Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area, March 28, 2014:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, March 28, 2014
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
E. Florence Blvd. & N. Trekell Rd.


Peace Vigils are held every Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Casa Grande from mid-December to mid-April. Come and stand for Peace! Bring a sign or a sign can be provided - and bring another peace activist. The more the merrier! Call Debbie Jordan (520-494-0437) or Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) for details.

　


THIS WEEK:

This has been a productive week, but now that I’ve reached this point, I can barely remember what I actually accomplished in all that time. That’s probably because I woke up at the halfway point of my usual sleep last night, and I couldn’t get back to sleep, no matter how hard I tried. Then this afternoon we went to Sun Lakes, 30 miles away, to see our primary-care physician. We always enjoy seeing Doc, but the round trip is tough for me even under the best of circumstances. Tonight I am just totally wasted!

That’s why I beg your indulgence, boys and girls, while I wrap this up quickly. I plan to to get some good solid sleep tonight and well into the morrow. I need to be rested and refreshed in time to enjoy the official state-side opening of the 2014 Major League Baseball season.

I promise to be more alert by this time next week, and maybe I’ll have done more writing by that time. I hope you’ll be back then.

As always, I invite everyone to join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!

　
The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.
　
COMMENTS: The purpose of this blog is to share positive ideas for making changes that will help everyone, not just a narrow group of people. I’d love to hear more ideas for imprinting positive effects over a wide range of areas in our society.

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area, March 21, 2014:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, March 21, 2014
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
E. Florence Blvd. & N. Colorado St.


Peace Vigils are held every Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Casa Grande from mid-December to mid-April. Come and stand for Peace! Bring a sign or a sign can be provided - and bring another peace activist. The more the merrier! Call Debbie Jordan (520-494-0437) or Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) for details.

　


THIS WEEK:

This week I’ve handled one medical errand and we have an appointment with our doctor in Sun Lakes, 30 miles away, next week. That’s the reason my brain’s already in medical mode. Add the fact that we’re in the most pollenous days of spring, and I don’t plan on doing much beyond rote day-to-day tasks for, maybe, another month or so.

"Wait! Pollen?" you say. "In the Arizona desert? Isn’t it completely barren land?" you say.

"Yes and no," I say. "Pollen in the Arizona desert. You really should see the lovely flowers that pop out of the Saguaro standing right outside our front door and looming twice as high as our house. It’s amazing when these tiny specks of glory just burst from the rugged terrain of an ancient cactus."

　

This is how our resident Dove of Peace
views her own private rooftop garden
atop her Cactus Condo.
(Photo: Jim Jordan)
 

This sign of spring may seem insignificant to most people, but once my respiratory system collects thousands of floating flora germs, my bronchials prove even more fertile than the entire expanse of the Sonoran Desert from New Mexico to California. I can promise you, it ain’t purty!


So I blow my nose and force myself back to Pollyanna mode. My brain will be about as useful as fuzzy Swiss cheese for a few more weeks, but I can still enjoy another wonder of our paradoxical paradise. Since before we’ve owned this house, a female dove has claimed the narrow crook of one of several upraised Saguaro arms for the nest where she’s raised several generations of offspring. I think of her as my own resident Dove of Peace.

　

My own little Dove of Peace
has been here about as long as we have,
providing me with a dose of spiritual inspiration.
(Photo: Jim Jordan)

Still, we walk past the squatter’s condo, and she pays us scant attention. Intruders in her universe, we don’t seem to rate much bother. On the other hand, the sight of a winged mama with her annual flock of offspring in this harsh climate really blows the mind.


For me, spring isn’t a completely lost season, even though my normal agenda must wait till all this new life settles and no longer sprinkles noxious seeds into my delicate biosystem. At least it will end soon, and then I can think again--and Jim can start complaining about the heat that bothers him every summer.

And I? My innocent reaction will be: What [blessed] heat?

And so it goes.

As always, I invite everyone to join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!

The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.
　
COMMENTS: The purpose of this blog is to share positive ideas for making changes that will help everyone, not just a narrow group of people. I’d love to hear more ideas for imprinting positive effects over a wide range of areas in our society.

　

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area, March 14, 2014:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, March 14, 2014
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
E. Florence Blvd. & N. Peart Rd.

Peace Vigils are held every Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Casa Grande from mid-December to mid-April. Come and stand for Peace! Bring a sign or a sign can be provided - and bring another peace activist. The more the merrier! Call Debbie Jordan (520-494-0437) or Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) for details.

　


THIS WEEK:

I finished this knit cable cap I was working on last week, the fourth of 12 Caps for Cancer Patients I’ve vowed to make in 2014:

This cap is for a young girl with cancer.
I really enjoy making something that
might help a child in distress
feel better about herself.

