How Many People Does It Take...

... to make a difference?

This is the question a new book by Dan Zadra and Kobi Yamada asks. I came across it by chance at a local Starbucks and parts of it moved me to tears. What a timely and inspiring reminder of the beauty of life, and how to be grateful for the little things!

In Spirit of the season, I thought it would be appropriate to share this excerpt with you:

You Are Royalty

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep... you are richer than 75% of the world's population.

If you have a little money in the bank or spare change in a dish someplace... you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If you can drink from your kitchen faucet whenever you want... you are more fortunate by far than 1.5 billion people who have no access to clean water at all.

If you can attend a church or a political rally without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death... you have the kind of freedom denied to more than three billion people in the world.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than two billion people who cannot read at all.

If your everyday problems are weighting you down, there are millions of people on Earth who would gladly trade places with you right now - problems and all - and feel they have been royally blessed.

Remember: "From those to whom much is given, much is expected."

For the rest of the stories, you'll have to get the book (but you might want to wait, because I am giving it to some of you for Christmas! :-))

Gratitude is the key to opening one's heart to joy and love. And how easy it is to say, and how difficult to do at times! We all get weighted down by the problems of daily life, by worry and anxiety or by the sheer pace of living: too many people to please, and too many things to do. Even time set aside for Meditation or "Spiritual Exercises" sometimes becomes just another hurried thing on a never ending "to-do-list" (which, of course, defies the purpose of a spiritual practice!). One antidote for this is to consciously slow down, to make time for "unstructured time". Time to dream, to be creative, to spend with loved ones, to journal, to read poetry, to look at the stars. If we can't slow down enough to open ourselves to the magic of the moment, we are not only missing out on something essential, we are missing life itself.

This is what happened to me this particular day when I came across the above mentioned book at a Starbucks cafe. I had been to a Yoga class in the morning where the instructor asked us to set an intention for the class. I couldn't think of anything at first (and for me as a former dancer I tend to approach any movement class in a no-nonsense kind of way, super alert and ready to "perform". Only that in Yoga, this is not the purpose...), but then I came up with the intention to open my heart.

Somehow, this simple little thought made my whole day special. It made me notice things I may not have noticed ordinarily, small little events or "waking dreams" that appeared throughout the day like an invisible chain of pearls, ever guiding me to keep my heart open, ensuring me of spiritual guidance and the wonder of life.

In that sense, I think gratitude is not only the key to open our hearts to the beauty around us, it is also the key to make a difference in somebody else's life. It is gratitude that makes us wish to serve, to give something back to life, and as such gratitude becomes the force behind inspiration, hope, and upliftment, in ways both big and small. You never know what power could lie in just one person opening her heart to love - it could just be the cause that sends a ripple of inspiration around the planet!

American Conditions?

Yesterday I talked with my Dad on the phone and he told me how people in Germany now have to pay a 20 Euro co-pay when they go to see a doctor. It used to be free, then it was 10 Euro, now it is 20 Euro. I said, "Dad, if I could see a doctor and pay only $20 I'd be happy. I have a physical exam scheduled next week and it will cost me about $200, if not more." To which he replied, "Well, yes, but we don't have American conditions here yet."

He said "American conditions" with an air as if he was talking about some really poor, left-behind, third world country. And rightly so - when it comes to Health Care, America is truly 'left behind'. Sure, you can get cutting edge care - but only if you have the cash to pay for it. My mom, living in Accra, Ghana, has more affordable and accesible Health Care there than I do here in the United States. And that's a third world country!!

Sadly, things seem to be changing for the worse in Germany too. Private Insurers there also are gaining on both power and greed. I can only hope for the benefit of the German people that they will never succumb to "American conditions" as far as Health Care is concerned.

As Florida Congressman Alan Grayson so boldly stated two months ago - the current status quo comes down to:

1. don't get sick

2. and if you do get sick, die quickly.

That's it - short and simple, and unfortunately true. That's how things are here in America! As Rep. Grayson was asked to deliver an apology to the Republicans, he instead delivered an apology to the 44,789 Americans who - according to a Havard Study on "Health Insurance and Mortality in Adults" - die every year because they don't have Health Insurance and cannot afford medical treatment. I have to say, cudos to this man! Finally a politician with courage. We definitely need more of those.

Here is the videolink if you want to watch it:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/9/30/788209/-Rep.-Alan-Grayson-apologizes-(just-not-to-the-Republicans)

In the meanwhile, I am extremely pleased to see that Health Care Reform did make it past the first round of voting in Congress - including a public option! Now it remains to be seen where this is taken in the Senate. While I keep my fingers crossed (and I would be one of the first to join a public option if it comes to be), it almost seems too good to be true. It would be truly revolutionary for America, and would indicate a fundamental shift in values, to indeed implement a form of government-run Health Care. I really hope for it, yet I remain cautious. There is an enormous amount of fear and resistance in many parts of society, even though statistics suggest that the great majority of Americans would prefer a single payer system. As difficult to understand this resistance is for a European, it seems to have to do with a fundamental American image of being independent, self-sufficient, and free of a government "intruding" on individual lives, a deeply ingrained self-understanding that goes back to the days of the pioneers. To many in the right wing end of the political spectrum, having the government 'dictate' a form of universal health care is equivalent with the end of the "American Way of Life". It is strange though to see how there is such paranoia about something as simple as a government implemented public option, and how little protest there was about dubious things such as the Iraq war or the Patriot Act.

