Posts tagged love
Freenet or die
If more people would participate. They can use the Internet.
Let me tell you a thing, about an amazing man named Patrick Stewart
I went to Comicpalooza this weekend and I was full of nervous energy as I was standing in line to ask Sir Patrick Stewart a question at his panel. I first had to thank him for a speech he had given at amnesty international about domestic violence towards women . I had only seen it a few months ago but I was still dealing with my own personal experience with a similar issue, and I didn’t know what to call it. After seeing Patrick talk so personally about it I finally was able to correctly call it abuse, in my case sexual abuse that was going to quickly turn into physical abuse as well. I didn’t feel guilty or disgusting anymore. I finally didn’t feel responsible for the abuse that was put upon me. I was finally able to start my healing process and to put that part of my life behind me.
After thanking him I asked him “Besides acting, what are you most proud of that you have done in you life (that you are willing to share with us)?”. Sir Patrick told us about how he couldn’t protect his mother from abuse in his household growing up and so in her name works with an organization called Refuge for safe houses for women and children to escape from abusive house holds. Sir Patrick Stewart learned only last year that his father had actually been suffering from PTSD after he returned from the military and was never properly treated. In his father’s name he works with an organization called Combat Stress to help those soldiers who are suffering from PTSD.
They were about to move onto the next question when Sir Patrick looked at me and asked me “My Dear, are you okay?” I said yes, and that I was finally able to move on from that part of my life. He then passionately said that his mother had done nothing to provoke his father and that even if she had, violence was never, ever a choice a man should make. That it is in the power of men to stop violence towards women. The moderator then asked “Do you want a hug?”
Sir Patrick didn’t even hesitate, he smiled, hopped off the stage and came over to embrace me in a hug. Which he held me there for a long while. He told me “You never have to go through that again, you’re safe now.” I couldn’t stop thanking him. His embrace was so warm and genuine. It was two people, two strangers, supporting and giving love. And when we pulled away he looked strait in my eyes, like he was promising that. He told me to take care. And I will.
Sir Patrick Stewart is an absolute roll model for men. He is an amazing man and was so kind and full of heart. I want to let everyone know to please find help if you are in a violent or abusive house hold or relationship. There are organizations and people ready to help. I had countless people after the panel thanking me for sharing the story and asking him those questions. Many said they went through similar things. You are not alone.
^ Here is the video of my question to Sir Patrick Stewart
Photos by Eugene Lee, Thank you
Helen Keller Speaks Out.
I’ve always wondered what Helen Keller sounded like, but never enough to look it up until now.
What a remarkable human being. So many different emotions happening right now.
Two Incredible Women
(via occupyv)
What Happens When A Pretend Homophobe Meets Neil Patrick Harris?
Stephen Colbert never seems to be in favor of social change, especially when it goes against his die-hard political views. Neil Patrick Harris may just be the kryptonite to Stephen Colbert’s unbridled “homophobia.”
The Force, It Is Strong in This One.
The reason for the trees, the breeze, the summer sun all life on earth, millions of years of evolution, the one purpose is so that we can…love.
(via occupyv)
Café Regular, Cairo
Lovely
I support same-sex couples having the right to marry.
Michael H. O’Neal
(Source: mfdisco)
Courage That Inspires
Underdog With Love
I had “the homosexual talk” with my almost 5-year-old daughter.
Kiddo: “Mommy, when I am all grown up I will marry my brother.”
Me: “Sweety, you can’t do that. We’re not supposed to marry brothers. Or daddies. Or uncles. Or cousins. Or grandpas. Or, grandmas!”
Kiddo: *giggles* “Grandmas??? But I can’t marry girls, and grandma is a girl!”
Me: “Oh, but you sure could marry a girl, why not?”
Kiddo: “A girl can marry a girl?”
Me: “Of course. And a man can marry another man, too.”
Kiddo: “…really?”
Me: “Yes. You know, some women like women better than men. And some men prefer to be with other men. And some even like both men and women. It’s just the way it is, and it’s all good.”
Kiddo: “Oh. Ok.”
Short pause.
Kiddo: “Mommy, when I grow up, I want to marry a girl! My friend Lisa!”
Me: “Sure, if it’ll make you happy.”
Another short pause, during which I can almost hear the little gears in her brain working.
Kiddo: “But then… our baby would have two mommies!???? And no daddy???”
Me: *smiles* “Sure would.”
Kiddo: *considers* “AWESOME! So Lisa and I would both get to tell the baby what to do!”
And that was that. Accepting the facts of life without prejudice or hate. Kids are awesome.
….I felt a surge in the force……..the dark side recedes…
The pictures above are from Project Unbreakable.
Project Unbreakable was created in October of 2011 by an amazing woman named Grace Brown. In her own words, Grace “works with survivors of sexual assault, photographing them holding a poster with a quote from their attacker. Grace has photographed over a hundred people, and received over eight hundred submissions.” She has a really wonderful, short video about why she does the work that she does. I encourage you all to watch.
I was so incredibly moved by this project. The first time I stumbled upon it, I started crying. I empathized with these women and men so viscerally; if not through the incident itself, through the sentiments behind it. So I selected a handful of really powerful photos that deeply resonated with me, and that I hope will resonate with others, too.
