Creating a Strong Unified Voice

Are you jobless? Are you working poor? Are you near homelessness? Are you feeling disempowered, helpless, frustrated, angry, bewildered, invisible and unwanted--simply because our leaders ignore us and forget our real needs for us Americans? Are you tired of worrying how your children will get a sound, quality, safe education? Are you worried about how you will pay your bills, how will you maintain affordable healthcare, keep housing affordable, how you will avoid bankruptcy, and how you will avoid foreclosure? You are all these things, and much more, aren't you? Of course, you are! How many of you are wondering which bill you pay this month, or what food you can afford to buy, or which food bank do you visit this month. And if you aren't at that level yet, you worry about how long, if you have one, your job will remain in this country. And for many of you, if you are working, how many jobs -- 2 to 4 -- will you have to have just to pay for the basic things you need. The voices of all of us are unifying. We are wailing, screaming, raging, and we want safe, legal change in how the laws are used to help us and protect us. The most important thing you can do today is ask your girlfriends--give them a copy of this posting -- and ask them--"What are YOU willing to do to help change this country for the better?" Pick up the phone--write letters--send emails--to ALL your elected officials for your community, county, state, and U.S. Congress--and IF their positions do NOT help you, then VOTE--VOTE for representatives who WILL. VOTE your heart, your pocketbooks, not religious hot-button issues. You have to live with your choices and how they will be once elected. Contact women's organizations--learn what the issues are -- ask others to help you understand if you don't--but don't sit a single moment on the sidelines--You, your spouse (if you have one); your children--and your neighbors--all must unite as one voice calling for jobs to be returned; for homes and rental units made affordable; for affordable health care plans available for all; and for wiser use of taxpayers' money to be spent on these domestic issues. We cannot afford America in its current condition--can we? Be honest with yourself--it's getting harder and harder to survive...prices go up, up, up, while your salary goes down, down, down. Are you winning? If you are, congratulations! you are a rarity. If no, then join your voice to the millions across this country who need to galvanize, organize, rally, and make it clear that we matter, and we have not gone away! Please don't let the sun set before you tell others about this posting today. Get Started!!!

America' Running Out of Jobs, Homes, and Gas

Did you ever expect to see that jobs were being lost in record numbers overseas to outsourcing, the massive influx of immigrants, the loss of affordable housing, and also the loss of affordable gasoline. Too many families are pawning off prized possessions to pay for the staggering rise of fuel. Communities are drastically cutting back funding; retail stores are paying extremely high prices for goods shipped to them; affordable electricity rates have vanished...the question is: Does anyone in Washington D.C. care about us? Why the disconnect between the mainstream American and the U.S. Congress? It's not just Katrina or Rita--it's protecting jobs here and keeping companies here in the U.S. Last week the Chinese Premier Hu-Jintao and President Bush did not come to terms on the trade imbalance or currency problems the Chinese cause. The numbers here speak volumes of how our government ignores that there many millions of unemployment mothers, fathers, single adults, etc., who have been out of work for a year or longer. And no one seems to care about providing affordable housing--seeing, for example, mobile home parks being sold to developers, and the poor people who cannot afford high-end housing or condominiums, end up becoming homeless--Something is very wrong with this picture. Fuel prices over $3.00 a gallon for regular unleaded--yet a retired fuel company executive is receiving $400 million dollars as severance pay? Something is wrong with this picture. Colleges hike their tuition costs each year anywhere from 10 percent to 25 percent on average--but why do college presidents and sports coaches in universities receive millions of dollars, as poor students scrape to pay for a single course--something is wrong with this picture. Too many Americans cannot even live on $7.00 to $15.00 per hour--never mind jobs paying minimum wage. The biggest issue affecting this country and bringing it down is good, old-fashioned greed. It is wrong that our children cannot afford things, or be able to have a summer job. It is appalling to learn that people support illegal immigrants knowing that they are classified as "cheap labor", or sending the jobs overseas--calling the workers in India or China "low-cost" or "dirt-cheap". Yet, we are expected to keep our families safe, pay the bills, pay the taxes, have a car to get to jobs, etc. Americans have been betrayed by companies--they don't care about us--they care about the top executives getting cushy and comfortable. They don't believe in loyalty to its employees. Case in point: stripping health-care benefits and pensions. Call your Congressional Delegation -- tell them you've had enough! Don't excuse them, and don't look the other way. If there have been protests in 64 cities by immigrants, maybe it's time for us to do the same thing. Congress needs to see and hear directly that it MUST tend to these issues and stop playing favorites with the wealthiest. They must be told in no uncertain terms to stop punishing the poor. We can inform them that if they don't, we can all band together in our respective districts and vote them out of office in favor of people who will fight for us. We are in trouble.

