music I’ll be alive. I’ll be fine. I’ll be happy. Well, kind of. But if it wasn’t for my music I would be dead now. I know that.

I can’t believe how awkward I’ve become. This is one thing, if there is one thing, which I would like to work on for the next few months. Why do I distrust people so much? I wasn’t like this when I left. I feel old, and I am only 16. I was not like this when I left. I guess it is not totally my fault. People are mean, nasty even. I am glad I’ve seen people’s true face: inconsiderate, selfish, superficial, selfish, stupid, did I mention selfish? Now that I know them at their lowest, nothing can surprise me, they won’t let me down anymore. No expectations. People can go fuck themselves. I have me and my music and animals that are worth way more than any human I’ve met for all I know. I’ll keep writing and playing music till the day I die. Music is my nourishment. Though I could fucking use a good meal every once in a while. Maybe even a warm bed and a nice person to talk to. Not always though. I prefer my solitude, my travels, my freedom and detachment. Priceless. Guess you’ve got to give something up, and I am willing to pay this price. I really am. I am not like the others. I am independent, a free spirit, gifted, experienced and even a little enlightened when I compare myself to others. At least I hope I am. Don’t have much going for me otherwise. I don’t think. No schooling...my only schooling is the streets, the road. No profession. Well, I guess I am a musician, though not very many people appreciate that.

I wonder what I will leave behind when I pass, will anyone remember me? Will anyone care for my accordion? Or will it go to a yard sale and rust and dust away? I truly hope my accordion finds another owner who cares for it and who loves music as much as I do. Will anyone ever find this notebook? Will this ever be read?

God, I love the stars! My music and the pitch black starry skies I’ve been able to see are enough for me to keep me here, to keep me alive. It is amazing what this does to you, traveling alone, no money, no nothing. What a humbling experience this is. Hunger, cold, loneliness, sickness, but here I am: alive and looking at the most amazing night sky anyone has ever seen, playing my favorite tune in the backdrop of my thoughts. Here I am, together with the Universe. We are one. I surrender to it. I belong to the greater thing out there. Out there and in me. I am not but a representation of the force and I have no control of this which is my life. I just float along and it is wonderful. It is beautiful.

But why? Why did I choose this? Why me? Why this? And why isn’t there anyone here to keep me company? Why do I feel so miserable? Oh gosh, I wish people were more giving, and more considerate! So at least I wouldn’t have to scavenge for food in trash cans and then I wouldn’t get sick and all would be fine. I would be happy and would leave them alone except for a chat now and then. I think I have something to give...So why can’t they give back? Isn’t my music something they can appreciate and place some value to? Fuck, I need to stop bitching! Life is good. I will get better. I want to get better. I want to be a better person, too... So much. I don’t want to be a bitchy, whiny, bitter, run-down person that no one would want to be around. God, if I get better soon, I promise to be kind to others, to be fun and funny, to be honest and giving, and to be positive and open-minded. I promise. Please make me better. God, I want to live. I just want to live my life...And share my music, and learn and travel the world. Please make me better. Sickness please be over now. I don’t want to die. Not yet. I’ll lie here cold, sick, hungry and weak. I’ll lie here and think positive. I’ll just lie here and wait. Wait for that miracle.

Working Homeless

Becky Blanton planned to live in her van for a year and see the country, but when depression set in and her freelance job ended, her camping trip turned into homelessness. In this intimate talk, she describes her experience of becoming one of America's working homeless.

Do not give up!

This woman's story is yet another reminder not to give up on what we truly desire.
There is infinite potential in the universe for anything to happen. We just need imagination, faith and persistence.

-T. Brenna

"Change your thoughts
               and you can change your world."
-Norman Vincent Peale

Spiritual music

My Perfect Lover

by Mason Jennings

Where was I before you found me
Who was I and what had bound me
Where was love and understanding
Why was living so demanding

You were on the snow capped mountains
You were in the deep blue ocean
Down below the wind and thunder
In a perfect world of wonder

You were calling come back to me
How long has it been, my only
I was listening and I heard you
When I did I finally found you

Everything you touch is living
This whole universe is giving
What was once inside you dreaming
Is now the life that you are leading

I was with you baby crying
I was there when you were dying
Underneath the sound and silence
In the gospel and in science

Come to me my perfect lover
We are one, there is no other
In every face I see you clearly
Oh my friend I love you dearly


To listen to this song you can visit Mason's website and look for My Perfect Lover in the album titled In the Ever. Lonely Road (Blood of Man album) is another song with great lyrics.

on human creative expression

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open."


