A friend recently returned from the UK with an old newspaper.

I have little 'knowledge' of the USA, my perceptions are filtered by the TV shows and media, theological texts, and online relationships.

The USA is culturally dissonant from my Australian and UK roots.

So I cannot really comment on their election processes and candidates.

However, I recognise a great speech when I read one:

enjoy

MOre than just thirty seconds of fame, the worlds most popular toob download of March is interviewed here:
in cyrillic

Apparently ,a rough translation indicates that she has been singing the song in her own very own imicable manner for 14 years! more power to her! and just goes to show the power of the net to interact in peoples live worldwide...

Five aussie blokes kill themselves each day

not good, not good, not good.

So the challenge is how to help! Personally I have committed myself to a small group of blokes, to meet with them and support them. Not much, but at least it's something, and who knows I may be helped more than I can help. :D

light hearted toob of the week:
KEN LEE which is even more amusing in light of the subject matter above...

Rick Warren is worth remembering:

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.

been cogitating a bit on projection and transference lately.
and our shadow side...

evil and unredeemed beauty resides in our shadow...

meanwhile this post gave me some cognitive reflection.

I thank God for my handicaps, for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.

Helen Keller


Purification comes slowly sometimes, but we start from where we are.
Easter week has begun, the Great Week, the celebration of the triduum looms, three days that mean much more than Christmas, but without Christmas they would never happen.

So it is, life begins with birth, and with no birth; no growth or change, or suffering or a thousand little deaths can occur.