THANK YOU FOR THE WATER!!!!
Blessings on all who have brought us bottled water and donated money to buy
water! Thursday we were able to leave 8 extra cases of bottled water out at the
Williston Road Camp. The folks out there have my phone number and will call
when they are running low. This is the group most far removed from sources of
water. Last summer we almost lost two of them to dehydration, in combination
with the other health challenges that most of them have, so it is not hyperbole
to state that we are working to save lives. We would be hard pressed to keep it
up without your help. The Civic Media Center is also passing out water, and I
suspect other groups around town are doing this outreach as well. When I was
running a food pantry I learned that a lot of people, many of them elderly or
very young, are living in homes that don’t have the utilities turned on. If
you know of other folks who are helping to keep people hydrated, let me know. I
will acknowledge their efforts here and encourage people who may live near them
to donate water to them as well. You can also leave water at the downtown
plaza, for people to stash in their backpacks. It is never a problem to find
someone who will carry the water from your car. Take a knife or letter opener
with you and cut the plastic covering off the case of water before you leave.
Otherwise, it only takes one jerk to pick up the whole case, stick it in his
bike basket and take off.
HARD TIMES/GOOD TIMES
There is a lot of talk, some of it coming from my mouth, about what hard
times we are living in. True enough. Still, from a spiritual perspective, we
are living in the very best times of all, because we are being brought out of
our comfortable, high tech, nests in order to care for one another. Spiritual
teachers from all traditions and philosophies have expressed that we are in the
world for one reason and one reason only: To learn how to love and care for one
another. We have been given an extraordinary opportunity to learn how to
actually live that idea. Meher Baba, the Indian saint who died in the early
1950s, said that the year 2000 would be the beginning of the Time of Chairos
(Chaos) and that during such extreme times the gates of Heaven are thrown wide
open and tens of thousands can walk through. I don’t think it much matters what
our personal spins are about what that means. If we learn to live in love, we
will be in a new and wondrous land, right where we are. I will close this
homily with a quote from Swami Beyondananda: “There is no key to the
Universe. But here’s the good news – it isn’t locked.”
ASHLEY
My friend Ashley, a man of few words, said to me Thursday. “Miss Arupa, I’m
going to turn 80 in September. Do you think anyone would give me a tent big
enough to stand up in?” I would like to make this birthday wish come true. If
no one has such a tent to donate, I may go all wild and crazy and buy one.
Ashley is around six feet tall.
Peace and blessings to all of you,
arupa
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Home Van
needs tents, tarps, bottled water, bug spray,Vienna sausages, creamy peanut
butter, jelly, candles, white tube socks, batteries, and games. Call 352-372-4825 to arrange
for drop off. Financial donations to the Home Van should be in the form of
checks made out to Citizens for Social Justice, Inc., earmarked for the Home
Van, and mailed to 307 SE 6th Street, Gainesville, FL 32601, or can be made
online at http://homevan.blogspot.com/