Here's an excerpt of an excellent article by Brad Reed that sheds some light on this social paradox:

"Nearly a century of relentless propaganda has convinced Americans that our health care system is actually the best system in the world (it isn't) and that all national health care systems are bankrupting their countries (they pay less for health care than we do). Part of this is also embedded into our cultural DNA: Americans wrongly believe that we have the world's best health care system because we like thinking of ourselves as the best at everything.
And to be fair, we Americans have a lot to be proud of: in addition to prevailing in two world wars and the Cold War, America has brought the world the cotton gin, the electric telegraph, the electric light bulb, the airplane, the moon landing, the Internet, jazz, rock 'n' roll, hip hop and all the world's biggest blockbuster films.
But our health care system is not Miles Davis, Raiders of the Lost Ark or the Chevy Corvette C3. Our health care system is Kevin Federline, Waterworld and the AMC Gremlin. Our ability to spend 16 percent of our gross domestic product on health care and still leave tens of millions of people uncovered is not something the rest of the world looks upon with a mix of envy and awe. Rather, it's something that makes them crinkle their eyebrows and say, "Dude. For real?"
But if reformers ever hope to change our basket-case health care system, they will have to repeat these simple truths over and over again to our fellow Americans until they realize that they're getting ripped off.
For, unless we collectively realize the breadth and depth of our current health care disaster, we will never be able to fundamentally change it for the better. It's going to be a long haul."

See the whole article at: http://www.truthout.org/100109F?n.

This is in many ways a fascinating time to live in America. If Health Care Reform is implemented, no matter how many shortcomings the initial bill might have, it would be a huge step into the right direction and it would indicate a fundamental shift in American values.

Three Weeks in Europe (Part Two)

Here comes my promised second part of my experiences in Europe!

My flight took me from Minneapolis via Chicago to Duesseldorf where I arrived at what would have been the perfect bedtime for me - if, alas, we wouldn't have skipped seven time zones and instead of a cozy bed at midnight I'd find a bright and happy 7am morning sun. Tired and yawning, I dragged my suitcase to the railroad connecting the airport with several of the surrounding cities (talk about public transportation!!), to get to the station where my dad would pick me up. Looking out of the train window at the country that should have been so familiar to me, that in fact should be home to me, I did not quite know what to think. I felt - and have already felt so on past trips, but much more so this time - like a foreigner in my own country. And who could say I was not - my German clearly had an American tinge to it. Also, I hardly was up to date with just about anything that is happening, politically or economically, in Germany (international news don't really make it across the Atlantic!). It had been more than four years since I last was in Germany. In all of the 11 years in the United States, I had never visited Germany for more than 10 days, and that only every couple of years. So what did I really know of life in Germany? And how could I relate and share some of my very American experiences here?

From talking with both friends and family members, my impression is that while the Germans have their own take, and their own woes, about the economic crisis - and yes it does affect Germany too - the social "safety net" is still such that if we were able to recreate it here in the US, as it now in Germany, it would be a great achievement, particularly regarding Health Care and Education.

I found that the uncertainties I face in my particular situation here - being a freelance worker, having no health insurance, no sick days, no paid vacation, no retirement of any kind, and a fluctuating income on top of that - and as such being the first to fall through the social net if something was to happen - are not quite comprehensible to many of those who are close to me. And perhaps that is a good thing. I am not sure if I would recommend this adventurous lifestyle to anyone - at least now it is becoming also decidedly too adventurous for me. (I'd go for some of the good old German 'security' in a heartbeat right now).

After spending about 10 days in Germany, with my father, stepfather, and a dear friend from school, I took the train from Soest (Westfalen) to Lugano (Ticino, Switzerland). I had planned to take the train rather than fly, despite it being a 10 hour trip, because I wanted so much to look out the window and see the Alps which, I thought, I must undoubtedly be passing through. Well, pass through them I did - literally - in a gazillion tunnels of sometimes stunning length. Seeing them I did not, because they were unfortunately shrouded in clouds and fog the entire time. Only when the train arrived on the other side of the mountains did we see clear weather, stars and moon, but then the really high Alps were already out of sight. (I did finally catch a glimpse of snow covered mountains on my flight back from Milan to Duesseldorf. Well, I guess for someone living in Minnesota both ocean and mountains are really special, and I was blessed enough to get both of them on this journey! :-))

Meeting up with my boyfriend in Lugano, and taking a two day intense tour of all the family members he introduced me to, I struggled to take in all the new impressions, the sheer beauty of the place, as well as overcome the language barrier. "Non parlo Italiano... parlo Tedesco, Inglese e Frenchese " became a really helpful sentence to say, in a still sometimes futile search for some other language to converse in.

The beauty of the Lugano area is certainly breathtaking. The colors, the mountains, and most of all, Lake Lugano! Naturally turquoise waters, bathtub water temperatures, and even Palm trees. (I could not help but wonder: where do these trees go in the winter? Apparently they thrive there year round. People told me that they do have winters there and even will have snow - but, please, how bad can it be when there are year round Palm trees? After all, you are talking to a Minnesotan: you don't know what a real winter is if you haven't lived in Minnesota or somewhere above the Arctic circle! How about minus 40 degrees, anyone?)

I found Ticino to be a beautiful and charming mixture of Italian happiness and Swiss sophistication. And yes, a high standard of living, certainly, and decidedly more so than in Italy. I did not have much of a chance to talk directly with anyone living in Italy, so I can only make an educated guess here. From what I have heard, the Italians are struggling economically very much, especially since the introduction of the Euro. Despite that, somehow they manage to still have style. Real style - we are talking about designer cloth, 200 Euro shoes and all kinds of high - end boutiques. How can people afford this, how can all these little chique boutiques survive, I couldn't figure it out. But, if one has the needed cash, it is a shopping paradise!

From Lugano we drove to Frassinello (a little charming village where Gio's sister owns a vacation home), and after a three day stay on to Lucca and then to Florence. All in all I got some impression of the magic of the Tuscan landscape as well as the art, history and culture of the larger cities of Tuscany. We only had one day in Florence when really one would need a week just to go through the museums alone. The one museum we did visit was the "Firenze Musei" where Michelangelo's famous "David" statue is housed (impossible to not see that when you are in Florence!). In what little time we had to see Florence there was almost more art and information than I could properly process in such a short time. From the majestic Duomo to the Piazza della Signoria to the famous Ponte Vecchio, art and history and religion intertwine with restaurants and cafes and the latest Chanel Store. Certainly, a fascinating mix of the ancient and contemporary.

