Sandcastles

suppose you're going to be famous for one thing; what do u want it to be? with recent news as the poverty iceberg truly begins to drip, is it too lofty for us to aim to melt every drop to help us help the helpless?

i refuse to waste my life with/in a silly sandcastle that will inevitably return to sand. there's sandcastles all over the world, some with millions invested in them, others with weeping evacuees hiding behind them, every last one of them yearns more by the day, hungry and thirsty for more than any aid program, any possession could provide. the thought of all those who will never see or realize there is nothing here to satisfy us, only to hold, inspire, and remind us, because we were made for a whole other world we do not know! i want that to always turbo charge every thing i do. i want to reach out from that world, because i feel its evidence surrounding me, and i want to share it, because it burns so warmly and powerfully within me.

"If you have built castles in the air, Your work need not be lost;that is where they should be। Now put foundations under them." -Thoreau

my greatest fear isn't of failing, its succeeding at something that doesn't matter.
succeeding without having the time, interest or energy to keep an open,
available heart, to help plant and harvest along the way a field that will reap in the world that waits patiently for us.

I got involved with the One campaign last summer, and had been trying to get a job with their offices in DC but was quickly disappointed by complacency. In only one year, an audience of millions joined with the desire to allocate one percent of GDP to poverty. And due to responsiveness, they're expanding five more years, but seemingly only planning to lobby the Government, and recruit more individuals to sign the petition.

"Laughter is an affection arising from the sudden transformation of a strained expectation into nothing." -Immanuel Kant

What about consumers? And corporations? I was a bit too eager for call to action I suppose। Among my hopes were launching a college tour with ambitious, inspirational speakers to challenge a change, while promoting organizations (one's affiliates) who place people on the ground domestically and internationally to help (spring break trips, plus summer, and winter projects as well).

Government cannot resolve the issue of poverty single-handedly, because in corrupted systems such as Africa, those people need more than just money. They need the knowledge to develpe systems, backed up by hope from individuals who are contributing to the change. One of my biggest dreams is for more trusted means of assisting, streams that become integrated in people's lifestyles, such as credit cards with premiums that go to specific groups, etc... So much to be done, so much ability to help. I just wanna dive in.

Hope you're in good company, especially considering that most of the time, that's all that seems to matter. I love it how just one thing, one contact, or one person, can make a whole little mini-chapter of life fit perfectly into everything else.Grace and Peace- Always. Whatever you choose to do tomorrow, I look forward to following it.

Considering that our only purpose here is to build the kingdom of Heaven, make me more transparent everyday; share and reveal, to all who hunger and thirst, the God whose love for them they never knew.

"There can be no progress if people have no faith in tomorrow." -JFK

"It is hope that maintains most of mankind." -Sophocles

Anyways

I love the grace in this, but do not know the originator...it is not my own work, just my aim.







"People are often unreasonable,
illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
People may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be Kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and
some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis.
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway. "

Time has Shown me, Infinity within Me

stumbled along a lovely perspective today

.... With every second that we breath, in each minute that our short lives tick, and in each
hour that we ponder, know that love so deep and pure lies buried below our surface like the sea that stirs our heart and the wind that swirls through our souls. We are - all of us - only bound by the limits of our own imagination - so dream on.

I have lived in Africa for 12 years, and also just returned from 4 years in Afghanistan and India. Seen a lot, learned something too, the most important being a reverence for all people on our planet who share the air that we breath, the land that we walk upon; and love, a common language to break down barriers and open closed doors! In overcoming hatred, fear, racism, chains and injustice we are expected to give back more than we take out, that way every drop of good is a drop in the 'good ocean'.

In a world of dust and bullets, every day love shines through, strong and hard, because deep inside we are bound by a common destiny, intricately woven together like a single story; the letters and words that brings our collective tapestry together. Knowing that pain in one is suffering in all, good people struggle for truth over dishonesty, though often against the flow of lifes tide. With love, all is suddenly possible, uncertainty evaporates and hope emerges like the morning first photon, the first flicker of a candle, the first drop of rain after drought.

We are born with nothing but our senses and take nothing but our experiences when we go. We do not take our cars, planes, bank balance and guitars - life is a zero sum game on the capital front! So what do we take from life? The only enduring form of growth - is spiritual. Each and every moment lived is an opportunity for interaction with the world of other people. An opportunity to be at one; whether standing still in quite contemplation or spinning wildly out of control. The love that you take is equal to the love that you make - an interminable law of nature.

Life too is a story of roads not taken; of choices, of consequences, of gains and losses, of happiness and regrets, of love found and love torn apart. Yet, in each and every action, there is a Violet Symphony - an invisible feel - that guides us on. A winding road that brings us to the centre of the storm! A love that keeps you warm when winter bites hard! A smile that lights the way ahead! An unexpected stranger who makes your day and turns your life around! A fleeting touch or kiss that will be remembered until your dying breath! Of new adventures, young and old, beginning and ending.

Violet Symphony captures the spirit and mood of reflection and rebirth - of twilight days, denial and rediscovery, the pulse of life's rock and roll. Written and composed between late 2005 and spring 2006, and recorded at Sound Advice recording studios in New Delhi, India, Violet Symphony explores the spiritual journey of roads both taken and untaken; of highs to lows - stops to goes. The album is the synthesis of more than a little dreaming and scheming, bought to life by a serendipitous union of people from different backgrounds around a common purpose. In musical terms this is a distinctive mix of the 'alternative'; essential and vivid listening. The album was mastered in the UK.

This space, your space, virtual space, is an opportunity for learning, giving, loving and only taken what has been freely gifted. Live the life, live the dream.

jbrookerocks