One Amazing Mother

Motherhood is a vocation given by the Creator to women who do amazing miraculous things to raise, nurture, train, and grow their children into adulthood. I have an amazing true story about a woman friend who gives herself so much into her being a mother that "love equals motherhood" true embodies her. Linda, who I have had the blessed fortune to have only known a few short years, lives in the Midwestern heartland of the United States, has three children--the oldest I will save for later. Of her other two, one is a son with Autism, and a younger daughter. Linda has had to spend the better part of her time raising them. She has struggled financially to afford her place. She relies on help from various financial streams to get her through. She lives where she does due to she found an excellent place for her son's care with his autism. She has been so poor that she sacrifices meals for herself, sometimes for days, in order to make sure her children get the proper food and nourishment they need. She gives herself so completely that whenever I speak to her, she has a gleam in her eye and a peppy tone in her voice, being the proud Mommy she is, as she talks about her most prized gifts--her children. I never hear her complain about being a mother; I never hear her feel sorry for herself. She keeps a keen sense of humor, and she is such a loving woman, she is an inspiration to me. She gives totally from her want, and she never hesitates to give and give and give. She spends so much time helping her son to adjust to living in the world with Autism--it takes so much energy from her but she never complains about it and she loves this child so much. She makes sure her daughter also gets so much love and attention. This is the Linda I have come to know and love. She is a sister to me, and a wonderful girlfriend to other women. The oldest one is a son she gave up for adoption many years ago. For the first time they talked last year. She speaks so glowingly about him, and she made sure that if she could not care for him at the age she birthed him, she ensured that he would grow up cared for, fed, loved, and safe. She has hurt over this, but she did not abandon this child, nor did she abort him prior to birth. She sets a model of a loving mother who has made ultimate sacrifices. Who, like Linda, do you know of in your own lives that does with so little the many things she not can do, but does so outstandingly! How do they inspire us as women, challenge us to give beyond hurting us, to love someone so deeply that we want them safe, secure, fed, clothed, educated, nurtured, loved, celebrated and happy? Maybe it was your own mother, or your girlfriends' stories about their own mothers, or the story of a woman who raised so many of her own through adversity, painful times, and great struggles. They teach us to persist, endure with a smile, be joyful, laugh with a good sense of humor, rely on our girlfriends to help us keep our sanity, how to become leaders ourselves, how to love, how to thrive, and how never to give up for anything. One of my grandmothers raised 15 children; my other grandmother raised 13. Each suffered the pain of losing 2 respectively in childhood years. They watched the others all grow into adult years. Both grandmothers raised all their children through the First World War,Great Depression years of the 1920s and 1930s, Second World War, and into the Korean War era. They suffered greatly physically yet they never thought being a mother was a weakness. They were inspirations to me, from the stories I learned about them (one died before I was born). They made all their children's clothes by hand; they washed clothes in the old-fashioned hand-rolling washing machines and hung the wash to dry on clotheslines. They canned all their food, butchered their own meat, made their own bread, cut the wood, educated the children, and saw to it that they had a safe, secure home to live in. And they, too, did so much with so little. It takes a very special woman to be a mother--there is no textbook with your name on it that shows you how to be the mother you were meant to be--you discover the gifts you have inside you as you go along. So, take inspiration from Linda, my grandmothers, your mother, other mothers, ask yourself this question: What lesson do I need to learn today in my own womanhood, and how can I by my own example, help another? Linda, thank you for all you have taught me, this writer, and your lessons are better than all the diamonds in the world. Thank you.