After some thought, I’ve decided that I want to become a part of this movement and help to shed light on the issue of sexual violence. Particularly, highlighting the fact that most rapes are committed by someone who is at least an acquaintance of the survivor, and I feel that these photos and perpetrator quotes communicate that message very effectively. So, with that said, here is my Project Unbreakable submission:
I’m not in a place yet where I feel comfortable showing my face, and I have to keep reminding myself that there is no shame in that. When I’m ready, I’m ready. And this still feels like a big step for me. I really appreciate Grace and Project Unbreakable for inspiring me to take this risk.-Sarah
This hurts my heart, but I can’t not reblog this. Not if it has the chance of helping at least one follower. It’s worth losing all 1100 of you if I can get through to the 1.
Great project :)
Are We Lonely
I was watching a call in talk show about twenty years ago. A psychiatrist who claimed to be an expert in terrorism was the shows’ guest. A caller asked the psychiatrist if terrorists were crazy and the psychiatrist responded, “Not if there are more than two of them”. I wondered if the shrink was trying to be humorous but no, he elaborated, “that crazy is a function of being alone”.
I have thought about that statement often in the years that followed and I believe it to be true. We people are not on this Earth to live alone, anymore than we can live without air, water, food or sleep. Necessities of any life include friends, companionship, someone to love and someone with whom to share. Otherwise, one has no reason to live. And I would think that those poor wretches who are in this life, who are alone while surrounded by others who have friends and love, live at a level of profound, unbelievable and incalculable misery and weariness. These emotionally isolated and alone are the people that walk in theaters and commit mass murder. They see no good in people, no good in own their life so how could they see bad, when bad is all they have.
However, I do not believe that you have to feel completely isolated from all other people to be crazy. At one time, I had a roommate who believed that he was being followed by Warlocks. He even claimed the Warlocks followed him into McDonald’s once. It was time to sleep one evening and I just wanted to sleep, but my roommate would not stop talking about the warlocks who were after him. I had a great idea. I figured it would calm him down if I explained to him that his Warlocks could not get in. My roommate became so agitated the proverbial guys in the white coats came in and before my eyes, put my roommate in a straight jacket and took him away.
What the religious believe can be an elaborate nonsense, for which they will fight and kill if you try to explain their beliefs away. Reason threatens the believer with being alone and helpless, without friends and strength in unity. They anoint their aggregation with irrefutable rightness. But they simply hide in a crowd of people with whom they really share nothing but a fantasy and manage little more than to be crazy and alone and murderous. - mikeo56
The State of The World’s Mothers
As the mother of two teenagers, my greatest concern tonight is what to put on the dinner table, chicken or fish, pasta or pizza? A world away, in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, 32 year old Alemeneshe, pictured here breastfeeding her one year old son Ayalres, has far graver things to worry about. One in ten children die before their fifth birthday in Ethiopia, many from preventable diseases. Malnutrition is an underlying factor in at least half of those deaths. Globally, malnutrition claims more than 2.6 million young lives each year according to Save the Children, and at least 171 million children are chronically malnourished.
Save the Children’s thirteenth annual State of the World’s Mothers report, released earlier this week in anticipation of Mother’s Day, serves as the latest marker of the staggering chasm between rich and poor, between industrialized nations and the developing world. Save the Children’s annual index takes measure of conditions including health, education, and economic status for mothers in 165 countries. It looks, too, at critical indicators such as childhood nutrition, since of course, a mother’s well being is inextricably interlinked with that of her child.
“No matter how you look at it, much more needs to be done to support mothers around the world,” said Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children. “Too many countries fail to provide moms with the knowledge, support and tools they need to raise healthy and prosperous children.”
Breastfeeding is beautiful; it is loving, nurturing, warm, a sublimely motherly interaction and the definition of all that is human. To be offended by breastfeeding is a hallmark of a diseased mind.
The Movement Made Him Do It
Franklin Roosevelt had the famous phrase: “Make me do it.” He was speaking to activists for the labor movement or some other faction fighting for a slice of the pie, and he was saying to them, don’t expect me to back you out of the kindness of my heart, even if in my heart I agree with you. This is politics, and you have to create the conditions that make it possible for me to support your cause. And that’s what the LGBT movement did for Obama.
In the immediate sense, it was apparently the comments by Joe Biden (and to a secondary extent Education Secretary Arne Duncan) that forced the president’s hand, leading to his historic announcement in support of same-sex marriage. But in the deeper and more long-lasting sense, the movement made him do it. That’s exactly how politics on the left is supposed to work.
Make Obama: Protect the Freenet, Protect the Environment, Regulate the 1%, Go Green, Stop Fracking, Protect Women’s rights…………………
Christopher Hitchens, a man of love, determination, conviction, resolve and relentless effort to show us the way to be proud of our greatest gift: our ability to learn. You will be missed Mr. Hitchens.
Tribute to Christopher Hitchens - 2012 Global Atheist Convention (by bdwilson1000)
At first, the devout Muslims who gathered in a Washington, D.C., conference center seemed like they could have come from any mosque. There were women in headscarves and bearded men who quoted the Quran.
But something was different. While mingling over hors d’oeuvres, they discussed how to change Islam’s future. A woman spoke about fighting terrorism; she had married outside the Islamic faith, which is forbidden for a Muslim woman. A Pakistani man mentioned his plans to meet friends for drinks, despite the faith’s ban on alcohol.
In a corner of the room, an imam in a long gray tunic counseled a young Muslim with a vexing spiritual conflict: being gay and Muslim. The imam, also gay and in a relationship, could easily sympathize with the youth’s difficulties.