From Florence it was about a five hour drive back to Lugano, and then it would go back via Milan - Duesseldorf to Chicago - Minneapolis. Arriving back in the United States, I felt almost like I was dreaming. It seemed strange that such entirely different realities have room to exist on the same planet. It was an effort to readjust to the pace of life as it is lived here: I was literally and metaphorically speaking on "European Time", and that is decidedly more leisurely than American time.

Despite it all, I still love this country - although you may not want to ask me for any rational explanation for this. Would I go back to live in Europe? I don't know. It depends, how things develop here. If I find it impossible to make a living here due to economic circumstances, I may go back. On the other hand, a part of me belongs here too: just as much as I am irrevocably European, a part of me will also remain American. And yet another part of me, ever idealistic, can't help but hope that maybe, just maybe, Obama's America will follow Europe's example and actually implement something so necessary as decent Health Care Reform (and affordable education, and a green energy economy, and public transportation, and so on!). It would indeed transform the face of America, but it would be one of many very needed steps to bring stability and prosperity back to the American people.

"Capitalism: A Love Story" - A Review

Before I get to the promised second part of my experiences in Europe, a quick note about Michael Moore's new movie "Capitalism: A Love Story". I just went to see it yesterday and as expected, it was great - as all of Mr. Moore's documentaries, it was informative, entertaining, funny, and most important of all, it makes you want to do something - stand up for what is right, for what could make America a better, more compassionate country. I highly recommend seeing it.

A shocking piece of information from the movie was how low the salary of major airline pilots is. $17,000 a year?? It is quite impossible to make a living on this salary, especially as things stand currently economically. To hear that pilots have to have a second job to survive makes me wonder about my own survival when I am travelling on a plane. Just as Michael Moore says, when I am 30,000 feet up in the air, I like to know that my pilot is awake, healthy, happy, and well paid !!!

The figure of this salary speaks volumes about what has happened to this country, the crazy reversal of priorities in a takeover of corporations that disregard anything other than profit. By all means, a pilot bears a responsibility for the lives of the people on his plane, he may have to navigate difficult weather situations, and last but not least, it is a somewhat dangerous job. His own life could be on the line. Of all people, airline pilots should be well paid by the nature of their profession, considering that they are also taking a risk on their own lives. It should be a pilot's responsibility to not have a second job and to be well rested! Alas, the United States is becoming a country where a pilot cannot afford to be well rested lest he has to resort to receiving food stamps.

It was also interesting to hear the opinion of the priests and one Bishop about capitalism. Very clearly, it was an evil to them. While I may not necessary would use such a strong word, their reasoning made sense to me: Capitalism the way it is practiced today, disregards the sacredness of all life, is responsible for the environmental crisis, and certainly knows nothing of compassion.


I think if one hadn't realized that it is really a powerful oligarchy that is running this country (and the world), this movie will probably bring home that message. But not to forget, "we the people" are far from powerless: we are the 99% versus the 1% Elite. Just as Michael Moore says in his documentary, while the 1% may own more wealth than the rest of the 99% percent combined, WE have 99% of the votes! We have a lot of power, not only in a socio-politcal way, but also (and this is more important) in spiritual way. Not only can we stand up for what is right, we can also remember that we all are spiritual beings, inherently unique, important, and far more than "peasants" or victims of a heartless, greedy "Elite". We can choose to be victimized, or we can choose to become expressions of courage, compassion, and love. And the more we cultivate these qualities within ourselves, the less chance a small number of people has to steel away our power and our choices.

Three Weeks In Europe (Part One)

I am back from a three week trip to Germany, Switzerland and Italy. The possibility to take this journey came about quite unexpectedly and was a wonderful gift as well as an eye opener. It had been a long time for me, more than four years, since I last was able to travel to Germany. And I had never been to Switzerland or Italy before! So I spent 10 days in Germany with my father, stepfather, and friends, and then another 10 days with my boyfriend in the Italian part of Switzerland, and northern Italy.

I was extremely curious about Switzerland and Italy. Needless to say, it was also a place where I didn't speak the language (at the end of the week I managed to say that I don't speak Italian, and that one may talk with me in English, German, or French). I realized that since childhood I had never traveled to a place where I didn't speak the language at all - I'd always get along with one of the other languages I had learned. Now that was a new challenge, but an enjoyable one. In between of some French, distant memories of Latin, and lots of "inner tuning in", I found that I could understand more than I expected, and Italian is certainly a most charming and "happy" language.

The one thing that struck me most during this entire trip, and in all three countries, is the difference in quality of life between the average Middle Class American and the average Middle Class European. The standard of living in Europe is very high compared to the United States, and certainly somewhat taken for granted. Houses and apartments are of a quality, both inside and out, that you just don't find here in the US (or maybe you do, but you'd have to pay A LOT for it). What about stone houses, fully tiled bathrooms and floors, hardwood floors, etc ? To give a concrete example, the apartment my dad lives in with his girlfriend costs less than 500 Euro rent per month. It is not very large, but comfortable and the quality of everything is top notch. Here, you could reasonably expect to pay somewhere between $2000 or $3000 per month to live in such quality. Amazing! Had I not seen that before, or did it take almost 12 years of living in the US to realize that? Or did it indeed change? Did life become more expensive and more difficult for Americans over the past decade, while it stayed comfortable for the Europeans? I don't really know the answer; it would require some more research. But it was obvious that life there is far less stressful than it is here. To make another extreme example; a person on welfare in Germany would have about the same standard of living (or more, because everyone has decent health insurance there no matter what their situation in life) as many people here who I know are working two jobs!! How can that be! A person working an average full time job can expect to have a comfortable and secure life (and full time, by the way, is not 40 hours but the standard week consists of 35 hours. Plus a minimum of four weeks paid vacation, plus GOOD health insurance, and so on). Of course, the perspective of a German or Swiss person on this matter may be much different because they are used to a much different standard and system as it is in America.

