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Friday, September 5, 2008

TRUE HEROES, for my special friend M.

true heroes are like precious diamonds,
they are hard to find, and they need special care.
true heroes wear no masks, hide behind no curtains,
put no colours just to be shiny, don't look for applause,
don't seek recognition, don't shout to be heard,
don't push to be seen....
they ARE who they are and that's all.
they do what they do because they believe it's right
they ask, they learn, they listen, they smile, they love, they laugh,
they are patient, they are kind, they see light in the darkness,
road through the mud, they see beyond bias and stigma,
beyond things of this world...
true heroes walk among us and despite their elegant subtle presence,
their marks remain engraved forever in us -
where they've stepped, grass sprouted,
where they talked, hope arose
where they worked, lives were saved,
where they touched, wounds (emotional or else) were healed
where they were, peace was restored
where they stood, there WAS always A WAY!
where they lived...love was seen...
true heroes are those people who leave you breathless when they go

who leave you contemplating the beauty of this world
who restore your broken human nature
who are a clear reflection of God's image,
kind
merciful
loving
true
honest
forgiving....
true heroes come in your life...and they stay there for better or worse!



to M. with much love and respect! Thank you for all you've done! You are are TRUE hero! No doubt about it.
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

THE SUPER HEROES OF OUR ERA

not finished yet!!!!!!

The new Batman movie is out and we all, hungry to see how good overcomes evil and conquers all, we await its premiere, bring our kids to witness the majesty of the hero in black and despite the definete flaws in each of the movies, after watching it, we feel triumphant and alive...cause afterall, Batman is on our side...he is our "temporary" hero.

The same psychology leads us to become religiously fervent fans of movies like Spiderman, Superman, X-Man, The Incredibles etc... Even though we regard them as utterly childish and infantile, nevertheless, there isn't one of us who might denounce these heroes' uniqueness, bravery, kindness, and humanE-ity...Despite all the newest, high technology, the latest gadgets, the hottest cars, the greatest tricks, despite ALL, they remain just fictional characters, made alive (or dead) by the click of a button...and once the button is off...only a distant memory of their faces, their actions, and thoughts is left...gradually taking the shape of specks of dust...and one by one dissolving into the air.

So, if these are the heroes of today, made of wax or clay, made by movie directors, fake actors and false pretence (acting)...yet it is especially
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Comment on MDG2 (Education) posted on the MDG blog

Providing Quality education for all people, regardless of their race, gender or status is essential for the achievement of all 8MDGs. I strongly commend the efforts of the international community (NGOs and IGOs alike) to reach out to the destitute and voiceless and give them a chance to voice their needs and fight for their future! I do believe that this multi-sectoral approach to development is the only way out of poverty and the only way to true progress in the overall Human Development process. Therefore, it is essential to emphasize the importance of all stakeholders to unite their efforts and strive to provide a better future for all humanity.
In regard to Education, the efforts of the international community, states and all responsible institutions should be even more involved and better linked with the parties directly affected by the successful achievement of this goal, namely children, parents, and local communities. Efforts should not only focus on providing primary education for all in the LDCs (Least Developed), but emphasis should point to the importance of Quality, Multi-faceted education for children and parents everywhere. Quality education acknowledges the importance of addressing issues beyond general knowledge, issues essential for the development of each individual – raising awareness of their human rights, breaking stereotypes and cultural stigmas, bringing up a socially responsible future generation etc. It is of utmost importance for the future of people everywhere to realize their uniqueness, their special, god-given value and worth, regardless of their descent, their social standing or family situation. This is especially important among the most vulnerable groups - orphans, children with special needs, children victims of violence, or former child soldiers. Moral values, norms, and principles shouldn’t be neglected in educational programs, but rather, parents, as well as teachers, should be stimulated to adopt such values and give special attention to the overall Human Development of each person.
Quality education guarantees Quality future, and we ALL, as citizens of this planet, are responsible for achieving this high goal!
There is no excuse for a child to be deprived from a chance to be happy and able to develop her/his potential!
There is no excuse for a person to be negligent of the needs of others.

It’s time to unveil the selfish shells we’ve been hiding under, dismantle all excuses, and take a stand, for a better world, for a High - Quality world!

