Changing the Energy

 Yesterday I received this story in an e-mail, asking me to send it on. As an Intender, one who attempts to change the world through energy, I ask you to join me in the intention that follows this story, if you align/agree. And I also intend you are seeing the value in sharing this intention with others.

Mientras los periódicos y las televisiones hablan de la vida de los famosos, el jefe de la tribu Kayapo recibía la peor noticia de su vida:

While newspapers and TV talk about the life of the famous, the head of the Kayapo tribe received the worst news of his life:

Dilma, la presidenta del Brasil, ha dado el visto bueno a la construcción de una planta hidroeléctrica enorme (la tercera más grande del Mundo).

Dilma, the president of Brazil, has given approval to build a huge hydroelectric plant (the third largest in the world).
Es la sentencia de muerte a todos los pueblos cercanos al río, ya que la presa inundará 400.000 hectáreas de bosque.

Más de 40.000 indígenas no tendrán donde vivir.

La destrucción del hábitat natural, deforestación y la desaparición de multitud de especies es un hecho.

It is the death sentence to all river towns, as the dam will flood 400,000 hectares of forest.
More than 40,000 indigenous people have no place to live.
The destruction of natural habitat, deforestation and the disappearance of many species is a fact.
¡40.000 seres humanos!...

¿Y nos preocupamos por 6 o 7 o 10 que llenan las revistas?

¿Qué llevan puesto?

¿Con quién se casan?

¿De quién se divorcian?...

¡Por Dios... qué vergüenza, sentimos los que valoramos cada VIDA COMO ÚNICA!

40,000 people! ...
What we care about 6 or 7 or 10 that fill the magazines?
What are they wearing?
Whom do they marry?
Who gets divorced? ...
My God ... what a shame, we feel that we value each LIFE AS ONE! But do we?
¡NO hay vidas "MAS DIGNAS" que otras!... todas estamos en este mundo para vivir con la misma dignidad... y no habrá una "guerra justa"(si alguna lo es...), simplemente ante este imperdonable, habrá un silencio:

¡el de los fuertes!
Lo que conmueve y hace que algo se retuerza por dentro, lo que genera vergüenza de nuestra cultura...
NO lives are "more worthy" than others! All of us in this world are entitled to live with the same dignity ... and there will be a "just war" (if there is ...), just before this unforgivable, there will be silence:
That of the strong!
What makes something touching and twisting on the inside, creating shame in our culture ...
La "impresión" que tuvo el jefe de la comunidad Kayapo al enterarse de esa decisión, su gesto de dignidad y de impotencia, bajando la cabeza, llorando... ante el avance de "nuestro progreso", hipercapitalista, la modernidad depredadora, la civilización que no respeta la diferencia ...
The "impression" that had the chief of the Kayapo community to learn of this decision, the gesture of dignity and impotence, lowering his head, crying ... before the advance of "our progress", a hypercapitalist, modern (??) predatory civilization that does not respect the difference ...
¿Hasta cuándo aún?...

¿Y qué va a ser ahora mismo tambien de los Dongria Kondh? en la misma situación, y tantos y tantos seres humanos oprimidos...
¿A nadie le importan....?
How long still? ...
What will happen now also the Dongria Kondh? in the same situation, and so many human beings oppressed ...
What… no one cares ....?
Sólo podemos cambiarlo nosotros, cada uno de nosotros, no ellos...

Por favor haz que esto circule

y sintamos vergüenza...

 We can only change ourselves, each one of us, not them ...
Please send this story to as many as you can

and feel ashamed ...

I intend there is enough reaction to this news that the President of Brazil sees the value in changing/reversing his permitting decision and that other solutions are found for electrical energy so these indigenous peoples and other native peoples are continuing to live and love and feed their families on their lands and the animals and birds and insects continue to do their destiny work on these lands and this is for the highest and best good of all concerned, so be it and so it is! Whoooooooooo!

