Love is love is love is love

On June 12 2016 we prayed for Orlando where the deadliest mass shooting in US history happened in a night club called Pulse. Omar Mateen, a security guard went to the club and started shooting. 49 people were killed, 53 more heavily injured and thousands of people were left shocked.

The same night the Tony Awards took place in New York City. People were there to celebrate outstanding musicals and shows on Broadway. James Corden, the host of the show, probably had prepared a very funny monolog to start the show but instead he brought out his condolences to the people who were affected by the tradgedy.

But no one could put into words what we were all feeling better than writer and actor Lin- Manuel Miranda, who was there with his show Hamilton. When he won the Award for Best Original Score he used his thank you speech to present a very powerful sonnett that he had written that day, dedicated to his wife and the victims of the shooting.

At this point I could write it down here for you to read and it would make you think, but instead I want you to watch him present it first. He was crying. So was I. So were many many other people both in the audience there as well as people at home in front of the TV.

Please, take the time and listen to it carefully:

And now read it and try to process the words he put together so carefully:

“My wife’s the reason anything gets done

She nudges me towards promise by degrees

She is a perfect symphony of one,

Our son is her most beautiful reprise

We chase the melodies that seem to find us

Until they’re finished songs and start to play

When senseless acts of tragedy remind us

That nothing here is promised, not one day

This show is proof that history remembers

We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger

We rise and fall and light from dying embers

Remembrances that hope and love lasts longer

And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love

Cannot be killed or swept aside,

I sing Vanessa’s symphony, Eliza tells her story

Now fill the world with music, love and pride.”

“And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love

Cannot be killed or swept aside.”

I think you are amazing

I think you are amazing.

I don’t know you but I think you’re great.

I love that you are always there when someone needs you.

I am captivated by your happy and loving aura.

I am grateful to have you in my life.

Whenever I see you, I can’t help but smile.

Being with you makes me so happy.

I feel loved when I’m with you.

Thank you for taking me as I am.

I think you are amazing.

I love you.

Do you have someone you thought of? Tell them that they are amazing. Tell them what you love about them. Just tell them. ❤

 

 

Title picture: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/hug-can-help-you-fight-the-common

Grow something

While I had prepared several things I could post today, I decided to come up with something new just now. The thoughts I am having today are very different from the ones I had when I planned this. I have so many different thoughts on my mind, about myself, the world, how it is and how it should be, my experiences, good and bad and so many questions. But today is a good day and I’ll keep the negative thoughts for another time.

Yes, it’s Monday. But that doesn’t automatically make it a bad day. The sun is shining, spring is on it’s way back to us and nature is waking up again, preparing to give us the sun, the warmth and all the pretty colors that make us love spring and summer. Here in Berlin the sun is shining but when you go outside it is still pretty cold. Many people complain about winter and the cold, they are just not made for it. But I love it. Living in Texas for almost two years made me realize that I like snow, as much as coming back to Germany made me see how much I loved the feeling the heat leaves on my skin. When it snowed I was just so happy. I turned into a five year old little girl again, that wanted to go play in the snow. And I did. It made me so happy, I didn’t mind the snow in my face or that my feet were freezing. I felt so exited and yet so peaceful. That’s what winter does to me. When I was little I used to sit at my window and just watch the snow fall and I will do this every time it snows for the rest of my life. It’s just so peaceful.

I like that the nature takes a break every year. It makes people appreciate more what the earth actually does for us. We are looking forward to the warm sun, all the growing flowers and their beautiful colors. The days feel much longer. I’ll be able to get home in the sunlight when I’m off at 4.30pm now. It’s easier to be happy again. While nature is getting ready to really live again, people do the same. They clean up, get off the heavy winter dust and feel light and free again.

I think we are taking all this for granted in some way. It’s the same every year. But who knows how long we will have this? Who knows how long the earth will be able to provide us with all the good feelings and colors? How much do we think our trees can take until they break down from all the bad air we make? How much can our earth take? How much can we take? Do we really think, cutting down the trees that clean our air, to make room for mass animal farming is something we can do forever? Is it a good idea to pollute the soil we grow our food in with chemical waste? No it’s not, like so many other horrible things we do to our earth. And yet, we are still here. The earth hasn’t kicked us off yet. If anything, we are going to kick ourselves off. But mother earth responds: Tsunamis, tornados, extreme droughts,  floods. Can we please see that our earth is hurting?