Another interesting and remarkable things is the by now extensive use of wind energy in Germany. In the rural area where I grew up, there are hundreds of windfarms today. When I was 18, there were only three! I heard that up to 14% of the entire energy needs of Germany are currently created by wind energy. That is a remarkable figure. Also, I saw a surprising number of solar panels installed on the German roofs. If misty Germany can do this, why not America with it's sunfilled deserts? Why still the debate and bickering about oil and other fossil fuels?

There is also a fascinating solar power project I heard about while in Germany. It is called the "Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII)" ). This is an ambitious idea of 12 German companies who intend to build a huge solar power plant in the North African Sahara desert. These solar plants are to supply about 15% of the entire energy need in all of Europe by 2050, and also produce a substantial amount of energy (and revenue) in the participating North African countries. The project is still in the planning stages and in need of clarifying it's financing, but I am impressed that there even is a real effort being made to produce clean energy large scale. It is time for this - and apparently, Europe leads the way. Why not America? It seems Americans don't even hear about it - I doubt that this project even made it in the news anywhere. The United States would have an enormous geographical potential to create efficient wind and solar plants. I know this is part of President Obama's plans, but what resistance there is from the lobbyists of the oil and coal industries! While all this bickering goes on here, good old Europe quietly makes it's own plans, and if Americans don't pay attention, Europe will soon surpass the US in just about everything, from health care to education to clean energy to quality of life to life expectancy!

If I seem passionate about this, then because I can't understand why such a great country like the US - great in every way, geographically, in population, in potential - lets itself slip away from the world stage in all areas. President Obama's efforts are absolutely recommendable, but why is there such resistance from, generally speaking, the right wing? Sure there are powerful interests of several industries at stake, from the oil & coal industries to the insurance industries, but should it not also be obvious to them that things are changing? Things are changing in the world, and I am not sure how much America is paying attention. Like the proverbial frog being slowly cooked and not realizing it, most Americans don't quite realize just how much they are taken advantage of by a powerful oligarchy in this country, and how much they are falling behind in comparison to the rest of the industrialized world.

Sources (Desertec Project):
http://www.stern.de/wissen/natur/desertec-projekt-so-soll-der-sahara-strom-fliessen-706128.html#rss=wissenschaft

http://www.munichre.com/en/press/press_releases/2009/2009_07_13_press_release.aspx

The Numbers Say It All

I just came across some shocking statistics: apparently, every day 14,000 Americans loose their health insurance coverage, and also every day, 17,000 Americans file for bankruptcy because they can't pay their medical bills.

With the debate about health care reform in full speed (or not? The Senate is likely to go on a month long vacation before they actually vote on the reform bill), I fail to understand why there even is a need for debate. When people loose their homes because they can't pay their medical bills, when insurance companies are dropping people just because they were unlucky enough to get sick, and worst of all, when people are dying because they can't afford the treatment they need - I think we are beyond debate! Who would have the audacity to say that the "status quo" is acceptable? Certainly, we each bear responsibility for our own health, and we each should retain the freedom to choose the treatment of our choice - conventional medicine or not - the fact remains that none of us is invincible. Things happen. A person who has become sick or injured should be able to focus on one thing: healing. Without the added stress of worrying how he can afford to heal. I do believe that society as a whole has the responsibility to take care of it's citizens to a certain degree. Right now, the system as it exists in America is broken, and brutal. Survival of the fittest? I rather think it is survival of the richest.

It is a cruel irony that one the one hand, stories abound of insurance companies trying everything in their power to find legal fault with a member who has been diagnosed with a serious illness such as cancer, so they do not need to pay for an expensive course of chemotherapy and radiation, and on the other hand, there are plenty of stories such as the abeforementioned Daniel Hauser case, where the patient is court ordered to continue with chemotherapy against his wishes! So, in other words, the government forces people to have chemotherapy, but the insurance companies are refusing to pay for the treatment. In the end, the patient is broke and possibly dead. Who wins? Of course, the insurance companies and big Pharma. The average person, if he indeed survived treatments such as chemo at all, is left with unsurmountable bills and faces financial difficulties on top of the challenge of trying to heal. It's a no-win scenario indeed.

If you haven't seen Michael Moore's 2007 documentary "Sicko", where he takes on the US health care system and compares it with the systems in place in Canada, France, and Great Britain, I highly recommend to see it. As a European living in the United States, I can attest that what he presents about the health care systems in those countries is true. His film is the same time informative, funny, and upsetting, pointing out the grave injustices as they exist in the current system in the US.

I really don't know what amount of arrogance and hypocrisy can still make anyone bring up those redundant arguments about the evils of "socialized medicine". But, while listening to parts of the debate on C-Span, I not only heard those arguments again and again from the Republicans, I even heard one member of Congress argue that the Health Care Reform Bill would amount to "tax payer founded abortion". Oh boy. (I was about to bang my head against the wall). I pity those who actually listen to this. Well, it becomes really hard not to believe conspiracy theorists about the "Elite" secretly trying to reduce world population. If that was true, well, this would be one way to go about it, at least in America. Keeping as many people as possible, if not dead, then at least sick and broke, and with that, powerless.


But, enough of being cynical. I sincerely hope the health care reform will pass with a sufficiently strong public health plan. I for one part, would be one of the first to join, as I am one of the 50 million Americans who has no health insurance. I cannot emphasize enough what a relief it would be to know that should I get sick despite my best efforts to keep myself healthy, that I would not bankrupt myself trying to get care.

