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Hats Off | by |
| Column dedicated to sharing news about community activities, service projects, and other events that are important to the life of the residents of our "mountain." |
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published on 07/03/2006
Hats Off …to our Oneness
By
sigmtn.com staff writer
What is it about us as human beings that forces us to look at each other as individuals focusing on the things that separate us and not things that we share in commonality?
Don’t we all breathe the same air, drink water from the same rain, and eat food harvested from the same earth?
Focusing on the things that are different only alienates us from each other.
Because we are an intelligent human race, we have the ability to seize the opportunity to celebrate the uniqueness of our diversity and at the same time recognize our oneness.
Look up your street and then down. What do you see? A young mother with four small children struggling to keep sane; an old man walking with a cane to the mailbox only to find no letters; a young married couple heard yelling at each other through open windows?
Or maybe you see three sisters happily playing a game of soccer in their backyard with their dad; or a mother swinging on her front porch holding a precious child just diagnosed with autism; or a grandmother pushing her newborn grandchild in a stroller?
Whatever the picture outside your window, it’s the same from one block to the next, one town to the next, one state to the next, one country to the next and so on.
Halley Parry states in her article in the Mirror, If Someone Asks if You’re Crazy: Say Yes, “While we build literal walls to separate ourselves from nature, we have created a system of ‘walls’ and labels in a futile attempt to put an order that will never exist into our chaotic lives. In Girl Scouts Day Camp a Success, we learn how local girls experience everyday activities that connect them to the world of service, survival, caregiving, and discovery of new ideas. Paul Black’s story of success in Paul R. Black Taking One Step at a Time is a perfect example of what a person can do when they put their heart and mind and desires into action.
Isn’t that what it’s all about anyway – this life? We are told to live every day like it’s the first day of your life and at the same time live it as it were your last. Take care of yourself first so you can take care of others. Be true to yourself and everything else will fall into place. Only then will you and I equal one.
Finally, remember to celebrate the freedom we in American share by showing compassion not only to the people of other countries who don’t share that freedom, but also to your neighbor on the street where you live. Happy Fourth of July!
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