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Well, I lost three paragraphs of content after attempting to switch from no scripts to scripts on dream-width. So, I'm back here - because dream-width won't let me do cut-tags. And I can't write an entry without cut-tags.
What I learned today:
1. According to Fox News - 70% of people graduate with a high school diploma, and often late. Since we all know how reliable Fox News is, I found a second source - according to the Alliance for Excellence in Education (PDF so need scripts to read it): "Sixty-nine percent of high school students graduate from high school with a regular diploma each year. The graduation rate varies significantly between race groups, ranging from a graduation rate of only 50 percent for Native Americans, up to 79 percent for Asians." This is US statistics. I have no clue what they are internationally.
2. At church we sang The Internationale - but before we did so, we got a story about why we were singing it and what it meant. Also lyrics. Since neither match what I found on the internet, I am writing them here.
The lyrics to this version of The Internationale come from a woman whose family fought the Nazis, at the age of 14 her mother went to school during the day, wrote for her student paper, while at night she helped blow up bridges to stop the Nazis. Growing up in the US, her mother would not permit her to participate in singing any national anthems or the pledge of alliegance because they brought up negative memories of NAZI Propaganda and pomp and circumstance. However, there was one anthem her mother permitted her to sing - and this was The Internationale.
The lyrics are behind the cut below.
( The Internationale )
Then we sang the old Cole Porter Tune - Don't Fence Me In. (Hee - the Libertarian anthem.)
3. And this was immediately followed by the following - Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion. This was the result of Karen Armstrong winning the TED Prize and her wish was to create, launch and propagate a Charter for Compassion. In 2009 it was unveiled to the world.
From Farscape:
John Crichton: Show some compassion, they haven't hurt you in any way and they could have, they are merely trying to escape more pain and get back to their homes
Aeryn: compassion? what is this?
John Crichton: feeling for someone other than yourself, caring what they feel, not wanting them to feel pain, empathy...
Aeryn: We don't feel that. That's weakness.
Crichton: I'm on the wrong side. I'm going back.
Here's the text of The Charter of Compassion:
( Text of The Charter of Compassion )
A man who had lived with Aids/HIV for over 28 years, with his partner of 28 years, spoke about being a church-going atheist, about buddhism, about living positively, and about tolerance. He said the Buddhist prayer is:
Life and Death are the two most important things, and are not to be taken lightly, time is short, a life squandered is not lived, do not squander your life, Awaken.
(Which resulted in me spending the next hour convincing myself that I had not squandered my life. I decided that I hadn't in case you're curious.) He said that being told you were going to die and not to have it actually happen is an amazing thing - it changes you. Prayer, he said, does not change things, but it can change people. And that's when he recited the prayer - I provided above.
Here in this church, he told us, sit a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist, an Agonistic, a Atheist, all side by side - who share similar goals if different theologies and philosophies. The goals are where we can come together. We can appreciate each others differences. We are a colony of living beings on this earth. The human body - 90% of it is not made up of human cells. The rest are largely bacteria and fungus, all of which are necessary for us to live. We are colonies of living matter. Our earth is a living being, made up of all of us together. Finding a way to overcome differences and live together in love should be the main goal.
The work-week is hard, at times I feel battered to a pulp by it and those racing and chatting and fighting around me. Their anger. Their frustration. Their needs - not always, but often, at direct conflict to my own.
( the continued and insane fight over the Mosque being built at Ground Zero )
Today I was reminded of how precious life is and how lucky I am. While far from perfect - I do have things in my life, many don't. And the ability to help, that others do not have. Compassion - it's such a simple word. Tis a gift to be simple, a gift to be kind, and to dance, oh just to dance...an old shaker dance hymn. The shakers did not believe in any institutions, marriage or religion, outside of just dancing. There's something to be said for that. Also may explain why there aren't that many shakers still around. To dance. To sing. To laugh. To play. To work at something that makes you feel as if you are contributing accomplishing helping society in some small way. To accomplish. To love.
Ways to fight off anger, and hate. Hate which tears and rips and derails. If I have one prayer for myself and you, whoever or wherever you may be, dear reader - it is this, that hate does not touch you in any way this week either in thought or in deed. That you are able to avoid it at least for this week and maybe the next. Or just for tomorrow...maybe that's all I can ask.
