Category Archives: the pledge

How have you Changed?

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I was writing in my Desire Map journal this morning and on the page I was using was this question that is the title of the blog. It got me to thinking what had changed in my 61 years.

I had moved from the country to the city and now have lived longer in an urban environment than the spacious plains I grew up in. Yet I still say I am a country boy when people ask where am I from. My hair has turned grey, my waist expanded and I have become a vegan twice.

So what has been said about changing over the eons of time, here are the 15 quotes I have chosen that illustrate it for me.

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1. Remember the good old days, my mum used to say this and I swore that it would never pass my lips. The world has changed so much that people regularly post redundant things on Facebook so they can remember, yes – the good old days.

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2. We meet people in our lives that expect us to never change, always please them by staying the sweet beautiful person they met, we have a divorce rate of over 33% in our country. Guess what this does not happen, people grow day to day.

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3. Where does our ability to change come from. It is said some of our greatest ideas come from this state Tinkerbell is pointing to.

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4. I and many others have been on the journey to access their heart space, when this happens it may seem to others you have changed, to me it was more like coming home.

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5. In my life I have met three people I would say I have been in Love with, one of them most recently. Your looks do not change when you meet these special people, but your thoughts and moods are unrecognizable.

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6. Your Soul speaks to you through that strange phenomenon we call our gut instinct. Those crazy ideas and the little voice saying go for it, or don’t do that. The Soul wants you to listen and act.

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7. We know so little of the rest of the world from the patch of Earth where we put our feet up and call home. What is fed to us as news teaches us little of the rest of the world. This quote demonstrates that change takes place everywhere on our planet.

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8. Often we spend times stressing about the changes in our lives, I like this way of looking at it that musician Alexis Korner has taken on board. Lightens it up heaps.

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9. Another look at people wanting us to stay the same, We change every second of the day, it just takes longer to notice them some times.

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10. Just had to throw this one in to point out how much what is interpreted as entering your teenage years has changed when this so true quote can even exist.

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11. Friendships are funny things. Some you keep for a lifetime and are so special that if you do not see someone for years when you meet its like a day has passed. Others slip and slide off your radar screen and we wonder why.

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12. Halle Berry, one of my favorite actresses, makes a salient point here, that what we are all seeking is to Love, ourselves and others. The people involved may change, but underlying it all is the sacredness of Love.

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13. I can relate to this powerful statement, there I was chugging along and one of these special relationships popped up challenging my life. Now all I want to do is spend time with that person.

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14. Change takes Courage, not listening to the doubting voice in your head and the people who do not want you to change. Step forward and make the changes you were put on the planet to create.

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15. How difficult is it to change. This simple statement points to a fact that we often deny. Just Like that.

We have come to the end of another look at what drives the human spirit. So one more I say Namaste until next time my friends

Namaste

It goes to my Heart.

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My empathic traits are returning big time. Recently a friend posted a picture of her self with her girlfriends on Facebook and all the quotes were gorgeous, stunning,powerful women etc, etc. I felt like crying for her because all I could feel was the immense sadness emanating from her body. She had just returned from overseas and had posted how she was having difficulty assimilating back after separating from her lover who lives in another country.

so you know I like lists and the number 15 so here are 15 quotes or sayings about empathy and being an empath.

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1. Is being an empath a good thing or a bad thing, you can shut your eyes and block things out but when you feel it in your heart it doesn’t go away, light or shadow.

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2. Seeing Listening and Feeling, the three major skills of an empath that allow you to heal others and let them know that someone else relates to what they are going through.

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3. Our intuitive streak, Empathy, gut feeling when all our logical sensibilities are telling us to go the other way, yes you are an Empath and the former win out most of the time.

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4. We speak our truth, this may be after a very rocky journey, See most of humanity doesn’t and you can see it.

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5. Blessed are the few, and when we hone in on the suffering of the planet it sometimes feels like a curse. It takes inner strength to be an Empath.

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6. As an empath you can help heal other people with one word or one touch or lots of words or touches. But you are there for others as your dominant purpose on the planet.

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7. As an empathic individual you may go through rough patches where what is happening around you in the world is all consuming and saddens you. At this time its goodto remember your purpose is that of a healer.