A Fascination with Japan

One year later, after the devastating earthquake and tsunami, Japan proves its capabilities in rebuilding, at least on the construction level. I cannot imagine the horrific loss of family members and friends from such an event. Over this past year periodically I have watched videos and listened to audios of the disaster, as it was too much to do earlier. And now, a year later, rubble and reminders are washing up on the western shores of the U.S. (Ghost ship drifts toward Canada)

I think my fascination with Japan has its roots in my relationship with my grandmother who had a flair for exotic fabrics and clothes which she draped around her or which she had made into interesting things to wear. As a child I was allowed to go into her attic and walk over the creaky boards to the far corner where she had a huge wooden and metal trunk, the kind you see in old movies that people used for shipping their goods to foriegn lands.

When I opened it, the smells of oldness and adventure would rush up to my nose and I would lift up the ancient silk kimono carefully, just as my grandmother would appear behind me to caution me to do just that. I both dreaded her appearance and welcomed it because there were always stories about how these items came into her trunk, but partly I dreaded her invasion of my imagination.

There were tiny little silk cloth slippers with delicate flowers and leaves embroidered on them having a place for a big toe separated from the rest of the foot which was a matter of great curiosity to me. My feet were already too large to try them on, but I delighted in hearing from my grandmother how the ladies walked in little mincing steps on wooden platforms with their silk kimonos tightly wound around their petite frames.

My grandmother Elsa was not one to 'play' with her grandchildren. Instead she would offer up tales of her travels and punctuate these revelations with her unassailable philosophy that war of any kind was both horrible and unnecessary. After her beloved husband, Alain, was killed in World War I in a car accident in France, she worked as a nurse over there for some time before returning home to their four children.

Her diaries show her personal objective to strive toward world peace, as do her poems and essays. And she did travel many times around the world to seek audiences with various world leaders, including a trip to Japan. Her stories were always replete with descriptions of the regalia of the local country she was visiting, so it was like having Rudyard Kipling at my beck and call.

It is distressing to think of Japan as being "off-limits" because of the radiation or more serious disasters like the one a year ago. It is one of my goals to go to visit that country, providing all aspects are supported - my health, my wealth, and the condition of Japan's environment. Intending the peoples of Japan continue to heal from their trials and this one-year noting brings encouragement to all the world.

New Year Challenges

Happy New Year to all... if there’s one thing I would personally like for the new year here in Colombia, it would be a fast modem coupled to a fast internet service. With all the people here in the pueblo, and all of them using cell phones day and night, the cell-based modems are struggling to give any kind of service at all.

In fact, I decided against even renting one for these past two weeks because it is such a fruitless effort to try and upload photos or even collect e-mails. But there is an Internet Cafe which now has WiFi, so that may ease some of the communication challenges, provided I want to go there with my laptop.

It’s been busy here since my last posting with lots of musical events, openings of small eateries and hotels, nice dinners with friends, art shows and fireworks... the latter going off almost every night from December 16th until last night. Some were more organized than others. There was one event that tried to raise some funds for the victims of the flooding to the north, but I don't know how that turned out.

A village between Santa Marta and Cartagena was already
flooded when I passed it in November, 2010. Many of
these impoverished people now have lost even the sticks
that propped up their roofs with the intense flooding.

So, I have another New Year’s wish... all roads north of Bucaramanga are presently cut off by the ‘derumbas’ (landslides and rock slides) along with massive flooding of the major rivers during the heavy rains from October to middle of December and many people in the delta region of the Rio Magdelena have lost homes, jobs, agricultural products, livestock and hope. It is hard for the Colombian government to manage this huge task of reconstructing and assisting their people and it doesn’t get the media play of places like Haiti. There is a South American Red Cross that is accepting donations for this situation, if you care to offer up some thing.

My living in the pueblo of Barichara is going well; my Spanish is improving, though slowly. It's still a challenge to go and buy something as simple as paint, paintbrushes and thinner at the hardware store. Still, it's worth it.