I hope to make one more cap for the project in March while I also make progress on another, more personal, needlework project I’ve been thinking about. Meanwhile, I’m slowly doing some writing, so I should be posting more articles here as well. Stay tuned.


As always, I invite everyone to join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!

　
The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.
　
COMMENTS: The purpose of this blog is to share positive ideas for making changes that will help everyone, not just a narrow group of people. I’d love to hear more ideas for imprinting positive effects over a wide range of areas in our society.

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area, March 7, 2014:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, March 7, 2014
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
E. Florence Blvd. & N. Arizola Rd.

Peace Vigils are held every Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Casa Grande from mid-December to mid-April. Come and stand for Peace! Bring a sign or a sign can be provided - and bring another peace activist. The more the merrier! Call Debbie Jordan (520-494-0437) or Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) for details.

　


THIS WEEK:

While many people continue to shiver in the depths of this harsh winter, we in southern Arizona are enjoying the beauty of spring. It’s one of the many reasons we moved here from back east. But many of our loved ones continue to endure the cold weather, so I’ll try not to mention the weather again till we’re broiling in the intense heat of the desert summer. Deal? Good.

We did have some much needed rain last weekend, which does no good for either my body or my brain. But that’s over now and we’re back to the usual sunny and warm. Oops. Sorry about that.

Anyway, aside from tidying up the usual end-of-month accounting early in the week, I’ve just finished knitting the fourth of my promised twelve Caps for Cancer Patients for this year. I’ll block it over the weekend, so I can post the picture with this vigil notice next week. Be sure to check back then.

As always, I invite everyone to join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!

　
The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.
　
COMMENTS: The purpose of this blog is to share positive ideas for making changes that will help everyone, not just a narrow group of people. I’d love to hear more ideas for imprinting positive effects over a wide range of areas in our society.

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area, February 28, 2014:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, February 28, 2014
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
E. McMurray Blvd. & N. Arizola Rd.

Peace Vigils are held every Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Casa Grande from mid-December to mid-April. Come and stand for Peace! Bring a sign or a sign can be provided - and bring another peace activist. The more the merrier! Call Debbie Jordan (520-494-0437) or Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) for details.

　


THIS WEEK:

I wonder why I plan to accomplish certain things each week, then when that time is past, I look back on the different things that I got done instead. Must be the result of that old saying: Life happens while you’re making other plans.

I did complete one thing that was on my agenda: I crocheted a cap in a cable pattern, a brand new stitch for my repertoire. Decades ago, I knit several cable sweaters, but doing cables with a crochet hook is a different matter altogether. It requires a bit more patience than making cables with an extra knitting needle. But I do believe this crocheted cable stitch looks great:

I followed the pattern for this cap from the wonderful
website for crocheted items at Rheatheylia.com:
http://www.rheatheylia.com/index.php?page=patterns&id=8

Next I’m going to knit a couple of caps in different cable patterns, so March is pretty well set for me, as far as my work on Caps for Cancer Patients is concerned. This cap makes a total of seven for 2014. But since four that I’ve made are in the colors of the Gay Pride flag, I’ll also offer them to members of the LGBT community, whether they have cancer or not. That means three are definitely for the Caps for Cancer Patients program, and four others could go for either cause, or both.


At least I’m accomplishing something useful, but not all I’d like to get done. Ah well, there’s always next week. Come back then.

As always, I invite everyone to join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!

　
The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.
　
COMMENTS: The purpose of this blog is to share positive ideas for making changes that will help everyone, not just a narrow group of people. I’d love to hear more ideas for imprinting positive effects over a wide range of areas in our society.

Top Ten Steps to Achieving World Peace

Since I began to write mostly about what we need to do to establish a peaceful society, I’ve tried to balance my message with ideas for ending poverty. That’s because I believe we‘ll never end conflict on this planet until no one is forced to wallow in a state of destitution. Thus, my list of steps to reach the goal of world peace consists of the ways we can make our economy function for everyone currently experiencing financial devastation, rather than just those who fear physical and political insecurity.


1) Implement a system of full employment, so even the lowest-paid full-time worker on the planet is able to earn at least twice the cost of all the basic goods and services necessary to enjoy a dignified existence.

2) Implement a worldwide system of fair wages and anti-pollution rules, so no employer or region can undercut another by denying workers or residents access to essential goods and services, and no entity can win a labor contract by fouling the planet we all depend upon for survival.

3) Establish an educational system in which everyone can learn at their own pace to the extent of their individual capabilities.

4) Provide adequate health care for everyone, according to individual need, with no restrictions of discrimination based on health status or the cost of services received.

5) Provide decent basic housing for everyone.

6) Provide healthful, nutritious food for everyone.

7) Provide "green" transportation and utilities for everyone.