What I learned today:
1. According to Fox News - 70% of people graduate with a high school diploma, and often late. Since we all know how reliable Fox News is, I found a second source - according to the Alliance for Excellence in Education (PDF so need scripts to read it): "Sixty-nine percent of high school students graduate from high school with a regular diploma each year. The graduation rate varies significantly between race groups, ranging from a graduation rate of only 50 percent for Native Americans, up to 79 percent for Asians." This is US statistics. I have no clue what they are internationally.
2. At church we sang The Internationale - but before we did so, we got a story about why we were singing it and what it meant. Also lyrics. Since neither match what I found on the internet, I am writing them here.
The lyrics to this version of The Internationale come from a woman whose family fought the Nazis, at the age of 14 her mother went to school during the day, wrote for her student paper, while at night she helped blow up bridges to stop the Nazis. Growing up in the US, her mother would not permit her to participate in singing any national anthems or the pledge of alliegance because they brought up negative memories of NAZI Propaganda and pomp and circumstance. However, there was one anthem her mother permitted her to sing - and this was The Internationale.
The lyrics are behind the cut below.
( The Internationale )
Then we sang the old Cole Porter Tune - Don't Fence Me In. (Hee - the Libertarian anthem.)
3. And this was immediately followed by the following - Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion. This was the result of Karen Armstrong winning the TED Prize and her wish was to create, launch and propagate a Charter for Compassion. In 2009 it was unveiled to the world.
From Farscape:
John Crichton: Show some compassion, they haven't hurt you in any way and they could have, they are merely trying to escape more pain and get back to their homes
Aeryn: compassion? what is this?
John Crichton: feeling for someone other than yourself, caring what they feel, not wanting them to feel pain, empathy...
Aeryn: We don't feel that. That's weakness.
Crichton: I'm on the wrong side. I'm going back.
Here's the text of The Charter of Compassion:
( Text of The Charter of Compassion )
A man who had lived with Aids/HIV for over 28 years, with his partner of 28 years, spoke about being a church-going atheist, about buddhism, about living positively, and about tolerance. He said the Buddhist prayer is:
Life and Death are the two most important things, and are not to be taken lightly, time is short, a life squandered is not lived, do not squander your life, Awaken.
(Which resulted in me spending the next hour convincing myself that I had not squandered my life. I decided that I hadn't in case you're curious.) He said that being told you were going to die and not to have it actually happen is an amazing thing - it changes you. Prayer, he said, does not change things, but it can change people. And that's when he recited the prayer - I provided above.
Here in this church, he told us, sit a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist, an Agonistic, a Atheist, all side by side - who share similar goals if different theologies and philosophies. The goals are where we can come together. We can appreciate each others differences. We are a colony of living beings on this earth. The human body - 90% of it is not made up of human cells. The rest are largely bacteria and fungus, all of which are necessary for us to live. We are colonies of living matter. Our earth is a living being, made up of all of us together. Finding a way to overcome differences and live together in love should be the main goal.
The work-week is hard, at times I feel battered to a pulp by it and those racing and chatting and fighting around me. Their anger. Their frustration. Their needs - not always, but often, at direct conflict to my own.
( the continued and insane fight over the Mosque being built at Ground Zero )
Today I was reminded of how precious life is and how lucky I am. While far from perfect - I do have things in my life, many don't. And the ability to help, that others do not have. Compassion - it's such a simple word. Tis a gift to be simple, a gift to be kind, and to dance, oh just to dance...an old shaker dance hymn. The shakers did not believe in any institutions, marriage or religion, outside of just dancing. There's something to be said for that. Also may explain why there aren't that many shakers still around. To dance. To sing. To laugh. To play. To work at something that makes you feel as if you are contributing accomplishing helping society in some small way. To accomplish. To love.
Ways to fight off anger, and hate. Hate which tears and rips and derails. If I have one prayer for myself and you, whoever or wherever you may be, dear reader - it is this, that hate does not touch you in any way this week either in thought or in deed. That you are able to avoid it at least for this week and maybe the next. Or just for tomorrow...maybe that's all I can ask.