the luminous blog

We've participated before - and we knew, deep in our heart, that we'd participate again before too long...  And here we are, some years later, right in the thick of it again!  It's B-Day!  Or B-A-D-Day, really! And it is so damn good to be this B.A.D. indeed!




Aye, it most definitely is once again Blog Action Day: and the luminous blog simply had to be one of the many illustrious participants that, once more, tackle the true core dilemmas of today. And as we do so on this year of our Lord that is fast approaching its conclusion, two-thousand and twelve, it could not be more appropriate to do so in this very fashion, for this approach yields results.  Past experience proved it already... It is, hence, the sixth year of this new tradition in the blogosphere: and, indeed, we have got to remain a part of it. After all, it is better than New York. Better than the latest gizmos Apple, Blueberry or Pumpkinheads all over the globe can possibly come out with to offer us, the gullible consuming masses. Better than any trend out there, in the ''real world'' that is, before it, now or yet to come!  Gotta be a part of it - yes!


And what a great topic it is; one that fits right into actuality and what's been going on all over the planet lately indeed! WE have been gathering and WE have been making some noise - FINALLY! Now that WE have love (for our fellow denizens, our brethren that comprise the infamous now 99% of us over all - right?) what are WE gonna do with IT?!?  THAT is the question! But WE... sorry, we are getting ahead of ourselves a bit here now...

Quite ironically and most fittingly of all, this is the exact same topic that had been explored by a group to which ''we'' are indeed affiliated to: it is called Option CSC. This particular collective, though small in numbers, is simple in its organisation and goals that it has set for itself: ''we'' only aim to gather together as regularly as we can, in order to share our faith, exchange ideas, partake of the same food for thought just as we share dinner as well...!  In many ways, it is a second family, a second home to go to each evening (although it is only once a week, usually...!)

The topic for the month of October was, in so many words, ''UN  «  À VENIR »  POUR LA COMMUNAUTÉ HUMAINE'' and, further more or beyond that, ''Participer à l'avenir d'une communauté humaine'' which all boils down to a ''WE'' indeed - or a French ''OUI'' if you ask me! But that's just me... Eu e... But that would be telling too much!  ;-) 




Is there a future for the ''WE'' here - can ''WE'' make it happen?  Can ''we'' make a better whole of what we've got going, careening down the road to oblivion, right now?  The answer has got to be a resounding YES WE CAN - but there has got be a willingness there, the effort behind it and the collaboration of all involved: and it is never stressed enough that WE ARE ALL IN IT TOGETHER! And it is indeed together that we can make any kind of a difference now. Because there are forces in motion, even as we blog, to circumvent our individual efforts.  There are powers at work, behind the scenes, that wouldn't mind one iota anything less than to cull our numbers and see us rot away - as long as they collect all the goods and reap all the benefits before then.  Those would be the proverbial 1% out there - the big, bad (not B.A.D. like WE are, mind you - bad in the worst sense, the original sense too!) mean and vile powers-that-be who would rule over the masses - WE who are, at best, nothing more than tax-paying sheep for them: sheep over whose eyes they would just as soon pull the wool and speak softly to... just as they stab us in the back!  In effect, WE live in a world where the well-being of a few privileged ones takes priority over the hard-working majority: and that must not be tolerated!  What can we do about it? Well... WE can be heard! And we will be heard - just as the Bostonians before us!  (My nod to certain classic movie; call it a neo-classic, why don't you!)  For, as it stands now, THEY are nothing without us!  WE are in a position where we can still call the shots!  We can make them kneel down and repent of their misguided ambition and repugnant egotistical ways! We still can - if WE BELIEVE WE CAN!  All we really have to do is make that pesky 1% out there understand that they do not own anything - the planet is not theirs alone; it belongs to all of US!  They can gain, momentarily, vast amounts of profit and gain on capital - but that is all ephemeral and illusionary at best. One single rebuttal from Gaia herself, and it is all gone with the wind, fellas, good or bad (again, not B.A.D. like us!) - and then, what will you do?  As God Almighty is our witness, the good ol' green Earth was given to us all so that we enjoy it, fructify and multiply upon it, nurture it instead of exploit it mercilessly until it is but a pale shadow of its former self. Nature is ours - but, as its custodians, WE owe it respect and the utmost care.  WE have to make that 1% understand that: that their profit margin is not worth all that WE have at stake in all of this.  

And who better than WE to achieve just that - hmm?  

So at it, people: boycott, denounce, defend the worthy, the good and the defenceless - and lambaste the pests that make this world nauseating at the core (now, where have we read that before, we wonder...?)

If we, at the luminous blog, otherwise known as TLB Prime (for it is one of many) can inspire but a few to embark upon such a modern-day cyber (or not) Crusade - then it has not all been in vain! 

That, in a jiffy, is why, on this fifteenth day of the tenth month of the year of our Lord two-thousand and twelve...

Labels: Blog Action Day post, Luminous Connections

Blog Action Day: on this day, we nail poverty right on the kisser!