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how much is 5 $ ?

how much is 5 $ for you?

today i read in the Economist an article about a new study on poverty, conducted by two experts from the World Bank http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12010733. the title read "the bottom 1.4.billion". so, it's estimated that 879 million people live with under 1$ per day and another 520 million with under 1.25 $ per day, altogether accounting for 1.4 billion of the world's poorest inhabitants. (measured by purchasing power parity the numbers might differ, but the reality is overwhelmingly apparent - eradicating poverty, especially extreme poverty, by 2015 and complying with the promises for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), call for drastic reconsideration of the current efforts, intensifying of the successful methodologies and strategies, doubling all efforts and power towards meeting the goals and most of all leading to the alleviation of these millions of people living in deprivation!)

just a few days ago, i started asking myself about the real value of money, more specifically 5 Euro. i, myself, have lived in a middle-class family, and despite having been broke at times, i have never been starved, never been left without a roof above my head and have been blessed with a chance to develop my potential and receive education and a future that many never get. at the same time, i know people who have thousands of euros pocket money, eat dinners as costly as a monthly (annual) income of an average family, and live not in houses but castles and mansions. yet, there are those people i know, who work day and night just to try to buy the bear necessities of life...and survive.

so, how much IS 5 $?

to answer this question, i dared make a rough calculation of my daily expenses (for today) and reach to a more sustained conclusion about the value of a 5 $ bill. - how much, indeed, did i spend during the past day and on what?
so, lets see: 1. i bought breakfast/lunch for about 2 $, yet sometimes, when i decide to "spoil myself" and buy iced coffee etc. i might spend as much as 3 $. 2. i finally managed to buy myself a new pair of sneakers (the discounted ones were all big size, so ended up buying the expensive ones) 120 $ 3. i found a rather compact, small bag pack on sale and bought it for 15 $ 4. i went home and made myself a big salad, toasted some bread, added some cheese and ate a happy meal (if that was in a restaurant, it would cost me as much as 4 $). 5. in the evening i went out with my cousin and didn't pay for anything cause he was treating, but all in all, my portion of the treat cost about 2.5 $, plus i had some home-made soup for dinner, accompanied by some ham. 6. today i used the toilet numerous times, showered with hot water, washed my hands, drank clean water, had the computer (with internet) on for quite awhile, used a bit of electricity, talked on the mobile phone and will now close the day.
it's a very rough calculation...yet it clearly shows the value of money...money here...money there...money everywhere! of course, i do not purchase shoes everyday (i ain't a shopping freak) but ONCE in AWHILE...i NEED to...and so goes the story...

the question remains...how much is 5 $? of, course, when you have it, it might look irrelevant and trivial, but when you need it, when its lack is sensed, then it seems giant and essential.
for me, today, 5 $ got a new meaning...with 5 $ a family in a rural area somewhere in Cambodia, let's say, might live a whole week...and if 5 $ is saved in the course of 1 month, the freedom of a girl sold in prostitution might be bought back (Kristoff's article on the two teenage girls in Cambodia)...nevertheless, 5 $ may also mean a single cup of coffee, a phone call, a pack of cigarettes, a pair of socks, a week's payment, a price for a prostitute, 1/5th of a micro financial loan, a piece of chocolate, a rented movie...

i am conveying a poll about the value of 5 $ for you! please, feel free to answer the question. there is no 1 right answer...because, money creates different, parallel worlds, in which people's lives can be compared only by their riches in heaven and in no way by their lifestyles here on earth, how can you compare black and white? you can only contrast them...but you can compare two nuances of red...so is it - the bottom 1.4 billion and the top 5 billion, of which more than half is somewhere in the middle...and only a tiny portion...is selected for enjoying and lavishing the riches on earth.

it's time! to look at our 5 $ bill in the pocket and reevaluate it. it's time! to awake for the harsh truth and to face it boldly, ready to sacrifice our insatiable desires and false needs, for the common good, for the better future of all.
it's time! to re-use this 5 $ bill sensibly and responsibly, maybe to feed s.o. in need, maybe to save and sponsor a kid to go to school, maybe to try not to use is as if we don't have it and see just how badly we do need it.

