Tonight in our film night we watched and discussed Blood Diamond. As we discussed it, we quickly began to talk about the human condition and the world in which we live and WHAT would change that reality. A friend of mine who helps child soldiers in East Asia posted this video on youtube to the tune of John Lennon's Happy Xmas. No matter what your political views, there are grave atrocities going on around the world and most the time we are completely unaware of anything more than what happens right outside the window of our home. As he said when he posted it, "Suspend cynicism and let this video wreck you." Here it is.

If you want to see the work they are doing, go here. And if you want to watch a couple videos to get you thinking more, here you go:

Project: AK-47 exists to rescue child soldiers. from PROJECT: AK-47 on Vimeo.

"WEAR THEIR REALITY." Project: AK-47's dog tags for child soldier advocacy from PROJECT: AK-47 on Vimeo.

And here is another one with another organization on slave labor:


And now some quotes, good quotes:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt


"We don't believe something by merely saying we believe it, or even when we believe that we believe it. We believe something when we act as if it were true."

-Dallas Willard


"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

-Nelson Mandela


"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."

-Mother Teresa

“Thou shalt never be a perpetrator. Thou shalt never be a victim. And thou shalt never, but never, be a bystander.”

-Yehuda Bauer

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world die." - Mahatma Gandhi