To Compassionately Listen to One Another....

The tower of babble was created because of our lack of listening to one another and our not get along with each other. Hence the many languages we now have so that we would have to truly work at getting along. Which in the end meant taking the time to listen compassionately to one another.

Somewhere deep down we truly are all the same. We are simply looking for the same things in life, the meaning of life, the explanation of illnesses, the meaning of our place in society, the baggage we all carry from our families, from our relationships, why some of us are gay and not others, why we have so many choices in life to choose from, why whole wheat bread today and sourdough tomorrow, why eat meat only but no carbs, and then to eat carbs only and no meat, to which brand of toothpaste do I buy? ETC!

These things, simply stated by my simple way of thinking, is that we are to truly be looking out for and loving others before ourselves. In this "ME" society, it is all about the language. It is whether others are willing to communicate with me in the way that I feel good about, or encourages me or makes me look good or making me feel understood. BUT on the other hand, we really are suppose to be firmly looking out for others - for their needs, their comfort, their ability to be and feel understood.

We have so missed the point of living in this world. We are a bunch of selfish, cry babies, who when not getting one's way will cry out with outrage, words of unfairness, words of inequality, words of racism, words of MY rights, words of OUR freedom, words of your trees on MY property, ETC!

No wonder there are so many choices. I think god had a great sense of humor by creating choices. God wanted to just to see where we would end up on the selfish meter. MOST OF US FAILED! Myself included. Man, that's harsh but when we begin to look at the lives and situations of others, we can often return to our own lives and see the same mistakes, the same longings, the same questions that all of us have and in helping others, often times we are able to work out our own situations. If nothing else, simply having compassion for another should be enough.

We were meant to be living in community - TOGETHER - as one people regardless of color, gender, race, sexual orientation, and religious or political views.

Our division is simply by our own hand, our own bigotry, our own choice not to accept others for who and what they are.

We need to continue to learn how to listen, without self-inclusion, to one another for the sake of our kids, our country, our world.

War is not the answer. In the end there really is NO WINNER when it comes to the game of Life. It simply is whether we are willing to listen, love and or accept one another to the best that we can and being mindful of what life would be like if everyone were compassionately listening to one another.

Take the time NOW to get to know your neighbors, your coworkers, your extended family members, those who work in public jobs, etc. BEGIN NOW to think of OTHERS before yourself. What can you do for someone else? Then look to yourself and continue to work on those things you need to take care of.

Begin NOW listening to one another... We have a vast, global area in which to work on these things - from sea to shining sea.

"Be the change that you want to see" - Gandhi

Shalom,
Kim

Kim's Library...

NOTE: Most books can be found on Amazon
{except title with (*)}

CURENTLY READING:
Gandhi: An Autobiograpy: Gandhi
Jason Bourne Newest in series
As Nature Made Him - John Colapinto
A Fine Balance: Rohinton Mistry
Living Buddha, Living Christ: Thich Nhat Hanh
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: Dai Sijie
Colors of the Mountain: Da Chen
Wasted: Marya Hornbacher
Video: The Oregon Trail - to be watched


JUST RECENTLY FINISHED:
A Journey Through Mississippi - Tony Dunbar
Orphans of War - Rosemary Taylor*
Children of AIDS - Emma Guest
Black Death: AIDS in Africa - Susan Hunter
Mountains Beyond Mountains - Tracy Kidder
Snow in August - Peter Hamill
47th St. Black - Bayo Ojikutu
Acquainted with the Night - Paul Raeburn
To Africa with Spatula - Jane Lotter


LISTING OF BOOKS I DESIRE TO READ:
Lucky Child - Loung Ung
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Jacobs
My Bondage and My Freedom - Frederick Douglass
Coming of Age in Mississippi - Anne Moody
Geisha, A Life - Mineko Iwasaki
Island of Hope, Island of Tears - Brownstone, Franck & Brownstone
The Passing of the Night - General Robinson Risner
Waiting for Snow in Havana - Carlos Eire
The Sacred Willow - Duong Van Mai Elliot
Wanderings - Chaim Potok
Alicia: My Story - Alicia Appleman-Jurman
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men - Agee and Evans
Country of My Skull - Antjie Krog
Wild Swans:Lost Daughters - Karin Evans
When Heaven and Earth Traded Places - Le Hayslip
Faith and Betrayal - Sally Denton

Quote: dr. martin luther king, jr

"An individual has not started living until she can rise above the narrow confines of her individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Some Sites to Engage Yourself In:

Do Something - Get Involved!