it's time! to become better stewards of the blessings God has provided for us and give more thought to our saving account in heaven.

we don't want to end up carrying full pockets of 5 $ bills to heaven and find ourselves homeless there...


for it is said "for where you treasure is, there your heart will be" Luke 12:34,

Jesus warned us : Matthew 6: 19-21, 24-25, 31-33
19”Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. 20 Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. 21 For your heart will always be where your riches are. 24 You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 25 Do not be worried about the food and drink you need in order to stay alive, or about clothes for you body. After all isn’t life worth more than food? And isn’t the body worth more than clothes? 31 So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? Or my drink? Or my clothes? 32 Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. 33 Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things. "

how about we each make a small heavenly pocket where to store money we've saved from things we've craved for but sacrificed and, according to each one's pocket, do something nice for someone, whether just buying them food, or maybe clothing, or maybe books for school...Brothers and sisters, let our treasures be measured by the number of people we've showed love and mercy to, rather than by the amount of money we have stored in the bank!

INVEST IN YOUR HEAVENLY ACCOUNT TODAY AND YOU WILL WEAR THE CROWNS OF LIFE WHEN WE MEET WITH JESUS!
God bless you all!
Love and Peace

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Monday, September 1, 2008

THE OBITUARY OF HUMAN RACE

THE HUMAN RACE DIED LAST NIGHT IN ITS, YET ANOTHER UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE!


WE - THE REMNANTS, THE REMAINS, THE RUINS, ARE GRIEVING IN THE MOST SORROWFUL MANNER POSSIBLE, YET, REALIZING THE DAMAGE HAD TO BE DEVASTATING, HAVING IN MIND THE SCALE OF HUMAN RACE'S MADNESS AND OBSCENITY!!!
FOR THOSE IN MOURNING AND FOR THOSE STILL WONDERING ABOUT THE CAUSES OF THE LETHAL END OF HUMANKIND, LET US LIST 5 POSSIBLE THINGS THAT KILLED MANKIND!

1. their total obssession with a little thing called MIRROR...in which they used to see someone greater and better than anyone else, someone who deserved to be served and pampered, someone who apparently was as good as (a) god...., someone called SELF and this someone consequently turned out to be a mere illusion, fed up by their own pathetic maniac-driven actions and who, at the end, crashed into pieces and gauged their eyes and pierced their hands and twisted their arms and broke their legs...and left them total invalids, incapable of looking beyond the dark, seeing beyond the fog, hearing beyond the wall, going beyond the door. incapable of cutting open this mascarade costume of brutal pretence and getting out of it, out of the nutshell, out of the SELF- image SELF-body SELF-self....unable to grasp the reality as it poses itself in the distance, unable to catch the horizon...maybe only the vertical (in a whole different dimension), unable to break the walls, jump off the prison and shake the dust off their feet and see the NON-SELF dimension...unable...to see that it wasn't , it had never been about them...and that they were and they were nothing but SLAVES to the master SELF, who controlled every neuron, electron, and atom in their system.

2. as years went by, they caught a disease, incurable, demolishing lives mystery virus called - INSATIABLE DESIRE. they were all literally swallowed by its huge jaws and despite its horiffic looks, poignant smell, and dreadful nature...they were drawn to it, like bees to honey...it's the drug that drove all their instincts, replaced all their natural habits, their feelings, their emotions, it's a poison of some sort, a lethal weapon of a kind, made by an unknown (known) source and operated through a nasty parasyte that penetrates the FLESH (so perishable and weak) and strikes the very essence of human beings - the total annihilator also known as TEMPTATION (greed). so, all in all, its mechanism is as simple as this: the virus finds its victim, the parasyte follows and establishes itself securely, and then...waits for the victim to fall in its traps...it repeatedly says : YOU WANT TO HAVE THIS...and the hypnotized victim whose "immune" system is already totally out of order due to DISBELIEF, DISLLUSIONMENT, DIS....replies back I WANT TO HAVE THIS and I WILL NOT STOP AT ANYTHING TILL I HAVE IT...so, this is how all the strongholds of "moral values", built up traditions, beliefs and wisdom...evaporate and turn into smoke, which only intensifies the disillusionment of the already dizzled victim...then...its history

