vlyons
vlyons's JournalFewer children, smaller families
When I was in college, back in the 1960s, I went to a lecture about the need for smaller families. The gist of the talk was that human beings were overpopulating. Moving into wilderness, cutting down forests to make crop lands, messing up the ecology worldwide. This was long before discussion about climate warming. That families with just 1 or 2 kids, rather than 6, 7, 10, 12 kids were economically better off. A family could afford to feed, house, cloth, educate 1 or 2 kids, but large families == eh, not so much.
The lecture ended with the saying that it had to be ok to have just 1 or 2 kids, or even no kids at all. I chose to not have children. I practiced various forms of birth control, pill, IUD, cervical cap, condoms. I have never been pregnant.
If contraception is outlawed. Wowie zowie baby. That definitely will not stand.
I think they'll go after gays before they go after contraception, but it's on their list.
Enthusiastic perseverance
Yeah it's damn dreadful and scarey. Well the game ain't over yet. This is worse than protesting against the Vietnam war. Remember those days? Those greedy power-hungry Fascists ain't seen nothing yet. There are more of us than them. One of the perfections of a Boddhisattva is enthusiastic perseverance. Cultivate enthusiastic perseverance. When that little voice in your head starts telling you defeatist stuff, tell it to STFU and get lost.
Every single day, spend a little time reminding yourself that you are cultivating the perfection of enthusiastic perseverance. So any setback today will not deter us from our enlightened activity to accomplish our enlightened goal. Moreover our enlightened activity is done with the compassionate aspiration to benefit the happiness and well-being of everyone.
Enthusiastic perseverance
Texas is NOT going to secede from the union
It doesn't matter how many want crazy Republican whack-a-doodle MoFo Bubbas want to secede and not pay fed income taxes. The vast vast majority of Texans do not want to turn in their US citizenship for the uncertainly of citizenship in the Republic of Texas. All those texas ranchers and farmers are not going to give up their farm subsidies.
A lamp in the darkness
"However much fighting there is in the world, however much darkness there is, we must be able to serve as small lamps in that darkness."
– 17th Karmapa
Enthusiastic perseverance is a very great virtue. So don't let these trying times discourage you or fall into indifference. Just keep on keeping on.
Can Trump get a fair trial
After all the J6 evidence is turned over to the DOJ, and assuming there is a criminal referral, won't Trump claim that the televised hearings have tainted the jury pool, and he can't get a fair trial?
60th Van Cliburn piano competition begins June 2 in Ft Worth
This is one of the premiere piano competitions in the world. It will b e livestreamed for free.
For more details, see
https://cliburn.org/2022-webcast/
on cultivating hope
This quote from HH the Karmapa struck a chord with me. It's easy to fall into hopelessness and then fall even further into indifference.
Finding our nobility of heart ~ HH the 17th Karmapa
https://justdharma.com/61u0z
"I have many hopes for the world, but I try not to have any expectations. Whether I can actually fulfill my aspirations or not, I wish to let them shape me and guide my actions in the world. Focusing on achieving results can make us too attached to our goals. Our dreams do not necessarily have to be fulfilled in order for us to be happy. Nurturing hopes is meaningful in and of itself. It is worth working toward them, regardless of the outcome. When we make this shift away from results, we will find greater courage to act on our aspirations for the world. We will find our nobility of heart."
– 17th Karmapa
from the book "The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out"
The real law enforcement disgrace
So the Uvalde LEOs were afraid to go against a guy armed with an AR15 assault rifle and a shitload of ammo. And rightfully so. They may have been cowardly, but they aren't stupid. None of them wanted to be first in the door to die.
LEOs for years have known how terribly lethal are these assault rifles. The real disgrace is that they haven't called for their complete ban for civilians. But that too is cowardly. Gosh to do so would make them -- ya know -- look bad. Which I guess to them is more intolerable than how they look now after all the carnage that's being laid at their feet.
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Gender: FemaleHometown: Texas
Member since: Mon Aug 1, 2011, 07:53 AM
Number of posts: 10,252