AIDS/DEBT/AFRICA:
http://bolamoyo.com/
http://www.jubileeusa.org/
http://www.uua.org/uuawo/new/article.php?id=307
http://allafrica.com/malawi/
http://www.friendsofmalawi.org/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/default.stm
http://www.nationmalawi.com/
http://www.afsc.org/africa/new-africa/default.htm
http://www.forusa.org/
http://www.africadaily.com/
http://www.aidshealth.org/
http://www.malawi.com/
http://www.un.org/
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=18360
http://www.womenforwomen.org/DRCpop.html
http://www.womenforwomen.org/ProjectIndependence/index.htm
http://www.mercatus.org/socialchange/subcategory.php/41.html
http://www.alertnet.org/
http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/3375.html
http://www.hivportland.org/resources/infocus.html
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/
http://www.usafricaonline.com/
http://www.farmafrica.org.uk/
http://twnafrica.org/
http://www.africawoman.net/
http://www.friendsofmalawi.org/
http://www.malawiproject.org/
http://lilongwe.usembassy.gov/
http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/countries/malawi/
http://www.careinternational.org.uk/cares_work/where/malawi/
http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2002.nsf/afr/malawi?Open
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/malawi.html
http://www.vso.org.uk/about/cprofiles/malawi.asp
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ican/C2152
http://www.inequality.org/farmer2.html
http://web.worldbank.org/

ViETNAM/ADOPTION/ADOPTEES:
http://van-online.org/
http://motherlandtour.com/
http://www.wingluke.org/
http://www.operationreunite.com/
http://www.sonyclassics.com/comingsoon.php?filmid=60&page=1
http://www.adoptvietnam.org/adoption/babylift-index.htm
http://www.geocities.com/vnwomensforum/index.html
http://www.acwp.org/
http://www.catalystfoundation.org/When_You_Were_Born_In_Vietnam.htm

SOCIAL ACTION GROUPS/MISC:
http://www.saveaslave.com/
http://www.freetheslaves.net/home.php
http://www.humantrafficking.com/humantrafficking/
http://www.iabolish.com/index.htm
http://www.trafficking.org.ph/
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/
http://www.idealist.org/en/ip/idealist/MyIdealist/Register/default?SID=e1f12fc0be5139054996eb5c49467cf3
http://www.gandhiinstitute.org/
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/mahatma_ghandi.htm
http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/Mandela/Mandela.html
http://www.oskarschindler.com/
http://www.shoah.dk/
http://nobelprize.org/
http://www.machers.com/Default.aspx?tabid=42
http://www.barclayagency.com/lamott.html

I Want to be Some One Great...

Who can heal the wounded at every moment of sorrow, to catch them as a safety for when the fall comes and the will to live, to move forward, to take the next step, to get back up, to the deep ache within, to the first drop of tear that has bound them unmoved.

Who can be there at death's door for those who have nobody to say goodbye to them. Nobody to tell them they were loved, wanted, desired, special, someone important, a friend, a sister, brother, daughter, son, grandson, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousin, or someone that some one met for just a brief moment and was struck by their very presence.

Who touches and caresses the faces, the bodies of the lepers of today - AIDS of whole families, AIDS of Africa, AIDS of India, AIDS of the underworld of slavery, AIDS of prostitution, AIDS of all colors, races, ethnic lines, gender lines, AIDS of infants, AIDS of grandparents, AIDS of health workers, AIDS of heterosexuals, AIDS of homosexuals, AIDS from every land, every continent, every nation, every tribe, every person who breathe the deadly disease of AIDS, and will take their last breath leaving some one behind to fend for themselves. I want to pick up and help and encourage those who are left behind. I want to make their lives better, healthier, and prosperous.

Who can take every child who lives in poverty, in abusive homes, in neglected homes, the filth of human waste, in the filth of neglect, in the struggling parents/family members striving to make a decent living at poverty level, in the filth of prostitution, in the filth of slavery, in the filth of a foster system that struggles to place these kids. Oh how I wish no child would ever know what it was like to be hungry, in want, in need, in filth, in an empty home while their parents have to work. Oh to be able to gather every one of these children and hold them, caress them, love on them and know that I have answers to all of their problems, that I would be able to save them from this wretched world we call home and provide the very things they need, in which no amount of money could ever buy.

Who looks beyond the monstrosity of today's world problems and is able to create, to begin a venture in which my life is viable not by my own living, but by working out of those things that anger me, that cause me to hate, to cry a river, to have another replace their lives for mine, to curl up with such a greatness of pain that it seems it will take my own life just by the very thought of other's difficult lives.

Though to be great doesn't mean having all the answers nor being able to solve all the problems, but being an idealist, it is my hope to never stop working toward something greater than myself.

I want to be some one great who does at least one thing that is important in life. In which it will make my life more worthwhile for living and knowing I didn't waste my time here on earth thinking only about myself.

I want to be some one great!