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8. Imagine if all of our judges were Empaths. Would it change the sentencing of prisoners if the judge could feel the pain that they had suffered during their lives. A worthy experiment.

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9. With training and practice you can lessen the effect of outside energy but also must be aware of your internal energies. its up to us to be the change in the planets energy.

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10. As empaths we attend to attract likeminded people and you hear real stories, not its good and I feel fine. THis is raw honest communication, Yummy.

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11. Its Tenzin Gyatso, HHDL 80th Birthday, he is one of our spiritual leaders and he keeps pointing us towards the responsibility that being an empath is, keep on track.

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12. As empaths you don’t need to be directly adjacent to the person to sense whats going on, Possibly could be the reason why so many Empaths I know become Reiki masters and distance healers.

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13. One of my empathic friends formed a Facebook group called the Anchors of Love, thats what i see the purpose of me being an empath is, to send out the Love.

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14. A funny analogy, putting yourself in another socks, but this is what we do when we want to be comfortable to share whats going on, we take off our shoes and sometime even our socks and become more vulnerable.

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15 When I was downloading the images I lost count and only did 14 so I had to find another one. I found this piece of powerful writing. The quest for Love Justice and wisdom after the heroes journey. The uniting of dreamers, we can change the world.

Well we have reached the end, so time to sign off. Namaste my friends until next time.

Namaste

Finding the Now!!

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TheNow

There are so many schools of thought how to be in the Now emanating across the airwaves these days one does not really know who to believe or where to begin to find the most useful amongst them. I have tried many of them over my sixty years so I thought I would pass on a few I have found useful.

1. Calm Abiding Meditation

“There are many stages in mental development, but as soon as we are able to maintain the mind in a calm state, at that very moment there is joy and peace. This is reflected in the body becoming relaxed, and then the mind becomes more relaxed. As the mind calms down, the hidden enlightened qualities emerge more and more.”

—Venerable Khenpo Rinpoche

This statement sums up pretty much what you can achieve in the daily practice of Calm Abiding meditation, a practice I did for 7 years, and which I have recently taken up again after a break of 5 years. I trained to become a meditation Teacher during those 7 years and look forward to using those skills again after my practice is established again.

2. Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga describes the physical practice of yoga. In fact, sometimes the name Hatha is used interchangeably with “yoga.” The slow pace and simple breathing exercises make it a great place to learn basic poses and become comfortable on the mat. My breath cycle improved from 9 seconds to 44 while I was doing Yoga and only gave it up when I discovered the beauty of Tai Chi.

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3. Tai Chi

Developed originally in China as a self-defense strategy, or martial art, tai chi—the “supreme ultimate fist”—is practiced in modern times primarily as a gentle exercise technique. Described as “meditation in motion,” tai chi consists of a standing person performing a series of postures or bodily movements in a slow and graceful manner, with each movement flowing without pause to the next. According to Chinese legend, the technique was created by a Taoist monk who was inspired as he watched a crane and a snake do battle. Impressed by the ‘snake’s ability to subtly and swiftly avoid the bird’s thrusts, he devised a series of self-defense techniques that do not involve meeting the opponent’s force with force, but rather stress evading the blow; causing the opponent’s own momentum to work against him. I do the Beijing  24 practice daily and am learning he Bamboo practice. I Also do a warm up called Qigong

4. Qigong

Qigong, literally: “Life Energy Cultivation” is a practice of aligning body, breath, and mind for health, meditation, and martial arts training. With roots in Chinese medicine and Philosophy and martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed as a practice to cultivate and balance qi (chi) or what has been translated as “life energy”.[1]

According to Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian philosophy, respectively, qigong allows access to higher realms of awareness, awakens one’s “true nature”, and helps develop human potential. This noble practice has helped me regain my well being and is my current practice.

Tai Chi

5. 5 Rhythms Dance

5Rhythms is a movement meditation practice devised by Gabrielle Roth in the late 1970s. It draws from indigenous and world traditions using tenets of shamanistic ecstatic, mystical and eastern philosophy. Fundamental to the practice is the idea that everything is energy, and moves in waves, patterns and rhythms.

Gabrielle describes the practice as a soul journey, and says that by moving the body, releasing the heart, and freeing the mind, one can connect to the essence of the soul, the source of inspiration in which an individual has unlimited possibility and potential.