--Martha Graham

be positive

"Keep my words positive:
Words become my behaviors.
Keep my behaviors positive:
Behaviors become my habits.
Keep my habits positive:
Habits become my values.
Keep my values positive:
Values become my destiny."

-- Mahatma Gandhi
 
quote submitted by Lars B.

Click here to discover other Gandhi stories.

Mission: Croc

Lars found this story with stumbleupon. It is very impressive and inspiring!
It just proves that as you sow so you shall reap.
 
Check it out

!

Oh My Mama

A lovely song by Alela Diane:

Tree

photo by Julia Lehman

... A tree is always exactly as big as it can be, living its fullest potential in the environment it has found. It draws from a boundless, ubiquitous energy source and continuously gives of its shelter, its fruits, and its support to the animals who find it. Leaves are open to the light of the sun, but they see in all directions, not narrowing their view like a mammal's eyes.

The tree is therefore a paradigm for spiritual growth -
to be open to boundless energy, to be generous with one's being,
to be constantly unfolding into one's maximum potential, to be reaching upward with one's
own beauty in a gesture of gratitude and devotion to the Source.

When we sit beneath a tree wrestling with the difficult issues of existence, we can ask the tree for help. And in its solidity, with its roots in the earth and arms in heaven, it supports our contemplation and growth...

-by Jason Jay, 2003

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

Excerpt from J.K. Rowling's Commencement Speech at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association. June 2008:

...I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.
However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person’s idea of success, so high have you already flown.
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.
Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.
The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned...

Copyright of JK Rowling, June 2008


Click here to watch or read the full speech.

A Wide, Round Curve

Changes in attitude never come easily.

The development of love and

compassion is a wide, 

round curve that

can be negotiated 

only slowly, not a sharp 

corner that can be turned all at once.

                            It comes with daily practice.

                -His Holiness, the Dalai Lama of Tibet
                   quoted in Deep and Simple, by Bo Lozzof

Memory of North Carolina woods—

by M. Hoffman

Crickets’ voices pulsing,

               I

Alone,     thrillingly,

Silhouettes of branches like fingers fading,

Darkness          seeping through,

Trunk

Shooting up

Against my back,

Leaning on          me as

I lean on it.

Deep, exotic awareness--

Warm soup washing

                My

Throat,        softly,

Air in breath like beats beginning,

Damp hair                   curling up,

Dirt

Sifting

Beneath my toes,

Creeping up          my legs, as

I stay still.

…To know, this is happening everywhere.

Message to Myself

i am going to be the
change i want to see
                happen in the world
today               and today
      and all the todays
                       of my life
i promise myself and the world
         that i will do only work
that i believe in
         i will find and support
people who are making
        a better world
and i will join with them
educating myself
to be knowledgeable
effective and powerful
    i expect to have
a very wonderful
      creative
and fun-filled life
        in this way

-Sami Sunchild
    

How to be an entrepreneur

invent a business that smiles on the world
discover what is needed
that you believe in
with all your heart
a service you are really good at
and love to do
let it be your classroom
try new ideas
play with everything
dive in
cherish good people
including yourself
get negative people out of your life
romp on the floor with your dog
make friends with the trees
listen to their stories
believe in butterflies
if they can fly a thousand miles
think of what you can do
earn enough for your need
but not for your greed
leaving a heritage so that
when you die, you will be missed

-Sami Sunchild

Deep and Simple Faith

"Faith is the fullness to realize that each moment of our lives is a gift; that the whole of our lives is a spiritual journey, whether in our darkest hours or brightest joys"
-Bo Lozoff in Deep and Simple

From TED talks

 Stroke of insight: Jill Bolte Taylor on TED.com
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story of recovery and awareness -- of how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 18:44.)




Submitted by Hanne

Calm after the Storm

After The Storm

John L. Stoddard

The duel of the warring clouds
Hath ended with the day;
Their scintillant, electric blades
Have ceased their fearful play;
The pent up fury of their hate
Hath found at last release,
And o’er the tempest-stricken earth
Broods now the hush of peace.

