The Portal to Boomeranger World

ReaderSpeak: Angels of Light

If the Dark Angels bring us life's challenges, what do the Angels of Light bring us?

Who or what has been your angel _____________? We'd love to hear your story.

I am a tree and dirt lover. And I take solace from those living entities. Going forward with this reFIREMENT project calls forth the darkest and brightest in me. Full breath feeds my fire. Ground makes me solid. A tree is my comfort. http://myelmstory.com/links.htmhas wonderful links to other tree oriented sites.

Angels of light sites  http://dreaming-bear.com/sweetangels.html; http://groups.msn.com/AngelLight/angelquotes.msnw

My Tree Story

Mine is a sad story that ends somewhat happily. Years ago, my former husband and I owned a farm in upstate NY. We lived in the City and went there on weekends and summers. We rented the fields to a local dairy farmer who plowed with oxen. These huge beasts would somestime rest under a lone and gigantic Wineglass Elm that dominated the center of a many acre field. We were cheered that this Elm alone had seemed to survive the blight--standing alone seperate from other trees we hoped that the disease could not reach it. .But at last it too fell ill and died. I was heart broken.

A few years later we moved from Manhattan's West Side to Newark, NJ. We had a lovely old house and lived in an even more diverse neighborhood than previously in NYC. The glory of our block was five mature Wineglass Elms standing guard streetside. Two were in front of our house. I think it was then that I became conscious of how much I love trees. And particularly Elms. As a child I had played at the feet of huge Willow Oaks in the front yard of my grandparents house and sat in the laps their roots made. I had climbed enormous and fragrant Magnolia Grandiflora and twisty volunteer pie apple trees. My brother and I were chimps swinging for what seemedmiles in the rhodie forests that climbed over the shoulders of the Appalacians, where we lived for several years.

But my deepest tree pleasure ever, was the five Elms on my really really urban street. I moved from that street almost ten years ago and now I regularly go hug the 100+ year old Copper Beech that shades my house and my neighbor's. But several times a year I go to my old street in Newark and pet the Elms that are still thriving.

Who would have guessed that the Lone Elm, seemingly protected, would die and the five Elms in a hardscrabble city would still be loving all the people who live under their protection?

Why Polar Bears Matter: Facts and Fallacies

I received a comment on my May 14th post about polar bears and their threatened status. I want to reply to that comment, which I invite you all to read. This is an important discussion and I want to take the writer seriously, rather than just dismissing these comments. The writer basically said worrying about polar bear extinction was a commie plot to undermine capitalism. Why worry when the total population had increased over the past 30 years?

That last comment may be true. I don't know what the total population was 30 years ago and to what degree it has increased. The current population stands at about 20,000-25,000 bears. Look at the  www.WorldWildlifeFederation.org site  for their most recent polar bear population numbers. But what is worrying is not the increase in the bear population, but the dramatric DECREASE in the bear's habitat. Sea ice is melting and at an increasing rate. Now is the melting sea ice a non-governmental Marxist plot to undermine capiatalism? I think not.

Polar bears and ice go together. Bears need ice for fishing, feeding and breeding. And the ice is melting. On 12/12/07 NASA climate scientist Jay Zwal suggested that as soon as 2012 summer sea ice could be completely melted. Other reputable scientists suggest that by mid-century all the ice summer and winter might be gone.

Such a climatological event not only affects the bear population--making it more difficult for bears to feed well and gain the fat they need to breed and nourish young--but also creates more and more dark water surfaces. These huge areas of open water absorb heat from the sun rather than reflecting it back as do the frozen polar seas. Open water becomes like a huge heat sink and contributes to more warming.

In addition to the issues of potential bear population collapse or even extinction, and overall warming of the climate, there is just the sheer fact that the loss of ice and polar bears is an unbearable thought. They are so beautiful. So beautiful. How can we stand to live in a world in which we deliberately destroy its beauty?

Placing polar bears on the threatened species list does give Congress some ability to make treaties with other countries and enact laws and regulations that work to protect bear habitat--ice.

 

ReaderSpeak: Life Lessons, Dark Angels

Some spiritual people believe that we may attract "dark angels" or hard lessons we need to learn in life. 

These are difficult situations or challenges that teach us knowledge we were lacking.  On the surface we may say "Oh, why me?", but in retrospect we realize the challenges were incredible teachers.

So ponder this question for today and respond below. 

My hardest life lesson was ______.