Love of Humanity

by Diana McCollum

I came across this poem some time ago, and really liked it. So I decided to share it with all of you. There are all kinds of love in this world to have, and to embrace. 

Ilchi Lee is a New York Times bestselling author. He developed Brain Education a mind-body training that helps people develop their health, happiness, and peace. Enjoy!

"January 2, 2019

Author-Educator-Earth Citizen Ilchi Lee

 

"On Christmas Eve, I wrote a poem in the early morning as these thoughts for the new year came to me. I would like to share its message with you.

A Love for All Humanity

I like love.
I don’t like love that brings hate to each other, becomes the seed of tears, and curses one another.

The love I want is love that never changes.
Love that can be happy together and love that can be shared—I want such love.

Love that hates and fights is a sick love.
I want a healthy love, peaceful love, and creative love.
I want to let people in the world know such love,
With a healthy mind, healthy brain, healthy body.
A happy family, happy society, and happy world,
I want to make it together with everyone.                          

I want to sing such a song of love.
I want to dance such a dance of love.
I would like to make a peaceful world
where we can experience such love all together.
For this purpose, I have to live 120 years.

BHP, BHP, BHP*
Take back your brain.
Take back your brain.
Take back your brain.

I love myself and I love everyone.
I want to let everyone know this love.              

Love myself. Love myself.
Love yourself. Love yourself.
Love everything. Love everything.

BHP, BHP, BHP
Take back your brain.
Take back your brain.
Take back your brain.
Take back your brain.

* BHP stands for Brain Education Healing Point, an acupressure meditation method that releases everything inside you that stands in the way of true, unconditional love." 

https://ilchi.com/poem-love-for-all-humanity/

How Do We Celebrate Community? Welcome to the Conversation!!!

AUTHOR SARAH RAPLEE

This subject is important to me. I am kicking off our blog-ver-sation about celebrating community during difficult times by sharing some of my thoughts about community and celebrations. Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments to keep the conversation going. Feel free to invite your friends and neighbors to join us. I will check in often to add my two cents worth.

Since the beginning of the pandemic I have seen many heartwarming examples of community members coming together to help and support one another.

There have been food drives, blood drives, neighbors shopping for vulnerable neighbors, strangers lending a helping hand to others in their communities, people sewing masks and gowns or 3-D printing face shields for front-line workers.

Most people wear masks when they leave home to prevent the spread of the virus in their communities. They wash their hands frequently and well. When they can’t do so,  they use hand sanitizer. They are careful to cough or sneeze into a tissue or their elbow. They make it a point to shop local, even online, as much as possible to help the community’s businesses survive.

People do these things not only to protect themselves and their families, but also to protect their communities. They understand that humankind as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We are all a part of something bigger than ourselves.

I’d like to share with you one of my favorite poems that most people know by first line rather than by title.

‘No Man Is an Island’

John Donne, 17^th Century English Poet and cleric

No man is an island entire of itself; every man

is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe

is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as

well as any manner of thy friends or of thine

own were; any man's death diminishes me,

because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom

the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

How do we celebrate community in this strange new reality we’re living? How do we nurture those connections and upraise their importance in society? We get creative!!!

New Yorker’s come together at 7pm each day to give thanks and gratitude to the city’s frontline workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Parades of cars decorated with signs and balloons drive by a house on a child’s birthday. Horns honk and people sing or call our “Happy Birthday!!!”

A young woman hosts a virtual baby shower for her sister. Friends play games, joke around, eat cake together while apart, and clap as each present is opened.

Assisted living staff and residents applaud a recovering Covid patient who returns from quarantine.

  

People stand on their porches and balconies at a pre-arranged time and applaud or bang on pots and pans to cheer for frontline medical workers and first responders.

What ways have you noticed people celebrating community since the pandemic changed things? Do you feel closer to your communities, or do you feel lonely? Why?