A Love Letter To You

Did I ever tell you that I love you?
If not, I'm sorry to have waited so long.
In you I see myself.
In you I see eternity.
In you I see God/Allah/Buddha/Whatever-
You-Call-That-Which-Created-All-Of-This.
You are my teacher.
When you act out of love,
I find that within myself which is love.
When you act out of fear and judgment
I find that place within me
that fears and judges.
You are that sweet, innocent baby
that has become a man or woman.
You are the man or woman
who will let go into death.
You are more than a man or woman,
birth or death.
You are life manifesting itself in this moment.
Did I ever tell you that I love you?

DISAPPOINTED! But not surprised...

The announcement by Obama that is expected this Tuesday, which will mean the deployment of 25,000 or more additional troops to Afghanistan, is big-time disappointing to me, but I am not surprised.

I'm mostly sad.

Sad that our government hasn't admitted that you can't win a "war on terror" by terrorizing a part of the world.

Sad that soldiers coming home with PTSD and other ailments and injuries are given some meds and then sent back into war.

Sad for the mothers and fathers who will never see their son or daughter again - American parents, British parents, Afghan parents, Iraqi parents - people who loved their children.

Sad that it will take $1 million per soldier per year to pay for this escalation while people here and abroad are hurting financially.


From MidEast Dispatches: Where Will They Get the Troops? : Preparing Undeployables for the Afghan Front

In a grim November 3rd Wall Street Journal piece (buried inside the paper), Yochi Dreazen reported record suicide rates for a stressed-out U.S. Army. Sixteen soldiers killed themselves in October alone, 134 so far this year, essentially ensuring that last year's "record" of 140 suicides will be broken. This represents a startling 37% jump in suicides since 2006 and, for the first time, puts the suicide rate in the Army above that of the general U.S. population.

After eight years of two major counterinsurgency wars (and various minor encounters in what used to be called the Global War on Terror), with many soldiers experiencing multiple tours of duty, with approximately 120,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq and almost 70,000 in Afghanistan, with the Afghan War clearly in an escalatory phase, commanders in the field calling for 40,000-80,000 more American troops, and base construction on the rise, the military's internal problems are clearly escalating as well.

As Dahr Jamail, author of The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Sarah Lazare report, under these circumstances, the Army is digging deep for deployable troops; in fact, it's dipping into a pool of soldiers who have already been damaged or even broken by their experiences in our war zones -- and that's just to meet present deployment needs. Perhaps it's not surprising then that Dreazen included this striking passage in his report: "At a White House meeting Friday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff urged President Barack Obama to send fresh troops to Afghanistan only if they have spent at least a year in the U.S. since their last overseas tour, according to people familiar with the matter. If Mr. Obama agreed to that condition, many potential Afghanistan reinforcements wouldn't be available until next summer at the earliest."

This coming Wednesday, people all over the country will be standing in vigil to protest Obama's troop escalation. If you live in the Denver area, join us:

Announcing a vigil to be held the day AFTER President Obama announces the troop escalation in Afghanistan

In order to show our disdain for the troop escalation in Afghanistan,
we will gather from 4:30 - 6 pm on the sidewalk in front (west side) of the Capitol building.

Come join us with signs showing YOU still care and do NOT support the troop escalation.

Sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee.

Thanksgiving

A tree popping up through a big crack in the boulder that rests on the side of a mountain.

A dandelion sitting smugly in the crack of a sidewalk.

Blue flowers dancing in the crevices of rock shattered with age.

A big, orange carrot grown from a speck of a seed.

You

Me

Life

So amazing.

So much to be grateful for today and always.

Much peace to you and your family.

The other evening, I took my camera out to play with my new super duper lens. Buddha, the dog, wanted to come along, too, and, well, what could I say? He IS the wise one, after all. It's not easy holding a camera still while a Buddha at the other end of a leash is pulling hard to find that perfect place to sniff along the path. It's especially hard to juggle a camera and a dog while picking up um, er, a dog's wastage...

For some reason, I am in love with, entranced by, drawn to reflections. I don't normally look at mine too much, but every other living thing's reflection fascinates me. The photos below are not stellar, but they were kind of fun to take.

This one feels serene and a little lonely - lonely in a good way.

I think that this one is my favorite. The reflections of the geese as they are about to land makes it look very confusing. I think that I like things to be confusing. Life is very confusing. Unless you think you know the answers, in which case, well, you're wrong! ;-)

My cousin will be surprised to hear that I actually like the black and white version of this photo better than the color version. A rare moment for me...


I hope your day is sweet with much time for reflection.

With My Own Eyes

"I made this film to satisfy my own curiosity about what was happening in the Gaza Strip since I found that it was very difficult to find information in the mainstream media and get a detailed look at what was going on, what people there were like, what they were thinking about." - James Longley, speaking about his film, Gaza Strip.

Like Longley, I am going to Gaza to see with my own eyes what life is like for the people there. I made my decision to travel there at the end of this year before I saw Longley's film. After watching it a couple of nights ago, I feel anger, fear, and a certain sadness. Gaza must be in worse shape than I had imagined.