I look around me, whenever I set foot outside, everywhere I go.
By that I mean that I really do scrutinize the environment that I pass through, each and every single time, wherever my activities may be taking me; I scrutinize, I study and I observe. And what my scrutiny has yielded over all these years has never ceased to disappoint me. It was the same in 1985 as in 1993 and it is the same today: we are living in a *me-myself-and-I-world* - a world in which it is everyone for himself. And that is very deplorable indeed.

Every action, almost, in such a world is NOT accomplished with the main objective of making a difference and helping another - rather, it is bound to a career edification mindset, building one's curriculum vitae in a long-term plan to edify ONESELF. Where is the good of another in all that? Secondary, always, if not further down the list. Those who are exceptions to this rule can be counted with the fingers...

The majority, hence, is set on accumulating riches for their *me-myself-and-I* and not dwell for too long on what that could mean for anyone or anything else around... Sure, quite a lot will alleviate their conscience a bit, by making a few donations to a finite number of charities, for example. They will do so with one thing always in mind, however; the yearning to collect a tax receipt after each donation, for giving without getting something in return -even if only a perk- is inconceivable nowadays... No one is to blame for this: we've all been conditioned to be like this.

Even so - that line of thinking that has "monetary gift" come to mind as the "solution to all ills" is a trap. It sets us on the path to feel guilt-free for a myriad of wasteful acts - as long as we've paid for it (or given to charity in order to compensate) we may believe that we can be wasteful as much as we please.

Not so, I say.

One should strive to abhor the wasteful ways of anyone else: without focusing on the wasteful person at all but only on his or her wasteful ways, it goes without mentioning I do believe! Every single day of any given week, practically 24/7, there is so much stuff getting thrown away; "stuff" that the have-nots would just love to have, but cannot get for themselves in this world set upon consumerism. Whether it is bakery products, other perishables, fruits and vegetables or ready-to-eat food, from a restaurant or any supermarket there is in existence, the moment it is deemed unfit for sale to the customer, it gets thrown away. And in the spirit of pure capitalism, to avoid disrupting that ever-fragile system, the wasting simply has to be! Of any given production line, be it freshly-baked cookies or cooked meals on-the-go, they will throw most of it away - for it goes unsold by the allotted time for the sale to be made... They throw it away if there is but a single tiny blemish on the food item too: and that is just NOT RIGHT. Rationing is something of an extremist counter-proposal here, but one has to admit that it would curtail the wasting and circumvent this shameless situation. For, while we bask in abundance, so much so that it overflows and we wind up NOT being able to consume it all, others are stuck in abject misery. And it isn't in some faraway wasteland at all - it is also right nextdoor. Oftentimes, in a neighborhood that is delineated by three or four super-shopping centers, there is a high concentration of the impoverished who simply cannot afford much of anything. And these supermarkets and restaurants place the forefront priority where it has to be placed: after all, they are running a business and they want to earn a living too, as anybody else wants to. So they have their priority set as *making money* - and *do the right thing* only whenever possible. When they can "do the right thing" - they hope to do it so that it generates a copious amount of good publicity for their brand - and it is entirely understandable. Instead of donating it all to a variety of potential charitable organisations, including Church-basements that have a perishable and non-perishable food distribution system in place, they want to make a deal with only select organisations and if said organisations are not interested, all the food goes to garbage. It is downright indecent, but totally logical since next to no one goes to Church anymore, right? An organisation that specializes in catering to the needy assuredly will generate more *positive feedback* for the entreprise, restaurant or grocery store, in the secularized society that we live in today - that cannot be denied. A corporate entity that gives to such an organism, no matter how it impacts society negatively otherwise, will be perceived as "a force for good" because it basically is so indeed; it plays the game by the established rules and tries to make the best of it on both ends of the spectrum.

In other times, I believe these would be called the lukewarm that will only score a C+ at the Final Exam of all exams...! But I am digressing here - and this is not the lukewarm blog anyway!

In total and complete irony, we live in a society that has the "have-nots" actually contribute to the "haves" well-being, to boot, thanks to the wondrous creative genius behind the very concept of income tax. Most days, I can only imagine how God must find all of this down here to be supremely ludicrous - but I'll also refrain from going down that route now, for this is not the ludicrous blog after all!

The poor, as the rich, are a multi-layered strata of society wherein we can find so many different shades of gray: the basic ideal remains though, that one and all should be able to eat to their heart's content. If not indulge in all manners of consumerism - at least have their stomachs full. It may be utopian to hope for it, but this remains the ideal society everyone basically wants to see one day - no matter what "system" it could be based upon.

One thing is for sure though: it is none of those that we've been experimenting, tampering and/or dabbling with so far.

In closing, allow me to say in writ, right here and now, how pleased I am that the luminous blog is a part of B.A.D. (which stands indeed for BLOG ACTION DAY) - a day in which advocating is done en masse about ONE given topic and this year's topic is POVERTY - as you could tell, I'm sure.

Poverty should not be, if one follows parameters set by human logic, same as virtually any politician out there would want us to follow...

Divine Thought Has Said It: as long as the world endures, you will have the poor with you. They will never cease to be; there will always be more and more, actually.

It is up to us to learn to share a little more, a tiny wee bit more efficiently. And evenly. Doing it degree by degree should be feasible - despite our conditioning and all...

Labels: Blog Action Day post, Pundit Blogger Me

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Labels: Blog Action Day post

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