For all the Dreamers

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A very charming mini movie about the angst of creativity.

For Poppy Day...

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Remember...

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It felt appropriate to take a side step on Remembrance day this year, especially since my theme for Blogblast for Peace was to "Be the Change" by refusing to believe any situation was hopeless.

In our area of Scotland a new 'battle line' is forming as people group together refusing to believe in unavoidable loss. As part of the government’s budget cuts one of our local RAF air bases, Kinloss, is being closed early next year. The fate of the other base - RAF Lossiemouth, is very uncertain.

...but the folk of Moray refuse to give up hope. All kinds of petitions and action are being organised to help save RAF Lossiemouth. Just last Sunday (7th Sept) a march was held in the town of Lossiemouth. Over 6,000 people attended, including ex-RAF pilot, Colin McGregor (sometimes better known as Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor's brother), Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, and leaders of other political parties.

It might seem strange for a 'Peace Bee' blogger to be talking about saving an RAF base, but this is about far more than the obvious. Lossie is also the home of the search and rescue helicopters that regularly pluck the desperate and injured from mountains, cliffs and sea. Kinloss has been the aeronautical rescue coordination centre for all of the UK (police, fire, ambulance and coastguard) since 1997. Both Lossie and Kinloss air bases have been filmed in the TV show "Highland Emergency". You can find their fan page, and past episodes on YouTube HERE.

During World War II it was bases like Lossiemouth and Kinloss that helped to save the war and they helped to keep the Peace during the Cold War years too. Lossie is most famous as the home of the 617 “The Dambusters” Squadron (12 Nov 1944), but if both the bases shut we lose far more than just a portion of world history. Nowadays they also guard the coastline from more subtle enemies - illegal fishing and drug smugglers. The RAF bases of Lossiemouth and Kinloss have been a part of the community of Moray for over sixty years. The people from the bases work here, live here and have interwoven their lives into the area for generations. If Moray loses both bases the economy of the area will suffer... their will be civilians amongst the casualties of cutbacks.

So for this Remembrance day I'm asking my readers to not only remember the past, but also the future. When you think of those that have died for Peace you need to remember those still alive who work for it - especially those who are about to be made redundant.

Lest we forget... the living count as much as the dead.

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We're Offline :-(

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I'm here via a phone so can't hang around long. Our broadband went down early on 4th Nov morning (great timing hey, Mimi?? *rolls eyes*)

Love to everyone. So wish I'd made Blogblast for Peace day Live. Phooeey!!

Dona Nobis Pacem 2010 - Be the Change.

2010 has been a year of upheaval, natural and manmade, for many including my own family, but deep within all that struggle and stress has lain an unexpected buried treasure - the gift of disbelief.

Faith may move mountains, but refusing to believe in limitations is what moves people.

In August this year 33 Chilean miners found themselves trapped deep within the Earth. As the whole world knows from bitter experience all mining disasters end in death and tragedy, but not this time! This time everyone refused to believe they wouldn't succeed. The families of the miners refused to leave ‘Camp Hope’ until every miner had been freed, the government refused to let the men die without trying everything to rescue them… and the world refused to stop hoping for a miracle.

They proved to the world that ordinary people really can do extraordinary things...

when they refuse to believe in inevitable failure.

On the very same day that the Chilean miners were being freed from the bowels of the planet my dad was getting ready to come home after a full month of being in hospital. A full month of having medical experts warn him, and us, that he was going to die… probably soon. He could have given up, we could have started preparing for the worst, but it just didn’t make sense that a healthy active man could fall ill and fade away in a mere month.

We refused to believe this fate was inescapable and that gave us, and dad, the strength to demand a new doctor who refused to believe too. This doctor was willing to try a little longer and experiment a little further. So, like the Chilean families, we set up our ‘camp’ as close to the hospital as possible and we kept on keeping on until dad was sent back home to us.

Sometimes you have to be willing to fight for what you refuse to believe in.

I do understand that all stories don’t end in miracles, but why shouldn’t we refuse to believe that all of them have to end in tragedy? My first Peace Globe day (2008), I wrote:

The truth is that as much as we may talk of Peace, pray for Peace or Blog for Peace, we cannever achieve anything unless we start from the simple truth that it has to begin from within. You cannot change the world to change people – people have to change themselves in order to change their world.

This year I realised that it’s is not enough to believe in peace and change -

you have to also refuse to believe in things staying the same.

We have to refuse to believe that we are doomed to continually repeat the mistakes of history – whether that be on a personal, national or global level. Can we refuse to believe in war in order to bring about peace? I don’t see why not. Gandhi refused to believe that violence would bring freedom and he certainly managed to change the world. ;-)

I saw the most gorgeous headline on the internet recently. It was on NASA’s news website: "Transcending Distance to Make a Difference." That’s what this day is about for me, what Mimi’s marvellous idea has become - all of us transcending distance to make a difference, because we refuse to believe that we are too small, insignificant or ordinary to make a difference.

It’s not just what you believe in that matters - what you don’t believe in matters even more!

I don’t believe in failing,

I don’t believe in giving up,

I don’t believe this world is doomed...

how about you?

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Tomorrow is B Day!

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Tomorrow is "B" day - Blogblast for Peace 2010 has finally arrived. I thought I'd never make it properly this year, with all the madness our year has brought us all, but I'm actually ready and excited.

Tomorrow I'll be BLUE, but in a good way. ;-)

Here's a taster of what other 'Peace Bees' and Blogblasters are doing for the day...

See you tomorrow! :-)
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GOING BLUE - Are You Too?

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It is now only 3 days till Blogblast For Peace is Nov 4th this year. On Facebook, on blogs and on Twitter people are going

to get the message through!

There's still time to join in and turn the world blue!

On Nov 4th I'll not only be putting up my Peace Globe ... I'll also be adding a few surprises. You'd better come back to find out for yourself! ;-)

To give you a hint... my message for Blogblast 2010 is in this picture (with thanks to Daisy)

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