3 Kinds of Men to Honor

Peace sign Photo by Steve Rhodes @ flickr

COURAGEOUS

Today is Father’s Day on the calendar and I will be thinking of them throughout this week, we choose this day to honor the good examples of quality men who have influenced our lives beneficially. Most people reflect upon a father, a brother, an uncle, a grandfather, a husband, a good and trusted friend, even a mentor.



Neda killed by the police - Photo by Steve Rhodes @ flickr

Iran Protestors

Considering the political unrest in Iran going on I reflected upon the good men in Iran. These are men who are standing up against injustice and working toward a quality and trustworthy government, willing to give their lives in that pursuit. As a woman, and knowing the negatives in their harsh culture, what has impressed me the most about the male protestors was their willingness to march along side the women (termed the Lipstick Revolution). They also are willing to advance women’s rights.

Even more so, in a public demonstration, they have chosen to go to the defense of women that are strangers to them and not family related. In other words, they choose to be compassionate for the literally downtrodden, for the current harsh regime has ordered their police to target the women first and beat them savagely, kill them as well.

There have been video and cell phone photos released of men running to aid the women as they died. Now that’s a class act and certainly touches my heart for their public courage risks their own lives and that of their families. Yet, they chose to be heroes because someone was vulnerable and in need.



Soldier with peace symbol in hand Photo by Jayel Aheram @ flickr

Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan

I think of our American troops in this protracted war the public wants us to end and how this too long of a stressor has taken a huge toll. Suicides are way up the past year from returning troops and those still in the field. PTSD is rampant and difficult to treat. These men (and women) are someone’s parent, spouse, brother (or sister), uncle (or aunt), best friend and mentor.

They also deserve our thoughts and prayers to sustain them during their tough life test. Spiritual testing is often longer than we think we can endure yet eventually we come out on the other side. These troops have the courage to go on when they think they cannot move another step and yet they move forward anyway. Human beings really are not hard-wired for long-term stressful situations like war.



Contemplation Photo by alicepopkorn @ flickr

COMPASSIONATE

Today I also reflect upon a wonderful European friend I met while on my travels a decade ago. He is a Carmelite monk by the name of Brother Peter in Austria. What is unique about him is that he works tirelessly with the folks who fall between the cracks of the social network be they refugees (Islamic or Christian) or locals who can’t pay the rent because the husband has a gambling problem. Most of all he spends intensive hours battling the severe rampant depression of suicidal people in his area. He works without notice for what will not bring him status or riches in the world.

Brother Peter is joined with the local Jewish community to help reestablish the Jewish population in Austria that was decimated during WWII and works toward improving Christian and Jewish relations. He is a humble man, a kind man, a sincere man. Most of all he is a loving man like the true Jesus he follows.

I’ve always had a soft spot for monks. They are the global intercessors for Peace. They pray FOR people of all races, religions and misunderstanding - not AGAINST them. As an intercessor I can relate to my Carmelite monk friends and well understand the importance of their life long mission.

Brother Peter had a birthday in April but somehow Father’s Day seemed more appropriate a day to honor his service to others. The man would make a great Pope as he definitely has a heart for the people. I count him a treasured friend!



Father and infant son asleep Photo by *clairity* @ flickr

NURTURING

Recently, I happened upon a new blog by a father of ten children. What a treat! The Mommy blogs are popular and prolific, many a delight to read. This blog is a unique perspective from the dad, one with a huge brood of children. Take a look at his amusing and clever blog post that was published in a local newspaper: Father of 10 Turns Bathtime into a Career.

While I could go on with many other wonderful examples like my cool paternal grandfather whose spiritual legacy I carry with delight, a Taoist spiritual master in Taiwan where in his culture they never trained women, especially teenage Americans - he proclaimed me his student of a lifetime, quite an honor - and the tough guy military mentors I had growing up – the kind that don’t like women but took a shine to me, adored my hutzpah and chose to train me in the unorthodox, hence, the name “Warriors’ Pearl,” I’ll save those stories for another time. Know that you are all in my heart as treasures…

The Political Propaganda Corner 31 May 2009

The Political Propaganda Corner 31 May 2009: "One small example of how propaganda worms its way into and affects our lives."

