Cranes Galore!

For some reason, my blog is being less than cooperative tonight, so even though I have four (four!) pictures of cranes from Roy at Return to the Center (see blogs to the right), I can’t post any of them.

What would you do if you were immortal?

Update!  5/31/08  Here are his cranes.

Here are the specs:

• Location: Buddhist Section, the library
• Date: 05/29/08
• Description:  Brown Crane with this quote by Buddha: “Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.”

• Location: Martin Luther King Jr. Biography section, the library
• Date: 05/29/08
• Description: Blue Crane with a quote by Martin Luther King Jr.: “The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.”

• Location:  drop-off area, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire
• Date: 05/29/08
• Description: Purple Crane with “What happens to another, whether it be a joy or a sorrow, happens to me. – Meister Eckhart

• Location:  Winter Garden Cafe, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire
• Date: 05/29/08
• Description:  Pink Crane with a quote by Elie Wiesel, written below

I don’t think I’ve ever had so many cranes, and there are more in my inbox.  This is exciting!  I know this is a different format from usual, but you can click on today’s crane pictures to see them up close.  Here’s the quote from the pink crane:

The poets and philosophers of ancient Greece believed that hope and despair were the property of the gods alone. They were wrong. We know that they belong to us, to human beings. So it is up to us to determine whether the years ahead will be for mankind a curse or a blessing. As we open the gates of our memory, as we look back at what has been, we always must remember that it is given to men and women to choose life and living, not death and destruction.

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• Location: Kids’ Section, Staples, Danvers, Massachusetts
• Date: sometime in the last few days
• Description: royal blue crane with this quote by Peace Pilgrim: “This is the way of peace: overcome evil with good, and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.”

Seth came up with the title for today’s post.  How nice of Mr. Obstreperous.

I received an email today from Liz who wrote the most recent guest post.  Here’s what she said to me: “Your site is so awesome, and the idea is so simple and PROFOUND.”

It’s nice to get a little affirmation of what I’m doing, especially from someone I admire so much.  One of my flaws is that I have lots of interests and only so much attention span, which means I go from interest to interest without warning, and sometimes I feel like I’m never committed enough to do everything.  It can be very discouraging.

In addition to Liz, I received another great email from Roy at Return to the Center.  Here’s what he had to say: “I have to tell you – I find your blog to be very inspirational.”  Two uplifting emails in one day!  I must be very lucky.  Maybe it’s the second batch of beer bread I just pulled out of the oven.  Maybe I have nice friends.  Today’s crane comes courtesy of Roy.  He was kind enough to write my blog address on the inside of the cranes he left.  Here’s the second:

• Location: Hangar Restaruant, Amherst, Massachusetts
• Date: unknown, sometime in the last few days
• Description: Mint green crane with a quote (poem?) by Bishop Oscar Romero on it

Here’s the poem Roy chose for this crane:

Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent revolt of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution
of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.

Today felt like a teaspoon day.  I just read this post earlier.  How appropriate that I can relate.

Good News, Bad News

• Location: kids section, Cracker Barrel, Sturbridge-ish area
• Date: Saturday, May 24, 2008
• Description: Gray crane with this quote by Confucius: “The small man thinks that small acts of goodness are of no benefit, and does not do them; and that small deeds of evil do no harm, and does not refrain from them. Hence, his wickedness becomes so great that it cannot be concealed, and his guilt so great that it cannot be pardoned.”

I came across this article first today.  Summary: A UN probe has uncovered reports of sexual abuse from peacekeeping forces sent throughout the world.  Not everyone who is a peacekeeper molests children, but the inquiry found several instances and consider there to be more.  Um, excuse me?  Peacekeeping forces are molesting children?  How is that even possible?

The important thing to remember is that not all peacekeeping forces are abusive — there are people out there who take the job seriously and try to do good.  I had to keep reminding myself of this after I read the article.  If I’m not making myself clear here, let’s just consider this for a minute: peacekeepers are sexually assaulting children before they’ll give aid — causing a lack of peace.  I am disgusted on so many levels.

And now for the good news: Berlin, Germany gives a memorial to the homosexuals murdered by the Nazis in WWII.  Finally.  The article explains the highs and lows of creating this memorial, like how long it took to depict this.  As an added bonus, though we learn that the Mayor of Berlin is openly gay.  That’s nice.  You don’t see that too often.  Do we have any openly homosexual politicians in this country?  You think I’d know these things.

I forgot to add alcohol to the list of things I won’t ingest yesterday.  No alcohol, no chocolate.  What is this world coming to?

Food, Food, and More Food

• Location: bread store, somewhere between Kittery and York Beach, Maine
• Date: Friday, May 23, 2008
• Description: Blue crane with the word “peace” stamped on one wing, and “love” on the other

How serendipitous that I left this crane and decided to blog about it on the day I made beer bread.  It feels serendipitous to me, even if it doesn’t seem that way to you.  I made beer bread and ate it with vegetable lasagna tonight, and it was good.

While we’re on the topic of food, let’s talk about all the things I can’t or won’t eat and why.  It’s pretty interesting, to me at least.  You know about these stupid migraines, right?  I have no idea why I get them, but I decided it would be awesome to change my diet a lot in order to see if that affects their intensity.  This means no chocolate.  I stopped eating chocolate one year and four months ago, and the migraines have become less painful.  My cravings for chocolate, however, have not.

More recently, I adopted a semi-vegetarian diet to keep artificial hormones out of my body.  The meat that I do eat is of the all natural, cage free, organic persuasion.  And since that’s very expensive, we’re eating vegetarian a lot.  A LOT.  And drinking hormone-free milk.  And stuff.  I would have a food blog if I actually knew how to create my own recipes, but I don’t.  But if I did, it would be called “Sans Chocolate,” and then we would talk about all the things I’m trying not to eat, like anything with nitrates and partially-hydrogenated oils.  A lot of things have partially-hydrogenated oils.  And we’d also talk about trying to save money while on this diet.  Those are all topics that seem to get a lot of lip-service these days, you know?  I know.

I’m rambling at this point.  I don’t really care.

Ah, the Mafia

• Location: on a bench, the bathroom, the Goldenrod, York Beach, Maine
• Date: Friday, May 23, 2008
• Description: Light blue/teal crane with this quote on it by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in black, “There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the Mafia.”

Holy crap you guys, there was just a car accident on the highway near my apartment.  We heard it happen.  We had the windows open.  Holy crap.

Okay, moving on.  I chose this quote because I am a firm believer in organization, particularly for groups trying to make a difference.  Or just groups.  But preferably groups trying to make a difference.  If you noticed, groups that you may not personally like are often well-organized (my personal aggravation: pro-lifers).  I think it’s funny that Kurt Vonnegut noticed the way the mafia gets things done and hoped angels would structure themselves in the same way.  Too often, we find that the “good” organizations lack a structure and a direction, and go forward based on sheer belief in themselves.  This is not always a good thing.

For an interesting read, check out this wikipedia article on the Teamsters.  Thanks to this post here for bringing them to mind.