Some places.... Where we come from

I have received a few comments telling me that some of you that grace me by reading this blog like seeing where we come from...and since just posting three images per post leaves me falling behind... here are a few more... (and while I didn't re-image Marla, a special welcome back to Marla, Australia!) =^..^= ******************************Where we come from****************************

And so it goes

I never dreamed it would be this way

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Thoughts...

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Secondlife can be so very intense, and I'm not certain why that is...or why that is for some of us. Perhaps some of that has to do with the apparent *time compression* here. If you have been around for a bit you soon find out that a few weeks in Secondlife can feel as though a lot more time than that has passed. My three and a half years in Secondlife feels more like another lifetime. Another place intense situations can be found is in the role playing communities. This past week has been a time for me to reflect... to look back on some of my residents. Some of them have left Secondlife, some haven't left Secondlife yet... but I can see that some of the magic is gone, others have returned. My sweet island girl Gin just passed her second rezz day and yet has been gone for nearly eighteen months and the way that happened still doesn't feel good. Another dear friend fell deeply in love here and I mean real love... the long real life phone calls... the *what if* planning of a future...until the wife he didn't have called one day and said he was married and was going to stay that way. That has a way of taking away a lot of the magic we come here with. I think one of the sadder stories has been one of my beautiful friends that ventured off into some of the very dark role play that's to be found in Secondlife and has reportedly harmed herself in real life... {don't under estimate the power of role play}.

On a positive note one of my favorite guys has returned to Benares. Jakob was a resident over a year ago... took a break for some time but seems to be rejuvenated, he now has a parcel on mainsides east shore where the view of the Secondlife sunrise makes for a wonderful view... a view that befits his new beginning here.

One of Flors friends, Chrissy, has joined us... Cammie graciously moved all her objects over one parcel so that Chrissy, Flor, and their group can enjoy a group build project on the Southeast corner.

Lastly this past week had me doing the one thing that I hate the worst as a region owner... parcel returns. One resident hasn't logged in in over a month now, and her tier was nearly that far in arrears. Another long term resident has also fallen away from Secondlife. In her case there were three of them that had a great time together and for just life's reasons they have gone different directions...it was just time. While I would love to provide a place for a community no charge, simply put...I can't afford it.

I think it was on Lordgreggregs log in splash screen that I saw the quote that every beginning comes from anothers end.

I'm still so blessed... I never dreamed it would be this way

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

A Brave New World?...

***************************Where we come from*************************** ************************************************************************

One of the things that continues to amaze me is listening to people talk about their Secondlife experiences and why they are here in Secondlife. Personally I have always tried to fully engage myself totally in everything I've ever attempted and Secondlife has been no exception.

Recently I was chatting with a man who first came to Secndlife over a year ago....He had taken several months off and recently returned... I started asking him those questions that always fascinate me...Why did you return, What do you do inworld, What are your goals here, How do you feel about this Brave New World we call Secondlife? When I mentioned to this young man that one of my friends had created a work of performance art at Burn2 and that my creative abilities didn't run towards object creation he stated to me that he thought creating anything here or importing anything inworld was a waste of time. I can't remember his reasoning... I guess because I was so shocked. Any society must continue to create and grow... in the short span of geologic time humans have been on this planet we have scarcely began to achieve our potential.

You know, it's difficult for me to spend much time with those that are content... I don't mean the contentment that comes from success...that's fine. I mean those that are the least curious among us, those that see no need for more than 64 meter draw or find nothing magic in their Secondlife. I want to believe that perhaps the reason people are often surprised to learn my age is that I still find so much magic in so many things.

And so it goes

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Listen...

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I don't remember where I first found this...I think it was a gift from someone, I do remember it was over twenty years ago and I know it's good advice for me, so often I fail to just sit and listen.

Enjoy:

When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, you have not done what I asked. When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn't feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings. When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem, you have failed me, strange as that may seem. Listen! All I asked was that you listen. Not to talk or do-just hear me. Advice is cheap. Ten cents will get you both Dear Abby and Bill Graham in the same newspaper. And I can do for myself. I'm not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless. When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself, you contribute to my fear and weakness. But, when you accept as a single fact that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational, then I can quit trying to convince you and get to the business of understanding what's behind this irrational feeling. And when that's clear, the answers are obvious and I don't need advice. Irrational feelings make sense when we understand what's behind them. So, please listen and just hear me. And if you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn; and I'll listen to you............ Author Unknown

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Things...