The Life That Belongs to Us All

This week is a time for deep reflection and a time to celebrate the Presence of the One who made each of us, and the reasons for why we were made in the first place. It is a time to recall how, if you are Jewish or Christian, great acts of love and miracles that took place saving humankind. It is a wondrous time to acknowledge how special that we were, each of us, that the Creator, who many call God--felt it so necessary that we be born, live, and to serve God through service of our neighbor. We can recall little events that God used to preserve us, sustain us, clarify and set right our personal journeys. We can see how God protected us from harm, shielded us from hurt, helped us heal when wounded, and stood by us in times when no one else would or could. The greatest miracles are the little things that we take for granted: thinking, talking, breathing, walking, moving, eating, seeing, smelling, touching, feeling, listening, and praying. The list is endless--and the gift of each other to each other. God needs us, wants us, loves us, and helps us through all things. We are good intrinsically because God made us good to begin with! Let your inner being celebrate with great love the awesome mystery of life you have today--for it could be snatched in the next minute!! Let your voice rise to praise the One who made you--never ever take for granted this power you possess inside you. It solely comes from God and God alone. Your free will is a gift too; You ability to love and be loved is a gift also. Your capacity to have compassion, to understand human suffering and the gifts of empathy and sympathy truly also are from the same God. The gift of your dignity, your self-esteem, your unique identity and talents are all from the same mysterious God. As this writer gets older she says to herself that the older she gets the less she knows. The mystery of God and human nature expands greater every day. Do not dawdle with the days; you do not know how long you have left. Do all you can to better humanity in the little ways you do. Take the example of Elijah who became silent and humble in the Presence of God when God spoke to him in a whisper. Acknowledge each day a prayer that separates you as a mortal from the Divine God who made you. Believe that even the difficult events and circumstances God has a hand in using in your life. Nothing is wasted by God on you; nothing is truly bad--it has purpose. Remember that the very purpose of your existence is this very moment--the future has not happened, and the past is over. This moment is sacred--in it you are actualizing life as it happens. Seek good, not evil; seek love, not hate; seek peace, not war; seek resolution, not strife; seek happiness, not sadness; seek humility, not arrogance; seek gentleness, not aggressiveness; seek goodness, not bad things; and seek life, not death. Take to heart that you by your very life you lead makes you a person to emulate, and a person to look up to. You may not realize it, but you are on the stage of life and we are the audience. You are our teacher--we learn amazing things from your personal example how to live. We cannot function without you and need your lessons. You may feel you are insignificant--but you are you--and that "you" sets you apart from us. Yes, we know of famous holy people--but you have much to share and lead with too. Those holy people did not become loved or honored overnight--they did what is suggested here in this posting. The honor that you gain from God will not come due to the religion you practice; it only comes from the authentic person you are and have become. Be a living candle of light that shines hope and expectant faith and dispels darkness and despair. Give yourself freely and please do not look back. Blessings abound from small to great. And live in God every moment, every day. This is what real Life is all about. Blessings!

Passover from Violence and Death Into Peace And Life

This week 2 major religious event occur simultaneously and in the spirit of them both, let us ponder for a few moments how our world has sadly rejoiced in violence. It fills our ficticious television show and novels; it permeates and oozes in every newscasts. Many television shows make their ratings dollars in how graphically they can display dead bodies. Even how the macabre fills movies, video games, and the like. Our world has developed a delicacy for death and destruction--as long as it is not our own lives. Every day there are new horrible accounts of mass murders, suicides, IEDs, homicide after homicide. This is madness--it is not normal. We were not created by Our Maker so that someone else could strike us dead, nor for us to do the same to another human being. Our lives were designed to bear fruit, life, and purpose to those around us. We are bearers of Love--protecting life, nurturing it. We are also ambassadors for peace--a coexistence that celebrates cultural differences which the Maker intended to be and not for us to destroy. Too much killing has taken place--but there is not enough love--love that says "We cannot continue this madness-we realize that we have to learn to respect and build bridges between peoples." Every person will stand before their Maker alone and be judged. This is a common belief of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. No one escapes--yet most wars over the past 2,000 years have started over a religious disagreement. We are only human--we are unable to contain, comprehend, or fathom the Mystery of the Creator's Essence. Nor are we able to decide on the part of the Creator who is right, wrong, or both. We can only say that our words in our religions are crafted to support the tenets of whatever faith we adhere to. But words also lead to war--they can lead to peace; words can lead to hate--they can lead to love; words can lead to confusion--they can also lead to clarity. words can lead to condemnation--they can also lead to vindication; words can lead to destruction--they can also lead to edification; words can lead to insults--they can also lead to comfort; words can lead to prejudice--they can also lead to breaking down stereotypes; words can lead to lies--they can also lead to truth; words can lead to slavery--they can also lead to liberty and freedom; words can lead to death--they can also lead us to life. We are what we say--the words we use and say come subconciously from within us as a deliberate free act of our will. This day--ask yourself--which choices will you use words--for bad, or for good. Yes "Sticks and Stones may break our bones, but words can hurt me." This week find at least one person that you have hurt with your words and use good uplifting words to better your relationship with them. Words are powerful--use them wisely--the life you save may, in fact, be your own.