Getting back to this has allowed me to free my body and be much more present in the Now of my body.

6. Philosophers Notes

Brian Johnson made mega dollars in the I.T. industry then went to Bali and read all the great books. His gift to the world is he can summarise them beautifully.

PhilosophersNotes are like healthy, energizing snacks for the mind, heart and soul! This is such a superb idea, and Brian has such a natural, infectiously appealing way of making it relevant to just about everybody. For avid personal-development aficionados, Philosophers Notes serve as a sampler plate of the very best reads out there, making it easier to decide which new books to crack open next, and which classics deserve a fresh look.

I did one of these for about 60 days in a row then read the books that really touched my heart. They say the day you die is the day you stop learning, in our busy world this is an excellent way to get to access the best quickly. Here’s a link if you are interested https://www.entheos.com/philosophersnotes 5r

7. Communing with Nature

We forget that Gaia has been gifted  to remind us that we are all part of the greater plan. A weekend away from the chaos of the city in a forest , or near a beach or river restores our sense of Now. Leaving your phone, computer and work behind for this period has us focus on things like trees, animals and the fresh air that these places are filled with.

8. Growing and Cooking my own Food

Supermarkets are not even 100 years old, how did humans get their food prior to the existence of what is now the major supplier of Food for the human race. We grew our own and prepared and cooked it ourselves or brought it from our local producers. The joy of  planting you own vegetables and having your own chickens is immeasurable and making your own meals from fresh, non toxic produce bought from a local farmers market is so good for your health.

Well, I hope this has helped you a little, Namaste until next time my Friends.

Namaste

Take Some Things off The Table

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table

Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. This is my core goal, to have this be the paradigm for the world. My core desired feelings are Love, Peace, Bliss H.O.P.E. – Helping Other People Evolve and Abundance. I need to bring all these into play to achieve such an awesome goal. I had two others, To let my soulmate find me and to be a Kundalini Dance Teacher for Elders that have sort of fallen by the way in 2014 so will reassess them next year.

Often we take on far to many goals for the year and set ourselves up for failure in at least a few of them. People have made an industry out of helping people achieve their New Year Promises made on a dash and a prayer at one or another  NYE celebration, a lot of them based on wouldn’t life be better if ……, sort of like your personal wish list.

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Usually they are the biggies that have been following us around for a lot of our life, weight issues, money issues, relationship issues, you name it they could be  on that list. A much more useful practice would be to say Not yet or even, gasp ditch these things that having been hanging around our necks for time immemorial. How do we do such a revolutionary thing when we have been trying our whole lives with little apparent success.

I have put together a list of suggestions and practices that have worked for me over the journey.

1. Your Life is your message to the World, Make sure it is Inspiring.

You have 86,400 seconds in each day, in fact each human has the same exact amount  of them a day. You have the opportunity to have the same effect as Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, The Dalai Lama, Oprah Winfrey on the planet. Use them as powerfully as you can, its in what you give not how much you make.

2.  None of us can change our Yesterdays, but all of Us can Change our Tomorrows.

The one thing you are guaranteed in life is change, the more we resist it the more painful the trip is. If you want something in your life, unstick the glue that you have formed your identity with, begin with being real about where you are at this moment.

3. It takes only one Person  to change your world – You.

I spent years working in Government service because I had an attachment to feeling safe financially. My heart was speaking to me the last five years to get out and fly but I did not listen ending up with severe mental health issues. Since having my career curtailed I have discovered my passion https://www.facebook.com/groups/Interulturalism/ but I had to travel quite a journey to get there. I am so glad I did.

4. You must make a Choice to take a chance or your life will never Change.

Each and every moment of the day we make instant choices, to brush our teeth, to go to work, to eat a meal. We also have the choice to take a real chance that will make a difference in the direction we are heading. These choices are also instant, just that there is a whole lot of dross in our head that tells us why we can’t, don’t listen to it.

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5. The Ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do.

Who do you spend you time with, I spend my time more and more with people who have these ideas that take other people getting on board to help better the planet. From Little things  Big things grow and I’ve got a biggie.

