Mar 6, 2008

Remember tonight...for it is the beginning of always.



I carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart)
i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Mar 3, 2008

Feb 6, 2008

Someone once said: the most important thing in life is LOVE...



I recently read somewhere "Our mother is the teacher who first teaches us love, the most important subject in life". "Without my mother I could never have known how to love. Thanks to her I can love my neighbors. Thanks to her I can love all living beings. Through her I acquired my first notions of understanding, loving unconditionally and compassion."

"Sometimes we must ignore what
others know of ourselves as seen through their eyes and the world around them, and delve deep into our own selves to find who we truly are. In order to be truly capable of loving another human being one must remember that it's not necessary to search for meaning in other people or their own agendas; just be confident of your own distinct gifts, challenges and dreams".

There are many different ways to love someone (even yourself), love is the continual act of unconditionally putting the needs of others before your own.

As I listen to this song tonight (for the millionth time), I sit in awe, deeply immersed in my own thoughts. I've never heard lyrics so beautiful! The best words ever written to describe what love truly is.






Jan 25, 2008

Tingles in silly places

"be more open to the mystery of LIFE and be open to thinking the mystery IS where you'll find love AND peace."


Jan 24, 2008

Somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond


somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

[ee cummings]



Jan 22, 2008

My Sister, My Angel.


21, that's how how old you would've been today. I miss you. I miss the 2 and a half year old sister I had running around, calling my name, singing my songs, repeating 'bad' words. What would life have given you had it not been taken away? I wonder, but it's impossible to imagine. You look down and see what life has given us so far, and I'm sure you're smiling. Sometimes I wonder why it is that those who have lost so much are still able to smile and why is it that those who have been given so much are unable to.

I smile, a lot. Most of the time. I am thankful and I have peace in my heart for the most part. But we wouldn't be human if we didn't lose ourselves on occasion. It's in the weak, vulnerable moments that we are truly reminded of how fragile we can be, it is also in those moments that we are reminded of our strengths. Thanks to you I am strong and I've learned to see life for the beauty it has - even when that beauty is on occasion clouded with smoke. You have given me a life's lesson that has changed me and bettered me for ever. Your death has thought me how to truly love. Fair trade? Afraid not, however the greatest gift I've ever been given.

I miss you and I carry you in my heart, always, my little Chicca.
TVB



Jan 11, 2008

The Call


I have heard it all my life,
A voice calling a name I recognized as my own.

Sometimes it comes as a soft-bellied whisper.
Sometimes it holds an edge of urgency.

But always it says:
Wake up my love. You are walking asleep.
There's no safety in that!

Remember what you are
and let this knowing take you home to the Beloved with every breath.
Hold tenderly who you are
and let a deeper knowing colour the shape of your humanness.

There is no where to go.

What you are looking for is right here.

Open the fist clenched in wanting and see what you already hold in your hand.

There is no waiting for something to happen, no point in the future to get to.

All you have ever longed for is here in this moment, right now.

You are wearing yourself out with all this searching.

Come home and rest.
How much longer can you live like this?
Your hungry spirit is gaunt, your heart stumbles.
All this trying. Give it up!

Let yourself be one of the God-mad,
faithful only to the Beauty you are.

Let the Lover pull you to your feet and hold you close, dancing even when fear urges you to sit this one out.

Remember- there is one word you are here to say with your whole being.

When it finds you, give your life to it.

Don't be tight-lipped and stingy.

Spend yourself completely on the saying.

Be one word in this great love poem we are writing together.


© Oriah Mountain Dreamer, from 'The Call', 2003

[Thanks to Jon for introducing me to this brilliant brilliant author]

Jan 10, 2008

"Children are always a good thing, devoutly to be wished for and fiercely to be fought for."

Pray tell, my brother,
Why do dictators kill
and make war?
Is it for glory; for things,
for beliefs, for hatred,
for power?
Yes, but more,
because they can.




INFANTICIDE:
In law, the killing of a child under 12 months old, and more generally, any killing of a newborn child. It is often seen as a method of population control, especially among hunter-gatherers and nomadic societies where it may be impossible for a mother to carry around more than one small child and still perform the tasks necessary for survival.

In some societies, especially in India and China, more girls are killed than boys because of the higher value placed on male offspring. It is estimated that more than one million children worldwide are killed each year because they are born female. Infanticide may also be practiced on deformed or sick infants or for religious or ritual purposes; in some African societies twin births are thought to be supernatural and the twins are left to die. Although relatively rare, cases of infanticide today receive wide media coverage. The number of children killed by their parents is probably much higher than statistics suggest, however, as many infant deaths are never officially recognized as infanticide. Women offenders are usually perceived as being psychologically unstable and receive non-custodial or psychiatric sentences, while men almost always receive prison sentences.

In China it is important to have boys, as only boys can carry on the family name and honour the ancestors. This preference for male children has led to approximately 10,000 female infants being killed in China each year (1996), and along with the abortion of female fetuses has resulted in a sex ratio of 131 males to 100 females (1997); worldwide the ratio is 105 males to 100 females. In rural areas of China it is even higher; in one county, the ratio of live male births to female in 1995 was 316 to 100. In China, couples are permitted one, at most two, children. Too frequently a girl is a disappointment. But Chinese society is throwing away its little girls at an astounding rate. For every 100 girls registered at birth, there are now 118 little boys - in other words, nearly one seventh of Chinese girl babies are going missing. "Some of those girls are alive, they are just not registered," says Professor Zhai Zhenwu, of Beijing's People's University. "Some are abandoned, but many are aborted when the parents find out the fetus is a girl. Stop the quiet killing spree in India, China, and other countries that practice female infanticide and feticide.

