Love & Respect Your Life

News sources are reporting that billionaire, Adolf Merckle committed suicide. The German man who was reportedly number 94 on Forbes list of the world's richest people, reportedly took his own life because he couldn't cop with his businesses' financial downturns. This tragedy shines a spotlight on the concept of what we truly value as people.

The thought that a man who had reached the highest heights of financial success would find his life meaningless without his material wealth is a sad one.

We must contemplate what we do to ourselves and others when we revere money. The Bible admonishes that "the love of money is the root of all evil."

While we should enjoy whatever financial fruits that our labor may bear, money should not be placed on a pedestal above a slew of other things, such as: God, love, life, integrity- and things along this line. Our true value and worth is found in the intangible.

Love & respect your life!

R.I.P. to Mr. Merckle, and condolences to his loved ones.

Who Is Oseola McCarty?

"Oseola McCarty, an aging washerwoman who had lived alone since 1967, felt at eighty-eight years of age that her life was nearing its completion. Since she had no living relatives, she decided to give $150,000- her entire life savings, putting away one dollar at a time- to the University of Southern Mississippi.

Oseola did this simply because it seemed the right thing to do. Her generosity touched so many people that she found herself flying across America, accepting humanitarian awards and meeting many famous people, including Whoopi Goldberg, who knelt at her feet; and Roberta Flack, who sang for her. Harvard University gave her an honorary degree; President Clinton asked to have his picture taken with her; she even carried the Olympic torch a little ways. Oseola McCarty's portrait now graces the wall in the administration building at the University of Southern Mississippi- the first portrait of a Black person to do so. She appeared on Good Morning America. Her story was on the front page of The New York Times. Barbara Walters named her one of the ten most interesting people of 1995. She was also featured in numerous magazines, such as Ebony, People, Guideposts, and Glamour. She even even appeared on British Television.

Other donors have followed Oseola's gift with more than $250,000 to her original endowment, all due to the generous heart of a hardworking woman who wanted to make a difference before going to the next world." -From, "Everyday Enlightenment" By: Dan Millman

Celebrate Your Progress

"When we do not remember to celebrate our progress, the day-to-day revelations that lead to our feeling better, what we do remember is the pain. It is the pain that keeps us stuck in our patterns." -From, "Yesterday I Cried" By Iyanla Vanzant

The Good Way To Banish Evil: Part 2

"The remedy for an absence is a presence. Evil is an absence, and therefore, it can not be healed with an absence. By hating evil, or one who is engaged in evil, you contribute to the absence of light and not to its presence.

Hatred of evil does not diminish evil, it increases it. The absence of light causes the personality to suffer. There is pain.

When you hate, you bring that suffering upon yourself. Hatred of evil affects the one who hates. It makes him or her a hateful person, a person who also has absented himself or herself from light.

Understanding evil as the absence of light does not does not require you to become passive, or to disregard evil actions or evil behavior." -From, "Seat Of The Soul" By: Gary Zukav

The Good Way To Banish Evil: Part 1

"Understanding evil as the absence of light requires you to examine the choices that you make each moment in terms of whether they move you toward light or away from it.

It allows you to look with compassion upon those who engage in evil activities, even as you challenge their activities, and thus protects you from the creation of negative karma." -From, "The Seat Of The Soul" By: Gary Zukav

Peace & Strength

With all that is going on in the world today, I thought that it would be apropos to post a couple of poems that I found on the internet regarding peace and strength. These two poems, are more like affirmations.

The first poem is called, "Peaceful Prayers." It was written by, Jude Ogunade.

"Let there be peace in the world.
Let us all see peace and not war.
Let us all have peace in the world.
Let all our statesmen know no violence,
Let all love peace with warm vehemence,
Let all be clothed with passionate patience,
Let all respect peace with real reverence.
Let peace pervade every political terrain,
Let peace calm the spirits of every domain,
Let peace be at peace with every reign,
Let each achieve peace with poor pain.

Peace, to you we plead: come to us.
Peace, we entreat you: deign on us.
Peace, we want you: envelope us.

Let our homes be adorned with peace,
Let our streets be paved with peace,
Let our cities be set on a hilltop of peace.
Let peace taint our every thought.
Let there be peace,
let peace never cease.
Let there be peace, let war forever cease." -By: Jude Ogunade

The second poem is about strength, and it was written by, Anders Lim.

"The strength to resist the night
The strength to endure the day
The strength to keep righteous paths in sight
The strength to take them without delay
The strength to find a purpose in life
The strength to find the truths it brings
The strength to kick away from strife
The strength to stabilize the rock it clings

The strength to light a friend’s day up
The strength to resist wrathful foes
The strength to fill a stranger’s dry cup
The strength to shun sin when it opposed
The strength to feel a injured man’s pain
The strength to hold a reject’s hand
The strength to act against any gain
The strength to love without demand

The strength to understand that our King
Has blessed us with more than we can contain
Therefore regardless what time may bring
The strength will continue to reign." By: Anders Lim

The Times In Which We Live...

These are the times that require us to be smart in a whole other way. We must be smart, not necessarily in what we know, but in what we do.

This is the era of reaping. We will be accountable for what we do, and what we feed into. We must not allow ourselves to fall victim to illusions. We can not allow ourselves to bolster negativity that feeds off of our naivete or our conjured up emotions of panic.

Here's to peace and balance on earth.

Stay calm and positive.