6. There are no Mistakes.

Making the social media airwaves at the moment is this inspiring 2 minute something video by Oprah Winfrey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ3ucnkDOiY pointing to the fact there are no such things as mistakes in our lives only opportunities. Where we live , what we do, who we hang around with, we chose that.

7. I’ve been embraced by a new community, thats what happens when you’re finally honest about who you are, you find others like you.

Spend time finding out who you are at your heart space, when this emanates from you, then they will come. I met two of the people that inspire me in a Raw food shop.

8. Lifes most persistent and urgent question is – What are you doing for others.

Who do you include in your dreams, if your dream  is to own a Ferrari or ten houses then when you get them there will still be that missing factor, How have you improved the lot of others, Focussing on yourself in your actions is the booby prize. You can go internal to resolve your issues but it is in what you provide for others the juice lies.

So these are a few of my practices and suggestions. Get Up, Stand Up for your Rights, its up to Us, Because we Can, its our Time.

Namaste until next time, my friends

Namaste

Small Changes, Big Results

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results

These are the beginning of 300 foot trees if they survive their journey. This is the same for human beings, we are destined to be the leaders of the world if we fulfil our dreams or failed seedling if we do not. As seedlings/children we imagine amazing futures for ourselves and our friends, real or imagined. Then comes something called the education system that is more and more becoming about normalising children, packing them into little boxes so they all come out the same prepared for their careers in our economic world.

Would we have lost the space program if all the astronauts of the world have stuck to their childhood declaration and sought to walk on the Moon or Mars for that matter. Would we have the politicians we have today if all the 4 year old presidents and prime ministers who wanted to make a difference to their friends and family had followed their dreams and transformed their communities.

Ritu Ghatourey,a writer from India  said – Your life is made up of little moments, little efforts, little changes, big smiles, and all your hopes and dreams. Don’t think any problem in your life is any different. Don’t accept defeat. You were built to triumph through. I admit there are times where I have not lived up to these ideals.

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Here are 7 things that can keep  you on the straight and narrow when you feel that the results you desire are slipping away from you.

1. You are exactly where you need to be.

All those thoughts that keep saying I’m not going to make it , I have failed are not correct, you are where you need to be right now on your life journey, you cannot be anywhere else as a matter of fact.

2. Trust yourself Vs. the Doubting monster.

Love and Respect for all, Everyone included. If you go through life with this koan there will be no room to doubt what you are doing will succeed because you will have the majority of people onside. People who exude love have to push away people who are willing to support them because there are so many of them lined up.

3. Give up resisting what life does every moment  of the day , Change!

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

4. Never stop learning.

There is a quote that goes “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning today is young. The greatest thing on the world today is to keep your mind young. I would add your heart and soul to this as well, the access to the knowledge of the elders is growing and refreshening our heart soul and mind is essential to keep our dreams and projects alive.

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5.Develop a Gratitude practice.

We can be grateful for what we have in our lives, or complain and judge them, here are some reasons that being grateful works and makes us an all round better person.

  1. Feeling more connected (less lonely)
  2. Strengthened immune system
  3. Improved emotional equilibrium
  4. Better sleep
  5. Increased energy
  6. More confidence in ourselves
  7. Deeper relaxation
  8. Appear more attractive to others
  9. Increased creativity
  10. Easier bounce back from difficulty

I sure would  like some of these!! Gratitude journal and the writing of Thank you notes are great practices to help manifest this.

6. Sun Gazing.

The practice of sungazing closely resembles its name. At sunrise and/or sunset, when the sun is closest to the earth, sungazers stand barefoot on the earth and look directly at the sun for 10 seconds. Every day, 10 seconds are added and some sungazers eventually reach a duration of 44 minutes. This is meant to increase your melatonin and serotonin levels, our feel good hormones which also increase our overall energy.

7. Care with no Reason, Love with no Expectation.

Life rarely turns out exactly the way you want it to, but you still have an opportunity to make it great. You have to do what you can, with what you have, exactly where you are. It wont always be easy, but it will be worth it in the end. Remember that there is no perfect life, just perfect moments. And its these moments you must cherish; its these moments that make the whole journey worthwhile.

Another Ritu Ghatourey quote to end on, no attachments make it easier to walk your path and have more and more great moments in your life, projects , relationship, pretty well all areas in your life.