3. another method of self-destruction commonly used by the primitive species called HOMO HABILIS was WORDING, in other words, using words simply for the sake of using them, unaware (ignorant) of the immense power hidden in them and of the possible catastrophic effects of their MISusage (or amazing power and effect if properly used)...so it all started, word by word dropped in the field, like dead landmines...which have completed their mission - to exterminate their target - and rest numbly dull...words of courage now gave out only squeaks like parrots, words of wisdom, only sounded like foolish blabber, words of love, nothing but mere clatter...so it was, yet before, long long ago, there were times when words had magical power to give life, to bind the broken hearted, to heal the sick, to revive the dead, to restore the weak, to relieve the suffering, to bring to victory the losing...there were times when s.o. would tell s.o. else "i love you" and all nature will suddenly fall in deep silence and profound meditation...contemplating the beauty and magic of life. there were times when s.o. would put an arm on the shoulder of another and will whisper "don't worry, two are better than one...i am here for you". there were times when mothers sang lullabies, when the wind was blowing a melodious sonnet, when the waves would play a symphonic orcestra, when the grass would dance the cha-cha-cha...and s.o. somewhere would say "praise God, who made all these things, praise the Creator of life, praise him"...these times are now over. God said "i give you life and death - choose life", yet they chose death.

4. then came THE "saviour". some, who got the chance to own him, those who got the chance to grasp him, or even just to smeLl him, all of them truly worshipped him, fervently and zealously they brought sacrifices to him to quench its desire (like a vampire of a sort, he used to suck human's good and process it to come out a new product - excrements)...but it would not cease craving for more...till it leaves you with nothing but the desire to own him, which builds up like a volcano and sooner or later erupts...and the damages it causes...are indescribible. first it requires only your attention, then your time, then your family, then your belief system, then your love, your joy, it asks you to betray your friends, to forget your God, to despise your morals, to denounce your beliefs and finally...ultimately...it strips you off your own life, lures you to embrace HIM with all your vigour, zeal, and devotion... and just as you think you got it all... leaves you to become a rotten good-for-nothing nobody. this beast's pseudonym is "dough", also known as $ MONEY - yet another terrorist capable of murdering thousands upon thousands of "innocent" people. people forgot it was all paper...and fire beats paper...just as rock beats fire...just as water beats them both...and just as the bible says "nobody can serve two masters, you either serve God or money"...they chose the latter...and they suffered the irreversible consequencesof their WRONG CHOICES.

5.then came the "different ones", the weirdos, the left-overs, the test-ers, THE ALIENS, the others....that's us...the remnants, the ruins, the petals of past "glory", the notes of a sung melody, the voice of a distant echo....we warned, yet they were deaf... blind... and mute...to our voices. "we" were in the shadow of the tall skyscrapers, in the shacks of the nearby slums, brothels, we were the unheard, the invisible, the forgotten...and even though many shouted for help... many asked for mercy, it was unseen, unheard of, unknown...it was all EMPTY. we suffered the disasters, both human-caused and natural; we drove the economies of the Human Race, but as foreign elements; we Produced the joys, pleasures and amenities for the The Human Race without enjoyin their benefits...we were alive, yet for them we were dead. so, then, when their own pity, trivial existence was pushed to the edge...

...they woke up...

and realized that the human race cannot be human and cannot be a race, without those tiny, negligible elements hidden for the naked eye, those rusty old parts forgotten and left to die away...just as each machine needs all its elements, to the smallest one, to operate properly...

...but it was too late...

we have scattered around in search of a refuge, in search of a new life, in search of salvation...and we've found it in the arms of THE SAVIOUR - Jesus Christ...the rest is history.

we are here to testify for the atrocities committed by the human race to us, as well as to forgive wholeheartedly these monstreous acts and to unite to built a new human race...one whose engine is driven by mercy and love, and whose purpose is to bring joy and happiness to all, one in which every element, regardless of its size or position, deserves and receives full recognition, respect, and a love-filled life!

we pay our respects to the ashes of human race and we pray that they never repeat the mistakes from the past!

God bless us all!


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