Here is the link to an excellent petition you can sign that covers a lot of ground relating to both health care coverage and health freedom. It was sponsored by http://www.naturalnews.com/. It covers areas such as restoring health freedom (the rights of people to choose their treatment of choice even if it is alternative medicine), ending FDA censorship, protecting the food supply (opposing irradiation of foods and GMOs), protecting the environment from flushing pharmaceuticals into the water supply, protecting children from products and advertising that compromise their health, and much more. About 25,000 people have signed so far, with the goal being to have 100,000 signatures to make an impact in Washington.

http://www.HealthRevolutionPetition.org/index.html?ID=10267

Sources:

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2009/02/health_in_crisis.html


http://blog.healthcareforamericanow.org/2009/07/17/three-weeks/

The Art of Healing?

Lately the story of Daniel Hauser, a 13 year old Minnesota boy, has been in the news a lot. Why? Because he has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, has undergone some chemotherapy, which made him terribly sick, and decided that he wants no more of that. He and his family decided to pursue alternative treatments instead, and consequently his parents were accused of "medical neglect" and court ordered to continue with chemotherapy. The parents were threatened to have their son taken away from them by Child Protective Services, and to face prison time if they wouldn't comply with the court order. They decided to evade authorities, leave the state, and were declared "fugitives of justice".

Excuse me??

Who in his right mind can decide for me what I want to have put in my body or not? What right does the state have to decide what medical treatment someone should get? Where is free will here? In any case, what does the state know about cancer and healing?

Hodgkin's Lymphoma is a health condition that is known by alternative practitioners to be widely curable, especially in younger patients. However, conventional doctors have told the courts that unless Daniel is treated with chemotherapy, he has a 95% chance of dying.

While I am no medical expert, my own research suggests that this is a gross exaggeration and that there is a wealth of alternative treatments, even cures, for all kinds of cancers, many of which the pharmaceutical industry and the cancer industry simply don't want people to know about. Alternative treatments are discredited at best, and attacked at worst. I have heard many shocking stories of successful practitioners whose clinics were closed, bankrupted and even physically raided by armed men on the payroll of the FDA (who in turn are really on the payroll of Big Pharma!), for the only "crime" of having had success in curing cancer. For what would happen if there really were, God forbid, cures for cancer? A whole industry would have to shut down! Make no mistake, cancer is a profitable business here in the United States. Chemotherapy rarely helps anyone - in most cases, chemotherapy in itself will be a death sentence. And that is no surprise - considering that chemotherapy is really a poison, derived from Mustard Gas that was used to gas soldiers in World War I!


The whole premise of using chemotherapy in the hopes it might help a cancer patient is based on a) ignorance about what cancer really is and b) ignorance about what a human being really is.

The idea is that Chemotherapy will kill the cancer cells, but it also poisons the body along with it, and in many, many tragic cases it will kill the rest of the person too.

There are two outstanding books anyone with cancer or a loved one with cancer should have:

1.) "Cancer Breakthrough USA - A Guide To Outstanding Alternative Clinics" by Frank Cousineau.
Lists alternative clinics with great success in treating cancer. How to heal any cancer in 21 days. Available at this website: http://cancerbreakthroughusa.com/index.html#hear

2.) "Cancer Is Not A Disease - It Is A Survival Mechanism" by Andreas Moritz. You can sample read for free in this book if you sign up for Health Book Summaries on the Naturalnews website (http://www.naturalnews.com/) - it's free. Otherwise, the book can be purchased at http://www.ener-chi.com/books.htm.

Very generally speaking, cancer is physical response to accumulated physical, emotional, and mental toxins. To pile more toxins into the system, in form of chemotherapy and radiation, is in most cases counterproductive, dangerous, and ignorant of the human being as a whole person, that is considering body, mind, and spirit. Conventional Western Medicine unfortunately operates from the so-called "scientific" mindset that views the human being in a mechanistic way and only considers the visible physical body as reality. In this way, it becomes tremendously limited, as it forgets that we are so much more than the physical body. No matter what advances Western Medicine may have made in understanding the physical body, it remains spiritually handicapped as long as it refuses to acknowledge that - to quote Yoda again! - we are "luminous beings, not just this crude matter". The time must come for us to realize that our idea of 'scientific' is limited. Elevating so-called Western Science to a form of God, as a culture we lost touch with the subtler sides of being. We adhere to a mechanistic view of the world, where only that counts as "real" what can be dissected, measured, and if not seen by the naked eye, at least be seen by machines such as a microscope or similar devices. It is exactly this same mechanistic worldview that is about to destroy the health of the planet through runaway pollution and climate change. I really think it is time to wake up. The physical world, and everything that can be measured in it, is only a tiny expression of a greater whole. Any Quantum Physicist (and all the Priests of ancient cultures!) would agree, by the way. It is time to reconnect with ourselves as more than the physical body. If we are able to do this, we will not only find real cures for our ills, we will also find cures for the planet. In reconnecting with ourselves, we will reconnect with nature and all life as well. Western Medicine needs to acknowledge and incorporate the wisdom of other systems of healing, such as, for example, Chinese Medicine and the Indian system of Ayur Veda - both of which, by the way, are thousands of years older than Western Medicine!

It is a sad and fateful arrogance that keeps Western Medicine insisting on only treating the body while leaving out everything else. It is time to bring knowledge of the subtler forms of our existence into mainstream society. I seriously advocate teaching an "Anatomy of the Spirit" (to quote the title of Carolyn Myss' famous book) in High Schools. Teach people about the Aura, the Chakra system, about Energy Medicine, but most importantly, teach them that they are not the body, they are Soul. Then again, this almost certainly makes the acceptance of reincarnation necessary and I can already hear many Christian churches cry out in protest.

In any case, we all carry the truth in our hearts. No matter what scientific or religious dogmas might tell us, it only takes a genuine tuning in to our own hearts and all truth will, in time, be revealed to us. To claim the physical world, or the physical body, is all there is to reality, is an illusion, just as much as the conventional theories about cancer are an illusion. Fortunately, because we are so much more than just a mind and a body, we cannot be fooled forever. Nobody - no government, no doctor, no scientist, has the right, or the power, of taking away our freedom. However, it is worrisome, and something to speak out against, if a government starts to decide it has the right to force a medical treatment on a person against that person's wishes.

