See You at The Left Forum at Long Island Univ., LIU, in Brooklyn NY June 28-30th

What are the odds I'd meet one of the organizers of The Left Forum while I was out and about (okay at one of my favorite spots, The Brooklyn Commons on Atlantic Avenue) in Brooklyn?  I am looking forward to going to one and learning All About It, best I can in one weekend. I hear they can use volunteers, so hope you can do some homework and locate that opportunity. See their FB page and learn more as I did today and hopefully will tune into again soo

Very dedicated caring folks with important panels planned...so tune in while the tuning's possible! Hope Marianne.com can get there (or some of her peeps and other political contenders to gain great insights.) Feel free to forward this their way as well as local and state leaders and other concerned caring activists.. Peace and light, let's do what's fair and right. 

I did learn quite a bit about NYC concerns from the newsletter of Walter Mosly, so check that out online also. Many good team players are helping people hold onto hope. We need and can do better. so let's do that. Meanwhile in looking up Jehovah's Witnesses, that led me to some sites about Planned Parenthood and also I found information on FGC (female cutting, so pardon this difficult topic, but it's one that needs our shared efforts and advocacy to end as soon as possible.

Ten years ago, a hundred or thousand years ago would have been good..and as the New Yorker Magazine cover that drew a lot of attention (and spurred a book) simply asked for when would have been a good time (to meet but I am applying it to the idea to allow for FC in the past, "Never, Does NEVER Work for You?!" I would hope we could rewrite history in our dreams and then see that become our new shared reality. Half of Africa or thereabouts is hoping we can turn that ship around. Finally the modern world has recognized it as the human rights violation that it is.

Many feel male cutting should also be halted but that has been considered by some to help with cleanliness and is a tradition that was started long before the time of Jesus. As far as I know the Christian take on male circumcision is 'there is no requirement to prove one's loyalty to G-d by taking that action, as was recommended if not required in the Jewish faith.'

The change of heart and dedication of one's life and actions to being kind to others and oneself to honor G-d, particularly by accepting Jesus as a savior (letting his sacrfice and example of love and forgiveness cover our shortcomings and transgressions) and welcoming and honoring the Holy Spirit into one's heart, mind and soul was sufficient.

These difficult topics are some that 'surfaced for me tonight on the web', in part just by seeing a couple of JWs earlier today and recalling I was going to look up their site...and even 'problems with the witnesses' to see what anyone may have a concern about. That's there to research. What I read said that they recognize Jesus as G-d's son but not equal to G-d and therefore not part of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is also seen as a force but not an aspect of G-d equal to G-d, so they don't believe in a Trinity.

They also don't take blood transfusions feeling the Bible says not to 'ingest blood' and seeing that as too much like that. Then there are a few other points. They are a diverse ethnic group. They don't celebrate any holidays accept the time of Jesus' death and only 144, 000 take communion, though they gather on the designated day of 'the Last Supper' which is Holy Thursday in other Christian faiths.

Here's to surfing a bit on the web now and then and sharing what one learns to help think through various aspects of our communities. There's a lot for anyone to explore ideally with a positive intention of learning and living with integrity and care for the common good. 

That said, the debates about many issues both personal and political are playing out in our country and world, so this would be a very helpful time to join in the learning and conversing process as it seems safe and reasonable (and maybe just a tad radical for you to do so!)