Friday photo: Winter bloom

Marigold the Snow Queen

You know there's something weird with the season when your snow-person is decorated with marigolds!

Of course, it may also say something about the creator (not me) of this al fresco art piece!

Humility

"Humility – it’s not about seeing yourself as worse than you really are; it’s about seeing yourself and others as you all truly are. And that’s equal in God's eyes."

(Scripture Union: WordLive)

We all need to look at ourselves in the light of this - and, then, make whatever adjustments are necessary in our behaviour.

Friday photo: fall-en wonder

The Great Stink

Today is World Toilet Day. According to Tearfund: The figures are overwhelming, almost 900 million people without access to clean water, the majority of them women and children. While over 2.5 billion, a third of the world’s population, are without a clean and safe place to go to the loo.

In 2000, world leaders signed up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), targets that could transform the lives of millions around the world.

We’ve only got another 7 years to go until the targets are meant to be met, and progress on water and sanitation is the most off track, with experts predicting that the goal on sanitation is unlikely to be met until early in the 22nd century, more than 80 years too late. You can find out more here. This is potty! (OK, no more silly puns from me.) How can this be? What are our leaders doing about it? It’s simply not good enough. But hang on a minute – what am I doing about it? Moaning about it on this blog isn’t likely to help very much. One of the problems is that the numbers are just too big; and the problem is too far away. Maybe that means it’s time to make it personal. I often think that we respond to the latest crisis, give a few quid (or bucks), then forget about it. What’s stopping us focusing on one or two issues that each of us can contribute to and stay in touch with? Dare we get deeply involved with any social justice issue? It doesn’t have to be toilet-related, but if that ‘pulls your chain’, it’d be worth checking out the WaterAid site.

“We cannot tell what part in God’s plan our little moments play.” Margaret Killingray

Exist

if God exists then what's God like? Discover exist.org.uk

Barack Obama: My part in his success

(Title inspired by Spike Milligan) No, I didn’t play any role in his election victory. But – for me – that’s not his success. His success will be measured by the way in which he tackles the issues that he talked about during his campaign; by the way that he works collaboratively with other leaders (political and otherwise); by the way he builds on the goodwill that he currently seems to enjoy; and by the way that he creates hope and makes a difference in individual lives. Why should this matter to me, living in Scotland? Well, in these turbulent times – geopolitically and economically – the impact of the United States will be felt across the world. In my opinion, that impact wasn’t a positive force during the Bush years. Obama needs to change that. I was catching up on e-mails today, and I came across this article from LICC. It’s a useful reminder that we all have a role to play in the success, or otherwise, of Obama’s presidency. We can all pray. Also, we should be willing to hold him to account, and since he used the Internet to good effect during his campaign, we can use it to make sure that he is doing what he said he would through our use of cyberspace. As Hillary Clinton said recently:

“I want to do everything I can to make sure his agenda is successful.”

We can all do that. And while I’m at it, I shouldn’t forget Messrs. Brown and Salmond (tempting though it is!)

Friday photo: Rainbow's end

Now hear this - or read it if you prefer

I came across this article today, which is interesting in some ways. Judges (certainly in this country) seem to have a habit of offering opinions without any evidence to back it up - beyond their own opinions. A bit like bloggers really!!

I wonder if the real issue isn't the difference between listening and reading, but instead is related to our concentration spans. We have become used to sound bites and quick summaries, and perhaps have lost the capacity to focus on anything for more than a few minutes.

I know that I've lost my ability to concentrate for any period of time, and now plan my work and other activities in half-hour slots to try to deal with this.

I also have a theory about the way that we should write for computer-based texts, but I'll keep that for another time.

Friday photo: Changing

Magnificently weird or...

... weirdly magnificent?

I saw this bunch - Fleet Foxes - on Jools Holland last night and I still don't really know what to make of them. (There from Seattle like some of my blogger mates.) Also, if you can access the BBC's iPlayer, there was a very strange performance from Monkey's World and a classic from Al Green - Let's Stay Together.

Oh, and Dolly D enjoyed Pendulum - a sort of drum and bass popular beat combo m'lord.

Rhetoric and reality follow up

A couple of interesting questions about yesterday's Friday photo.

Firstly in reply to That Hideous Man - I dunno. Occasionally Blogger doesn't seem to want to enlarge my photos. I can't provide an explain, nor have I found a solution. Yesterday provides a perfect example - both photos were taken in the same way, handled in the same way and imported in the same way BUT only one of them would enlarge. If anyone can suggest a solution, please let me know.

The inscription reads:

Never again should a people starve in a world of plenty.

His Girl Friday's question has a more complicated answer. In some ways the photos seemed to create a narrative - in an ironic sense. They were taken in Cambridge, Massachusetts (although that is not particularly relevant). I was wandering around snapping photos as the Fish Wife and Dolly D were sitting enjoying the sun.

(As an aside, the ability to take large numbers of indiscriminate photos is one of the joys of digital photography. I probably wouldn't have taken these photos if I was still paying for film and processing!)

Anyway, as I was wandering around I spotted this statue in a corner of the park, so I strolled over and snapped one side of it - the side with the inscription above; then went round to the other side and took a snap. Initially I didn't pay any attention to the guys lying on the benches in the background - I could also remove them from the digital image later!

Subsequently, I discovered that there was a small community 'sleeping rough' in this park. Then I realised how easy it is for us to airbrush the poor out of our world, even when our rhetoric says something different!

I hope that makes some sense, and that the photo will enlarge this time.