The following photos are heart breaking but I feel it is important to show that such barbaric, savage, inhuman events take place nearly every day and it would be too convenient and too easy neglecting them. The world needs to see, and people need to be informed of the atrocities that take place. Is this how we value human life?




http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-women2jan02,1,2391876.story?track=rss


vergognoso!!!!


OGNI COMMENTO E' SUPERFLUO!!!!

Le immagini che seguono sono estremamente dure, però riteniamo doveroso mostrarle, perché fatti così gravi non devono passare inosservati. Il mondo deve sapere, la gente deve essere informata di quanto accade in Cina, di come possa disumanamente divenire normalità il disprezzo per la vita.

Una bimba appena nata giace morta sotto il bordo del marciapiedi, nella totale indifferenza di coloro che passano.
La piccina è solo un'altra vittima della politica crudele del governo cinese che pone il limite massimo di un solo figlio nelle città (due nelle zone rurali), con aborto obbligatorio.
Nel corso della giornata, la gente passa ignorando il bebè.
Automobili e biciclette passano schizzando fango sul cadaverino.

Di quelli che passano, solo pochi prestano attenzione.

La neonata fa parte delle oltre 1000 bambine abbandonate appena nate ogni anno, in conseguenza della politica del governo cinese.
L'unica persona che ha cercato di aiutare questa bambina ha dichiarato:
'Credo che stesse già per morire, tuttavia era ancora calda e perdeva sangue dalle narici'.
Questa signora ha chiamato l'Emergenza però non è arrivato nessuno.

'Il bebè stava vicino agli uffici fiscali del governo e molte persone passavano ma nessuno faceva nulla... Ho scattato queste foto perché era una cosa terribile...'
'I poliziotti, quando sono arrivati, sembravano preoccuparsi più per le mie foto che non per la piccina...'

In Cina, molti ritengono che le bambine siano spazzatura.
Il governo della Cina, il paese più popoloso del mondo con 1,3 miliardi di persone, ha imposto la sua politica di restrizione della natalità nel 1979.
I metodi usati però causano orrore e sofferenza: i cittadini, per il terrore di essere scoperti dal governo, uccidono o abbandonano i propri neonati.
Ufficialmente, il governo condanna l'uso della forza e della crudeltà per controllare le nascite; però, nella pratica quotidiana, gli incaricati del controllo subiscono tali pressioni allo scopo di limitare la natalità, che formano dei veri e propri 'squadroni dell'aborto'. Questi squadroni catturano le donne 'illegalmente incinte' e le tengono in carcere finché non si rassegnano a sottoporsi all'aborto.

In caso contrario, i figli 'nati illegalmente' non hanno diritto alle cure mediche, all'istruzione, né ad alcuna altra assistenza sociale. Molti padri vendono i propri 'figli illegali' ad altre coppie, per evitare il castigo del governo cinese.
Essendo di gran lunga preferito il figlio maschio, le bambine rappresentano le principali vittime della limitazione delle nascite.

Normalmente le ragazze continuano a vivere con la famiglia dopo del matrimonio e ciò le rende un vero e proprio un peso.

Nelle regioni rurali si permette un secondo figlio, ma se anche il secondo è una femmina, la cosa rappresenta un disastro per la famiglia.
Secondo i dati delle statistiche ufficiali, il 97,5% degli aborti è rappresentato da feti femminili.
Il risultato è un forte squilibrio di proporzioni fra popolazione masch ile e femminile. Milioni di uomini non possono sposarsi, da ciò consegue il traffico di donne.
L'aborto selezionato per sesso sarebbe proibito dalla legge, però è prassi comune corrompere gli addetti per ottenere un'ecografia dalla quale conoscere il sesso del nascituro.
Le bambine che sopravvivono finiscono in precari orfanatrofi.
Il governo cinese insiste con la sua politica di limitare le nascite e ignora il problema della discriminazione contro le bambine.

Alla fine, un uomo raccolse il corpo della bambina, lo mise in una scatola e lo gettò nel bidone della spazzatura.

Dec 21, 2007

Nonostante tutto, ti penso.



A volte mi sembra un sogno, a volte mi sembra un'incubo.

Abbiamo avuto 'bassi' e 'alti', piu' bassi che alti, ma nonostante tutto ti ho sempre voluto bene, e a modo tuo, tu hai sempre voluto bene a me. Avrei voluto dirti tante cose, avrei voluto abbracciarti di piu' e magari volerti anche piu' bene - forse non l'ho fatto, o forse tu non mi hai lasciata. Adesso, con il passare degli anni, con la maturita' e avendo capita me stessa maeglio tramite le nostre esperience, tragedie ed episodi della vita apprezzo e ricordo solo cio' che porto dentro di me che e' in parte anche tuo. Se sono chi sono lo devo anche a te, ed e' attraverso me (e i miei fratelli) che teniamo vivo il tuo spirito, la tua gioia di vivere e il tuo amore per il tuo paese e la tua gente. Di questo io sono fiera.

Buon Natale, ovunque tu sia - da chi continua a volerti bene.
Tua figlia, Nina

Dec 19, 2007

This Time of Year




Around Christmas time it has become a tradition of mine to watch the movie “Love Actually”. I guess when I like something I seem to stick with it and this movie has certainly stuck with me - I love it! This time as I watch it I find a slightly different type of pleasure in it, perhaps is due to a different state of mind that enables me to see things differently and also the state of the heart which rules how I ‘Feel’, and of course this last one is the state that matters most :)

With that in mind I post this song [above]. It is the perfect song, the perfect scene and the perfect voice to describe my state of mind AND state of my heart.

Merry Christmas
Buon Natale
Geseënde Kersfees
Milad Majid
Natale hilare et Annum Faustum!
Feliz Navidad




Peace on Earth