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Benares hosted the October Secondlife Bloggers party last Saturday...and no I didn't take pictures ( I know, fire me!) We did have a pretty good crowd...28 people at one point which wasn't bad considering when I planned this I apparently didn't realize that Burn2 was going to be in full swing! ( great planning on my part). I can tell you I had a sleepless night the eve before party...The evening of the 22nd I got an off line IM from Hexxie of the Born Again Pagans letting me know that he had badly burned his hand that day and was going to have to cancel his performance for the 23rd. I could tell he felt really bad...but if you stop and think about it...it's amazing we can actually put on a show with people from different continents using our own private tech devices. Hexx will be OK, it's just necessary to let his wing heal...and wonderful of him to give me as much notice as he could. So, in my usual panic, I IMed Porter and called, Help Me! She told me just chill...it would be OK.... she found us a DJ to cover the time from 3pm to 4pm.... Mick Oxygen. He did a great job for us... and did it with very short notice...sure gets my recommendation!

Now I hesitate to say who was at the party...'cause I know darn well I would leave someone out...and I would feel badly for that. I did have several notable bloggers and my great thanks to them all... while we read one anothers written material...it's nice to see one another face to face as it were.

One that was missing was Wizard Gynoid... I know where Wizzy was... Burn2. Take a look at the image below... Wizzy with the burning prims of her temple falling around her.

******************** OK... a couple of other things going on with me.. One is I'm wondering what to do about one of my residents. Lynnes not logged into Secondlife in a few weeks now and her tier is nearly that far overdue. I hate these situations with a passion... one never knows if the resident is gone forever...are they in hospital...on vacation and forgot to tell you. I try and put myself in their position and think about how I would feel if I logged in and found my place gone. I occasionally have residents IM me letting me know that "X" has happened and that they will be in world on "Z" day to square up with me and I do appreciate those communications.

I would be telling an untruth if I said the money wasn't important. Yes, I want a community...but at the same time I'm not wealthy and while I'm not going hungry the Benevolent Monarchy gets their nearly six thousand dollars a year from me rain or shine. I guess in this case I will wait until the end of the month, and at that time I will have a couple of very nice private island parcels for sale.

All in all this last weekend was positive... I made a couple of new friends... I'm getting a bit more comfortable with my real life part time job... I'm just about getting a system for spending time in world as well as work sleep shop heh heh.

I do have a few changes I need to make with my inworld life and I've got an IM into Ling to chat about those. While I'm a lot older real life than she...I've learned to ask her advice.

It's late now...and while I'm just beat... I'm not sleepy, just loopy! =^..^=

And so it goes

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Must it always be, "Me First"?

******************************Where we come from****************************** I came to Secondlife May 2, 2007 along with that great rush of people that found this virtual world during those heady days...I think many of us were totally smitten with the dream we perceived, "Your world...Your imagination". That was the line of the time, not fast easy fun. I still believe much of the dream I had my first days here... but I do understand that not everyone has that same dream or the goals I have. If there are fifty thousand people on line today just as in fifty thousand people in real life there will be those with personality "issues"...you know the ones.. we've all met them. When they drive their cars, they drive aggressively... when they go somewhere where we line up, they're the ones that will push in line... I've taken to calling them the "me first" group. In Secondlife we can often find them at some of the so called welcome areas... Moose Beach, Ahern, Waterhead are a few of the best known. You will find them deliberately running into people... sitting on people...just anything to be annoying....doing things that a blogger I know calls "edge casing"... just on the edge of doing enough to get an abuse report, but not quite. A day or so ago I met another of the "me first" group, I was having a chat with one of my friends and a new acquaintance when the "me firster" started running into us and sitting on our heads. Of course when I IMed the question of "what the F****s wrong with you" {not a wise move I know} the behavior escalated and at that point a TP home for a couple minutes was the wise move. Below I've set a couple of images of the "me firster's " profile..now I've edited out all the identifiable details because I believe that a lot of the behavior these people practise is just their way to achieve notoriety. I see all this as rather a sad waste of the great opportunity that Secondlife provides for people of all cultures to meet, learn, and collaborate in a friendly informative way. No matter where I have traveled in the world a few things are universal... we all seek to be safe, loved, warm, and fed.

