Compassion or Judgment.

We pass this world but once as the poet says. How then shall we live our lives in this world?

Everone has problems. We all have our burdens to bear. There is always so much to do but very little time in which to do it all.

Most of us are basically good and we want to do good. There is so much going on in the world for us to take in, reflect on and make a decision whether to take any action in response. So how do we respond?

We can criicise, we can condemn mistakes made and bad decisions. We can disagree with someone else's viewpoint vehemently with pure vitriol in your voice or in what you write.

Why not instead, listen and help if you can. Show understanding. Sympathise, empathise, share in the pain of another

Show compassion, do not pronounce judgment.

Stewards or Masters.

We are human beings, the highest form of life in this world. We have been given intelligence, the ability to reason and free will. We have technology with which we have invented weapons to destroy the largest and the most aggressive animal there are. Our techology enables us to use the earth's resources to give us comfortable lives, at least the lives of people with the financial capacity and the power to acquire and harness resources.

So, we have the brains and the ability to decide what happens in this world. If you believe, then you know the world was created by God and Man was created by God. How do we deal with the rest of God's creation? If you do not believe in God and only in science, how do you see yourself with regard to nature, natural resources and animals?

Whether you believe in God or not, what do you think is your position in this world? If you are Christian, you know you are created in God's image. You would have read Genesis on the creation of the world, all creatures and us. So as the "superior"
beings, can we then be the dictators of Earth with the right to unleash death and destruction as we please? Are we masters of our own universe able to wield our "clubs" at will? Or, do we have a responsibility?

If you believe God created this world and all in it and in the skies,do we not have to account to God for the way we have used his creation. Even if you do not believe in God, do you not adhere to some morality which govern your actions? Do we use and abuse, our actions always based on selfishness and indulgence? I say no. Whatever your beliefs, you need to recognise the connection with all other living creatures. You have to answer if not to a God you believe in, to ourself and your conscience.

We are stewards of this world and all in and around it. Please take care of it.





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A New Life Together.

When two people find each other and decide to spend the rest of their lives together, all who love them celebrate. Love is the greatest thing in life.

Not everyone is lucky enough to find a partner. Some choose a life dedicated to God, a life full of love, the love of God and of His creation. Some make the choice of excluding the love of that one person while giving an all encompassing love to God.

Those who find that special one and chose a life with her/him are also blessed by God. Why do people cry at weddings? I do. It is the wonder of the love felt betwen two persons. It is overwhelming.

Today my nephew marries a wonderful girl against a beautiful backdrop of autumn glory. This post is dedicated to our dear Armand and Amanda. May your new life together flourish with God's blessings.

The Saint and the Animals.

Tomorrow is the 4th of October. It is the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology/the environment in the Christian calendar. It is also World Animals Day.

You see how animals and the environment are grouped together, all part of God's creation, part of this world. Why should we give this respect and consideration to animals? Like it or not, there is a bond between human beings and animals, a special bond between living, feeling beings.

St Francis recognised this special bond. He preached to birds and other animals. He believed that we like the animals, should sing praise to God our creature. There is the story of St Francis and the wolf of Grubbo. This wolf was terrorising the town and all in it. St Francis was able to get the wolf to stop its reigh of terror and had a pact made between the town and the wolf. The toown people would feed the wolf and it would leave them in peace.

St Francis called animals his brothers and sisters. He saw a oneness between animals and us that many never want to see. This was in the 16th century A.D! He wrote the Canticle of the Creatures praising God's creatures and God. There is a plaque in the garden of St Claire, a follower of Francis, inscribed with this song of praise. I want to see it myself some day. Its in Italian but so what? I will lay my hands on it and run through each word.

St Francis was a lot more. He gave up everything to help the needy, to preach God's Word including peace. Even the Muslims repected him and he was given safe passage to the Holy Land. The St Francis Assisi Prayer for Peace was written to embody the spirit by which he lived, was written during the First World War. Read also and enjoy Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Sermon of St Francis. You may not be religious but he was a good man loved God and all life.

So, tomorrow, pat and praise your animals, know that they are God's creatures too and think of what you can do for ecology.

Peace be upon you.

Organic Farming.

When we eat organic food, we do not take in chemicals including pesticides. Animals are given antibiotics for growth and as a peventive because of the crowded, unhealthy non organic animal husbandry. Animals are treated more humanely in organic husbandry. In the US, the percentage of pesticides on non organic fruits is high ranging from about 93% for apples. Do we need all these toxins in our bodies?

There is more. Non organic farming with the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides result in carbon dioxide emission. It's the other way around for organic farming, Organic farming results in the absorption of carbon dioxide. I read that an acre of organic farmed land absorbs 3.25 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The pollutants from non organic farming are washed into rivers and sream, to contaminate them and destroy acquatic life.

Yes organic food is more expensive. That is largely due to the small market. The more people who eat organic, the more the prices will come down. With a larger market, more farmers will switch to organic farming. It is true that the prices of organic food are higher partly due to the fact it is more labour intensive. Organic animal husbandry takes up more space.Think of what you will save in terms of your health and the health of your families.

Go organic for goodness sake!