Congress Cannot Fund Housing for Katrina Victims, but Can Pay $29 Billion in Wasteful Projects

Okay, I promise not to stay on my soapbox, but I had to write on this one!!! Today the news media is reporting that the U.S. Congress voted to pay for $13.5 million dollars to support the World Toilet Summit in Ireland, another $500,000 for a teapot museum, $6.5 million for wood utilization research--naming a few of the $29 Billion dollars for little pork projects. This money is hard-earned taxpayers' dollars--not to be used for special interests. This money needed to be passed into the hands of the poor who need rental assistance, food assistance, education assistance, job training, child care support, and disaster relief. Instead the money was wasted on needless, useless things. Isn't it true that if we hold our peers to being financially responsible in their private lives, that we should ask the same of the elected officials in the Congress and State Legislatures??? It is not the average American who gains from these projects--only the wealthiest few. They are playing with our money and gambling it away frivolously. In a time where the economy is showing housing sales cooling, job hiring (meaning jobs that pay a decent fair wage) is anemic, and affordable housing is disappearing, for our leadership to not provide this money in higher priorities tells one thing: they don't care about the neediest. Talk is cheap--pork projects are an expensive waste. Challenge the Congress for a full explanation--you have that right to know. This is not the time for spending on luxuries...This country cannot afford it, Period.

A True Tale of Revival

Stories like the one I am going to share always warm the heart and give us pause to ponder the sanctity and beauty that life brings. The life itself in a pet brings us joy, comfort, love, and even life-lessons. The life-lesson happened to my girlfriend Rachel, who raised 2 ferrets, Charlie and Jasmine. Rachel arrived home after work to find that both ferrets this week escaped their cage and ate something poisonous. Sadly they appeared to have died. They appeared lifeless. So, sadly Rachel and her boyfriend prepared to bury them both. Rachel, wanting to view them one last time, opened the box. Charlie clearly died--but Jasmine jumped up and out of the box!!!! Needless to say, Rachel was startled, as were her son and her boyfriend!!!! Jasmine was rushed to a local veterinarian, who said that while Jasmine was poisoned and very sick, she would make a full recovery. What a story about hope, life, and love! It was amazing that Rachel was led inside herself to open the box--and out sprung life!!! Rachel shared with this writer how she was heartbroken over the apparent loss of both--and when she shared with me the great news--her sadness melted away and joy filled her. Yes, there was loss--Charlie--but all was NOT lost--Jasmine. That is the mystery of life itself. Doctors give prognoses about people everyday--saying they have so many months to live, and yet--they live for many more. Hope, faith, trust, love, and our tears get us through life. What stories of amazing events can you share that not only uplift your life--but will uplift others around you? Could it be a relationship you are having that appears dead--then something wonderful, even magical occurs--to revive and grow it beyond where it was lifeless? Could it be a difficult time in your life that appears to be failing, and all of a sudden--you turn the corner--you meet the man of your dreams, a career dream comes true, a social situation that appeared hopeless suddenly is resolved to your favor--these all have the miracle of new life in them. In the forest, when a fire occurs and scorches the earth--not all dies...In fact, the burned-away brush gives room for new life to appear. That which appeared to be dead really wasn't--it just needed to be opened and released from its box. So, today, find that box of something in your life that appears dead--open it to new air--it will spring up into new life!