I know that here in Secondlife I'm an idealist...that the way I can act here isn't safe, physically or emotionally, in many places in that other world, but I want to dream. I want to dream about how it could be.

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Oldbie

Yes...truly, this is story telling.

Lalo, I sat in tears for a long time.

I don't have to like it..I have to accept the impermanence of everything.... but Damn it...it's not how I want it to end.

And so it goes

My love always, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Doom & Gloom? Maybe..maybe not..

******************************Where we come from*****************************

***************************************************************************** I started thinking about the content for this post last evening... I let it "cook" over night and as so often happens more information comes around. In case you've been out of touch with all the latest chatter and/or gossip there has been an announcement that Phillip Rosedale is again stepping back from the CEO position of Secondlife. Now that announcement along with a lot of the various seemingly failed experiments by Linden Lab this past year have created a atmosphere of doom and gloom. If some one were to write a scenario made to order to create a feeling of unease it would be difficult to beat some of these:

Viewer 2.ought oh...

Display names...

Mesh... (while the concept is great... who benefits? More high end users?)

Hiring and firing 300 people...

Raise the price of non profit regions.... lower the price of non profits (just a week later)

Disband the Mentors Group that did free work for you, working with nooblets one on one...

There are likely more.... but you get the idea.

I read this post today from Crap Mariner...I really like it!

I had a chance to got to Burn2 today.. I saw an IM from Hexxie of The Born Again Pagans and decided to ask a few of my friends to join me. While there I saw and old friend of mine...and oldbie from 2004. I asked Doc about what was going on...and was there cause for concern. His response... much as I suspected... all the screaming has been going on since his rezz date. Just relax and enjoy.... and keep an eye out for rats leaving the weather deck (that last part is mine.)

OK...just got an IM from Wizzy...I guess she wasn't done with project after all. OOOOPS! I had returned her project :-((

Sorry Wizzy , coming now

And so it goes

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Stories...

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Stories I've been thinking on...some new, some old, some just stories.

I've had my routine turned around these last couple of weeks or so... what with a part time real life job {I really did need something to do besides sitting here on my backside!} and that job does require me working one day (night) graveyard shift. The upside is I get a bit of time to sit and think about what I want to write here... so, stories.

Old stories...well old for me, some of you that read this know about the ongoing written *blog war* that has been going on for the past few months. It's a war that I refuse to take sides in. All the parties have their points and I intend to not only remain neutral... I intend to try to still communicate with everyone. We all have things in our lives that we feel passionate about and while both passion and dissent are acceptable it would seem to me that it's important to be able to disagree without being disagreeable. Life is much too short for me to spend much of my life worrying about what some one has said about me. A quote from one of my favorite authors Richard Bach, "Live never to be ashamed if anything you do or say is published around the world... even if what is published is not true".

Newer stories.... I received an IM from Tymmerie a day or so ago confirming the time and location of the Secondlife Bloggers party at Benares. I wanted to try something a little different for entertainment so I've booked two live acts for the party. First at 2PM SLT will be Porter Paquot... Porter sings real life with the Portland Oregon band, Fez Fatale . A look at that web link will tell you a bit about her and the style of music. Porter has a great line of patter that draws the crowd into the show...the mark of a good club entertainer.

Second act will be Hexie and Madame, The Born Again Pagans out of Amsterdam... I was so hooked on their music from the first time I heard them, I think all that attend will enjoy. I'm going to do a little decorating...not much... it's a Bloggers party, Halloween is still a long ways away!

Lastly... I saw a friend online last evening that doesn't come as often as they used to. Blue Szondi was likely the last Secondlife Mentor left on the old help Islands... We chatted for a bit about how it used to be...and how the nooblets are kinda left hanging so often. The old system wasn't perfect no.... but it sure beats what is available now. You can find Blues story here, http://brinda-benares.blogspot.com/2009/12/sadness-personified.html.

That's all for now =^..^=

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Secondlife benefits

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The benefits of a Secondlife for me...

In the last couple of days that subject has come up in conversations with my friends... One of those friends I view as a daughter because of the forty year or so gap in our ages, the other I view more as simply a friend because our ages aren't quite that different.