Do me a favor: Next time you go shopping, buy a plant, a little tree, a flower or some seeds and grow something. Watch it grow. Watch the wonder of nature grow because you nourished it. Take care of it. I promise you, it will make you smile.

I bought a little tree a few weeks ago myself  and put it on my shelf, thinking it will be okay up there. But he started losing some of his leaves. Turned out he needed way more light than he got, so now he’s on my window sill, happily growing new leaves. Seeing that made me happy and every time I look at him I smile and appreciate what amazing things we actually take for granted.

Here is my little tree; I hope it will grow nice and big.

title picture: http://images.grasshopper.com/growth.jpg

A great hero, teacher and leader

Eyes don’t lie.

Eyes are the mirror of the soul.

Deeply poetic phrases.

Eyes show true feelings when you are trying to hide them. Eyes show your character.

When I was researching and looking for pictures for this post, it was the eyes that my mind always went back to.

It was the kindness in these eyes that stunned me. And this is the photo I am talking about:

Rolihlahla Mandela

This is Nelson Mandela. He was a revolutionary, a philanthropist, a politician and an incredibly kind human being. Can you see the kindness is his eyes?
He was born into a royal family of the Xhosa-speaking Thembu tribe in the South African village of Mvezo, Transkei, on 18 July 1918. In primary school his teacher, Miss Mdingane gave him the name Nelson, in accordance with the custom of giving all schoolchildren “Christian” names.

He was the first in his family to receive a formal education, he completed his primary studies at a local missionary school. He attended a Methodist secondary school, where he excelled in boxing and track as well as academics. He studied law at the University of Witwatersrand, where he became involved in the movement against racial discrimination and forged key relationship with black and white activists.

In 1944, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC), his commitment to politics and the ANC grew stronger after the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National party. Nelson Mandela was in prison for 27 years by the South African apartheid government because he was standing up against a government that was committing human rights abuses against black South Africans. He got released from prison in 1990 and he went on to lead the way for the abolition of apartheid in 1994. He was elected the same year for president and became the first black president.
He had the courage to stand up and put an end to the apartheid and the establishment of a multiracial government. In his 4 years he established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights and political violation committed by both supporters and opponents of apartheid between 1960 and 1994. At the end he formed a multiracial “Government of National Unity” and he proclaimed the country a “rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.
Nelson Mandela only served one term but he did not stopp there, he remained a devoted champion for peace and social justice in his own country and around the word. He established a number of organizations, including the influential Nelson Mandela Foundation that is still very big. He has spent 67 year making my country a better place and the 67 min wee give on the 18 of July as Nelson Mandela International day is to show that we are thankful and we are still trying to make South Africa a better place and that we are standing together as one.
Rolihlahla Nelson Mandel passed away on December 5th 2013 from a recurring lung infection but he walked among us as a man for 95 years and he will be remembered as a hero, great leader, and made history all around the world.

No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. – Nelson Mandela

By Marizaan Buytendorp, South Africa
Source Picture: forbes.com

A quick story from this morning

As almost every morning, this morning I went to University. But this morning I happened to witness an act kindness and wanted to share it.

I’ve been living in Berlin for about 2 months now and I have also been reading a book called Buddhist Bootcamp by Timber Hawkeye, which had me thinking a lot about love and kindness, the way I live my life and the way I treat people.

There is a quote in that book which I’ve been wanting to share for a while but never had the occasion:

“Humility doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself; it means thinking of yourself less.” – C.S. Lewis

So the act of kindness I saw this morning, was very small, most people wouldn’t have noticed. But I did.

The escalator at my subway station didn’t work this morning.

There was a woman with a baby in the stroller that now had trouble getting down to the train. A man on the same way to the train helped her, which, in my opinion is worth mentioning alone. But what made me want to write about it was the fact, that afterwards he had to run to catch his train.

I know, it’s Berlin, there is a train basically every 5 min. But these 5 min, the reason he rushed to catch the train, might have been very crucial to his life.

He might have been late for work already or not. It doesn’t matter.

He risked missing the train to help a person in need. And that’s what matters.