There is only one way to avoid criticism: Do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.Aristotle

Inner Life Directions

Expanding Reality

Ggids

  • Gaza Rubble Into Bricks

    Tala and Farah Mousa have won The Earth Prize from The Earth Foundation, a Geneva non-profit who has been giving prizes to people age 13 to 19.  Not only have the young sisters created Build Hope, Palestine, by finding a way to make bricks out of the rubble around them, in doing so, their work has, in the foundation’s founder’s words, empowered others. Without machinery or special equipment, they have taken the rubble, sifted it, mixed it with clay, ash or glass powder, shaped it into bricks and let them dry. The results are non-weight bearing blocks, blocks that are reusable in rebuilding many aspects of their communities.  The plan is for them to teach 100 young people, who would then teach others so that the numbers of people able to make bricks from ruble would exponentially grow. As it turned out, they had to be relocated and could not take their prototypes with them. But the method they have created stays and can now be shared with others.

    Tala and Farah are also inspiring people like me—and hopefully whomever reads about them— to see not only what hope and resilience and strength really are, but also how human beings live up to the symbol of the phoenix rising from the ashes.

  • Nesting Parties

    When I first read about nesting parties, I couldn’t help but think Yeah! They’re a new kind of baby shower, one where instead of gifts people share of themselves.  People may help prepare the nursery, paint, or put together furniture, organize what needs to be done for the baby’s arrival. It requires some thinking on the part of the host, sharing what it is they need. Perhaps it could include other things the new parents will need besides getting the home ready. How easy it would be to say I’ll give you so many hours of babysitting, or I’ll take the baby to the park so you can have a nap. The point is that it’s practical, it’s useful, it answers a need and it makes us more aware of what we have to give as humans. Pinterest now even has ideas for how to host a nesting party. If the trend continues, why not use it for wedding showers, or even birthday parties?

  • Standing Up to Evil

    Giselle Pelicot stood up to evil and won. We’ve heard a lot about her recently letting us know how courageous she’s been after being drugged by her husband for over nine years and being raped by some 70 men whom he had recruited online for just this purpose. She has, we are told, become a feminist icon. Indeed, she is so dignified, articulate, so clear about what she says and what she went through.

     The way I understand her experience is perhaps simpler. No matter how we understand evil, what her husband did fits the definition. She stood up to evil, and in standing up to that evil and in her sharing it, she shows us how to confront it and win. Likely the evil we will have to fight is different than hers, or likely come from another source, still, we can extrapolate how to stand up to it

    • We bring it out in the open regardless of consequences
    • We confront it boldly and without rose colored glasses
    • We stand up to it fearlessly
    • We remain unbowed knowing we are in the right
    • We redeem it by taking away its power over us

    And Giselle Pelicot does one more thing, she highlights the fact that like Rosa Parks before her, ordinary people can and do stand up to evil and win.

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