A little perspective if I may.... For a lot of reasons best left for a more intimate setting I have always felt just a little bit emotionally out of step with the rest of you... I think I first became aware of that nearly sixty years ago and it took a long time for me to be able to see what I was thinking...and why. In a chat with my younger friend I asked her what was the most intimate thing humans do? You see, for me it's not sex, sex can be intimate yes....but for me dancing is the single most intimate thing. Dancing requires two people to use a lot of non verbal communication and that requires a brain connection... that brain connection leaves me feeling very vulnerable. For a lot of years after I understood a lot about both you and I there was a constant struggle to emotionally identify. I think part of what Secondlife does is to remove enough input that I'm actually able to concentrate more on what is said and less on those silent signals that we use to communicate. Now the downside of that is the very signals we lose in Secondlife are those signals that so often let us know when people are being false. How often do we all see "relationships" go wrong here because one or the other has a hidden agenda.

My older friend was feeling that she wasn't accomplishing anything in Secondlife. Like myself, she can't build...neither of us can script...she simply felt she was drifting aimlessly through this virtual world. Now keep in mind that in her real life this woman is an accomplished classical pianist, she has nursing experience, she's no slacker in any sense of that word but Secondlife requires we find something to do, and she hadn't found her niche. After all, there's only so much pixel sex or shopping or hanging out at Moose Beach.

I sat my friend down at our friend Barbara's fantastic build... Barbara is a graduate architectural student from Berlin and what she can do in a week I could never do in a lifetime... and neither could my friend. But what I think I was able to do is to show my friend that while I can't create esthetically pleasing objects I can create a community. Creating that community isn't why I came to Secondlife originaly... I came out of a sense of fascination and then I fell in love with this world. After I bought and created Benares, I began to see that while one can buy pixel sand anywhere...what we had here at Benares was different, it became a community. A community needs and anchor...and I gather that's what I have become. My friend and I chatted for quite sometime and before we both logged off she told me that she had gained a different viewpoint of her path in Secondlife... she could see that just as in our other life we have limitations... that doesn't stop us from becoming successful.

For me, those times I get to sit down and actually deeply communicate with you where ever you are, are the times that I feel I'm accomplishing worthwhile things in all worlds.

{Even if I am a little bubble off of center =^..^=}

And so it goes

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

A big yard?

*****************************Where we come from*************************** Looking at this location... For me this is another indication of what Secondlife can do... Below, three of our residents houses.... Ravens place on the West shore..... Victoria's just next door.... Below, Fenna's from the East homestead...

************************************************************************** I know most of us are in limbo as to the direction that Secondlife is headed.... I was thinking today as I read some of the blogosphere that the prediction of doom and gloom has been here as long as I have. When I was new I wasn't aware of all the chatter as I am today...heck, I was worried about how to change my hair...and not get accidentally naked at a welcome area.

For those of you that came after me... we used to have gambling... we had *banking*... land scams.... ad farms.... and bots, lotsa bots. "Resident" concurrency reached 80,000, but many of those were traffic bots and while some of that still exists...not so much now.

Yes, I have set up and account in another world and intend to have a place for my Benares family to move to if we have to... but I'm not certain that we will have to go.

Linden Lab still has a lot of employees... and while there are certainly non disclosure agreements with most if not all...if there were signs in the wind that the lab was for sale or in danger of closing I'm betting information such as that would leak out in one day.

I remember back to those heady days of 2007... I doubt we will ever see days such as those again... but maybe thats just my perspective from this far down the road.

Ever return to a childhood home? The yard that was so large then just isn't 30 years later. I'm gonna stick around till someone flips the final switch.

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

No one is untouchable...

Lately I've been opening this blog with images of where we come from, but this afternoon I feel that wouldn't be appropriate.

My television is on in the background....I'm listening to the beginnings of the rescue attempt of the thirty odd miners in Chile. It has been a world wide effort...yes, it's a Chilean operation, but the reports are that govermental and technology communities from all over the world have offered tech help if not infrastructure. This effort is what we as a race can achieve as far as support and working together.

Contrast that with the story below***********

Ask 13 year old Hope Witsell about compassion... about kindness...

Oh, that's right we can't ask Hope.... She killed herself.

Please take a moment to read this article...{perhaps ignore the video}, the text below it is the story that will break your heart. What scares me is the direction technology is taking our young generation. Believe me, I understand that since the days of Plato the elders of every generation have decried where our collective children were headed but our our elders didn't have the technology available that todays kids have. All the technology in the world....and at 13 the emotional developement one gathers just 3 years after playing with dolls.

