40 ~ Stand Up

40 of the 60 ways of Peace challenge -Stand Up. I've made a poem I wrote for blogblast 2011 into a graphic. Feel free to use it. :-)

Bridging Worlds

Years ago a friend sent me a link to Mayan astrology. For fun I popped in my birth date and came out as... White World Bridger. At the time the write-up amused me, because it fitted my personality so well. I am and always have been a world bridger. In fact... I even won a blog award for it!

 As a long-standing member of Blog4Peace I've recognised the vital need for our planet to build bridges... between the divides of countries, races, religions, and political aspirations. We can accomplish nothing unless we work together.

On the surface that might make my recent stand on voting Yes for Scottish independence seem strange. You would think the alternate side slogan of "Better Together" would fit a world-bridger better. In theory... it should, but bridges can only be built when both sides are strong. You cannot bridge a divide when one bank is weak and crumbling. It just won't work. Plain and simple - your bridge is going to collapse. The truth, sadly, is that the United Kingdom is not made up of equally strong and respected sides. Most simply summed up by the coat of arms...

Ever notice that the Scottish unicorn is chained? I never did until recently, but I've certainly felt it since I've lived up here. There are words for partnerships where one side is chained up... and none of them are good! 

And that is why I voted Yes, because I believe bridges between equally strong sides will do more to unite this planet than simply ignoring the issues and trying to hide from them. Our planet is divided. We are never going to be all the same. We are of different skin colours and language groups. We worship in different ways, or not at all. We have issues special to our particular cultures. We will never all be the same and why should we? We glory in the diversity of Nature, don't we? We don't want a planet with only one bird species... so why do we try to enforce a world with one humankind? One religion? One political viewpoint? One country?

In a strange twist of fate, Mayan astrology links this fortnight back to that White World Bridger symbol. 

Action for Transformation... forgiving the other side in order to build the bridge. Letting go of the illusion that there is no hope of changing things for the better. Bridgers see the bigger picture, I think. We see the fact that you can work together and still keep your independent unique identity. It's all about building those bridges of mutual respect. 

And this brings me back to the recent referendum in Scotland. Whether Scots voted Yes or No, most of them voted with a passionate hope in a better future. Now comes the tricky part - building the bridges between those two sides. Both are equally strong, since the voting was an almost equal 45-55%. We can build across that easily, with determination. We can create a better future. 

What would you like to do?

45 ~ Global Peace

45 for my 60 ways of Peace challenge - the Global Peace Meditation.

Join us for a Global Peace Meditation at 12:00 Noon Pacific/ 7:00pm GMT
on Sunday September 21 for the International Day of Peace.

There is a timezone conversion chart here:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

We also invite you to gather in your communities at 12:00 Noon in your time zone to create a wave of peace moving across our planet.

  www.unify.org

  www.bethepeace.com

A Long, Long Night

I went to bed at 6:00 am today, then got up and 9:00. it was a long, long night. And it doesn't look to be over yet.

I don't normally talk politics on my blog, but this month I made an exception. I am a YES voter for Scottish independence. Being an anti-nuclear blogger for Peace and pro-Green, a YES was the obvious choice for me.

It was an equally obvious choice for all my in-laws and friends, including many born in England and elsewhere. There were so many well-wishers, including most of my English friends who saw this as a move towards sanity for the entire UK, for various reasons. People like Keith, who writes a political blog down in England. Here's the letter he sent to 10 Downing Street, before the voting began. A letter supporting the YES vote, as many of my English friends do, both here in Scotland and in England. 

To say last night's NO results were a shock is an understatement.No-one I know was expecting such a low YES count. And the shock keeps deepening...there have been videos on Youtube and Facebook showing what looks very much like vote-rigging. This is appalling viewing!

I've lived in two African countries where vote-rigging has taken place. I've witnessed it first hand in the 1980s, as a teenager helping out at a polling station. Sadly, the world shrugs when you mention election fraud in Africa, but in the UK...??? 

It looks to be a very long night. :-(

Today...

Scotland goes out to vote today.

Four YES votes in this family. ;-)

I thought I'd put up a song for the day. Everyone seems to be putting up Dougie MacLean singing Caledonia. So I went with something different. One of my favourite musicians, who also happens to be a YES campaigner -  Eddie Reader. Singing a slightly different version of one of my all time favourite songs by Fairground Attraction - Perfect.

Summer photos 7 ~ Loch Ness

The next batch of our summer photos are from a trip along Loch Ness. We took a walk down to the loch edge for this photo.

There were Highland cattle in a field near where we stopped. They were hiding in the shade as it was a hot day.

We stopped at Fort Augustus, for ice creams. :-)

Houses just visible through the trees...

...and yatch masts just visible above the walls and fences.

I took some photos of St Benedict's Abbey, on the edge of the canal locks. It was a working Abbey up until 1998.

50 ~ Be the Change

50 of the 60 ways of Peace challenge - Be the change you want to see in the world. I made this video for blogblast 2010.

From here I'll be doing the countdown on my blog on every 10th day until we're down to the last 10.