Good Words 3.

La Mano Poderosa. (Tomasito photo, 2010)

The third in this series of "Good Words" comes from the same good book: "Mission" by Roger G. Kennedy.

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Be thou praised, my Lord, with all Thy creatures,
Above all Brother Sun, who gives the day brightens us therewith...

Be Thou praised, my Lord, of Sister Moon and the stars;
in the heavens Thou hast formed them, clear and precious and comely.

Be Thou praised, my Lord, of Brother Wind,
and of the sir, and the clouds, and of fair and all weather, by which Thou givest to thy creatures sustenance.

Be Thou praised, my Lord of Sister Water.
which is much useful and humble and precious and pure.

Be Thou praised, my Lord, of Brother Fire,
by which Thou hast lightened the night,
and he is beautiful and joyful and robust and strong.

Be Thou praised, my Lord, of Sister Earth,
which sustains and hath us in rule,
and produces divers fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

(A few stanzas from the "most famous prayer of Saint Francis", 13th century CE.)

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Good Words 2.

Tanya in Blue. (Tomasito photo, 2010)

The Shield of Saint Patrick

For my shield this day I call:
Heaven's might,
Sun's brightness,
Moon's whiteness,
Fire's glory,
Lightning's swiftness,
Wind's wildness,
Ocean's depth,
Earth's solidity,
Rock's immobility.

(This stanza from an old Irish prayer reprinted in Roger G. Kennedy's book, Mission--details in my last [posting.)

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Good Words 1.

KFC View, Escondido, CA. (Tomasito photo 2010)

New Construction Northeast Escondido, CA August, 2010. (Tomasito photo)

I would like to post some words meaningful to me.

I found them in the book: "Mission" by Roger G. Kennedy and published by Houghton Mifflin, 1993.

There is a copy in the Escondido, CA Public Library collection--thanks!

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"Now our words we direct to our Mother Earth, who supports all life...we include all plant life, the woodlands, all the waters of Earth, the fishes, the animal life, and the Four Winds. As one mind our acknowledgment, respect, and thanksgiving move upward to the Sky World; the Grandmother Moon, who has a direct relationship to the females of all species of living things, the sun and the stars and our Spiritual Beings of the Sky World..."

(Audrey Shenandoah, Onandaga at the Global Forum on Environment and Development for Survival in Moscow, Russia, January, 1990.)

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Lucas' Big Bro

Lucas' Big Bro. (Tomasito photo 2010)

A couple of days ago I posted the photo of baby Lucas' tiny feet and his mother's hand.

This photo is of Baby Lucas' big brother.

A big Teenager, still in school, he faces troubling times--recession at home, gangs at school, population explosion, global warming and constant foreign wars.

And he is fast approaching the age of military duty--the armed forces are about the only ones hiring just now.

We can only hope for the best for him--Lucas' big brother.

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Avatar Review Part 2

Avatar Movie Review Part Two

WHAT is a review of a popular SF movie doing in THIS ahimsa-themed blog?

Well, the last hour of the melodrama glorifies Hollywood mayhem WAR with the before-noted stunning special effects. Thrilling if you are a little boy with not much experience or an adolescent with the aggression juices freely flowing.

Satisfactorily, by the end, the good guys are bruised and bleeding but the bad guys are vanquished complete.

The biggest baddie is rightfully dead (he deserved to die!) and some of his surviving minions are ignominiously shipped back to their self-wasted and selfish planet

The thing is--there is a hint of things in real-time current events in the movie.

Things which are widely known but hardly mentioned in polite society.

Some earthling ex-Marines--now mercenaries--are going to win the hearts and minds of some aliens so the sky people (earthlings) can mine the alien's planet of some fantastically valuable mineral desired by huge, faceless earth corporations. If the local residents don't like this, the earthlings are going to destroy the alien's tree-village and kill as many of them as necessary.

Substitute "oil" for valuable mineral and Iraq/Afghanistan for alien, far-away planet and the usual huge, faceless corporations manufacturing war-materials and so forth--the Blackwater cowboys and other soldiers-for-hire and you have a rather bold anti-war statement--especially since the aliens who must be eliminated to get the valuable mineral are portrayed as more-or-less noble and sexy high-principled savages heroically fighting to preserve their homeland and way of life from unprincipled intruders.

This very popular movie shows a change perhaps in American's patriotic knee-jerk support of all these endless foreign wars.

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Lucas Arrives

Mom and Lucas. (Tomas Photo, 2010)

Lucas arrived eight days ago--he just missed being a Yankee Doodle Dandy "born the Fourth of July" by four hours.

Wouldn't it be nice if eighteen years or so from now he would not be off somewhere defending our corporations?

Peace. It's wonderful.

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Avatar Review Part 1

Avatar, the movie. We finally saw it.

We were prepared not to like it because so much Hollywood hype usually means an inferior product.

I agree with almost everyone that the special effects were exceptional. Avatar is as far out in this department--well, almost--as the first Star Wars movie was when it burst on the movie scene lo these many years ago.

We saw Avatar because it was an offering in the Blockbuster Dollar-a-Day video machine at the Dollar Store.

We could afford it.

(To be continued next blog.)


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