We can't blame Hope's mother... I believe her story that she had told her daughter about the dangers of inappropriate behaviour. Can we blame Hope? Can we blame the school for a perceived failure to let the parents know of Hope's emotional state? I don't know. Can we blame the parents of the children that bullied Hope? None of those will return a beautiful 13 year old child to our world... and while I have no answers, the future scares me. In my life time there have been terrible acts of violence.... literally tens of millions have died at the hands of people with no conscience...people that did things just because they could.

As many of you know I am a practising Buddhist... and there is a philosophy that says I will be reborn again and again until all those uncooked seeds in my lives have been lived through. This current incarnation has me sitting here anguishing over the death of a 13 year old....and a part of me can understand that perhaps that what that 13 year old was supposed to do in this life was to end her life at 13... no matter how terrible that may sound. A part of me can understand that perhaps my next life will be to be born blind and crippled in Varanasi India and beaten to death on those streets.

All of those beliefs don't stop my pain today... and I'm not wise enough to have answers this time around...

And so it goes

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Playing..........and "The Rose"

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Welcome home Victoria! Victoria hasn't furnished her place yet but already a few of us got together to chat... It's images such as these that I have come to love...just those times when suddenly we get together as one. (Raven, Victoria, Bubbles, Myself...and about 5 minures before Lala came)

Today Barbara, Lita, Raven, and myself went to AM Radios sim and played with cars, my pink tank, and a few violent bang bang things. That place is likely one of the few places you can go wide open in a land vehicle here in Secondlife. Both Lita and Barbara tend to be a little reserved so an outing like todays was good fun for them.*********

I had to take a nap today...I've taken a part time job and I'm not used to sleeping in the afternoon..... as I was awakening, Bette Midlers song, "The Rose" was playing in my head. It's not new by any means...and I just wanted to embed it here.

I found this clip..... the creator sounds young (everyone sounds young anymore =^..^= ). The song still brings tears ....I hope you enjoy it.

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Ultimatums.......& Partys =^..^=

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I guess we were all forced to accept the latest TOS (terms of service) on October 6th, 2010 in order to log in to Secondlife....and yes, if we don't like the terms, we can just quit before thirty days goes by.

Today was the first time I actually made an effort to read most of what was written in that presentation. To adequately understand the TOS one would likely need an hour or so and a law degree. I did read and copy one part that is extremely clear, section 4.2....

4.2 Second Life exists only as long as and in the form that we may provide the Service, and all aspects of the Service are subject to change or elimination. Linden Lab has the right to change and/or eliminate any aspect(s), features or functionality of the Service as it sees fit at any time without notice, and Linden Lab makes no commitment, express or implied, to maintain or continue any aspect of the Service. You acknowledge that your use of the Service is subject to this risk and that you knowingly assume it and make your decisions to participate in the Service, contribute Content and spend your money accordingly.

Period. Full stop. End.

***********

I want to have a lot to say about the above.... but what the heck can one say? I see no room for discussion, it's a take it or leave it situation.

***********

Better news, I contacted Tymmerie Thorn this evening and confirmed my commitment to host the SL Bloggers party for later this month...While this is a get together for Secondlife Bloggers, all are welcome. I've spoken to Porter Paquot about performing and am waiting to hear if Hexxie and Madame from "The Born Again Pagans" will commit. Tentative date will be Saturday October 23rd and in these next couple of days I will be able to set a firm time/date. The time will likely start at 2PM SLT since that will allow those in Europe a chance to attend. For those of you in Australia, Japan, and East Asia you're just gonna have to either get up early...or go to bed late! =^..^=

You know...

No matter what happens... we will all be OK. In one of my more melancholy moods I was able to take great comfort in something soror Nishi said, "we will become another diaspora", (in Greek, διασπορά – "a scattering [of seeds]"). Many of us have already established a presence in other worlds..... We will take our skills and our friends and go on.

I still have hope.

And so it goes

My love to you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Changes...