Sources:

- about the Daniel Hauser case:

http://www.naturalnews.com/026283.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/026305.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/026337.html

The Web of Life

It is May in Minnesota - the month of spring, where life literally explodes in just a few weeks. After a brutally cold winter with five months of ice and snow and subzero temperatures, every new green leaf and flower strikes me as a miracle. I think spring has never moved me quite as much as this year, and I can't quite explain why. Perhaps I am catching on to the viewpoint of the Ancients, to whom every new day and certainly the springtime season was a gift of renewed life and of divine benevolence. In any case, this year it strikes me more than before just how much we as a culture have become alienated and disconnected from the rhythms of nature. Who among us walks through nature with an open heart, truly watching the miracle of life unfold? (IF we walk in nature at all! Chances are people will walk on a treadmill rather than out in nature. Modern life has all but trapped us in a never ending list of things to do and electronic gadgets to keep our attention away from the wonder that is in every breath and cloud and beam of sunlight). A good example is my habit of walking barefeet whenever the weather and the ground permits it - it is just one of those simple pleasures I can't wait to do after a long winter. However, it does draw stares from others. People may walk or jog, yes, but in sneakers, certainly NOT barefeet. We have forgotten that it is important for our feet to connect to the energies of the Earth, and shoes in general keep us from this connection. Most children know this intuitively and will take their shoes off whenever given the chance!

We have become isolated from important knowledge that has traditionally been part of other cultures, but is considered "unscientific" by the West. Things such as the existence of nature devas, communications with plants and animals, crystal energies, or that the Earth is alive in itself, are concepts that are at best found in New Age communities, and at worst discredited and laughed at. Maybe western mainstream society came so far as to consider the Soul of humans and animals (to be symantically correct, I should say, we are Soul. We don't have a Soul, Soul is what we are - rather than the body, or the emotions, or the mind). However, plants and minerals (crystals, gemstones, etc) and the soil itself are all alive, too. They, too, are "Souls incarnate", and they too, follow a divine plan and serve a greater whole, and as such deserve our love and respect. If as a culture we would remember and accept this, all our values and our technology would likely be very different. If we would truly honor the "Web of Life", it is unlikely that there would be any of the environmental pollution as we see it today. Not to mention warfare!

If I may quote Yoda from Star Wars as he said:
"Luminous beings are we, not just this crude matter."
This is so very true. Sometimes it takes popular movies to bring back a truth that was known in all ages prior. I believe springtime is a wonderful opportunity to "tune in" and reconnect with nature: in the end, it will be a reconnecting with ourselves.

From Change.org to Change.gov

The idea of Health Freedom, undoubtedly still new to many Americans, indeed made it from change.org to change.gov! For an idea that mainstream America is just waking up to (so to speak), this is remarkable. Then again, it didn't make it into the top ten ideas included in the Citizen's Briefing Book that was presented to President Obama. The Citizens Briefing Book and the voting process endorsed first by http://www.change.org/ and then by http://www.change.gov/ (President Obama's official site during the transition period between his election and his inauguration) enjoyed tremendous popularity with more than 1.4 million votes cast by more than 500,000 people, to ideas suggested by over 70,000 individuals.

However, the end result of the top ten ideas is disappointing. Can we really not come up with something better than this, given such a unique opportunity to directly engage the new President? Here is what the people voted for, in order of importance:

1. Ending Marijuana Prohibition.

Marijuana? Is this the top priority of a nation that is stuck in a recession, engaged in two wars, in a health care crisis, and has an astronomical deficit - need I go on?? While the medical use of Marijuana does have it's value, it is hard to understand that the voters did not come up with something more pressing than that.

2. Commit to becoming the 'greenest' country in the world.

Okay, this is a noble goal. But needless to say, it is a far cry from where we are now given that the US is responsible for 25 % percent of the worlds carbon dioxide emissions for only 4% of the world's population. In order for the US to become the greenest country in the world, we would have to come up with immediate solutions to cover ALL of our energy needs by clean energy (wind & solar power), something that the oil, coal and gas industry would never allow without a prolonged and nasty fight even it was technically possible. We would have to stop polluting rivers, oceans, air and soil. This would mean an end to Big Pharma and Big Agriculture as well as they would not be able to dump tons of pesticides and drugs into our ground water and soils. It would mean building our homes differently (stones and bricks, anyone?) to strict energy efficiency guidelines similar to those that are being implemented in Germany. No more sloppy building where the wind pipes out of the outlets (!). Being the greenest country in the world would mean an end to warfare, too - for how can one align 'being green' with building nuclear bombs or even nuclear anything, submarines, warships, reactors, and so on? It would mean to stop dumping nuclear waste anywhere on the planet. In short, "being green" implies a totally different attitude and respect towards all life on the planet, and would mean a drastic change from where the US was headed so far. Drastic changes rarely happen, neither in nature nor in human consciousness. Nevertheless, I do believe this is a worthy and noble goal that should seriously be pursued.

3. An end to government sponsored abstinence education to be replaced by an introduction of age appropriate sex education.

Sex education? If it wouldn't be so sad, it would be funny that the only aspect of education to make it into the Citizens Briefing Book is sex education. So there is nothing else to worry about with the US education system? Are the kids learning enough to be competitive with other countries? Do the kids have a chance to be exposed to great art? Learn foreign languages? Have field trips? What about affordable college tuition? I worry about Education per se, never mind sex education! That should primarily be a private and family matter anyways.

4. Bullet trains and Light Rail.

Now here is another good idea. Yes, more public transportation would be a great idea to aid in the transition away from too many cars and therefore reduce carbon dioxide emissions. If I could take the train or bus to work instead of driving in rush hour traffic every day, I would be delighted. Less stress, less chances for accidents, less money spent on gas and car maintenance, better for the environment, and I may even get to read a book while commuting! What a concept.

