WE HAVE MOVED!

This blog no longer serves has the repository for its author's thought. That has been disseminated to the following locations:

http://peacegrooves.wordpress.com/

Check our newly revamped website
http://www.peacegrooves.com

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A Modest Proposal for Pees

What are the implications for greater respect for women (and men) if men would make it a spiritual discipline to put the toilet seat up when they pee and put it back down when they are done?

The world (inner and outer) shifts through small acts of respect and kindness.

Give pees a chance.

Why a Good News Gateway at PeaceGrooves?

I am a News Junkie. I love to read and I love to read the news. Mentally stimulating. Nice to know what is happening in the world. I listen to NPR, read the paper, catch the latest headlines from Yahoo. Then I realized I obsessing with the war in Iraq.And other violence. I was feeling depressed from all the bad news going on in the world and not feeling like I could do anything about it.

So I took a break. For Lent, I gave up the news. And I think I am going to continue the fast. It's not that I don't want to be informed, but it seems that the conversations I have with like-minded people around the latest headlines are all bitching, moaning, complaining, reactive to what is going on in the world and continues to separate people rather than bring us together. "Did you hear what Congress is about to do?!?!"

What about the Good News? Most of the time, in most of the world, wonderful things are happening. Don't just give me the bad stuff (over and over and over again). Let me know how people are helping people cope with the tragedies and joys of life.

I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a Good News Service? But first, I did a search for what might already be out there so as not to duplicate and there are some wonderful sources. Hence, the Good News Gateway at PeaceGrooves.

I seek to be connected to the world and her children, but in a way that is life-giving and empowering. So that my actions will be proactive, joyful and loving. And it's amazing how much energy I have to dedicate to good work now to contribute to the life in the world.
.

PG

The Inner Impotence of Men

Those with the most power are often the most impotent within. It is there where peace must begin.

The viagra phenomenon is a sympton of the more entrenched dis-ease found in the hearts of men. An exterior cure perhaps, but the interior requires something more than a pill. Though violence is not an exclusive act of men, it is perpetrated most often by we who wear the male skin. Violence is the ultimate expression of the inner impotence. We must come to terms with our powerlessness and cease to collaborate with the principalities and powers which sap our potency. What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and yet forfit his soul? Are you whole?

Become a man who is aware, who refuses to engage in any and all things violent.
Though it may seem paradoxical: Be gentle and kind, for there you will find fire.
My friend, that is true power. You must be re-wired.

Mene Tekal

A New (Old) Paradigm: Creating Nonviolent Media

What we are creating is a new paradigm, a new mythology. Or in actuality an ancient paradigm applied to modernity. We subscribe to the belief that conflict is a part of life, but violent resolution to conflict does not have to be.

We challenge those who are in the business of creating media to stop producing games, videos and what not that perpetuate the myth that violence solves problems, real or virtual. Talk about an old, worn out myth. As Roszack said "People try nonviolence for a week, and when it 'doesn't work' they go back to violence which hasn't worked for centuries."

Use your imagination to create nonviolent media which will impact the imaginations of the young to believe and act another way. It is time for a peace paradigm.

PG

The New Virtual Babysitter

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land. Why do you not criticize or attempt to understand why your sons (especially, your sons) and your daughters are beyond your command? Forget TV, a new babysitter has come to toyland. The GameBoy. It seems lately that I have seen boy after boy with the little box in hand mesmerized by the images on the screen. Even in church where it seems that parents have decided that this is one way to keep the kids occupied. And quiet. By all means, quiet. Add to this the GB's virtual cousin, the computer and its myriad spawn, the Internet, IM, email, games, etc., and there is a plethora of screens for children to lose themselves in. And TV remains.

Based on Nielsen ratings, the following information was found at http://www.csun.edu/ ~vceed002/health/docs/tv&health.html. Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 3.5. Number of minutes per week that the average child watches television: 1,680. Percentage of day care centers that use TV during a typical day: 70. Percentage of parents who would like to limit their children's TV watching: 73. Percentage of 4-6 year-olds who, when asked to choose between watching TV and spending time with their fathers, preferred television: 54. Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 hours. Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1500.

(And from http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html

. More of the article can be found at this website-excellent). Most children plug into the world of television long before they enter school: 70% of child-care centers use TV during a typical day. In a year, the average child spends 900 hours in school and nearly 1,023 hours in front of a TV.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), kids in the United States watch about 4 hours of TV a day - even though the AAP guidelines say children older than 2 should watch no more than 1 to 2 hours a day of quality programming. And, according to the guidelines, children under age 2 should have no "screen time" (TV, DVDs or videotapes, computers, or video games) at all. During the first 2 years, a critical time for brain development, TV can get in the way of exploring, learning, and spending time interacting and playing with parents and others, which helps young children develop the skills they need to grow cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally.

Do not get me wrong or box me in as a Luddite. I still believe (I think) that Technology is good, but it must be held very gently. Very, very gently, like an asp. Pixels are no substitute for human interaction, the virtual for the real of face, feelings, and flesh. And we wonder why our youth are becoming increasingly anti-social?

And I have not yet touched upon the overwhelming violence that permeates whatever screens our children are being lost in. That subject is forthcoming.

For now, let us not be decieved by the siren song that calls from the screen. If our children are raised by the virtual, than virtual they will be. I choose to imagine another world, the one that is real, with love and pain, not found found on Reality TV. It is the world of you and me, with ALL of its complexity. Selah.

Mene Tekal

Welcome to the PeaceGrooves Blog.

Imagine. Create. Peace.

www.peacegrooves.com

This is a forum for the discussion of creative and imaginative ideas for the promotion of peace.