I would like to say thank you all for the very warm welcome. I appreciate the kind words. This site, and not just the predications but all the comments even when I wasn't responded, has been very much a point of light. It has given me the patience to get past the horrors that were the last few years - especially last year.
To know that there are others, many others, that share my thoughts about the world and where we were, are, and going is brilliant. We are definitely in, as the Chinese would say, in interesting times.
Oh, so before I post this, I have to tell you an amusing thing. So right after I posted that original message something in the forum software decided to ban me, so I couldn't comment or even see things when I was logged in. I wasn't mad, as I knew it was a mistake, so I just emailed and laughed at the randomness of the internet.
@lovendures Thank you for such an inspiring post. You are kindness itself. You lift me up with every post.
This one is older but it’s a great early morning happy cry: https://youtu.be/8w-fduifHII
@dannyboy oh boy, that video is the best way to start my day. Thank you for that. ?
@herukane, welcome to our community! This forum has kept me sane for the 3 years I've been a member. I can't possibly give back all that I have received from this loving, insightful, supportive group of people.
Thanks for your post. Although I've been limiting my news watching, I did see the Ari Melber/Michael Moore segment you referenced. Really glad that I did. Like you, I felt so good hearing it. It reminded me that we now have a true empathic soul leading our country. We've been blessed, and I never want to forget that.
@herukane Welcome! This community is like a beautiful cloud of light and love and goodness. So glad you are here.
@dannyboy, thank you for sharing that uplifting video. When I pulled it up I noticed there were a few other videos on the right sidebar that also celebrated unsung heroes, a few of them teachers.
Maybe we need to see a similar video each day, as a reminder of the many good people who live among us and are doing incredible work within their communities. They can also serve as an inspiration to us, whenever we feel hopeless and ask ourselves "how can I make a difference?"
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Thank you! Older is also nicer. Refreshing to see a moment of time pre-pandemic inside schools and hospitals, when life was more simple...
Oh, so talk about good news and good people, I was out at a diner yesterday and as I was eating a group of four older gentleman walked in. They soon started talking politics and I could hear elements of conservative biases in their statements. But then they began talking about President Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan and they almost all supported it wholeheartedly - one guy even pushed back when another guy did Fox 'News' talking points about us leaving usable equipment and such.
I mention this because it was really cool to see something so uniting the majority of American - and that is the end of forever war. Its impressive and made me feel good, like there is actually some commonsense among the regular people.
I’ve decided to take a Twitter pause for the long weekend, because while I understand the significance of what happened yesterday, I don’t really want to allow it to fester in my brain when we know from here but there’s hope in 2022 and 2024.
I do however want to share a new story of good people. In our consultant meeting today at work we were talking about some of the staffing shortages in our local districts for teachers. A gentleman that I taught with while I was teaching who retired many years ago very ready to leave the classroom, has come back for a year to our old district to fill a fifth grade shortage. My coworker, whose husband is now team teaching with him, said that when he showed up on the first day her husband asked “wow… out of retirement huh?” He replied immediately:
”I don’t know who it is yet but there’s a kid in this class who needs me specifically. If the universe is pulling me here for them I have to answer, show up, and do the work”
100% had to hold back some tears at the story and thought I’d share with all of you.
https://apple.news/A_hgbW4CpQuO1ZZZ4oLKtJw
Part of the story below, well worth reading the whole article, it is a hopeful story.
Earthquake-resistant school built from recycled plastic in Indonesia
Three years after the Indonesian island of Lombok was devastated by earthquakes, a team of Australian and Indonesian charity organisations have set up Asia's first sustainable and earthquake-resistant school on the island.
Key points:
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SDN 4 Taman Sari was built with recycled plastics broken down into granules and mixed with wood fibres
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It was built in less than a week could last for more than 100 years
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The elasticity of the blocks makes them safer than traditional construction materials in earthquake-prone areas
Entire villages were destroyed, more than 550 people were killed and 417,000 displaced when two earthquakes hit the island on August 5 and 19, 2018.
Infrastructure like businesses, homes and schools were wiped out, and as part of the rebuilding process, a new eco-friendly and earthquake-resistant school, SDN 4 Taman Sari, was constructed in June.
It's located in Taman Sari village, 10 kilometres north of the provincial capital Mataram.
The key to the school's sustainability and resilience to earthquakes is the use of 'eco-blocks', which are made from recycled plastic mixed with wood.
Classroom of Hope's next goal is to build a factory in Indonesia so that plastic waste can be gathered from the local area — rather than from Finland – and processed locally.
With the help of an Indonesian branch of Block Solutions, Classroom of Hope could soon construct other buildings, such as houses for people whose homes were destroyed in the earthquake.
Regards to all
With all the (deserved) angst in some of the other threads I like to pop this thread back up every day as a "timeline cleanser" for all of us. I continually sing the praises of Stacey Abrams, but here's an article about Stacey Abrams being Stacey Abrams that put the light of hope back in my chest this afternoon.
@dannyboy Stacey Abrams is a formidable woman! Highly intelligent, strong, resourceful and plenty of mettle, fierce and proactive. They talk trash about her here in my sector...because they know she is the real deal... and.. she ....does....not....back....down...nor...give....up. And that? Is why she had my vote and gets it every time she is running. They are afraid of her... with good reason.
If you want to remember the best of humanity - I recommend everyone check out the recorded stage production of Come From Away on Apple TV + if you are able to get that. This is one of the last stage productions I saw live before the pandemic came - it toured in my state and I caught it at the Wharton Center. It was absolutely unbelievable how well done it was, and the overall story - all those Canadians taking in Americans for those flightless days right after 9/11 — You’ll shed some happy tears. And I dare you NOT to be singing Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere for the rest of the day.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/Af77C4zUkjs
Best song ever: https://youtu.be/4JtHablARlU (Although Me and the Sky is powerfully amazing too!)