The passing of the hurricane
Hath swept the sultry skies;
The clearness of the atmosphere
Brings jubilant surprise;
The mountain peaks are glorified
With freshly-fallen snow,
And, stealing o’er their coronets,
Appears the sunset glow.

An hour since, a torrid heat
Oppressed the languid frame;
The wind was as the khamseen’s breath,
The solar touch seemed flame;
But now the air rejuvenates,
The breeze refreshment brings,
The lustrous leaves drop diamonds,
The lark with rapture sings.

Fear not, dear heart! life’s darkest storms
Shall likewise end in light;
Behind the blackest thundercloud
The sun shines clear and bright;
Once more celestial heights shall wear
Their sheen of spotless snow,
And on the bravely steadfast soul

The smile of God shall glow.

Online text © 1998-2009 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From Poems | 1913



There is always so much calm, beauty and light after the storm

Hannah After The Storm by Shelly Svoboda

Reflection on suicide

Suicide really does shake the foundations for many of the friends left
wondering. It is a mystery why some folks chose that path. I understand
the difficulties we can face and how theoretically it can seem like a
decent option to escape, but it is way too high a price to pay for any
difficulty I've had to deal with so far. Depression is crippling to some
folks and for those of us who do not go that far into it, it just seems
like they should just snap out of it and look on the bright side, but they
can't.

post by Gary Fine

Prisoner Express Founder, Director

http://prisonerexpress.org/

Life is Deep- Bo Lozoff

 


"Renowned teacher/activist Bo Lozoff describes the common threads of all religions and the simple principles they share. Excerpted from "You Can Do This," a 1-hr video available at www.humankindness.org"
http://www.youtube.com/user/bohkffan

Bo Lozoff is the author of my favorite spiritual book: Deep and Simple -- A spiritual path for modern times. Human Kindness Foundation. He has dedicated his life to sharing spirituality and music, particularly with incarcerated people. I highly recommend his books and talks.

The following is an excerpt  from the above mentioned book (pg. 24):

...We continue to choose anger over Love, fear over Love, national boundaries over Love, greed over Love, race over Love, self-protection over Love. God has given us free-will so that we can make such choices. If we don't like it the way it's going, then we can begin to choose differently right now. Today. Right here. Waiting for everyone else to change first is a fool's game. Waiting for others to love us first, before we are willing to love them is a fool's game. 
                  Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be
                  consoled, as to console;
                  To be understood, as to understand;
                  To be loved, as to love... ."
                                                           -Saint Francis of Assisi
How much we are loved by others is often outside our power. But what is within our power is our choice to love others. On the cross, hated and mocked, Jesus chose to say, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do."
He loved them. He showed us the Way. He provided an example of following the advice of the Buddha: Focus on your ability to love, not your demand to receive it. Very often our immediate environment or circumstances are not under our control, but our choice of Faith and Love always is.
We will not be judged by what others did to us, but by how we responded...

This world, this day

There is always something to work on

there is always something to improve

there is always someone who needs you

If you think there is no place for you in this world

if you think you have no purpose

just breathe, open your eyes

think twice

Air, Water, Clouds and Melons

 

Image taken by me of clouds from a plane.

  Pastel painting of watermelons

name: Isaac
age: 23
Occupation: Medical interpreter/student

Be Here Now

These are lyrics from my favorite Mason Jennings song.  There's so much beauty in the present moment; we accept, embrace, and realize "this too shall pass".  May we find contentment in each moment and let the rising sun bring beauty to our days.


Lyrics from Mason Jenning's "Be Here Now":

be here now
no other place to be
all the doubts that linger
just set them free
and let good things happen
let the future come
into each moment
like a rising sun

post by Mary M.

Re-Creating

2 Faves:

1

2

The Northern Lights

This is something worth looking forward to see live at least once in your lifetime:

Movement

 Because we can.

Live for others

The world may not always give to you, but you can always give to the world. This this 16-yr-old's story is such an inspiration.

Illimited Beauty

 When you are creative there are no limits in the world: it's the art of living.


Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

100+ reasons

Now this is something to care about.

My gift, my life

 picture by Lars B

My life is my opportunity and responsibility to share my special and unique gift with the world...
-universal thought

American Indian Epitaph

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there
I do not sleep

I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow

I am the sunlight on ripened grain
I am the gentle Autumn rain

When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush of quiet birds

In circled flight
I am the soft stars that shine at night

Do not stand at my grave and cry

I am not there
I did not die

-Author Unknown