***************************Where we come from************************* **************************************************************************** I know most everything changes... Some things change for the best.... And others not so much. I'm old enough now that often I'm able to see more than just one side of almost any issue. One of the latest things to cross my virtual radar is the announcement that Linden Lab will increase pricing for educational regions to those amounts paid by the rest of us. We have the doom sayer's announcing that this is the beginning of the end etc..... I don't believe that. I believe that Linden Lab is a business, a business that attempted to entice major corporate entities in world along with many educational institutions....I would guess that along with providing a virtual world for meetings and education....there was the hope that those attending would also find Secondlife interesting enough to buy land and content. It hasn't worked that way...and therefore the Lab will raise the prices and those that have gotten a price break will either absorb the new cost...or go away. My bet is that for all of us that aren't using those regions, we will see no difference. ****** Other things that aren't changing as fast.... In some ways these things are very different, and yet very much alike... A recent post from my friend Boyd Doghouse on his blog Parktown Progress is worth a look. One of Boyd's comments is,"If trolling is all about the lulz, how come people rarely laugh when they do it?"

Just after I read Boyd's thoughts {thoughts by the way I totally agree with} I came across this post on the web. In so many ways this attitude times 3 or 10 or? is what caused the pain that allowed a young man named Tyler Clementi to take his life. I believe there may some day be and end to this..... but it won't be for many lifetimes.

Secondlife it's self has changed...a lot. One can read Pituca Fairchangs stories of the first days and know that those days are long gone...those days were pretty much gone when I came in 2007. Today it's not often that I venture out on the grid to any of the so called "welcome areas"... all too often we see people falsely abuse reported and I'm not that interested in driving to San Francisco and walking into Linden Lab to prove I'm not a child.

I'm not ready to leave Secondlife and I'm also not naive enough to believe that I came make much of a difference....But I can't not try.

And so it goes

I love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

Home & Friends...

**************************** Where we come from ************************* **************************************************************************** Some of the greatest gratifications for me in Secondlife come from those I meet that stay at our guest house for a bit when they new...they go explore the Secondlife grid for awhile...then return and decide that what Benares has to offer is special. Some explore for a few weeks, some like Maxine are gone for a year. Other people find us after spending a few months in Secondlife, they like what they find and make those same decisions. Again, that's what I wanted from my earliest days in Lythria, a viable community.

The images below are examples of both of those situations****

Other 'stuff'...

Yesterday was a great time at soror Nishi's art exhibit at IBM. soror had invited Hexxie and Madame, The Born Again Pagans , to perform and as usual their performance was one of the highlights of my entire day.

More 'stuff', Today.........

My friend Boyd has some suggestions for an on going problem here in Secondlife.... I do know that there is a problem with false abuse reports. Please check out his blog post and see if you can contribute some viable suggestions.

That's all for today

May we all look for and find tolerance with those that we don't understand...

And so it goes

I will love you all, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते

It is my choice to do the right thing....

*****************************Where We Come from******************** **********************************************************************

So often it seems that I comment on something of importance to me...and within days, or in this case hours, I will read something that just fits so well. I'm referring of course to yesterdays post about Tyler Clementi, the young man that was cyber bullied to a point that he committed suicide.

This morning early after meditation I picked up a copy of The Shambala Sun and there was an article there by Lin Jensen that so touched where I believe we must come from as a specie. You can read the last three paragraphs of Lin's article below.... or hopefully take a few minutes to read the entire article from the above link.*******

"If we are to survive in any sort of decency, we must set aside our fears and distrust. We must clear a path in our hearts that reaches all the way into the hearts of those whom we would otherwise cast aside.

Sen-ts'an, the third Chinese Ancestor of Zen, taught that "the ultimate way is not difficult; just avoid picking and choosing." Seng-ts'an's ultimate way is the way of all beings--human, animal, mineral. On November 4,2008, Californians passed Proposition 8, amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages. Legislating the exclusion of lesbians and gays from society denies the reality of our shared humanity. From the viewpoint of one who has entered the Buddhist path, this sort of selective exclusion simply doesn't make sense. To the Buddhist it is like rejecting the shape of ones own face. If the ultimate way is one of compassionate inclusion and love, then I don't get to pick and choose who gets to love and who doesn't. And since to love is to cherish and nuture life in all its forms, then nowhere in the whole of this wide Earth do I get to say what stays and what goes. Whatever I deny to others, I've already lost to myself. If I walk the path of preference, I will be constantly at pains to rid the world of what ever offends me. If instead I come to realize that our lives and histories are shared, then the whole world is kin and I take my place at the table where the entire Earthly family is invited to dine. No one told to go hungry. No one left outside. "

From "Stand by Me", by Lin Jensen printed in the November 2010 issue of Shambala Sun

I think that says so much

And so it goes

My love always, brinda

Namaste

नमस्ते