War Making Headlines, but Peace Breaks Out

Some excerpts:
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The chilling sights and sounds of war fill newspapers and television screens worldwide, but war itself is in decline, peace researchers report.
In fact, the number killed in battle has fallen to its lowest point in the post-World War II period, dipping below 20,000 a year by one measure. Peacemaking missions, meantime, are growing in number.
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For months the battle reports and casualty tolls from Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites) have put war in the headlines, but Swedish and Canadian non-governmental groups tracking armed conflict globally find a general decline in numbers from peaks in the 1990s.
The authoritative Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in a 2004 Yearbook report obtained by The Associated Press in advance of publication, says 19 major armed conflicts were under way worldwide in 2003, a sharp drop from 33 wars counted in 1991.
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"Not only are the numbers declining, but the intensity" — the bloodshed in each conflict — "is declining," said Marshall, founder of a University of Maryland program studying political violence.

I lost my soldier blogger. No, he didn't get killed but it looks like the plug was pulled. No archives, nothin.

I'm gonna miss him. I hope he gets home ok.

There is a place in town called McGuckin Hardware. I read somewhere that a local designer said that whenever he is stalled in the creative process, he goes to McGuckin's and is revitalized. Funny that a hardware store would do that, but it really does. Really, it's paint and nails and garden stuff and household stuff and pet stuff and electrical and plumbing, just like any other hardware store, but it's different. I imagine it has to do with the creators of the store - somehow their vision, hopes, dreams, wishes and other magic were infused into the merchandise and the merchandising and that just makes it better.

See? I was stuck about what to write about tonight and I thought about McGuckin's and got unstuck. You gotta stop by there if you're ever in town.

Somehow, after the planes went into the buildings on 9/11, Volunteer Ministers from my church were able to get onto the site and help the rescue workers in the first few days. They stayed on and helped for months afterward locating missing people and helping victims sign up for benefits.

The general outpouring of help from all sorts of people after Hurricane Charley hit is inspiring. Here's an article about Volunteer Ministers helping those victims.

We were at Sweetie's apartment today. He was working on cleaning everything to be painted while I watched. I have offered help like a good mother, but he wants to do it himself.

While we were loading up, that monk walked by banging his drum. I smiled and looked at him and he looked back at me but I didn't feel blessed. He looked like anyone else walking by on a sidewalk, going somewhere, except he was dressed in white and yellow robes banging a drum.

Something similar happened in the presence of Tibetan monks who were doing a sand mandala at the library last year. Watching them interact while they worked and seeing them walking back from lunch at the cafe, they seemed like nice young adults having a good time. I thought they would emanate something spiritual by their presence, but it came through their art which transformed something in me.

When my kids were growing up I didn't tell them what to believe in terms of god, God, gods, goddesses, supreme beings, the Green Man or Mother Nature, Allah, Vishnu or whatever. I have my own ideas, but I figured if there is some omnipotent presence who wants to get in touch with them, it'll (he'll or she'll?) be able to do it without needing me as a via on the line. They were able to come up with some thoughtful ideas of their own.

I think distance is involved in that drum banging blessing. I see him walking down the road, I think "oh, he's blessing the town". I have some time and space to get the idea of being blessed which is what really does it. Getting the idea of being blessed is the trick.

There used to be a Buddhist monk who would walk around town banging a drum. It's a flat handheld sort of drum like the one that Phoebe Barr used to use in dance class while we ran, ran, leaped, ran, ran, leaped, etc. He dressed in white loose clothing, baggy bottoms, with a yellow sashy sort of covering. He walked all over town, steadily beating the drum at a brisk pace, clearly enjoying himself. What he was doing was blessing everyone, I think.

He's back. I saw him today talking to a man in a pickup truck. I'm glad that he's back. I'll take blessings however they come.

There is nothing like a mid summer afternoon in the 80's, big cumulus clouds in a deep blue sky, swimming laps in an outdoor pool all to yourself. Chlorine must be good for me.

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
Albert Einstein

I have to link to this soldier since I read his blog every day. If you check it out, read back through the last month. It's a good read. That's where I got this quote.

I caught a glimpse of a cardinal among the loblolly pines and started swimming almost daily. When we got back, we heard frogs in our yard. I can't remember the last time I heard frogs in our yard. That was pretty much our vacation. I do enjoy travelling across America.