I will be traveling with my teachers and many others at the end of the year. So far in my life, I have only been out of the continental U.S. while traveling to Mexico, Canada, and the Bahamas, so this is BIG for me!

I will write more about this as time goes on. In the meantime, there is much to do with the holidays, work and travel preparation.



The Gaza Strip is about 25 miles long and between 4 and 7.5 miles wide (139 square miles). That land holds 1.5 million Palestinians. 80% of the people there are living below the poverty line.

You can read Time Magazine's article, "In the Tunnels: Gaza's Underground Economy here.
Watch the video, The Tunnel Smugglers of the Gaza Strip here.

Hidden Lakes and (No Longer) Hidden Thoughts

I can't remember if I threw my tantrum before or after I took the photo of Hidden Lake that you now see in my blog's banner. [Editor's note: The photo referenced here has been changed since this article first appeared on A Peace Carol blog.]

I have an extreme case of insecurity and overwhelming feelings of inadequacy regarding my photographic abilities. On the other hand, I see Mr. Carol For Peace as a very talented photographer.

And I'm not alone in my assessments. Mr. Carol For Peace gets all kinds of accolades for his photos. People specifically ask him for copies. He was asked to donate framed photos for the fundraiser auction at work. I was not.

I live mostly in the right side of my brain. Mr. Carol For Peace is a left-brainer. He understands all of the technical things about a camera. I rely on luck - and once in awhile, it comes through for me.

In Glacier National Park, the Hidden Lake trail begins in a gradual uphill trek for 1 1/2 miles. Because it originates at the popular Logan Pass Visitors Center, the trail is VERY well populated with two-leggeds. Well, it's busy up until the 1 1/2 mile point. After taking photos of the lake from a lookout point there, probably 95% of the crowd turns back.

A four-legged along the way.

It was fortunate for me that we were the only hikers going down to the lake, because somewhere along the way down, I threw my fit of inadequacy. It was also somewhere on that descent that I took the photo that you see above. I think that's a pretty nice photo (mostly thanks to scenery that can't be beat), so obviously what I believe about myself is not necessarily always true.

I have been working on questioning the preposterous thoughts that this mind can make up, but it can still sneak right in with some strange thing that I'll believe - even in the face of conflicting facts! As I struggled with those crappy feelings in my body and rude thoughts in my head that day, Mr. CFP asked me a question - I don't remember exactly what it was right now - but it incited a flood of tears to well up. Tears of sadness that I can be so hard on myself. Realization about the story that I tell myself - a story that I am not good enough. Then for a moment, I found some compassion for myself.

Soon after that little drama, Mr CFP and I found ourselves alone along the edge of Hidden Lake. Truly, in many ways, the journey was as wonderful as the destination.



(This was written in response to Dancing's request regarding my banner photo. I don't know if this is what she was asking for, but this is what came out.)

Thank You!

Thank you for your response to my itty bitty favor request. If you haven't commented yet, it's never too late to do so in the post below.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Much peace, much love, this beautiful autumn day.

Would You Do Me An Itty Bitty Favor?

Would you be willing to add a drop of clarity and kindness to dilute the muddy puddle of confusion and judgment that many people have?

Quite a few people have made rude (to put it mildly) remarks about Muslims since the shootings which occurred yesterday at Fort Hood. If the shooter would have been of any other religion, maybe things would be different. We don't usually hate all Christians when a Christian kills, but there are people who say awful things about Muslims when they find that a person of that faith does an egregious act.

This is painful for me and it is especially painful for most people of the Muslim faith who would never entertain the thought of killing an innocent person.

Would you please add a kind comment on this blog to compensate for the hate that gets a lot of attention? I will pass your words on to some Muslim friends who could stand some kindness right now.

You can comment anonymously, if you want. I reserve the right to delete any unkind messages. It's my blog. If you want to be unkind, there are plenty of other venues for that.

Thank you.

My message:

I have looked into the eyes of my friends who follow the Muslim faith. I have looked into the eyes of my friends who are Christian and Buddhist and Atheist. In the eyes of every person, I have always seen the same thing. I have listened to my friends of all colors and religions, and I have heard the same needs and dreams that others share all over the world.

Hatred and intolerance make it into our sensation-driven media. I KNOW that for every word of judgment and hate that is printed or spoken through the media, many more words and acts of kindness are spoken and performed with little notice.

I hope that, amidst the anger that is amplified in the media hype, you can hear the voices of reason who stand by you every day. My voice is one of them.

In Peace,
Carol

Blogblast for Peace

I'm not supposed to mention that SOMEONE made this Peace Globe for me, so I won't.

Today is Blogblast for Peace Day. Thanks to Mimi who has orchestrated such a lovely themed day.

May peace be in our hearts today and always.

We interrupt this moment to bring you...




... some spaciousness

...simple peace and quiet

...a time away from news and to-do lists

...just simple nothingness








This moment has been brought to you by Life. Underneath all of the "stuff" we call life, peace and spaciousness await us all.