5. The permanent closure of all torture facilities (such as Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib)

Absolutely. Facilities such as these are a disgrace to humanity. If the US wants any part in so-called 'moral leadership' it has to not only close all such facilities but actively promote and follow the Geneva Convention banning the use of torture.

6. Revoke the George W. Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 1%.

This is a controversial topic but for the time being, I agree. What this means is that the tax rate on the wealthiest 1% will be rolled back from 35% to 39.6 %. Instead, Obama promises much needed tax cuts to the middle class (or every household that makes less than $250,000 annually). While the whole idea of taxation the way it is practiced now in the US could be up for debate (I for one sympathize with the idea of the flat tax), it is true that for a person making upwards of $250,000 to pay just a little bit more is less of a burden than for someone like me paying almost $10,000 on a taxable income of around $33,000 (that included self employment taxes but was a shocking blow nonetheless). I am still paying on these taxes and it truly is a burden for me. Considering how much I work and how much I have to calculate my money just to have enough to live on AND still pay all the taxes, the whining of the upper class about those 4.6% seems pathetic. Maybe one yacht less will do it - and it would be better for the environment too! And by the way, the taxes under previous presidents were much higher than 39%. The chart from the Washington Monthly as presented by Moveon.org demonstrates it nicely: http://pol.moveon.org/budget10/chart/?id=15734-6356194-5X8BVHx&t=1

7. Get the insurance companies out of health care.

Another controversial topic, however there is no doubt that the only ones profiting from the status quo in our current health care system are the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance companies! There are those who say that what we have is not really a 'health care system', it is rather a 'sick care system' - a system designed to keep the average person as misinformed, sick and broke as possible. The system aims at getting people sick and dependent on both insurance companies and Big Pharma, both of who will overcharge the individual as much as possible. The system is designed to manage, not cure disease. Heaven beware that people would actually learn how to cure or prevent disease; no one would buy drugs anymore or would pay outrageous premiums on insurance! This is really where Health Freedom comes in as well. We must have the freedom to choose the treatment of our choice, we must have the freedom to buy organic foods, we must have the freedom to buy nutritional supplements and so on. And yes, in the end there should be a system in place that should one need a doctor after all, one need not worry about bankruptcy. It was possible in Germany where I grew up - so why can't it be possible here?

8. Revoke the tax exempt status of the Church of Scientology.

And why exactly is this important enough to included in a precious and limited ten points to be presented to the President? While I admit that I neither know much about the Church of Scientology nor about their tax exempt status, I can't help but feel a sting of religious discrimination here. There may be truth in this, maybe they are overcharging their "donations", but it still seems odd that pointing a finger on a religious organization is more important than other items that seem much more of a national priority. Why not education reform? Health Care reform? Revoke the "Patriot Act"? I could think of a thousand things that seem more important than this.

9. Bring back the Constitution.

Yes - and undo the Patriot Act. The Constitution and the Patriot Act do not go together. Restore free speech as it was before the Patriot Act, restore Habeas Corpus, and no more electronic eavesdropping on private conversations.

10. Boost America's Economy with Legal Online Poker.

Online Poker? It is almost an insult that given such a unique opportunity of directly communicating with the President, the American people would include something as dumb and unimportant as this in the Briefing Book. So Online Poker is more important than Health Freedom (remember: "The right to control what happens to your own body, choosing your own health path, making your own choices as you see fit"). More important than affordable college tuition. More important than universal health care. More important than ending the war in Iraq. The list goes on.

Really, while there are some worthy and notable ideas in these top ten, I find it sad and telling that out of only ten priorities, Americans wasted three on drugs, sex and gambling and one on what could be called religious discrimination. I hope that this was due to other factors and not due to the American society already so dumped down that they just couldn't come up with anything else.

On a more upbeat note, becoming a greener country, bullet trains and light rail, closing all torture facilities, and bringing back the constitution are goals worthy of our pursuit and creative energy. One thing to remember is that any and all positive changes in the outside world have to begin with positive changes inside ourselves. Some of the above listed goals, particular #2, becoming the greenest country in the world, would require a profound change in consciousness of a large group of people. "Green" would have to become mainstream. And ideally, the motivation for doing this should come from a realization of the sacredness of all life, rather than just from a desire to halt global warming or to keep the energy bill low. We are truly all connected in the web of life, and we have to come to understand cause and effect - that we cannot harm one part of this web without in the end harming ourselves. I would like to think that humanity is capable of learning this before it is too late.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/what_do_the_american_people_wa.php

Health Freedom Is Our First Freedom

Health Freedom? Many Americans will have no idea what that is, just as much they will have no idea how to protect their health apart from whatever doctrines the pharmaceutical industry is pushing via CNN, MSNBC and the rest of the mainstream media. Even well meaning doctors are often just as misinformed due to an education at Medical Schools whose professors and text books are deep in the pockets of Big Pharma as well.

Here is a short summary by Health Freedom Advocate Bill Pleasants, of what Health Freedom constitutes:

"Health Freedom means the right to control what happens to your body, choosing your own health path, making our own health choices as you see fit.

