SparkleShan

"Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk."

"Because we all share an identical need for love, it is possible to feel that anybody we meet in whatever circumstances is a brother or sister."

I have a desk calendar that has a new quote from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama for every day, I should have started this January 1st but didn't think about it. Reading over these quotes the last few days I find them to inspire me in my Buddhist Practice every day and for life in general. SO every day starting today I am going to post the quote of the Day on my blog. "What science finds to be nonexistent, we must accept as nonexistent, but what science merely does not find is a completely different matter. ...It is quite clear that there are many, many, mysterious things."

Another site I visit every day. You should too! The Literacy Site is dedicated to funding free books for children. On average, over 80,000 individuals from around the world visit the site each day to click the "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button. To date, more than 87 million visitors have helped provide more than 1.6 million books to children who need them the most. Within the U.S., access to books is essential to reading development: the only variable that directly correlates with reading scores is the number of books in the home. However, most recent data describes a profound, even shocking gap: while the ratio of books to children in middle-income neighborhoods is approximately 13 books to 1 child, the ratio in low-income neighborhoods is 1 book to 300 children.* In addition, over 80 percent of childcare centers serving low-income children lack age-appropriate books. Together, The Literacy Site and its domestic partner, First Book, provide children from low-incom...

There are a few things that I have been very passionate about lately my family, my knitting and the environment and helping the people of Tibet. I always try to send out emails or talk to different people about such issues as the environment and human rights. But sometimes I don't feel like talking! So in the past few months I have been getting the word on such issues out there, by wearing it!

About a month ago I sent an email to one of my state's Senator's Joe Lieberman about the happenings with China and Tibet. I got an email back from him (or someone writing for him). Here's what he said. "Thank you for contacting me regarding the recent violent crackdown against Tibetan protesters by the Chinese government. In March 2008, Buddhist monks and other Tibetan civilians began demonstrations in Lhasa against the Chinese government, which has restricted the rights of Tibetans to practice their religion since invading and seizing control of this territory in 1949. In response to these demonstrations, the Chinese government initiated a violent crackdown, resulting in dozens of fatalities and the arrest of more than 1,000 protesters. It also severely restricted journalists' and diplomats' access to the region. Some have suggested that the United States should boycott the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing in response to the crackdown in Tibet. In the absen...

In another way to show my support for the Tibetan crisis, I have decided not to buy any products made in China. And for another reason why should we Americans give them anymore of our hard earned money?! We are already in debt to them billions of dollars for the Iraq war! Its kind of weird because in a way we are supporting communism, by giving them our money and borrowing money from them! The other day I was going to buy a Tibetan prayer bracelet, when I looked at the tag it said Made in China! Needless to say it went back on the shelf. And even though I'll be in the Middle East at the time I also am boycotting the 2008 Winter Olympics, I refuse to watch them.

The news of the protests and the state of Tibet have been quite disturbing to me lately. I was not very familiar with how bad the communist Chinese government was to Tibet until I actually started doing so research lately. As most of you know China took over the country of Tibet in 1949 with little resistance. Mostly in part to the deep roots of Buddhism in the country, they believe in nonviolence. Among hundreds of ways that China had failed to "better" this country, as they said their intent for taking over, there was on instance that totally grabbed my attention and I can’t stop thinking about it so I wanted to share. The following is what one thing I read on the website for the International Campaign for Tibet some of the info I also copied from other online sources. A little background on the situation The 14Th Dalai Lama, who is the highest spiritual leader, of Tibetan Buddhist was exiled to India in 1959 due to the Chinese take over of the government. The Panchen La...