11:54 p.m. - 2004-05-01
reflections
I don't have a lot to say tonight. I spent four hours writing the report required for my community outreach program during the election. It was probably overkill in some ways, but I wanted to be certain that the statistics supported what I was proposing. It is the one area of this work that is driven by my experiences volunteering in the schools and with the different human rights groups I support - Amnesty International, the Survivors of Torture program through the Red Cross, Alberta Civil Liberties, and the local community support services. I know this areas' populations' aspirations in a way very few do. In the end what matters most to people settling in this area is the well being of their families and the opportunity to make their own life's work meaningful. That shouldn't be too much to ask should it. It still really bothered me that we were being asked to focus our efforts on what divides us instead of what unites us. It's the wrong message at a juncture of history that sorely needs some examples of how to look for resolution that builds on people's strengths instead of exploiting their weaknesses.
I know that is utopian in some ways and it is necessary to watch for the predators who will use any situation to take from the community. For example, there was a story in our local paper highlighting the visit of a Buddhist "leader" visiting our city, it was tagged onto the interest the community has with respect to the Dalai Lama. The teachings of any faith group can be used to mislead as well as otherwise. As Shakespeare wrote - "even the devil can cite scripture". If this is the same man who I met about a decade ago while attending lessons in Chi Gong, he is not someone who should be given the ability to reach out to people who are lost and looking for guidance of a spiritual nature. Maybe I'm wrong and it isn't the same man. I'm not being critical of the newspaper either. If one hadn't witnessed the behaviour of the man's followers "family" that day, it would be difficult to discern the pattern of abuse that lay behind the fine words. It isn't always the politicians who are trying to lead us into temptation you know.
Sad news from the Middle East - several Westerners died and others were wounded in an attack in Saudi Arabia. One Canadian is in critical condition with a bullet in the spine - his neck. Witnesses say the attackers appeared to be in their teens. Again the gullible being lead by their emotions and desires to be spirtually advanced. Murder is never an act of the divine - at least I don't think so. In a lot of Asian faith systems there is acknowledgement of the need for the destroyer energy - say Kali in the Hindu canon - but her energy is likened to the decaying of plants in the forest so that the next generation of flora can grow. Recycling the old to nourish the new, breaking down old structures that have served their purpose to create newer ones that acknowledge what is hopefully the evolution or advance of a society to another level of civilization. Death isn't evil or bad when it is part of the natural cycle, but humans using the image in order to destroy out of their own greed or cruelty is.
I think it is a good thing I go back to working outside the home - as long as the election isn't called tomorrow - on Monday. Too much attention to the nuances in world politics is messing up my mind. Things to look forward to? I'm already scheduled to see a lot of the friends I have in the workplace that I've been missing for a while. I think I'll meditate on that tonight.
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