By Denny Lyon @ HubPages

From Denny: Originally, this was a post for this blog but figured it was way too long to place here. This is basically a small tutorial about breaking down a political propaganda piece you get in your email from time to time. Just click on the title link to take a look. Thanks for visiting!

Photo by ercwttmn @ flickr

Memorial Day Poems

Memorial Day Poems

"These are a selection from many wonderful poems written with heavy hearts and great sincerity about the reality of how war affects us all. The old men who send young men to war rarely stop long enough - or at all - to consider their haste to anger and action affects the entire nation for generations to come.

The following are not glory poems but rather the perspectives of those involved in war be they one soldier, a POW, a mother, a daughter, a citizen who knew none of them but felt a duty to pray for them constantly, knowing the personal cost war would bring to all. They span several wars from the Civil War to WWII, the Korean War and today's Iraq and Afghanistan War.

These poems came from the comprehensive Memorial Day site where there is much more than poems to view. Please take a look today as you remember those who came before us."

Written by Denny Lyon @ HubPages

From Denny: Since HubPages will fuss at me for duplicate content I decided to take down the post from this blog and resurrect it on a HubPages article.

More people will read it when linked to social sites since a lot of people on social sites pass on good posts when they see the address is from a blog. They will read a website article. Thanks for your understanding and taking the time to come here and let me send you to the link.

Photo by Jayel Aheram @ flickr

Libations Friday! 13 March 2009

Image via Wikipedia

Photo: Portrait of Harlem Renaissance prominent poet Langston Hughes

Libations Friday is here again! Where did the week go?

Great coffee recipe, historical poem and political commentary.

Sometimes a little liquor with your coffee is a real treat. I’m a big fan of strong dark coffee with some black raspberries French Chambord, forget Cassis, just isn’t the same. Change is good and the Chambord doesn’t last forever!

This recipe below is new to me and sounded wonderful to try when settling in for a serious read of some serious poetry like that from Langston Hughes.



Recipe from: VolcanicaCoffee.com

Keoke Coffee


½ shot of Kahlua

1 cup of hot gourmet coffee

½ shot of Courvoisier (yum! jet fuel!)

½ shot of Dark Cream de Cacao

Combine your Kahlua coffee liqueur, gourmet coffee, Dark Cream de Cacao, and Courvoisier. Top with whipped cream and serve. Makes 1 serving.

***

Considering the following poem written about the Depression Era the following recipe of Cowboy Coffee is featured. Today thousands of people are camping out in their cars and campers because they lost their homes after they lost their jobs. Cowboy Coffee is a detailed account of the culture and how to go about it. The author features it in reference to being a backpacker at high altitudes.

But somehow it made me think of all the folks who are now living in tent cities out West. More tent cities are popping up all over America like hobo camps did during the 1930’s. Cowboy Coffee link. It’s an interesting read and could prove useful to those living on the road or hiking.

***

Now for the poem:

From a tough poet comes a tough poem spoken out loud from America’s past: a discussion of the hard times with an eye toward hope and re-building toward the idealized dream. Langston Hughes was known as being a prominent poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

Considering what’s on the news today it seemed apropos. There’s the ugly Madoff financial scandal of fleecing people for billions of dollars, many of whom were charitable foundations that worked with the poor. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, soldiers losing their lives.

The corporate world is turned upside down, turning out thousands, now millions of educated and experienced American workers from their jobs because too many jobs were sent out of the country overseas that it created a meltdown, the result of greedy business chasing excessive profit. When the business world and the government abandon the middle class that makes up over 70% of the population, and all the work force, of course economic chaos ensues.

This poet was talking about another time in America’s history. Yet history has this habit of repeating itself in some similar form, this time 70 years later. It was the selfishness of greed from a controlling economic class minority that brought a country to its knees in the past and the same desire out of control has created a similar scenario today.

The only way up and out of such dark times IS to pull together, each for the other. Team work in the way of unity of vision will help lift up all of us to a balanced more stable life again. While many will choose different methods upon which to re-build, the vision is the same: make America great again, for when you make the choice to lift up your fellow man you lift up yourself along the way.

***

Let America Be America Again

By Langston Hughes


Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain
All, all the stretch of these great green states
And make America again!