Namaste until next time, my friends.

Namaste

Who seeks Asylum?

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asylum

I work at the Darebin Intercultural Centre in Preston where we have an Asylum Seeker Lounge which actually means I get to interact with actual Asylum Seekers.

Seeking international protection

The term asylum-seeker is often confused with the term refugee. An asylum-seeker is someone who says he or she is a refugee and seeks international protection from persecution or serious harm in their home country. Every refugee is initially an asylum-seeker, but not every asylum-seeker will ultimately be recognized as a refugee. While they are waiting for their claim to be accepted or rejected, they are called asylum-seekers. The term asylum-seeker contains no presumption either way – it simply describes the fact that someone has lodged the claim for asylum. National asylum systems are there to decide which asylum-seeker actually qualifies for international protection. Those judged through proper procedures not to be refugees, nor to be in need of any other form of international protection, can be sent back to their home countries.

I always ask people who agree with the policy that there are no such thing as asylum seekers who need to catch boats and not wait on the list that never decrease for organisations such as the UNCHR have they ever met an asylum seeker and listened to their stories. There is a great project in Melbourne Australia that tells these stories http://opencity.org.au/ – they cannot use there real names for fear of reprise to their families in their home countries and unfortunately in our country from over zealous government officials but I know several of the people in this projects and having read them it changed my ideas of what and why these people take the dramatic action of boarding a rickety boat that may end up at the bottom of an ocean.

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Sara who I know has lost her family because of the repressive laws regarding women in her home country. Highly educated and a translator of books Sara decided to leave after the last books she translated was not allowed to be published because it broke Islamic Law. religion raising its head once again. Women do not have the right to seek leaving their country where Sara was from , so she flew out with the intention of not returning and seeking asylum in a country where women had rights and chose Australia. Sara spent 9 days on a boat after paying $5,000 to a boat smuggler and lost contact with the person who traveled with her from her home country. Because one has money does not mean you are an Asylum seeker, money is not the answer to living a meaningful life.

Mustafa was raped by the Taliban at the age of ten years old for a three month period and has been in Australia and on the same visa for the past five years. He has 8 dollars a fortnight  left over after paying his rent which he buys a packet of biscuits and a bottle of drink and recently had to leave his shared accommodation and has been going through the trauma of finding new accommodation on a severely low income.

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I recently found a Pledge to Asylum Seekers written by L. Clancy and L. Mariah for Bendigo for Refugees, http://www.pledgetoasylumseekers.org/

Our Pledge to Asylum Seekers

YWC pledger_4 Welcome!

This site is for sharing the Pledge to Asylum Seekers, written by two Australian writers who wanted to create something that would generate empathy, humanity and hope.

We wrote the Pledge to bring some perspective to an issue that has become lost in politics. We hope that it will move people’s hearts, demonstrate the depth of compassion felt by both individuals and groups, and inspire further action.

The Pledge is as follows

To those who come from desperation and despair,

To those who have endured violence and unrest.

To those who have no place of safety,

Who come to our shores seeking sanctuary:

You are Welcome here.

We pledge to the mothers and to the fathers,

We pledge to the children and pregnant women,

We pledge to those tortured, broken and dispossessed,

We will acknowledge you with kindness and compassion:

You are Welcome here.

We pledge as part of the human family:

We pledge as members of a global community:

We pledge as people who have sought and found

A peace and safety such as you seek,

You are welcome here.

As the children and grandchildren of displaced persons,

We will not shirk our responsibilities.

We will Not stand by while your cjhildren are hidden offshore.

We will insist on change to the current system.

You are welcome here.

If you dream of your children living in safety,

Of sharing the hard works and the rewards:

If you long to contribute to a caring and just society

And subscribe to a ‘fair go for all’,

You are welcome here.

Bring respect fellowship and goodwill.

Bring your heart, your courage and your aspirations.

We are fair honest, open-minded and generous,

We greet you in friendship

And you are welcome here.

Signed ___________________

This is for the humans to sign, people who recognize that do not belong to teams, but one human race. Go to the webpage print a copy out sign it and get your organisations and friends and family to sign it and return the humanity to a situation that seems to have lost it at the moment.

Namaste until next time my friend

sNamaste