======================= VOTT IF ... you could get a short, humorous, informative e-mail each week that was insightful and meaningful to your life? ======================= Valuing Ourselves One who is at peace has no problems. That's not to say that this person does not experience events that many would view as problems. The person at peace may still have to pay bills that the money isn't there for, deal with people who are deficient in the social graces, operate computer equipment that has a mind of its own. Furthermore, to compound the 'difficulty', this individual may have a multitude of others who cling to him or her, vying for attention and trying to squeeze out as much energy as they can. (This should not surprise anyone - can you imagine Jesus or Buddha without a congregation?) Many of the peaceful ones have what most would consider to be immense problems: often life-threatening, sometimes life-extinguishing. However, when we see one who is at peace, it is evident that this person has no problems. It is not that existing 'complications' are covered up, disguised, evaded or ignored. It's more that a 'problem' is viewed as merely an 'event', another line in a very large storybook. The one who is at peace, reads that line (however, painful it may be) and continues on with dignity and grace - and through that action, causes more lines to be written into the book. These lines are of the noblest poetry, for the one who is at peace serves as an inspiration to all. Time Tippies One of the best ways not to waste your time, is to clearly see the situation a 'problem' presents, rather than fantasizing about it. Here is a mathematical problem (though it could have just as easily been one in another area): A ship is at anchor and there is a rope ladder hanging from it with rungs one foot apart. The tide rises at the rate of 8 inches per hour. At the end of 6 hours how much of the rope ladder will remain above water if it were 10 feet above water when the tide began to rise? Well, some who are quick with the math would rapidly calculate that at 8 inches per hour for 6 hours we would have 48 inches or 4 feet of submersion and therefore there would still be 10 - 4 = 6 feet of ladder above water. Now these calculations are completely correct, but the answer is wrong, isn't it? So it really helps to see the situation clearly - right? Inspiration Janet Fletcher is the first private citizen to pursue a government in Ontario for an environmental offense. In December 1998, a justice of the peace ruled in her favor and earlier this year fined the city of Kingston $120 000 on four criminal convictions. She had charged the municipality with knowingly polluting a river - and won! At age 53, Janet is a parent with her husband Doug to three grown daughters and is an administrative worker at Queen's University where she is also taking courses toward a degree in geography -" the best training for an environmentalist " she says. In 1991, Fletcher first learned of pollution problems at Kington's Belle Park which had been a dumpsite from the 1950's to 1971. It had been turned into a golf course and a children's day camp. Because the sandy surface was not capped with clay, rain and meltwater seeped through, dissolving solids and absorbing gases from waste material before ending up in the Cataraqui River and downstream in Lake Ontario. Janet found that the Ontario Ministry of Environment had been aware that contaminants such as PCBs and arsenic were found in river sediments. When she presented this information to city bureaucrats and politicians, they appeared unconcerned. Frustrated by the city's continued inaction, Fletcher and fellow activists began to gather information for a prosecution. They carefully collected samples from seeps in Belle Park and had them laboratory tested. Their suspicions were confirmed - the samples were highly toxic. In March 1997, with assistance from the Sierra Legal Defense Fund, Fletcher laid charges against the city. During the grueling 25 day trial she says, " they attacked me personally. They said Sierra was looking to raise money and that I was their dupe. Their strategy was to distort the issue. I was thoroughly disgusted. " However, Fletcher's case was clear cut. Janet is sharing what she has learned from the case with other grassroots activists across Canada through the Environmental Bureau of Investigation, a citizen's group she helped found. We salute this dedicated, hard-working woman who has the courage to follow what she knows to be right. Funecdotes Groucho Marx (1895-1977), a comedian on and off stage, was about to enter the dining room of a posh hotel when the maitre d'hotel stopped him and said he could not go in because he did not have a necktie. " That's all right, " said Groucho, " don't be sorry. I remember the time when I had no pants. " The maitre d'hotel still would not let him in. Just then Groucho saw a bald man sitting in the middle of the dining room and yelled, " Look! Look at him! You won't let me in without a necktie, but you let him in without his hair! " ... with you on your journey Towards Freedom mailto:about@towardsfreedom.com (autoresponder) http://www.towardsfreedom.com (website) information, imagination, inspiration - truly a site for soaring I's ======================= If you ever wish to unsubscribe just do so at http://towardsfreedom.com/suvottif.html#subscription_handling =======================