Let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic
This year's Blogblast For Peace is dedicated to the late Jack Layton, the newly-elected leader of the opposition here in Canada who passed away after scoring a nation-changing victory in the spring.
On the day of his passing, his family released a Letter to the Nation from Jack.
In his closing words, Jack has left us all a legacy that resonated deeply with millions of people.
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
He was known as a scrappy political opponent in earlier days, but in his statesman years Jack had perfected the art of reaching compromise between radically opposed parties. He knew how to listen past the rhetoric, and had the iron will to insist on taking action that included practical solutions, not just lip service.
Jack is the ideal embodiment of the Blogblast For Peace movement. He sought dialogue and action together.
Here's my Blogblast For Peace 5 on Friday set - and here's to you, Jack.
1 - Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) - George Harrison
Love
2 - Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World - Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole
Hope
3 - Rise Up - The Parachute Club
Optimism
This was performed at Jack's state funeral, held at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto.
4 - (What's So Funny 'Bout)Peace, Love and Understanding - Elvis Costello
5 - Into the Mystic - Van Morrison
This was also performed at the funeral.
Peace to all from Julia @ A Piece of My Mind.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Dona Nobis Pacem / 5 on Friday - Set 91
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Poetry Train Monday - 138 - Falling With Abandon
With Valentine's Day approaching, here's an ode to love, which I wrote this evening after indulging in watching ballet pas de deux on You Tube.
For more poetry, Ride the Poetry Train!
Falling With Abandon
Love yearns
Yearns like the sea
The shore always slipping through
Fingers of foam
Its absence cr-
-acks
cracks the heart
Cracks like a dry lake bed
Love refuses
Will never give in
Love scrambles like tiny turtles
Scrambling from the sand for their watery refuge
It stalks with lethal prowess
Stalks like the panther gazing
From the shadows
Love competes
Love collides like
Tangled antlers
It shyly flirts
Flirts like the cocked head of a kitten
Love swirls
Swirls in the pit of the stomach
Swirls like dervish snow squalls
It bursts from the breast
Bursts like startled flamingos
Love burns without warning
Love burns like orange flame
Flame wrenched from trees by blue lightening
It falls with abandon
The abandon of a glacier calving
Into the open arms
Of the sea
Love kicks with springy delight
Rambunctious delight
The springing leap of young goats
It protects
Love protects like a bear's
Swiping claw
Love soothes like the tongue
The tongue of a doe nudging her fawn
Its joy spreads
Spreads through the cosmos
Spreads like smiling stars
Stars revolving in the vast night
- Julia Smith, Feb. 7, 2010
Panther photo by Liorah_Lleucu
The Accidental Novelist says Happy Valentines Day in the tangled antlers of love!
An Aesthetic Bard says Felt like going up an ethereal escalator to ultimately reach the “smiling stars, stars revolving in the vast night”.
Janet says Love truly is multifaceted, sorrow and joy tangled together in an emotion no one is immune to!
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