American Arrogance

Whenever you go shopping for clothes, electronics, etc., the list is long as to how many products you purchase are not manufactured or assembled in the 48 contiguous United States. That's not new. But what you may NOT realize is how much workers in China, for example are paid--a few pennies per hour. That's correct! Many people there are paid less than a dollar per hour! These are workers who are making your expensive televisions, DVD players, clothing, to name a few things. When you see a hangtag on your clothes or an imprint on the electronics that says "Made in China" keep in mind the following: These people are not free. They must work or be put in prison. They do not enjoy freedom of expression--case in point is the recent prosecution of Chinese citizens using the Internet who criticized their government. They cannot worship except at state-run religions, which tow the Communist Party line. This is the same government that crushed the Tiannanmen Square bid for freedom. This is the same government that is threatening Taiwan and wants to take away their freedom. This is also the same government that radically stripped democracy from newly-reacquired Hong Kong. We are paying for them to keep people in bondage...we are paying their dirt wages so company executives in these companies can live filthy rich lives in non-Chinese countries. The same holds true for outsourcing jobs to India, where a person is paid 90 percent less of the original salary that was paid to an American worker doing the same work. This is why so many companies are failing now here in the U.S.--the greed factor is destroying our country. And also, even here in the States, where the Hispanics who are here, whether they have documentation or not--are exploited and paid dirt wages. Our government brags and says they promote freedom and justice and democracy--but--at who's expense? A just wage is a moral and virtuous right guaranteed by the Creator so people can enjoy life. Too many people are so poor and yet cannot get a fair wage. Articles proclaim that if we don't outsource, keep the immigrants, etc...the arguments claim that we would not be able to "continue enjoying low-cost items." Maybe if we started to say that if we feel we ourselves deserve a fair wage--why aren't we demanding it be given to the same flesh-and-blood people in the other countries? Why aren't we demanding boycotts of companies who are aligned with this greed factor? Why aren't we standing up for the people in need as much as people standing in churches praising their God???? If we do not amend our ways on this, we will get what we give... Did you know that we have currently only $12 Billion dollars (U.S.) of our products being sold to China, while $212 Billion is imported from there??? Something is VERY wrong with this picture. Don't be fooled by what Washington is allowing; Don't be lulled to sleep thinking the problem will go away magically. It will affect you, your life, your family's life, and your friend's lives for years to come if we don't start demanding that companies make products here--so good paying jobs will remain here on American soil. Do your homework--do research--learn about the companies, and learn what you can do to slow down the flood of jobs out of this country. It is more than outsourcing--it is the ultimate act of preserving, protecting, and upholding basic human rights for all people worldwide, not just here. Please do your part, little or big, to begin a national conversation: Are my actions in buying these products hurting the liberties and freedoms of others worldwide, and can I help bring the jobs back home? You decide...yours and my future depends on what we do collectively.

Fighting the Fight for Children

Doesn't it seem that in the past 5 years that horrid stories of abuse against children have surfaced like a volcano erupting? All the news stories about children physically, sexually, and emotionally abused. Now we have to contend with protecting children from becoming victims of online sexual predators. Now we have to protect teenage children from not only being that, but from becoming infected with HIV. Violence and death by handgun affects so many children. Recently, in my community, an 8-year-old boy brought a fully loaded handgun to his daycare. Children in many countries suffer malnutrition, horrific and barbaric acts against them by adults. Many non-custodial adults still avoid and evade paying their dutiful and owed monetary support for the children they helped create. In the United States, when 60 percent of all homeless are women and children--too many children do not enjoy a safe, affordable home. In the Darfur region of Sudan, in Appalachia in the United States, in too many places--children are in harm's way. Too many stories of "latchkey" children being alone and tragedies occur all too often with death resulting. They need us to be advocates, protectors, to be friends, and caregivers. Many children need good stable homes--free from substance abuse, violence, and sexual abuse. They need love, care, concern, esteem-building, gentleness. They need places to play; they need to be treated as children--not as little adults. They need us to stand for them--to be the responsible adult voice who will intervene on their behalf for their safety, health, growth, and protection. That child we save today may be tomorrow's U.S. president; that girl we protect may be tomorrow's CEO; that boy who is turned inward may be tomorrow's astronaut. We need to help children believe that while this world is unstable, and in spots unsafe, it is still a world where dreams do come true. We can help them realize and fulfill those dreams. A famous golfer spoke recently how he places his millions into childrens' development centers and said that this brought more joy to him than a single golf stroke (Tiger Woods on CBS "60 Minutes") Bill Gates, his wife Melinda, and the singer Bono were declared Time Magazine's 2005 Persons of the Year for their humanitarian efforts. We all have a gift to share--we can pass on goodness, light, hope, love, patience, creativity, gentleness, encouragement, peace, faith, knowledge, morality, sound ethics--to the greatest investment of all--children. This is the best investment than all the money ever invested on Wall Street. We must strengthen laws to protect children..it is our moral, civic, ethical and social duty as adults. They will thank you later as adults.