Please vote for health freedom so we can have:

• Access to high potency nutrients and supplements


• Protection from Codex


• Absolute medical privacy


• Meaningful organic standards


• Access to raw milk, bitter almonds and other health aides


• Irradiation-free foods
  

Freedom from:

• Unlabelled GMO foods


• Coerced vaccinations and other medical treatments


• Involuntary experimentation on foster children, prisoners and civilian populations


• Chemtrail spraying


• Coerced surgical or other procedures like circumcision or electroshock


• Human or animal chipping


• Loss of our children because we choose not to vaccinate or drug them
  

Freedom to:

• Choose health practitioners who offer the treatments we want


• Farm and process food


• Provide information about the relationship between health and foods/nutrients


• Drink municipal water free of fluoride and other toxins


• Receive insurance coverage for natural medicine


• Divest the FDA of all food regulation


• Sue drug and vaccine manufacturers for damages caused by their products


• Use natural methods to treat, prevent, mitigate or cure diseases as we choose


• Protect our children as we, not authorities, see fit. "
  

This was quoted from the following website: http://www.change.org/ideas/view/health_freedom - a great website by the way. "Ideas for Change in America" was created in response to Barack Obama's call for increased citizen involvement in government. You can vote for many good ideas such as civil liberties, affordable education, affordable health care, a green economy, women's rights, ending the war in Iraq, human rights, fighting global poverty, and so on. The top 10 ideas will be presented to President Obama on January 16 at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. (For more information, go to the home page at http://www.change.org/).

There are many worthy and important ideas on this website, however I do believe Health Freedom is one of the most important ones. How can it be that Americans are the least healthy people of all first-world countries? Why is there such an Obesity epidemic? Why do Americans spend the most on Health Care of all industrialized countries? The statistics are appalling:

• the US spends 40-60% more on Health Care than any other industrialized country but ranks only 45th in life expectancy and 42nd in infant mortality.


• overall spending for drugs is the highest in the world: an estimated $286.5 billion during 2007.


• within 10 years, from 1997 through 2007, the number of prescribed drugs filled has increased by 72%.


• in the same period, the average number of prescribed drugs filled per person increased from 8.9 a year in 1997 to 12.6 in 2007.
  

(source: http://www.naturalnews.com/024652.html)

The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks the US Health Care System 37th in overall performance and 72nd by overall level of health - among 191 member nations included in their study. MSNBC reports that 1/3 of all Americans are obese, another 1/3 are overweight. Cancer rates are up 300% from what they were in the 1950ties.

How did things get that bad? And how can the pharmaceutical industry dare to claim they are searching for a 'cure' for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or any of the other major illnesses when really people have been getting sicker and sicker over the last 60 years, and taking more and more drugs? (Never mind that cures already exist but those who dared to present them got harrassed, silenced, put out of business... and so on. After all, it is about money - Big Pharma is not interested in curing anything, only in managing illness so people get dependent on and have to keep buying their drugs). This connection seems self-evident, but the surprising thing is that it is not evident at all to many Americans, unless they happen to be involved and informed in Natural Health or unless they have lived in another country. While most will agree that the Health Care system is broken and badly in need of reform, many Americans remain woefully ignorant that they are being misinformed and basically ripped off: contrary to what most doctors and the mainstream media will tell them, there are cures for almost every disease, and that means natural, drug and side effect free cures. They have been around all along, but have been suppressed, censored, and silenced in many ways. The FDA is well known for harassing those who advocate natural treatments while turning a bling eye to the transgressions of the pharmaceutical industry. A great book to start out learning about all this is Kevin Trudeau's "Natural Cures They Don't Want You To Know About", available at http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Cures-They-Dont-About/dp/0975599518/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231478482&sr=8-4.


As a teacher working with children, this concerns me very much. Kids deserve to grow up as healthy as possible and fullfill their potential, their dreams and aspirations. But if the parents are not very diligent and informed, they are almost inevitably set up to be sick later in life. Just look at the gazillion vaccinations that are now being pushed before a baby is even 6 months old, not to mention public schools and universities pushing even more vaccinations lateron. Add to that microwaved food, mineral-depleted soils and produce grown in a stew of pesticides and herbicides, toxic chemicals added to the tap water, sodas laden with sugar or worse, aspartame, and not to forget all the personal care products also laden with toxic chemicals (obvious to anyone who cares to read the label), and it is no wonder that childrens' immune systems become overloaded. They will get sick with one thing or another, maybe the flu, or maybe they get diagnosed with ADHD, and guess what, they will be made to swallow even more drugs, which will have again side effects, and so the circle of drug dependency begins.

Now I do not mean to say that there never is a place for drugs and conventional medicine. There certainly is, particulary in emergencies and in immediately life threatening situations. But conventional western medicine is neither good at preventing illnesses nor at even beginning to understand the emotional and spiritual nature of a human being. It pays to be critical, and not unquestioningly accept everything a regular doctor will tell you. It pays to get a second opinion of a natural practioner or simply be informed about natural alternatives. Here are some websites that I have found to be both great sources of information as well as 100% trustworthy (some also sell some very good nutritional products and supplements):

http://www.naturalnews.com/ (offers free newsletters with several articles on a range of alternative health topics)

http://www.healingourchildren.net/

http://www.vaccinetruth.net/

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/ (an activist website about health freedom. They are a little bit more into the conspiracy thing than I agree with, however their products are great and the information is good. It is up to the individual how much they will agree with the conspiracy tenor).

In the end, I believe everyone is responsible for their own health. Everyone can do some simple things to improve both their well being as well as the planet's well being! For example, eating organic foods is better for you AND for the planet because they are grown sustainably without use of pesticides and therefore do not deplete the soil of minerals. Everyone can do a little research - and it can be fun too! We owe it to ourselves, our children, and our planet, to not let ourselves degenerate into a sick, broke and overdrugged society. What can we possibly accomplish in such a state? Of course, the conspiracy theorist would point out that a populace as sick, broke, fat and stupid as possible is one that is most easily to manipulate. It may help to consider this point. I don't necessarily agree with conspiracy ideas, but I am sure most would agree that if we are naive and uninformed, certain elements in power will be quick to take advantage of that!

With that being said, I do believe that "Health Freedom Is Our First Freedom". Without the freedom to care for our and our family's well being the way we see fit, without the freedom to be healthy, what else can we accomplish? A great society cannot be built on sick people. I would like to suggest to the reader to do some research on the above stated points that constitute Health Freedom, and if you find you agree, vote for it on http://www.change.org/ideas/view/health%20freedom . It would be fantastic if this idea could be among the 10 to be presented to President Obama!