Hope 4 America

Some Space for Life

photo by Craig Smith

The
enduring
wisdom
of
taking
pleasure
in
the
everyday

Nonviolent Redemptive Goodwill

" I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will will proclaim the rule of the land." ~ Dr. Martin Luther King

Changing Our Thinking ~ Can Change Our Actions

Passion: The Great Builder of Hope

"To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves." (Gandhi)

"Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of civilization." (Daniel Webster)

"When I was a kid, I had an aunt and uncle who had a dairy farm. I remember all the wondeful things about farm life...the richness of the food ....just the way the milk tasted when it came right from the cow. There was something really wonderful about that, to be able to grow up with more of nature around, more of an idea of what the whole cycle of the earth was about." (EmmyLou Harris)

"We eat every day, and if we do it in a way that doesn't recognize value, it's contributing to the destruction of our culture and agriculture. But if it's done with focus and care, it can be a wonderful thing. It changes the quality of your life....People have always foraged during the seasons for what was closeby. They picked it and brought it to the marketplaces, and they sold it to people in the neighborhood. People brought it home, cooked it, and ate it with their families. It's a....sacred ritual....around the world." (Alice Waters)

"If you get a tomato that's grown with care ~ the difference is profound." (Dave Matthews)
"The glory of the farmer is that, in the division of labors, it is his part to create. All trade rests at last on his primitive activity. He stands close to Nature; he obtains from the earth the bread and the meat. The food which was not, he causes to be." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

"Give me fresh corn and wheat, give me serene-moving animals teaching content...." (Walt Whitman)

~ selected excerpts from the book: "Farm Aid: A Song For America"

These Mountains

The Rocky Mountains

"The whole Western world is,
in a sense, but
an expansion of these mountains."

~Walt Whitman

Alternatives: Save Lives

windmills

The Deaths of 12 West Virginia Coal Miners

This week's slow torcherous deaths of 12 West Virginia coal miners trapped and unable to be rescued 2 miles (1300 feet) into the earth ~ should give us pause to reflect on the fact that hard working coal mining families have to risk their lives to give us energy derived from coal which is a dirty, non-renewable and potentially deadly source for energy. We have to come past this archaic way of fueling power that endangers the health and lives of dedicated workers and which is also a component that adds to the pollution of our environment.

Earlier in American history there was little choice. But, today it is different. The senseless loss of life, generation after generation, for coal does not have to go on forever, anymore. The clean, renewable, safe, above-ground energies of wind and solar are readily available to become major fueling sources as soon as we wish to make it so.

My heart goes out to the coal miners in West Virginia and coal miners and their families everywhere.

Limitlessness

.....is when you are, for a short time, in a space and time that feels like endless peace.

photo by Craig Smith

You Must Be What You Are Seeking....and You Must Seek To Be What You Understand

I understand transcendence through beauty, love, kindness, limitlessness, and peace.

Opening up to more healthy experiences in the area of transcendence increases the joy in life ~ no matter what our individual paths may be. These simple things can be found anywhere when you plug into them. They happen when you are with nature, and when you are with music, and when you are with the dance of life. Beauty, love, kindness, limitlessness, and peace ~ are found in everything that is in harmony with the flow of life.

By looking in the right direction, all of life has the potential to improve. Let's make the year 2006 the year of transcendence through a whole lot of good things. ~ Patty Ann Smith

What We All Have In Common

photo by Craig Smith

"Regardless of our individual religious beliefs, what we all have in common is the Creator within each of us...God within...Christ Consciousness...etc. And, unless we have that...our Higher Consciousness cannot bloom." ~ Patty Ann Smith

"There's no right way to look at the world ~ there's only your perspective, my perspective, and the other guys perspective. It's only about our individual perspectives." ~ Buddhist

"Stress is just a resistance to what is."

"In the cycle of the sun, we have the shortest day of the year in the month of December and after that, comes the return of more light."...."Let there be light. This coming year, look for that which is meaningful and valuable in your life. We can all remember the Tsunami last December and hurricane Katrina this past August and September. It's good to always remember that you can work all your life for something and in seconds it can be gone. It's good to remember...and, also, to never forget to be grateful." ~ Patty Ann Smith