8) Balance employment opportunities with basic services for the young, the old, and disabled people, so everyone has access to all they need in exchange for contributing what they can, no matter their limitations.

9) Establish a system in which every individual enjoys full civil rights balanced with community responsibility.

10) Establish a system in which every resident participates in the process and success of their community.

The essays in The World I Imagine not only discuss
each of the 10 steps to achieving world peace,
they contain extensive cross references to show
how improving one area will have
positive effects in several other arenas.

This list includes some of the most vital issues that must be addressed in order to end poverty, but there are countless other details I have yet to discuss. That’s why I plan to continue writing on this subject for as long as I can--or need to. And while I’m grateful for the opportunity to write here, I hope this is only the beginning. I’ll continue to look for more outlets for my columns. In time, I’d like to syndicate. It can happen!


Meanwhile, to everyone who asks about the impact this work can have, I have a simple answer. The first step toward making things change for the better is to share positive ideas. I hope my efforts will spark others to share their own creative ideas for ending poverty and building peace. We all need to "think outside the box," because the same old ways of doing things simply are not working. In fact, those same old ways are the reason so many problems exist in the first place.

Can one person have an impact? Just think about two people who ignored the "nay sayers" and did the right thing: Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi got the English to leave India and established a "home rule" government, while Mother Teresa transformed the way many people treat the poor and sick in India and around the world. Citizens of the subcontinent still have a long way to go to control poverty and conflict, but at least they have many role models to inspire them to take the best course to strive for a prosperous and peaceful future.

In the U.S., people as diverse as Al Gore and Ed Begley Jr. have pushed "green" living for years. Only recently have more people accepted their message as the only hope for the future of the planet. There are still those who can’t see the pollution for the profits, so we must keep talking about both the necessity and the practicality of "being green."

As a child, I was inspired by the Christophers, an organization founded in 1945 by Father James G. Keller "to encourage people of all ages, and from all walks of life, to use their God-given talents to make a positive difference in the world." Their motto is: "It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness."

These words encouraged me through years of fighting not only illness, but the people who continued to deny my basic rights and needs because of my disability, even as I tried to use my gifts to help others. Now I’m finding a handful of people who not only care about me but encourage me to continue this work--not only for myself, but hopefully, for the future of all of human society and the planet we call Home!

　

　
The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.
　
COMMENTS: The purpose of this blog is to share positive ideas for making changes that will help everyone, not just a narrow group of people. I’d love to hear more ideas for imprinting positive effects over a wide range of areas in our society.

Friday Peace Vigil, Casa Grande, AZ, and surrounding area, February 21, 2014:

PEACE VIGIL
CASA GRANDE, AZ
Friday, February 21, 2014
4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
E. McMurray Blvd. & N. Trekell Rd.

Peace Vigils are held every Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Casa Grande from mid-December to mid-April. Come and stand for Peace! Bring a sign or a sign can be provided - and bring another peace activist. The more the merrier! Call Debbie Jordan (520-494-0437) or Tony Fasline (520-426-0070) for details.

　


THIS WEEK:

I’m delighted to say I’ve finished our taxes for the year, two months ahead of schedule, so now I can tend to all those other things, little and big, that sat by the wayside while I worried about getting that done. As soon as I finish writing and posting a couple of articles to this blog in the next few days, I can finally get back into the flow of that book I’ve been trying to write for the longest time, Two Worlds. I have nine or so chapters now, but it would be more appropriate for me to call them -ish.

This book won’t have a straight chronological timeline. I have to wrote at least three different plot lines separately, then try to blend them into what I hope will be a cohesive narrative of the greater story. That means I probably won’t be using every single scene that I’m putting into the separate stories because they’re more for my benefit, so I can envision the lives of characters that’ll be shuffled together into the final version of the novel.

This is a new experience for me. Or perhaps I should call it an experiment. Any positive thoughts you can send my way will be much appreciated and will help me keep slogging away at it while I keep hoping it will one day make sense.

And just to keep the thought of what I’m trying to say in this blog and in my books, and any other way I can, here is a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that perfectly reflects the point of all my work and, I hope, my life:
 

As always, I invite everyone to join me in a vow to use our blessings, skills, and talents to build a society without poverty or war in which everyone is able to enjoy at least the basic benefits of prosperity and peace.

Meanwhile, send out your positive thoughts and, for those who are believers, prayers for all the suffering souls all around the world!

　
The World I Imagine: A creative manual for ending poverty and building peace and my historical mystery novel, Lion’s Pride, are available through your local bookstore. They are featured at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and most online bookstores around the world. Both are available for Kindle readers.
　
COMMENTS: The purpose of this blog is to share positive ideas for making changes that will help everyone, not just a narrow group of people. I’d love to hear more ideas for imprinting positive effects over a wide range of areas in our society.